A weekly adventure series performed with a full cast sound effects and music. The podcast series is called rural life. A story of survival. This launched in 2009 and has over 200 million downloads to date. Now moving forward a decade later, Shane has a new Fantasy drama series called Carcerem and he is here to talk about Carcerem with us today.
Well, I have a feeling, we found it. What gave it away?
The big
Wooden door. Okay. All right. What, what is your deal? You been keeping grumpy for hours.
I'm sorry. I'm just, I I'm tired. Okay. I, my mind keeps wandering and picturing Godrick the corrupted and always
Terrible things. I get it. I'm sorry. Listen, we'll go inside. We'll see about a hot meal and, huh? What? How do we get inside? Hello? Hello? Hello? Anybody here? Who is that? Who
Said that?
Let us not bloody likely
Look up. Oh, oh, hello there. Sorry. We didn't, we didn't know who you are
And I still don't know who you are. Don't know you. The other one,
Kevin, sir.
Don't know you either.
So can we come in? Why?
Oh, you mean why? Cause it's almost night and it's dark at night and we can't see in the dark.
It's going to be almost a full moon. It won't be that dark.
What are you kidding me?
I'm just saying the darkest. Gary's a piss-poor reason to add
With no further ado, Shane. Thank you so much for joining me. Absolutely.
I've been looking forward to it. Yay.
Very cool. Very cool. So you're a fellow podcaster of fellow Fest, BN Leo actor and fellow mental health advocate and fellow tech Lover. So we're going to dive into she's all over the place and we're gonna talk about everything. I help
I'm ready. I too am all over the place. So this should be a very good place to be for me.
Awesome. Cool. So let's just jump right in. So you're from Seattle.
Yep. I'm from Seattle, Washington. I grew up there over by the university of Washington and I miss it. I like it up there. I do. I mean, it's, I haven't been up there for over a year cause it cause a COVID and all that stuff. So I have a new little niece that I've met once and is a year and a couple of months old now and a nephew and my brother's up there and his wife and my mom and my dad. And it's very blue skies up there. I miss that.
Yeah. So are you doing a lot of FaceTime with them right now? No,
Not really. I talked to them a lot. I do. I talk to, I talked to them every week, a couple of times a week. Sometimes I get pictures from my brother and my sister-in-law all the time of, of my niece and nephew. And they're so much bigger. I mean, at that age they grow so much in a year. So it feels like, well, they're not, they don't know who the heck I am. I don't know.
Yeah. Just for kicks. Do you know like what's the, if you did a road trip from LA to Seattle, what's the road trip. If you were to feel like gonna pop in and surprise and say hello,
We've actually done that a whole bunch of times. Cause I went to school in orange county for college. I went to Chapman University and so I made that drive. I've made that drive six or so times. It's about if you don't stop at all, except for gas. It's about 18 hours, 18, 19 hours. It is a long trip. I took the train once a friend of mine and I took the train from orange county up to Seattle for Christmas break ones. And that took like 32 hours.
Wow. Yeah, but we can't go on trains right now because of the what's going on in the world. So, but I did it, I did a train one time from Chicago to Michigan. It was only four hours. Like I was there on a job, Cindy Crawford job, ironically and meaningful beauty. I was like the model for her lie, her beauty line. And they had me going back to LA and I'm like, I'm like American airlines first class. I'm like, obviously I can just change my ticket. And I, and I just like booked a, a train ticket and it was so much fun. I had the wifi and I felt like I was in Europe. So I loved being on the train. It was, it was really cool.
If you don't have a specific time and place, you need to be somewhere. It's great. But if you're like, I really just want to get to this destination then you're just like, because it wasn't supposed to take 32 hours, but we had so many delays and then you had to wait for all the other trains. And so there was so delayed by the time we actually got there, we were like, we just want to be there. But it was definitely fun for a little while. Yeah.
So was that the feeling when you were in college as well? Like, oh my God. I just want to graduate. Like how was, how was your college experience in, what are your degrees or what did you get for a
Degree? I have a bachelor fine arts. I have a BFA in theater performance. And I mean, I coming from Seattle to orange county was a huge culture shock for me. Like I was, I went through it for a while because it was just so different and I was so happy in high school and I had a lot of friends and all this stuff. And then the minute I hit orange county, I just, it just kind of felt off and weird. And so I kind of dove into all my studies and I went and did a theater Tech on my off hours just to keep busy. Yeah,
I talk, what does that mean? Theater tech on your off hours?
So like I would go to the, the, the shop and build the sets for the shows. Cause your first semester you can't be in any shows. Actually the first week I was there during orientation, I went to the theater and introduced myself to all the professors and all the shop people and stuff. And I go, Hey, if you guys need anything, I'm here. I'd love to be part of it. Because again, I was just trying to integrate myself into this community and the theater and it turned out that they had just lost their stage manager for the graduating senior BFA show. So they go, well, can you do that? And I said, yes, I can. So I became my orientation week. I became the stage manager for the senior BFA showcase that came around like the following week or month.
So I got integrated into the, the department and all the professors knew me and everything really, really quickly, which was really kind of nice. And it also again kept me busy. So I wasn't freaking out that I was outside of Seattle and all that stuff.
Wow. Well for the listener and you know, we're doing video now too. So if you pop over to YouTube, the sophisticated psychos, you can see the video of Shane and me right now, but for the, the viewer or the listener, I have a lot of like 13 year olds, 14 year olds, younger teens on my shell, which I'm so happy about. And this is one of the reasons why I do the podcast. So this is for you, what Shane just gave you was nuggets of ambition of how you can take actionable steps to say yes and, and be present and be available to, you know, be interested in what you're doing. Like, this is great. Like you just, in your off hours, you don't deeper. You didn't tune out to do something.
You, you went more in and, and you took one of the things of the Culture shock of, you know, of that. And you turned it into you, you took, you took something and you made, you made something out of it. So this is that's really commendable. And I really admire those skill sets and those qualities in your, in your character and your personality, good job.
Well, I, I, I'm definitely somebody who feels that the better you are at the more you know about everything, the better you are in anything. And there are limitations to that. But I did theater tech when I was in high school, I learned the board. I learned all of that stuff because when I couldn't be on stage, at least I was doing something in it. So that's what I took to college. And, you know, I went and I learned all their boards and their systems and, and I there's a learning curve, but I was ready for the situations that were put in front of me. And they go, can you do this? And I said, sure, I can do this. Knowing that if I didn't know how to do it, I could figure it out. And one of the best lessons I ever learned is, and when I hire people, I feel this way I did.
I mean, I've made a living doing the theater tech stuff that I did in college, just to be in the theater and meet people. But I have no problem. If you don't know something, I have a huge problem. If you never ask or never tell me, you don't know something. So when somebody said, Hey, can you run this board? I can say, I've run boards before I can totally figure it out. You're just going to give me a little bit of need to give me a little time and a little direction
That people love that because they want the, they want the logistics, they want the solution. And if you're saying, Hey, I'm ready. I see zero to hero and I'm ready to do the in-between and, and figure it out for you. And you're servicing and helping another human being. And you're bringing, you're bringing solutions. I mean, as human beings, that's what we all want. We want that angle and we want it to be with you, especially if we're having the conversation. Like we want it to work out. We don't want to go on square one for the hunt. We want it to be used. So that's really cool that you just had that initial character that must have been from, did someone inspire you when you were a kid, a grandparent or a parent? Or was it self-taught like, how did that happen?
I mean, it's all been it's. I mean, again, that is right place, right time as a kid. I remember, I mean, my brother is a genius. He is, he is a medical genius. My whole family are doctors. My brother runs a company that he started that does DNA sequencing in this whole new way. He's a brilliant, so I think there's part of me that always was like, you know, everybody around me is so much smarter than I am in, in many, many ways. So it was always like, well, let me figure out how to do this. And that's my whole thing is let's figure out how to do it. I, I mean, even as an actor, I mean, I did that. I did that thing. And then the next semester I knew the directors of the main stage shows and I auditioned and I was prepared and I did it.
And I, I would imagine that me knowing these people and them seeing my work ethic made them go, well, if it's between Shane or somebody else, it was a small part, but it's Shane and somebody else I'm going to go with Shane because I know that he will deliver and try so that I did a summer stock show when I was a soft GF, I think the summer of my freshman year. And I was able to get in very small part, all this stuff. But I talked to the director later and she kept giving me more and more things to do. And it was Shakespeare and I love Shakespeare.
And
After the season she's came up to me. She goes, you know why I kept giving you more stuff to do is because that first day of rehearsal, we were reading the script and somebody said something and she goes, does everybody know what that means? And I was the only person I go. I actually don't know what that means. She goes great. She explained it to me. I go, fantastic, great. Moved on. She's like the fact that you told me, you didn't know what it means, means I can trust you. So that's why I kept giving you all these other lines, all these parts, all this stuff to do. And I mean, I was in an equity show with equity actors and people. And then that company brought me back the next year to do more acting stuff. So I really do believe in, if you don't know something, let's figure it out or find out how to don't lie about what you can do, but know what you are able to figure out and what you're not able to figure out.
And you will go very far. I mean, there's fake it till you make it. I think as much more of a confidence saying more than, you know, act confident, but don't fake that you know exactly what's going on. If you don't, because if you come to me and say, I know how to do this, then I go, great. I give it to you. And I walk away. And two hours later, I come back and it's either wrong or not done. I'm going to go. You just wasted two hours of everything. What the heck is going on? And I'm going to be very angry. But if you say it at the beginning, I don't really know how to do that. I go, great. I'll get someone else to do it. Or let me show you how to do it. And then I'll, I'll keep track of you. So
I love that. I love that. That's that's real Character building. Thank you for sharing. A couple of things. One, it just takes you to a childhood memory. It's a short one, but I remember I was with a bunch of teens that were older than me. I didn't know something. And I remember I would ask and I remember self, they walked away. And I remember self-reflecting that. I remember, I, I made a promise to myself that if I didn't know something, I was always going to ask because other people are insecure and feared of looking, quote, unquote, stupid. Now I'm like, I rather quote unquote in the moment, look stupid and not know.
And then, and then no, because I think it's on Dr. Bruce Lipton. He's amazing. I don't know if you know, Dr. Bruce Lipton's work
Personally,
But he talks about something like how our brains are liquid. Like everything's a hypnosis based on what we see, like visually what we see until like we're seven or eight and our brain starts to develop. And then when our brain starts to develop, we start building these like walls, if you will. So we started building these walls and then people stop being so liquid with, you know, when you're a kid you're asking, Hey, what color is this? You don't feel stupid. If it's blue or purple, you just ask questions. But as we get older, we, we stop ourselves from asking certain things because we have these walls and these preconceived notions. So we don't ask. So I remember at a young age, I always said I was going to ask and show up to the plate and I'd rather know than not know long-term.
And I will say that there are mean people out there that you ask a question and go, you don't know that ma and I, my whole thing was at some point, I go, yeah, this is a much more of a reflection on you than it is of me. I remember in high school, there was a senior and I was a sophomore and somebody said something and I go, what does that mean? People keep saying that. And he goes, you don't know what that means. And I just yelled at her. I go, if nobody will tell me what that means, how am I supposed to know what that means? And he goes, oh, okay, well, I was just checking. And then he told me,
So
It just, I have no, no issue with that. I mean, in, in New York I did technical theater and set building. And I was in no way the, and I worked fashion weeks and stuff. And I was in no way, the most capable carpenter they had. I was good, but I wasn't the best. I wasn't all that. But they would call me into the big jobs because they knew I would ask the questions and I would figure it out. And if I didn't know, I would figure out how to figure it out and they could trust me and they could trust me not to do something wrong without checking first. And that's a huge thing. And that's how I run my company. And I give everybody that speech when I'm directing on set anybody, I bring, you know, look, I have no problem.
If you don't know something, I have a huge problem. If you don't know something, don't say something and then waste my time because,
So I just want to like dive deeper, but I'm going to point out the obvious that we're talking about is you circulated and you created these patterns for people to build trust with you and you trust within yourself and confidence within yourself to show up to problem-solve to figure these things out. And like you said, when it was like between X or Shane, they selected Shane for the part, because why not? He shows up, but guess what? They're in their psychological neurological patterns. They're like, they're like, oh, Shane says, he's going to do this. And he does it. I'm going to have a great production with Shane. He's going to show up. I can trust him. He's going to do great work. He's he's at the coal, like, like you created these, you know, patterns for yourself and for other in your community.
So that's really important to start with self and then the community to be a ripple effect, because that affects the whole.
Yeah. And showing, like you said, the first thing to do is always show up on time. I've had people that we've given great opportunities to, and they may not like the opportunity or they might not. And they don't show up on time. And that's the first thing I go. Yeah. I can't trust you when I really need you. So I can't. And if you don't care about that opportunity, if you don't want to be there, then tell them and exit the situation, but don't go, well, I don't really care so I can do whatever I want, because if they fire me, whatever, because the world is a lot smaller than you think. And especially with Facebook and stuff, I go on, you're coming to me and going, I kind of want to work with you.
I go online. I see who your Facebook friends are. I go, oh, I know this person. I go, Hey, what do you think of this person? And they go, well, I mean, they were good, but they didn't always show up on time. And I go, yeah, I can't chance that because you might think you're working with a big company and they have money to spare. But very rarely is that the case, even, you know, if you come to work for me, it's not, you're going to get paid more than I do. I'll guarantee you that. And so I can't, I can't afford to waste a day or two days or three days because you showed up late.
Oh, that would be the ultimate, like worst thing ever. Cause they don't know the pain that you're going through. And then you selected this person to put you through this pain. It's like a double whammy. I did this to myself. Oh God. I feel like I understand. As a producer, as a creator who gives people opportunities. I totally understand what you're saying. Yeah.
I was going to say, and there's, there's two kinds of people that I've also discovered. And I was averaging having this conversation with somebody the other day that when your friends hire you or with you hire your friends, there's two types of friends that show up the one that goes, okay, I'm their friend. So I need to make them look good as my boss or the other type that goes, ah, they're my friend. So I can goof around and really don't have to do anything all day. We can just have fun. And don't be the second one. Because your putting your friend who stuck their neck out for you and did all this stuff in a really bad situation where they're like, because their boss is going to look at them and go, you hired this person.
You trusted this person, this, this doesn't reflect well on you. So don't be that person I've seen people get. I've seen friends, fire, friends on the spot, who are that? Because we can't risk that you're going to ruin our lives. Yeah.
So your point of what you're saying, I won't get into details, but I introduce someone in someone and I did it from the heart of my soul. And I introduced these girls because it's like, I love this person. And I love this person. I connected them. And it was supposed to be for 14 days. And it took a while. After the 14 days, it took a life of its own and went on for six months. And I ha and I was like, yell. I'm like, I had to tell this person, I'm like, yo, I curated. And I created this opportunity for you because you said 14 days. And then I find out three months later, this thing's happening. And I was like, I thought that was just 14 days. I thought like the deal was done. And now this is happening. I'm finding out about this. And then I'm talking to this and I'm just like, yo, I'm like, just so you know, I'm making a disclaimer, this thing has a life of its own.
So whatever happens, I stepping away here, but that was a big wake up call for me because it's like, when you say, and you've heard it before, when we say yes to one thing, you're saying yes to so many other things, or if you're saying yes to something, you're saying no to so many other things. But if you, when you say no to something, you're saying yes to all the other things for you. So when we say yes or no, it's a powerful word to take open the door, to take something on. It's a responsibility for the unknown, energetic things that come along with our responsibility. Yeah. So two things, if I can remember them, oh yeah, here we go. Two things. So one is about Facebook. So there's all these different social media apps and things going on.
And the way that you are, I know Facebook is supposed to be more friends or family. I don't know, but I've never has been like on and off for Facebook. So for the people listening for you and from what you have discovered through Facebook, cause you said you talked to the people on the Facebook, you'll see like who their friends are. How is Facebook for you?
I mean, I don't do social media very well. I think it's a very important marketing tool and networking tool. LinkedIn is great for networking, all that stuff. I loved LinkedIn. And I tell people to get on LinkedIn as much as possible because if you're friends with me on LinkedIn, that means I can see who you're friends with. So if there's somebody that I want to try to get in contact and it shows that, oh, this person is a friend of this person. I'm like, oh, this is amazing. I don't, I won't like deep dive into people's Facebooks. If they want to come work with me or anything like that. But I will go on and see who they have worked for or who they, who their contacts with. And then go, Hey, do you know anything about this person? Even if it's something like the other day I was contacted by somebody for who wanted to do something with Carcerem and I Googled, or I went on Facebook, looked them up and saw that they who their friends were and then contacted those friends and go, Hey, do were also mutual friends with mine.
I said, Hey, what do you know about this person? And I got some dirt because it comes down to me, protecting myself really is I have no problem with you whatsoever, but I am protecting myself.
Totally protected yourself. Your partner, you know our mutual friend, bill Holmes, like boss, man, bill Holmes. It's because you it's like you're protecting your nest it's and the, and the people you've hired. Yeah. So, so with LinkedIn, it's more like a business tool. Like what if people be friends, you, but you don't know them. If you kind of like, kind of look, okay, we don't have any mutual friends, but it looks like, you know, but what if someone, how do you know to Adam or not
On LinkedIn or in general on LinkedIn? I won't add people that I have no idea where they came from. If you write me a note and they say, Hey, I heard you on this thing. I'd love to connect with you. Great. I will probably add you, but there's so many people that are just adding everybody that they come across. For whatever reason, I won't just do that because it comes back down to if I don't know you well enough to, you know, to reach out and ask you a question or ask you a favor or anything like that, then you don't have a purpose to me on LinkedIn. That doesn't mean you're not a great person. I'm more than again. If you write me a note and said, Hey, I'd love to connect. I'm trying to do these things. And that's great. Now we have more of a personal relationship.
So if I know somebody you want to get in touch with, I can go, oh, they seem responsible. They seem like they actually try to get to know me a little bit and blah, blah, blah. So I can go, yeah, let me set you up for the meeting. I'll say, Hey, this person contacted me on LinkedIn. I don't know them very well, but they were asking these questions. Do you mind if I connect you to that person might say yes or no, but I'm willing to go that distance for somebody. If I know who they are and where they came from. Otherwise, I think your spam, for the most part,
I feel that on Facebook as well, or how do you do is Facebook or do you treat Facebook like LinkedIn?
I, in many ways, yeah. I won't, I will see, I will. I'll accept more people on Facebook, depending on who our mutual friends are. Because if we have a lot of mutual friends either, I'll ask them, Hey, how do I know this person? Or I'll go, oh, we run in the same circles, the same communities. So, oh, this person has six other voiceover friends of mine. That's how they came to find me. Yeah. I'll add them to see what they have going on. But yeah.
Thank you. And I just feel it's so important to have these conversations because like with, you know, it's, it's a free for all out there. So you have to make choices on yes or no and who to let into your community. Because like you were saying, if on Facebook or LinkedIn, if you're, if you're, I'm thinking more LinkedIn, but I guess Facebook too, but more like LinkedIn, if, if like someone is associated with me and I really don't know them and then other friends are, or they're asking other friends to be friends and other friends are saying, oh, well, Katie Chonacas or Shane is friends with this person, then I'm going to do it too. So we're kind of being socially responsible for our friends in the near future as well.
Yeah. And I will absolutely outreach to some people sometimes and go, Hey, so-and-so how do I, how do I, how do I know this person who is this person? And they'll go, oh, they just are terrible. And I'd be like, great. I'm not going to accept them. I don't know.
Great that you have people who are honest and say those things to you, you've built trusting relationships to be able to ask those questions for people to say that it's something I really admire as well. Sometimes when people come from a heart-centered place, I dunno. Sometimes they're just like, oh, very open. And like, everyone's like one love all, all in for the love of it. Sometimes you could be very naive to filter out some kinds of people and it sound like they're just, just sometimes just people just don't know certain boundaries based on circumstances and how they are and their upbringing and stuff like that.
And you know, there's sometimes when I, when I accept somebody for whatever reason, and then I just constantly see things that they're posting and which is, there's nothing wrong with that. That's not saying stop doing that, but I'm not their audience that I'm like, I just don't want to see this anymore. And there's so much happening in the world and on social media and all these things where I go, well, I can filter out sort of the, the noise that's coming in, cutting out. Some of these people, cutting out those people again, not necessarily personal at all. I just it's like, yeah, I don't, you know, you can hide them, hide their posts or whatever. It doesn't mean they can't contact you if they need something or anything like that. But post every day, and there are people that are gonna want to see all the funny stuff you post.
And for me sometimes I'm like, I don't like this person's stuff, so I'm going to hide it. So be you. But don't try to, you know, for me the number of who follow you or you are following doesn't reflect on as much as people think it does. If you're doing a project, the more people following the better, you know, curating your content is really, really important. But it's not a, it's not a way to build true relationships with people.
Yeah. I love this. I love it. And the last thing in this area, but I just feel it's so important since we're talking about it. Cause I think a couples with mental health too, and our sanity, like you said, of what, what what's being filtered, what we're receiving, what we're sending out and you mentioned hiding it. So some people, cause you have to have a courage to unfollow. A lot of people I've seen it in forums and everything. Like, people don't want to unfollow someone because their, their, you know, their ego, their feelings, they think like other people's feelings. Like there's some people I follow and I just don't want to see their stuff, but I learned, oh yeah, you can hide it. So you're not always seeing their stuff because sometimes it doesn't make you feel good or just sometimes it's just too much like the person you just don't want to see it. So do you, how do you know to hide it or unfollow and have that courage without feeling without your ego getting in the way?
I, first of all, I think ego is the death of all art. I think that I've seen more projects go belly up because of ego. And I've seen more brilliant projects go down the tube because of ego than anything else. So, but it's one of my, you know, I think self-reflection, and self-awareness is one of the most important things you can have. And being honest with yourself in the, in the vein of, why am I actually mad about this? Oh, I'm mad about this because of something within me. Okay, great. There's nothing wrong with that. But now I'm aware of why I'm acting this way or I have no problem unfollowing people that, again, I don't know, or is putting out content that I don't really want to see, or I don't enjoy, or I don't like, or doesn't bring, you know, good feelings to me.
I don't have a problem doing that, but there are people that I don't want to unfollow, but I don't want to see their stuff. They're good people, they're friends of mine, but for whatever reason, I have an emotional reaction to certain things that they post and I just don't want to see it. So I do, there are people that I will hide again, has nothing, almost nothing to do with who they are, if it has to do with who they are, I'll probably unfollow. But if it has to do with who I am, and I'm like, they're not doing anything wrong, but I know I'm having an emotional reaction for whatever reason inside of me, I'll just hide their stuff for, you know, you can hide for a week or a month or whatever don't, I don't think you need to. I'm also a big, big believer in why are you posting something to know why you're posting something for, for myself.
I have a rule. If I'm posting something just to get a reaction from some person or some people. And if I don't get that reaction, I will be upset. I won't post it because it's coming from an entirely place of ego and a need for somebody else to verify something I'll share, you know, something I cooked or, or whatever. If nobody it's feels really good when a bunch of people like it and comment and I that, but if nobody did, I'm not going to think that that's a reflection on how somebody cares about me or I won't take it as, you know, people post had a really bad day, can't give details. And for me, if I posted something like that, the reason I posted that is to have people say, I'm so sorry, is there anything I can do and make me feel better that way?
And I realized that probably would be the responses I would get, but if I got no responses like that, I would feel worse.
So you're putting out a bid to connect.
Right? And so I, I will purposely not post those things because if it's really to get a reaction from one person or many people in a very specific way, I won't post it.
So it's like, when you share something like that, that's why they have therapists. That's why they have like grieving counselors, like grieving specialists, because you have to know your audience and you have to know when it's a safe space to share those kinds of things. And a lot of people that don't, it doesn't matter your age, if you're like a teen or you're 60, like some people just don't know the boundaries of, of if an audience, if it's safe to share or not.
And, and again, I'm not saying that if you're a different person and you have different reasons for those things go for it. And you know, if somebody died in your family and you want to let everybody know, go for it, that's not, I'm not saying that this should be the blanket rule for everybody, but I know my mental health is more important to me because I've struggled with things before that. I go, well, these are the rules that I need to set for myself. So I don't go down a, you know, a depression or something like that. And my, I can control my feelings a lot more when they're not based on what other people do.
. Yeah. And then did you want to kind of shift and pivot and, and talk about mental health a bit? Sure.
Yeah. I mean, I I'm, I'm a huge believer in, in mental health. Who's not a believer in mental health who believes like there's no such thing as mental health. That's weird. I I've struggled with depression and anxiety in the past. It, you know, I am on medication for things and fortunately I'm leveled out and, and the hardest part was, you know, at the beginning going, something's wrong with that? Self-reflection going, something's wrong. It's more than just, I'm having a bad day. I need help. You know, and the one really nice thing for me is I had some people I could reach out to and go, Hey, I need help.
And I don't know why or how, or what's going on. But after I did that, I mean, I graduated college and then a whole bunch of stuff in my life exploded. And it went really bad. And after I sort of grabbed hold of, of what I was feeling and what to do and all these things, and it took a very long time and, and all this stuff, I found that more people were going through things than I ever expected. And I started noticing the signs and friends and family and, and acquaintances, even who I would be like, you look like this thing that I felt before and people didn't really want to talk about it, but they, I found it much easier for people would find it a lot easier to talk about, once I go, are you feeling this, this, this, or this?
Because that's what I went through. I felt these things and people's would be like, wait, what you, what? Yeah, those are words that go with how I'm feeling. I've never been able to do that before. And you just find out so many more people are on medication than you ever expected. And there is something to a chemical imbalance. One of the great, one of the most amazing things is I moved to New York in the city and the city I moved to Queens and I was walking down the street one day, six months after I had moved there and I had not been having a good week. I hadn't been feeling good. And I was upset about things, mostly mentally.
I mean, stomach aches a little bit. And I just walking down the street and I realized I was going to wait a minute. I know this feeling, this is the feeling I had when I had to get this help. You know, I was on medication at the time and I was like, something changed, something has changed. And I need to do something about this feeling. This is not a normal Shane's baseline feeling. And it realizing that was power. It was a power of like, okay, it doesn't make you feel better, but it makes your head go. There's a plan. We have a plan we need to do find help. We need to do this. And we need to do that because this feeling is not forever, but it, but it's not what needs to be happening right now.
And so when you start noticing those things and I, I talked to people a lot about, there's a difference between feeling something and knowing something. And I think that's a big distinction. I can absolutely feel that the horrible feeling I'm feeling right now is going to last my entire life and is awful. But I know in my head that that's not true because I have been through this before, and I know that it, you can come out of it. And I know you can do things about it, knowing that doesn't make you feel any better, but it keeps you, it can keep you moving forward. It's the getting past it.
So when you thank you for sharing so much, I appreciate this. I have a bunch of questions if that's okay. Yeah. So like you said, you had support, which is great. You knew something was going on, you went and saw someone when you went and saw someone, how did you trust and know that, that what they were putting you on was the thing you were supposed to be on?
You know, all of it is. So when I first went to somebody and started getting on stuff, it was back in 2000. I don't know. I can't remember. It was after 2000, but it was in, it was in late 2000 tens. I don't know, but I didn't, I got a referral to somebody from somebody I trusted. And I went there and I said, this is what I'm going through. The worst thing about therapy is the first few sessions, because you have to tell everything that you're going through and it's not terrible because you have to tell somebody, all this stuff it's terrible because it takes so much energy. And it's,
And then let, let's talk about if you're seeing your second, third or fourth therapist, and then having to say it all over again,
All over again. And it's changing therapists is so much work. Cause you have to do it all again and, and stuff. But I will say that you don't have to go with the first therapist that you find it, you talk, you like them, you don't like them go, yeah, this isn't for me. I'm not going back. It's fine. If you like them, great technology is science is so much better now than it was back then, because there are ways that you can do DNA tests, sort of like the 23 and me, but it's for mental health and go, ah, this is the stuff that's probably going to help you the most on this spectrum.
I have it right now. Cause I want to deal it. And if you are a listener wants to know about it, I can put it in the show notes, but
Yeah, I will, you know what I'll do, I'll send it to you after this thing and you can put it in there, but that didn't exist when I did it. So it literally was trial and error DNA. So if you have family that are on certain things and it works for them, it'll more chance work for you. But I did trial and error and it was, it could be rough. I did it once and I felt a little bit better. And then I had to get off of stuff for a while. And then when I went back on it, we tried something else and it went really bad. And then we tried something else. And I mean, when I said it went really bad. I mean, there are side effects that can be, you know, suicidal thoughts and things like that.
Mine was the best way I can describe it was, I felt completely gray. Like I was not able to have emotions and it was really uncomfortable. Yeah. And there, when I told the doctor this, he goes, that's called this. And I go, I'm not crazy. That's a thing that exists. And then I found something that ended up working with a balance. And that was amazing. It took a week or two after I started taking it to kick in. And it usually does. And you can have pretty bad side effects those first weeks or week or two, not sick, but your brain can kind of go haywire depending. And mine did. It is, it is very scary. And, and my brain kind of did go a little haywire and I couldn't stop it and all this stuff.
But after the week or two, I felt amazing. I felt like medication will not make you feel better. It'll just give your blank. Your zero it'll exist again. For me, my like normal flat line was a lot lower than it should be. And so this allowed me to have the flat line up here so I could feel good and I could feel bad, but I was in control of those things. Yeah. So, I mean, I grew up in a family of doctors and scientists. So that comes with both a lot of trust and a lot of mistrust of doctors sometimes. But I also know you can feel like the person you're sitting in front of you, who do they care or do they not care?
They just throwing things at you. Are they not throwing things at you? And I don't take one person who I'm like, I had a really bad experience with this person. I don't take that as that means, I'm going to have any bad experience with the next person. It means I'm going to be on the lookout for these things early, because there are people out there that really do want to help. And I was able to find one that that was great in New York.
So you're walking down the street in New York and you're not feeling well.
Right. And so I go, wait a minute. I know this feeling. So the first thing I do is I call the doctor and go, Hey, I'm having those feelings again. They go, great. Come on in, we'll talk and we'll figure out your medication. And that's the step I used to when I was in New York and I'd be really bad. I would, I had, there was a therapist that I would see sometimes. And then there was a psychiatrist who can do the medication. And depending on it, I would call up this psychiatrist and go, Hey, I need to have a session. I'm feeling really, really bad. And they go great. They put her on the books and the minute I get off that phone, even if the appointment was a week or a week and a half away, I started feeling better because I was taking action towards my own wellbeing.
I'm talking about basically is energy. And, and you're already feeling better because you're taking actionable steps and you have like a focus. So it's energy, but also mental illness, mental health, it's an invisible illness. You know, it's like vibes. Like we're vibing right now. It's like, you don't see the vibes. I guess some people quote, unquote, maybe see vibes, but there's like vies. It's, it's invisible and mental health. Like, even though you can't see the 60 to 70,000 thoughts per day, we have, according to Dr. Joe Dispenza and 90% of those thoughts are negative. We're firing and wiring firing and wiring and firing. And unwiring, it's invisible, it's invisible. And so these things, these topics in the conversation that we're having, taking these thoughts, putting into form materializing.
And so the audio podcasts to the visual for the viewer here, we appreciate you being here. We value you.
It's like if you're walking 10 miles to the bus stop by the 10th mile, you're going to be really, really tired. And, but you're going to have to, or the ninth mile, you're really, really tired and it's exhausting and you just want to stop. And you're like, there's no way I can make it there, but in your head, you know, it's just another mile, your feet work. And once you get there, you can get on a bus and sit down. Yeah. So yeah, that, that depression, that anxiety for me is always that last mile. And I just have to mentally push through these things, even though my body is going, you don't really want to do this. You really don't, you can't do this. And my brain's going, no, that's just you telling me things that aren't necessarily true.
And if I can just get to the bus, my body can shut. Excuse me, pardon my language.
Okay. So two things, one, I'll leave it in the show notes and I'll email it to you. I just read an article that was sent to me like in November, but I just read it within the last couple days, but it actually, there are statistics about depression and how it's actually beneficial and healthy for a human being to feel depression because it's energetically, like basically what I took from it, not the technical term, but it's actually telling you your human being, your body, it's taking you away from maybe something that you shouldn't be pursuing. Even though you're like, oh, I want to get through this. I want to get through this. But maybe it's important just to sleep, you know, like sleep it off, like the rest and repair the immune system. Sleeping deep sleeping is super important.
Obviously you don't want to be sleeping for a year. You know what I'm saying? But there's something in the article from it's a psychology today article and it was saying the benefits of, of depression. I think it was from a Stanford paper, something.
And also that's definitely makes you a more empathetic person. I think because I have friends that have never gone through it and have a very hard time understanding it. So if like anything else, once you go through it, you can understand things more.
Well, what you're saying is, and what you're saying at the beginning of the story and what you just said now about your friends, the analogy I give is it's like, it's like a baby. It's like a baby and like laughing and doing all these emotions, but they don't have the, if you speak English, the English language to communicate the words. So it's like, it's like, we're feeling all of these things, but we don't have the language. So when you went to your friend and you're like, are you feeling this, this and this? And they're like, yeah, but I've never put it into words. It's because it's like, oh, because you're giving it the words in the language. Right? So like, again, that's why we're talking about what we are to give people the cuddle, the language and the,
And depending on who you are and where you are in your life, you might think, oh, I guess this is just normal. If you're going through puberty, you go, I guess this is just what happens when you go through puberty and this is totally normal and this is who I am, and that's not necessarily the case. And, and it's a hard thing when, you know, there are people out there that try to reach out to teachers or parents or somebody doesn't authority figure, and they don't understand. So they get shoved aside. So it is really about knowing yourself and going, I mean, I don't think this is me how I'm feeling. I don't feel like this is me. And then having the confidence to, or the ability or the resources to kind of figure out what to do next.
Yeah. I mean, I mean, this conversation could go on for the next three years because it's such, such an important topic and all the stories are so important. You know, I really appreciate you, you know, sharing everything with me. Thank you very, very much. I appreciate you. Is there anything else maybe you want to share on mental health?
I mean, nothing specific. I, I mean, I started this company here and I got very scared that starting a company. And cause I read a bunch of articles about entrepreneurs and how mental health affects the entrepreneurial community. Because there, again, you think about all these entrepreneurs who made millions of dollars and all these things, and that's not the majority of people. That's not the majority of them. They start a company, they put everything into it. They don't, I, you know, you don't get money for it for a while and all these things, and you're putting everything you are into this. And so your health can deteriorate. So I was very cognizant of that when I started this
And you go in, thank you. And then you go in with the, again, the, the invisibleness you go in with the hope and the faith and the ambition and the passion and the dream and the thoughts and, and, and you put everything to it, but it's all invisible. There's no guarantees. There's no promises. There's no,
Yeah. I've been working on Carcerem for, depending on how you look at it. I've been working on getting stuff together for a show like Carcerem with the, the production quality and everything for you could argue 10 years. I have been physically working on this show specifically for five years. We wrote this show three years ago. So I really have put years and years and years into this idea and the, the idea of this company. And so for me, there's a lot at stake, but if you let that run your life, you're going to not enjoy yourself.
And you're not going to get the product you want, because you're going to hold on to that butterfly, as I say so tightly, you're going to kill it. And if you hold onto your, your idea and let it do its thing and remember this and that and this and that right now, we have a product that I am so proud of, that I could not be any more proud of what we've done with the resources that we have. And if nothing happens to it, if nobody ever hears it or anything like that, which I don't think is going to happen, but we can still be proud of the project.
Oh yeah. I mean, I heard recently through the great vine that it just got like 25,000 downloads. So people, people are hearing it. And, and, and, and I know I'm a new fan and I'm only on almost episode 10, but it just gives me more incentive to co collectively on a conscious level, you know, share it thankfully with the listener and the viewer right now. But just to be an advocate, you know, I, I already was like on the social media, you know, I'm following Carcerem on social media and leaving comments and supporting you all, like through the whole process for probably like a year now and before even like hearing anything, but definitely I'm an advocate and a fan of
Absolutely. And we definitely appreciate it. I mean, we see all the comments, we see all the likes we know, and, and that's what keeps us going a lot of the time when we're not making a whole bunch of money from it, if anything at all, currently it's people and people's enjoyment of it. And people's love of what we're doing. That goes, we got something here. This is great.
So C w like, what you're doing is so unique because podcasting, even though, like, it keeps growing every year and more brands and people are starting to invest in the podcast space. It's a biller. I mean, you've been in the game since 2009, which is like pioneering, and now we're in 2021 and you're still pioneering. So the thing is, it's still, even though people are catching on, it's still a very new space. So totally. And so like when I was reflecting and meditating, one of my, you know, Fantasy questions for you that you just shared an answer, I was gonna say like, how long have you been manifesting this? But you said, you've been about, it's been about a T it's about it, about 10 year manifestation.
It's not just an overnight thing. You've been at it for like 10 years, like with this project.
Yeah. I mean, 10 years ago, I was trying to get resources to do a project to this caliber about, let's see, about seven years ago, I would say was the first form that this Fantasy idea came, came to be, and then came a whole other shaping of the company and the show. And then we could actually sit down and write the show, I think, three years ago. And then we've been pretty, we produced it, we recorded it and produced it in 2020, which had its own hurdles for sure. But we I've been working on this, the concept of elevating audio entertainment and going, you can do so much with this since before 2009.
I mean, I like to say that we are the HBO of audio. So we are game of Thrones meets princess bride. You see all the fights, you hear it where it's an immersive experience. And one day I'd like to literally have an immersive experience where you're in a room, or you have the headset on and you can walk around and be in different areas of just the soundscape. And it's, it's like watching a movie without any visuals and you know exactly what's happening.
What I really would like to say also is compliment you. Cause I was going to say before, like I totally research, I will cause the sound design is really amazing and it's very cinematic. So I love the mixing, the sound quality I love, I think it's in the first episode, but the second part where it's like the best friend is sleeping in the room who just, you know, went through this experience and then aura is talking, you know, to the parents and the other room, but the sound it's like, it's like one it's, I don't know the technical term of it. It's like, you hear you, you hear,
You hear it from his point of view. Oh, you hear it through a door and
Yeah, it's so cool. And then, and then the switch of it and when he opens the door and then when he becomes present in the room, it's like visually, mentally, there's two scenes going on at one time. So you did that. Yeah.
We really, we really work very hard because w perspective is a huge thing for us of where are people in the room? How far, how close. And we talk about all of this in terms of film, it's film shots, and we can go, okay, so the camera's on here and then it goes over here, but then we're here and that's why this is going to be further away. So we really do talk about it in visual, visual ways. So we can paint this picture. So we go, if this was the real world, this is where we would be. This is where the cam would be. This is what the audience, the point of view of the audience. And then we go from there to design something that we hope does exactly what you're saying, which is paints this picture.
My favorite thing is when people contact us and go, so I was watching your show and we're all like, no, no, you weren't. You were in your own head.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you, you drop in quick, you definitely drop in quick. All the show notes will be below. So definitely check out. Carcerem the series. It's a fantasy. Very cinematic. Yeah. Congratulations. It's really, really amazing. And, and shout out to some actors because well, what I really want to do act actually we'll, we'll shout out the actors and then I have an idea, but you know how we're connected through bill Holmes. He's, you know, in voiceover, you brand yourself, he taught me about branding. So I go by cartoon, Katie and, and then bill Holmes is the VO doctor. So I always tell people because I'm a walking, talking billboard for bill. And I have a lot of people who are in voiceovers, who listened to the podcast.
What's up, everyone what's up. So I'm like from meeting bill Holmes till today, I tell people, I'm like, you know, when your back hurts, you go see a chiropractor. When you, when you need to clean your teeth, every six months, you go to a dentist. When you want to know where your work in voiceover, you go to the VO doctor, you just have a one hour session with the VO doctor and he can tell you, and it's always changing with the brands. Want from every year season to season your voicemail. Like, he always told me from the beginning, he's like, kid, you don't have to do anything. He's like, you have the golden boys and voiceovers. He's like, what naturally comes out of your voice out raspy thing is like what people train to do. He's like, so he like kinda coined me as like the golden voice and voiceovers, which was like the biggest compliment ever coming from the voiceover doctor.
He's your partner in, Carcerem the series. And how did
Bill and I met at a, so Bob Bergen who plays Porky pig. I knew from doing, I was, I got introduced to him and actually had him in we're live. And then we became friends and he invited me to something called Vox on the rocks, which is a voiceover get meet, get together that him and bill used to put on. So I went there and I was talking to him about prop, maybe demos or something. And he said, you need to talk to bill who was over at the bar. And I go over and talk to bill. I said, Hey, Bob says, I should talk to you, yada, yada, blah, blah. And he goes, great. Not here. I'm drinking, we'll have lunch or something. Tequila. He was definitely drinking tequila. There's no question.
So that's how I got, I met him and then I took him to lunch and we talked and at the time I really wanted to produce a audio drama version of a Christmas Carol. So I brought that to him and he, if you ever hear him tell the story, it's totally fun. But he's like, yeah, you know, I'm just finding this. And then we can go ahead and do it. Never thinking he'd hear from me again. Well, as you remember, from the beginning of this show, I tend to follow through on stuff. So we ended up producing this Christmas version of a Christmas Carol, and we had Marissa Marsha, Rob Paulson in it who were pinky and the brain, Neil Flynn is a janitor from scrubs to different ninja turtles. Like we had a whole bunch because Bill's been in the video game for a long time. So we had all of these people in it and it turned out really, really well.
And that's how I met bill. And then
Christmas Carol won some award Christmas,
Carol won some awards, parents, parents Choice Award. And I can't remember what else we were the pick of the week or the month of a year for some magazine audio file magazine at one point. And, and then actually funny enough, we did it in English and in Spanish because bill said, look, if we can do it in English, we should do it in Spanish. There's nothing like this in Spanish. So we did it in Spanish. Joe, Joe Henriksen is an amazing writer and he came in and as a help with the Spanish stuff. And it's just, and then actually right at the end of that, I got cast to work on a Disney cruise line. It's the singing, dancing genie in Aladdin. So right after Christmas, Carol, I think we were still finishing up the Spanish one, to be honest with you, I had to go to Canada and then I was on a cruise for a year.
And then I came back and again, bill can't get rid of me. So we were working on some other stuff and we just always kept in touch. And I, he would be like, great. If you can find us how to do this, we'll do it. And I've just been working on getting all that stuff and, and bill can make things happen. That's where a great team or a fantastic team because of that, of our similarities and our differences. So
What you just said, and you know, for the listener and the viewer here, like if you could just like, take my mind, which I'm about to share with you, but Shane story of what you shared with us from when you were in school and how you showed up and how, you know, the same model of, of what happened then it, and they, and then they went to hire you because you showed up. It's the same thing that happened. You know, I don't know, like a decade, 15 years later of when you got the intro to bill, he's like, okay, here's one thing, go do it. And you went and did it. And because it was such a thing with the Christmas Carol, and you actually did it. That's why he can't get rid of you. And that's why you have, Carcerem the famous fantasy series.
Now that took a life of its own because of the same model from what groomed you from when you were from, when you were a child to your teenage years.
Yeah, absolutely. And, and I mean, I've worked with people who, you know, I have meetings with people and I'm like, Hey, I need this and this and this. They go, well, if you go do this thing, then, then I can help you with that. And I go do that. And I come back and I'm like, yeah, I can't help you because they never expected. They talked to so many people. They never expected it to happen. And they didn't want to be the one that says I can't do anything for you. So they tell you what they tell you to do something that they think is impossible. And when you do it, and bill is not that way, bill like, well, shit. I said, I could do it. I'm going to follow through with it. Now
On the flip side from a different perception, I found also, cause what you're talking about, I've experienced myself sometimes when someone says, oh, we'll go and do this thing. And then I'll help you like go and do this thing. And then come talk to me most 99% don't do it. But then when someone does show up and do they do it, the flip side of it is not only do they not expect you to do it, but it happens. And then they realize it's not actually what they wanted. It was BS in their own mind, something that they thought they wanted. But when it actually went to actualize, they're like, wait a minute. No. So it's like a, it's a hack. Sometimes it's like an illusion and we keep ourselves from ourselves and we project certain things that we want something to happen.
But when it actually happens, it's like, so you were a gift to that person, to those people. It's
And I will say that again, your self-awareness and all that stuff going on. If somebody says something like, look, if you can do this, then I can help you. And to you, it goes that doesn't make any sense. I'm not going to do that. I won't do it. But if they say something, I'm like, okay, that makes sense. I can understand how that could be the step. And then I do it. Even if they can't help me, it's still a tool. It's still something that's on my it's in my packet that I can go to the next person with. Yeah. So, I mean, I sat down in front of people who were like, okay, let me see, how can I help you? And I say, you know, this was years ago, but this is what I want to do. This Audio thing. This is what I want to do. And the first thing out of their mouth is no one's going to listen to that. To me again, to me that says, something says way more about them than it does me, because they could have said, well, can you explain this to me or explain to me why somebody would listen, because then they're open to the idea of what I'm talking about.
If they come, nobody's going to listen to that. You need to change the idea. They've already put themselves at, in, on audit defensive mode where I have to not only convince them that my idea has validity, but it has to be good enough that they can suppress their own ego and admit that they were wrong. And to get someone to admit that they were wrong is very difficult. But to convince somebody that you're right is not as hard.
It takes so much of that invisible energy. It's exhausting. And yeah. When you're brainstorming it's everything's yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I was just listening to something. I don't remember what it was off the top, but I listening to, I was watching a, it was a YouTube video that I watched and they said that in the writer's room of the office, they have a month where they just brainstorm and everything's like in the cloud. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And then they take the best of the yes. But if you're meeting someone off the get and they're like shutting you down, it's it's almost not like an F-you, it's almost like a Thank you. Cause it means like don't waste my time and my energy with this person.
And the weird thing is that like these were meetings again, I have like business packets, I have all this stuff. I have business outlines and all these things. And they were the ones that would be like, I'd be like, Hey, can I meet with you? There? There was something, there's something for small businesses called the small business bureau. And they have things all over the country score where they can help people, you know, refine for free refine their business plans or their, you know, financial plans or any of these ideas. And so I went there. Some people were helpful. Some people were not because they had no concept of what I was doing. But one person, one person passed me to somebody else who passed me to somebody else. And he goes, yeah, let's, let's meet.
I go, I meet him at a coffee shop with all my binders and all that stuff. And that's the first thing out of his mouth. And I'm like, great. This meeting now is not about me getting anything from you. It's not about me pitching your idea to me. This meeting is about you not hating me when we leave here. So I have another ally just energetically in my life. I'm not going to get help from you. I know that right off the bat, but I'm going to explain to you what I'm doing, how passionate I am. So at least somebody else out in the world is goes, I like that kid. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. And two things, one to go through all that, jumping through so many hoops and then, and having that meeting, I mean, it's already life and it's already like, especially with mental health, a struggle to get through that within itself, without the mental stuff, it's like, oh my God, it's like a quadruple whammy here. It's like, oh my God. I feel it. I under I get it. I understand.
Yeah. And it's, I mean, I was living in New York and so to get from where I was down to, I had to go to wall street and then I'm, you know, again, I was working construction jobs and acting jobs and all these things. I wasn't making a lot. So to go from here down to, you know, take an hour train to get to here and then have to by myself and this person, that coffee, and then to have them do that. You're kind of like this sucks, but I will say that it happens a lot and it can't, it's one of those things where you can't let it discourage you because like dating, you only need one, you just need one. And if you, I have the confidence in everything that I do to go, well, somebody else feeling like, I don't know what I'm doing.
Doesn't actually give validity to the idea that I don't know what I'm doing. I've done it before I can do it again. I don't know certain things, but you're deciding something on me. So there terrible ideas out there don't get me wrong. And that's where self-awareness is key. Where if you're like, if I really evaluate this, this is a terrible idea
And your dream and your idea, and to make it sacred, sacred, and hold on to that. Because so many people out there will want a squash. So being like really, you know, self-aware like you said, and confident with who and what you're doing. Well, a couple of things, one, thankfully for the pandemic, we're doing all the meetings on zoom. So trust me going, if you're living in the city and you're going on a train or taking a new bird and you're like, oh, it's quick. You're just cause everyone in LA thinks, oh, it's so easy just to pop down to wall street, yo, you have to go through thousands of people, if not hundreds or whatever it takes up time and energy, like going on the train, getting ready. Like even though it's like, oh, it seems so much quicker than, you know, driving in your car to LA across town, 30, 40 minutes, like getting from one side of the city to the other.
It's a lot because it's not just getting in your car, isolated and dealing with other cars like you're dealing with other actual human beings. It's a lie. It's a lot to go to a meeting downtown in financial district.
And if I remember correctly, cause I've had a number of meetings in that same situation where if you're doing it in the summer, you have to pack. Cause I'm a sweater. So I would pack my nice clothing in a backpack and my jacket in a backpack. And then either find a bathroom when I got to the building or quickly put this stuff on in the elevator, like just your button down in the elevator. So you don't have sweat stains all over it and you're doing all this stuff and you show up and you're like, I mean, in New York, everybody has secret bathrooms that they know about, oh, if I'm in this area of the city, I know there's a bathroom in that hotel, but no one will bother me if I go to use it and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's insane. But again, I always think to myself, well, at least this is going to be a good story at some point.
And it is, I get the entire day now is something that I can use on this amazing podcast. And it's entertaining because I went through that miserable day
Seriously, seriously. And it's like, I mean, this is just a little sidebar since we're on the topic. Let me, you mentioned, you mentioned being a part of fashion, New York fashion or fashion week. I don't know LA or New York, but I'm like in fashion and stuff, but like I would secretly like always judge the girls who are like, oh my gosh, like they wear their rain boots and like carry their heels. I'm like, I was like, oh my God. And I was just like, so like judging like anti, like I'm not carrying around like shoes and a bag. I would just like rearrange my schedule to like, not go outside if it was like raining. If I had to like carry my heels. Okay, fine. I did it a couple times for some auditions, but like I try to have very minimal like do that whole like carrying bags in the heat, like to see those girls just like in public, like change their shoes.
I was like, no, LA anyways, that's just kind of like a pet peeve. The other short little story I have is my beautiful car in LA, my whole trunk, you open it. And I am such an organized person that I have everything colored categorized, swimwear skirts, like, you know, for different auditions. You know, sometimes you get seven auditions a day and I would have like different in my car, you know, having to change between auditions. Yeah. Yeah. Cool.
It's a crazy world, man. You got to tell you it's crazy world
Wrapping up this area. But the one thing I want to lastly say about this and everything you just shared, Shane is the, the book, the four agreements and
Love
That. Okay. You do. Yeah. Love it.
You'll love it. Is it only four? I can't
Remember. There's no. Now there's a fifth agreement that he wrote with his son and, but it's the whole book is the fifth agreement. But yeah, it's only for,
I will say I hate that stuff. I'm not a woo person. I have nothing against it. I'm not somebody who's like, this is all terrible, anything like that. But I was going through when I got back from Disney, I went through a really bad time again. And a friend of mine gave me that book. It was on tape actually. And the one agreement that I, it actually very much helped me. And I really, as an ego hate to say that I really don't like selling that, that book actually helped me, but it was from a, a psychological analysis point. Those agreements. It was really the, the don't take anything personally. And that's the one that I don't make assumptions.
Those are the two that were so hard for me because I, I mean, I would talk to my friend and I would not argue with him, but I would discuss things and again, have these philosophical discussions about it. And they have helped me in more ways than I can count it.
I love to hear that. I love, I love that. Thank you for sharing. The one thing that really, that like struck my chord when you were sharing everything about, you know, when someone would say, Hey, go do this and then I'll help you. So I wanted to share with everyone here, the four agreements, one of the agreement is be impeccable with your word. So if someone tells you, I'll go do something and then I'll help you. And then they're not of their word. Like again, self-awareness like be mindful of people's words and what they say. Like, you know, cause we as entrepreneurs and human beings need to be aware of being impeccable with our word. If I say, I'm going to help you or Hey, I'm going to show up and I'm going to do something.
And that person doesn't like be mindful of their word. Yeah. So we just really wanted to.
And when they do that also don't take it personally because again, like I said, a hundred times, it's not a reflection of you. It's a reflection of them. And, and that means a lot to me that has meant a lot to me throughout the last, however many years has been since I sort of wrapped my head around those concepts.
Beautiful.
Yeah. It's not for everybody, but somehow I was at a time in my life when I was like, okay, I get this. I can get, I can, I can wrap my head around this.
Yeah. Beautiful. Beautiful. Yeah. That's so that's the four agreements. And then there's the fifth agreement, which is its own book
Agreement. Do you remember?
It's about it's about independence and being responsible for your own vessel, like your own, which I feel like you definitely are circling back around to when you were in college and you were, you know, a part of the community and showing up and taking action. You were building your own empire because a lot of thespians fall fellow thespians. They they're like, I don't wanna say they're victims, but they're like, oh, they're waiting for someone else to give them an opportunity. They're waiting for someone else, the agent to call them, to give them a job instead of creating their own series instead of creating something.
And so I really want to honor you Shane, because you have now employed over 80 actors in your new series, coz serum series, and you employ people. So you and yourself to like your elite actor in this series. And so you've taken this model that you developed at a very young age, and you've empowered yourself as an artist and created vehicles to not, not only produce your own series, your own content, but you give other humans, other artists an opportunity to express their talent. And that is so cool. And that's just like a really amazing,
Thank you. And one of the things we're, we're again, one of the biggest things we're proud of is that we have people in this show from, you know, Jane Lynch who has won Emmy's Piper, Laurie, who was up for Oscars to people that this was their first job that we know that they've been working, trying to do things for years and years and years. And we were able to give them a job because we know how hard they've been working and how dedicated they are to themselves and to us. So it's a really, it was really amazing to work with such a wide scale of people to put this together at different levels of everything,
To have your cup, fill, to fill others, cobs for them to fill yours for you to fill theirs for them to fill yours. It's just, it's a woven stream of fluid water.
Yeah. It's like a water slide that has a pump pushing it up to the top
Up and down, up and down and in between banana slide. That's so cool. That's so cool. That's so cool. Yeah. So you have like award winners on your, on the show. I saw Bob he's who introduced you to tell the famous Porgy peg Bob Bergen. Who's always talked about in the voiceover rooms, workshops in communities who introduce you, then you honored him and had him in the show for two episodes. I saw it was two episodes.
They think, well, I won't tell you.
Okay, forget it don't even do any about that right now. You guys update as it goes along. And then one of my personal favorites, like I love the film almost famous. And Cameron Crowe, the famous director, the famous director, who's a director, not an actor comes in and gets directed, schooled by bill Holmes. And he's like, I saw that five minute video he did on Instagram, on the car. Siham Instagram. You have to see it. And I'm sitting there watching, because like, I love that film, almost famous. Gail Levin, who? Cameron Crowe. I don't know if she's still, he still does, but in the past always hired Gail Levin for casting her movie.
She's like this big time casting director. She was a casting director at paramount pictures. I like, I went out for mean girls, the original one. And so I knew like about Cameron Crowe because of Gail and I like looked him up and I'm like, oh my God, my favorite movie almost famous. Like, is this legendary awesome, cool director. And then he's in your Series.
Yeah, he, he's a really cool guy too. And he is in love with the show as well. So if you need anybody else to give a recommendation to the show after that, I can't really help you.
I know seriously, like Sarah, everyone has to listen to it, download it, share it with your friends. Let's spread the message, get the word out there. You see, you know, all the ethics, morals, values, choices, you know, we make as artists, as human beings, what you've done for the community on your artist journey. I mean, it's a beautiful story and I'm so happy for you to be on she's all over the place and sharing some of these stories. How cool.
Absolutely. I'm having a great time. Thank you for having me and yeah, this is great.
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. And so like the homeys Dana powers, she's the lead. She plays aura
As she's and she's incredible. She's just, I mean, we could not have cast anybody better. She cares so much about the project, about aura, about everything. I, it would not be at all show without her she's and she's just the most incredibly talented person.
So you've know her work ethic. And you met her from bill homes. Right. And so was she automatically up for the role that you addition for it? Like what happened? Cause I know she has an amazing work ethic. Like
She does. I mean, we actually had bill had somebody else in mind for the role and we had that person come in and they audition and we were like this isn't right. And then we had Dana come in and we're like, oh, this is right. This is, this is amazing. So, I mean, it could not have worked out more, perfectly in any way, shape or form.
There you go. Even when you're in Hollywood and you know, people, even if they're your friend, you still have them audition and they, it might be someone else and they could be your friend too, but it's like, Hey, you know, we'll put you on the show, but you're not the lead. And you ultimately, you go with the energy of the overall talent and you were like, oh yeah, this is, this is the goodbye.
I mean, again, you can't take it personally. I've been turned down for jobs because I didn't have enough Twitter followers. And I'm like, well, that has nothing to do with me. I was, I was up for a big part in something and in a play out here in LA and I ran into the director a year later and she was like, oh, did you ever hear what happened with that? And I was like, no, I just assumed I didn't get it. It was weird. Cause it was going, it went so well and everything, she goes, they gave it to the casting designer because she said, she'd do the costumes for free. If they put her in the show,
Power, move, power
Move. And that's again, has nothing to do with me. I showed up, I did everything that I could and you know, it's not a reflection on my quality of being.
Yeah, yeah. I know. I know we take those hits. That could be another podcast where we just come on and he be call it, taking the hits. We can share about that. Let's talk about George. George makes, has an arc in the show. Right? He comes on. He has, yeah, he's on for multiple series. So that's really cool. He's on the show.
Yep. And he, he gets it. He's performing with Neil Flynn, who was the janitor from scrubs and a gray Delisle, who is the female voice of your childhood? She was wonder woman. She was Daphne from Scooby doo. She like all this stuff. She was on the Simpsons now. And so he's with them and Robbie Rist, who was a ninja turtle and he's amazing. And he brings out all of those other people too. So,
And you Shane from Seattle who goes to school and the OSI and decides to double down during, you know, during off classes to just to be involved more of the community. Now you go to create opportunities for these people in the Hollywood entertainment and in the entertainment in the world because we're international now. So it's not only people with the Emmys from zero to hero, but beginners too. It's like we're, we're all one. And giving people opportunities. Like, I mean, I just like applaud to you. This is
So cool.
Yeah. You came and to fulfill your cup, you also fulfill other people's cups. You know, that's so cool to be like a producer, a spearhead, a leader, and you have a great head on your shoulders, all, all, all dealing with, you know, the turbulences of, you know, mental health and emotions that we all go through. Sunlight. We all, we all go through some kind of physical, mental health. Right. But kudos to your family, you know, the scientists in your family, the doctors, the support system and the people who, you know, supported you along your path. That's really, really neat.
Yeah. Thank you. I've been very, very lucky with, with a lot of that stuff. So I really appreciate it. Yeah.
Yeah. So kind of like honing in all of it. So you curated this opportunity is, and then is bill Holmes a writer with you? Or do you write only by yourself?
No. Bill Holmes is a, is a Creator producer director of this thing, our writers, we had a couple, we had a writers weekend that had about six or seven people. Jojo Henderson was there and he was keeping us on track and making sure we filled in all these holes. So we spent that weekend writing what the world was and then sort of bullet points of every episode. Then I handed those bullet points of the, are I fill out even more of those bullet points, handed those episodes to two different writers, Laura Davey and Aaron Tessalon. They wrote their versions of them. I took their versions. I either rewrote them or just modify them to make sure everything fit together. And then we passed it off to George Ackles who did a lot of proofreading and world-building, and then we pass it back to me and I read what, how George changed it and made sure that nothing too vital changed.
And then we pass it to Joe Joe to make sure everything made sense. And then bill read it and goes, okay, let's make this thing.
Wow. Oh my God. I love that. I love that. That's so cool. That's so cool. So, okay, so, so that's, and then you do the sound and then you also, you're an actor, a voice actor and a major role Kevin in the series. Yep. Neat. And for the, all the new fans here, are there any words of wisdom or any words about the show that you want people to know about?
Yes. Start at the beginning because it's a continuous story. Just get ready to not know what to expect. It's not like something you've ever heard before. So go and do an open mind.
That's important. That's important. So it's on every streaming platform. You can think about apple, Spotify, all of them I'm listening on apple. So when you get a vibe and a feel and make sure to hit the five star, leave a review, it's really important to leave the review. It's really important to share with people who you think would be interested in the series. It really has a life of its own. And it's, it's so neat just to like spend some time with yourselves or, you know, if you want to share it with, you know, with a partner or something, or if you just kind of want to, you know, just chill out. And I personally just turned out the lights and I listened to nine episodes in a row.
And I just decided to go on a journey with myself in the dark, just so I could let the imagery come up and with the sound because it's so cinematic, it, it really takes you on a visceral journey. Oh my God. I love spirit. The horse spirit. And, and like the cackles of her Hoose of the, her, her footsteps, not the hosts, the footsteps of, of horse who Suzy well horse. And it's like the horse. And it's like somebody, cause it's like sometimes when there's like more, more steps, it's like, you can tell like they're speeding up in like walking fast. And then all of a sudden, or I was like, yo, slow down. And it's like, it's like, oh yeah, that's cause, but it's so cool.
It's the attention to the detail of it. It's just, it's so visual. And you, you take the idea and you, you know, you envision your own story with it. So it's great for the imagination. I think it's very therapeutic for the mind to go on that journey instead of allowing the TV to brainwash and tell and direct you where to go, you can really tune in with your own senses, allow it to take you on this journey.
Yeah. We have a lot of people that say it's like reading a book in that way, but you don't have to be reading anything. A lot of people say I was listening to it at work, but then I realized I was staring at my computer screen, not working because I had to pay so close attention. So it's one of those
Half out you're half in half out. You, you don't want to kind of be half and half out to fully immerse yourself. Like I would say, I don't want to get too intimate on y'all, but like, you know, take a bath, you know, like after you take a bathroom or something or like a hot shower and you're decompress, then lie down on the bed or the couch or the floor or whatever, but turn out the light. That's why I say turn off the lights. So there's no distractions going on. So you can just close your eyes and be immersed into this new world. Yeah. Very cool. All right. So I guess everyone definitely check out the Series. Carcerem the series. Everything will be in the show notes and wrapping up with Shane here for the listener and the viewer from a human perspective, any words for a fellow artists out there I'll follow human, who wants to take action and embark on their journey and they feel stuck or maybe a little lost any tips,
Embrace that loss feeling because it's not going away. One step at a time. You know, when I write, I will write something terrible, but I'll get through it and then I'll go back and edit. That's how it is for everything. Be honest with yourself, really about how you're feeling and what you want to do. Are you striving towards a goal because you think if you don't hit that goal, you're a failure or are you striving towards a goal because you want to hit that goal because you'll enjoy it. There's no such thing as a failure. There's just your own preconceived notions of what you should be doing and be nice to yourself because it's really hard. And yeah, let me know if you need any help
And how can people get in contact with you? We'll put it in the show notes, but for you personally, what says
Any of my social media is probably the best way to do it. Instagram. I read my, my direct messages. LinkedIn hit me up there. The Carcerem the series.com. There's like, there's a place where you can write, send in like contact us. I'm that person there too. Very cool.
Very cool. Very cool. I'm to, I'm totally inspired. Remind me about this because I definitely want to do it. I write on thrive global and medium, and I want to do an article on medium for you and the team. Yeah. I would love to do that thrive. It's a different platform because they have meditative story. So you're not able to like talk about, you're not really promoting other podcasts on there cause they have their own, but right. But maybe we could in the near future, come up with a different angle of a beautiful story of honoring your journey of who you are and everything. And that could funnel people to something you've created. I think that could be cool to do articles on both platforms.
I will definitely keep in touch and thank you so much for having me. It's been a blast.
Yeah, definitely. I appreciate you. Thank you so much. Okay, cool. With that being said, we're going to wrap it up. She's all over the place. And we really went all over the place with you. And if you feel that's true, then let us know in the comments, share with everyone who are people who are into mental health community. That's being voiceover. Artists are actors, turn producers, actors who take people and give people opportunities. I mean, to empower one, another people who are into fantasy series and, and want to hear something new people who are into sound design and, and, and Shane's really leading in the space. He's been in the space for such a long time and he's bossing and you'll hear it with the quality of his new series.
Carcerem the series, check it out. Okay, cool. And yeah, we'll see you next week on she's all over the place. Thank you so much for joining us. We'll see you next time, Kyriaki over and out.
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