How Emmy Award-Winning Film Producer Mark Maxey Brings Stories to Life

Arnold 00:00:00  Do you ever wonder what film producers do as opposed to film directors? We're going to talk to an Emmy Award winning producer today on Saint Louis and tune. In. Well, greetings, listeners and listener, and welcome to Saint Louis and tune. And thank you for joining us for fresh perspectives on issues and events with experts, community leaders and everyday people who make a difference in shaping our society and world. I'm Arnold Stricker along with co-host Mark Langston. Mark, good morning to you. Good morning.

Mark 00:00:40  To you. I'm intrigued. Well, the difference between a producer and a director.

Arnold 00:00:46  I sometimes I think producers don't get the love.

Mark 00:00:49  Oh, no, they don't know. And it's not their money that's making the whole thing happen or something like that, I don't know.

Arnold 00:00:55  They're like the wheels behind the machine.

Mark 00:00:57  That's what I'm going to guess.

Arnold 00:00:59  We'll find out from our guests here in a moment. But first, our return to civility. We like to return to civility and encourage everyone to return that way.

Arnold 00:01:06  Perform company service projects require employees to volunteer at least three times per year, and offer them time away from the office to do so. Once a month, organize 4 to 10 people to either deliver hot meals to shut ins, or go help out at a local food shelf.

Mark 00:01:22  I think that's a wonderful idea.

Arnold 00:01:25  It really builds a lot of unity and an investment in the community in which they the business is located.

Mark 00:01:31  Oh yeah, and folks that wouldn't normally do that type of volunteer work, it's helping them get into it a little bit and reaching out and helping our fellow person. Yeah.

Arnold 00:01:44  And I know a lot of people may require them to do that. Yeah. There are require them to volunteer.

Mark 00:01:50  Public companies do that. They give them a nice t shirt I think usually.

Arnold 00:01:53  Clean up kinds of things and.

Mark 00:01:54  Yeah, get a day off. Yeah. build some camaraderie with your fellow workers and things like that. Absolutely. I think it's a great idea. I think I wish more companies would do it.

Mark 00:02:06  Maybe they do and I just don't see it.

Arnold 00:02:08  And more companies involved in kind of what I would call social aspects of the community. And our guest is one who invests that way. Also our guest is Mark Maxey. He's an Emmy Award winning producer and president of Rolling Pictures, which is a motion picture production company in Burbank, California. His recent productions include the political thriller World Words of War, also Space Oddity, which stars Kevin Bacon and also Mayim Bialik. She directed. That was her debut as They Made Us Another One by Dustin Hoffman, and Candice Bergen starred in That Rare Objects, many others, The Kill Room, starring Samuel L Jackson and Uma Thurman. Wow. Maxie is on the National Board of Producers Guild of America and is a voting member of the Television Academy. He is co-founder and chairman emeritus of the Washington West Film Festival, the only film festival to donate. Get this mark 100% of box office proceeds to help at risk youth and families in need.

Mark 00:03:09  Oh good for them.

Arnold 00:03:10  He serves on the board of Women in Film and Video, Artistic Fuel Foundation and the Rock and roll for Children Foundation, benefiting families fighting pediatric cancer at the Children's Inn at the National Institute of Health.

Arnold 00:03:21  He's a longtime supporter and volunteer for the USO, supporting American men and women in uniform and their families and kids in the spotlight, which changes outcomes for at risk foster youth in Los Angeles through innovative visual arts programs. He puts his money where his mouth is the social aspect in helping the community. Mark Maxey welcome to Saint Louis and tune.

Mark Maxey 00:03:40  Wow. Thank you Mark. Thank you Arnold.

Mark 00:03:43  It's almost sounds like a presentation for an Emmy or something for him. He's one way.

Arnold 00:03:49  He's he's won. How long was that speech when you got.

Mark 00:03:52  Up there and received that award Mark. watermark.

Mark Maxey 00:03:54  It was recorded in the introduction.

Mark 00:03:58  They had the big hook over there on the side going, okay, well.

Arnold 00:04:02  We want people to know that.

Mark 00:04:03  You have a very.

Arnold 00:04:05  Good pedigree of what you did. We just don't throw everyday people out here who have done nothing. We have everyday people who have contributed to our world and everything like that. So take us back to, Lawrence, Kansas, which I'm very familiar with and I'm very familiar with.

Arnold 00:04:21  I'll tell the audience I'm very familiar with the family. And actually, Mark's father was my clarinet professor. Oh, and I got to know the family and actually stay in the home when they were on sabbatical. But tell us a little bit about how you got involved and what you're doing here.

Mark Maxey 00:04:39  As you mentioned, my father. Thank you both. My parents are classical musicians, but though I grew up in a very in a household that was very focused on music and the art, which was a great way to be raised. I always loved film and visual art. and that in part may have been because across from where we where I was raised was, the only the only film studio in Kansas was across the street from our house. It was an early introduction to the magic of moviemaking and what went on in that we were extras in some of the films that they did. There was mostly educational thing. That's where I learned about video and sound and lighting and craft services and all the different elements that go into putting together a production and.

Mark 00:05:28  Got the bug. It sounds like that's a good place to get the bug right across the street. That's yeah, it's amazing.

Mark Maxey 00:05:34  Just a magical place and perhaps an inspiration that returned later on.

Arnold 00:05:39  In a pretty famous place. Cintron Film Studios, that was.

Mark 00:05:43  A.

Arnold 00:05:44  Pretty, pretty prominent at the time, wasn't it?

Mark Maxey 00:05:47  Yeah. For their neat educational films Professionally, they were a very well-respected, award winning film production studio. They're on the commercial side. They're perhaps best known for the cult classic B-movie A Carnival of Soul, with their one of their few commercial ventures in the 60s. That was a double feature at the Brighton back in the day.

Arnold 00:06:11  Now you did you go on to get a degree in filmmaking or journalism or what happened? How did that proceed from there?

Mark Maxey 00:06:19  Yeah, no. So my, my, I was not one of the people that wanted to be a filmmaker when I grew up. And so that is not what I pursued academically. I really go I moved to the East Coast and was working for a technology company and the interactive television space, but I was part of the marketing department there.

Mark Maxey 00:06:37  And then that kind of evolved into our role with the production company doing television and corporate and industrial production, and I fell into the role of producer. I started off putting together project and productions and budgets and team and then crafting stories, and I just found my, you know, found my place. But I was not one of the kid that grew up making movies in my backyard, just like friends. And I dreamed of going to film school and being George Lucas or Steven Spielberg.

Mark 00:07:12  That love it.

Mark Maxey 00:07:13  That maybe they'll play. And I just fell into it.

Arnold 00:07:16  And you've had an opportunity to work with Lucas, haven't you?

Mark Maxey 00:07:19  Oh, no. I've worked with people that, that have worked with them, but I've not yet had had the opportunity to work with them directly now.

Arnold 00:07:28  Now, you've you've also written and you're known as a producer, but you've written, produced and directed something on your own.

Mark 00:07:35  Can I ask Mark real quick? This goes along the same lines that you're talking about. You are a producer, a director and a writer.

Mark 00:07:42  Is there one of those that you like best?

Mark Maxey 00:07:46  Oh yeah, I'm a producer. I wish I could write, and I'm envious of the people who have that gift, but it eludes me largely. I know enough good writers and good directors to know that I am neither, in the same way that I can change the oil on my car. But that doesn't mean that I should write.

Mark 00:08:04  Well put.

Mark Maxey 00:08:06  I'm a producer. That's where I sit that the the project that you mentioned, that I directed, that wrote and produced was a very personal story, the documentary about my dear friend and and partner in rolling pictures, Duffy Walbert. Bobby is just a remarkable person, perhaps best known for being the composer of the television shows The West Wing, The Wonder Year, 30 something, Friday Night Light and any other television program that you've heard of. He's just a remarkable man and brilliant composer, and the film that I did was really a look at his journey musically. He started off in the 70s as the touring guitar player.

Mark Maxey 00:08:50  He toured with Emerson, Lake and Palmer and, you know, recorded with Stevie Wonder and Doctor Kahn and just had this incredible career during the 70s and the heyday of sex, drugs, rock and roll and hit led to the excesses of that era, and at a certain point in his career, he chose sobriety. He realized that he was on a self-destructive path and needed to get sober. And when you're a touring guitar player, that's all you know. And once you got over, he realized he couldn't go back out and keep doing what he'd been doing, and he'd fall back into the lifestyle he was trying to escape from. So he at that point had to reinvent himself. And and that's when he got into drawing for television and film. And it's just a remarkable look at his journey. And it's much a story of a redemption. The musical look at the career. But if that was a very personal story, they'll be told through his friend, the people on the dome there in Sorkin, Martin Sheen, Fred Pavard, Tom Arnold, the guitar player for Toto and the keyboard player for The Who and the drummer for the band Chicago.

Mark Maxey 00:10:03  And through their stories, we reveal, who cannot be of and and the other thing about Mafia American is that one of the themes of that film and of his life is of being a servant to others, which kind of fits in with how you started this program with the beautifully cooked the his whole reason for living is to be a servant to others, and that just such a beautiful thing. And I think the world needs more of that.

Mark 00:10:26  Yeah.

Arnold 00:10:27  Well, let's talk about that, because the organization that you have that you are president of really has a social responsibility. And we mentioned that at the front end when I read a little of your bio, what was the impetus behind that? And I know just in even in D.C. with the Washington Film Festival and the proceeds was there discussion amongst the people of the film festival or of of rolling pictures and like, what are we going to do with this? Should we save this for new artists or should we just help the community? How was that process?

Mark Maxey 00:11:00  Yeah, I think in the case of the Washington White Film Festival specifically, that was the brainchild of the friend of mine, Brad Walthall, who conceived of the idea of starting a film festival but using it as an agent for good to to take the world for the better.

Mark Maxey 00:11:16  So the kind of the tagline, the mantra for the festival, the story can change the world. And I believe that, you know, through stories and visual and musical art, you can make the world a better place. And as part of that, you know, we wanted to take 100% of the box office and use it to solve the narrative made in the community, not just in an The oversized Photoshop sort of way, which oftentimes is what fundraiser turned into. But in a very targeted, specific way, so much so that we would actually create a short film that would play the next year's festival that showed how the funds were used and the impact it had on the community being helped, that the audience could see the impact that they were having just by buying a ticket and participating in the festival that year. It was a beautiful thing that evolved over the last 12 years, and it's something I'm very proud to still be part of. Or we're preparing for our next role, which will take place in October.

Arnold 00:12:15  I think that's a just an outstanding way to do that, especially showing people the following year. Hey, this is where the funds went. Yeah. And have other organizations in the DC area and even in the California Burbank area picked up on that theme, like giving back to the community and some social responsibility ways.

Mark Maxey 00:12:36  I think a lot of people Or I can tell you that from a different perspective. Giving away your largest source of revenue is a terrible business model. I don't think other festivals have necessarily embraced or adopted what we do here, but but certainly that commitment to serve it. I mean, one of the things that we're doing now, actually, in partnership with Kevin Bacon, Adam and I had lent into my introduction, I, I've had the pleasure of working with an MLA. He has a foundation called degrees, and Washington Film Festival and Kevin Bacon Foundation have teamed up to create a Servant Day. So we're going to bring 100 volunteers from the festival. We're inviting our audiences to participate in that, and we're going to put together backpacks with supplies and things that are needed that will be distributed throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia to foster get them at risk youth.

Mark Maxey 00:13:29  That's an example of leveraging the festival and and taking it beyond the train into the community and have a positive impact on people in need around.

Mark 00:13:38  Bravo, Bravo! Yes. Anytime you can help at risk youth. I've been involved in projects that have. It's so worthwhile. It makes such a difference and impact on the community and on these young lives and where they end up as they grow. It just gives them a new perspective on what life in society is all about. Bravo to you, Mark, for your efforts there. You don't need me to tell you that, but good for you. Yeah, that's.

Arnold 00:14:07  Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston of Saint Louis. And two, we're talking to Mark Maxey. He is a film producer. And Mark, I guess the question that we tease the audience with at the beginning was the difference between a producer and director. And I said, the producers don't get a lot of love because their name's not last on the screen. And it seems like you do all the front work and a director does the work with the actors.

Arnold 00:14:28  Explain that, yes or no? Am I right or wrong on that stuff?

Mark Maxey 00:14:32  No, you're spot on. I think producer is one of the most misunderstood roles in Hollywood. My father recently appeared with me a quote from Hal Wallet, who was a prominent producer back in the 40s and 50s. The films like The Blocker, and even at his time, he was trying to explain what a producer does, and he explained to the producers, the person who chooses the film he's going to make and hires the writers, and the time to decide what will be filmed and treated to the director will be in the cast and all the different aspects of the production and that. I think that that's true. The director, the director, the director's vision that translated the film and the director's vision that audience did. But the producer that that puts all the pieces in play to the label that directed vision to be realized. Another way of looking at it is that, and this is one of the things I love about film is that it's such a collaborative medium.

Mark Maxey 00:15:27  So if you want the movie, you see all the names and the credit to the end to take. So many people eat in their own wall, working together in concert appropriately to create the two hour film that you see. But someone has to hire those people, and someone has to do the logistics and make sure that everything's in place and have the permits and have the funding and have the trucks and the equipment and the stages and the actors, them. It all has to be in place. There's writers and people that are involved in preparing for production. There's all the department heads and the director that are involved in the actual production. Once production that finished, then in post-production, there's editors and composers and colorists and proud people doing the things that they do necessary to deliver the film, and then the people that sell it and distribute it. And there are different roles in each of those. Then the producer is the only one that's there from the beginning to the end. And that's why when you if you watch the Oscars, there's an award for best actor and best director and best costume, the makeup and all the other heads of department that go into creating the film.

Mark Maxey 00:16:35  But when the order is given for Best Picture, it's given to the producer because it was the producer that put all those pieces in place and allow that to happen.

Arnold 00:16:44  You know, that corrects me, because I and I did know that I always thought the director got that award, but it is the producers.

Mark 00:16:50  I'll be darned. Wow.

Arnold 00:16:51  And rightfully so.

Mark 00:16:52  Sometimes I see numerous producers, even. Maybe one of the stars of the piece is one of the producers. I've always found that to be fascinating, too. There's 3 or 4 producers, and one of them is the star of the show, and that's an interesting one.

Mark Maxey 00:17:08  That's one of the challenges, I think, for producers as a whole, is that there's many different types of producers on many different types of producer credit, so there's executive producers and producers and the third year producers and co-producers them, and they can serve a different role and have the different function. And even between film and television, it's different on film. And executive producer is oftentimes a financier, or in some cases, an actor who contributed to enabling the film to get made in some meaningful way.

Mark Maxey 00:17:41  And then television executives are is oftentimes the head writer and was in a very creative hands on. Well, even between television and film, the title don't always mean the same thing. So I think that adds to a lot of the mystery that surrounds the the role of producer.

Mark 00:17:58  And, it is amazing, Mark, to, to watch those credits. Like you said before, it's the so many people, so many hands are involved in making a film that lasts a couple hours. It's which, as I know, takes years sometimes to make. But wow, the amount of people, the logistics that have to be involved. You wonder why isn't anybody making a movie? I've seen some wow. And they sometimes they've got a whole nother crew and a whole nother country. It's just amazing to me how it all comes together. It's above my head.

Mark Maxey 00:18:32  Yeah, it's like that on a larger scale. I think similar to what an orchestra is. And an orchestra. You have all these different instruments and they each have their different parts, and they all have to work together in perfect harmony to create the result.

Mark Maxey 00:18:46  That is the music that's being performed. And, and with so much the visual interpretation of that.

Mark 00:18:53  I think that's a great analogy.

Arnold 00:18:55  That's a great analogy. Now, I know you mentioned film and television and you've worked in both mediums, and obviously you're now in really in film, but discuss a little bit why you like film more than you like television, because you've done a lot with Armed Services, and we're going to get into that in a little bit. But why do you like film more than the television side of it?

Mark Maxey 00:19:17  Yeah. So the television, the television work I've done has been unscripted. And generally I'm not doing. I'm not creating the Big Bang Theory or friends or episodic entertainment theory. The television programs I've been part of have been Marvin Hamlisch from the National Symphony, doing a live broadcast from the Kennedy Center for the Troops on Christmas Eve. That was a PBS battles and things like that. It's been very singularly focused and generally unscripted, which was incredibly rewarding work. The story that I was privileged to help tell on the program are stories that are near and dear to me because of thay, but but they're you're you're telling coming up the story and part of the magic of film is creating your own story.

Mark Maxey 00:20:08  And so that's one of the reasons why I think I gravitated toward narrative film. Scripted film is that it's a chance to create something from Grant. That is a story that hasn't been told yet, and it's a very different process than what I've been doing with the television production. I've been involved with, and for me it's just a little more fun. And I did a lot of that earlier my career. The unscripted side of things. And then I reached a point in my career where I looked at the next 20 years, but do I want them to look like the last one year? Do I want them to look different? And so that that was the moment that I created Rolling Pictures and focused solely on narrative film, which is what I've been doing then and, and just loving, you know, every the story that I'm telling you, the people I'm working with every day when I get up, I'm excited to get to work.

Arnold 00:21:02  That's a great, great place to be. Because, man, if you don't like what you're doing and you're miserable.

Mark 00:21:08  Everybody else is miserable.

Arnold 00:21:10  Around you, it seems. And we're going to we're going to take a quick break.

Mark 00:21:13  And come back because.

Arnold 00:21:14  I've got some questions related to that. What you were just talking about narrative films, and we've got a couple other things we want to discuss related to your work with the your armed services and what projects you're currently working on. And what are you down the road in the industry and for your career? This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston of Saint Louis and Tune. We'll be right back. And the United States has a strong tradition of welcoming newcomers and refugees. The Welcome Corps is a new service opportunity for Americans inspired to welcome those seeking freedom and safety, and in turn, help strengthen their own communities. Welcome Corps is a public private partnership that is inspired by what Americans represent to so many around the world, a beacon of hope and refuge. All it takes is a helping hand. Are you ready to learn more? Contact the International Institute of Saint Louis at info at STL.

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Arnold 00:22:59  Welcome back to Saint Louis and tune. This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston. We are talking with producer Emmy Award winning producer Mark Maxey from Rolling Pictures. And Mark, as promised, what do you see is you mentioned the importance of narrative. And I guess my question relates to this. What is it about storytelling and narratives that resonates with people.

Mark Maxey 00:23:25  I'm not sure different people connect with different elements of story, but one of the things that I think film does both of the two new worlds or new ideas, or take them to places we couldn't go or bury things that we haven't experienced or in some ways helped us connect with things that that is relevant to us, that we have experienced in a different sort of way.

Mark Maxey 00:23:49  So I think that's just the magic of film, is that it could be so many things to so many different people, as opposed to documentary or something that's not scripted that very when you're making a documentary like journalism, you're sticking to the facts and trying to faithfully tell the story. You're using the people and places that were part of it. And with the narrative film that she's done that you could make it, could make it anything. And that creative freedom. I think that it's just the magic of film and and it's one of the reasons why I'm really enjoying the story that I'm part of today.

Arnold 00:24:24  How do you go about choosing a story that you want to be involved with, that you want to produce?

Mark Maxey 00:24:30  Yeah, that's a great question. Of all the stories that I've been part of have come to me from from that I know, and I get a lot of there's a lot of great ideas and great stories and great material out there. And it's we're not a huge company. We're doing a couple films a year that I tend to be very chubby and collective with the the project that Rolling Pictures gets involved with and the story that we tell.

Mark Maxey 00:24:57  I think in all cases, the stories have been character driven and compelling, at least for me. You mentioned I had the good fortune of helping produce my own Bialik directorial debut as they Made Up, which starred Dustin Hoffman as an abusive father and Candice Bergen as an alcoholic mother. And that was a very different kind of story than Space Oddity, which was directed by Kyra Sedgwick and starred Kevin Bacon and Alexander Shipp and Kyle Allen, which was more of a love story, just completely different, but in both cases very character driven, very compelling and story that in some level I just thought were were worthy of sharing with with the world.

Arnold 00:25:42  And the response in those has been really good.

Mark Maxey 00:25:47  Yeah, I think that my attachment to the director and the actor as that to me as a producer, again, I just put the pieces in play. But they're the ones that make you make the magic happen. But yeah, I'm, I am grateful that the film have been as well received as they have. And with the next film that, that I have.

Mark Maxey 00:26:09  But you had mentioned words of war with out the spring of next year, the after clay in the US and then move elsewhere around the world. That's the story of of an American born woman who was a Russian journalist who, early in the Putin administration, exposed some of the atrocities of what he was doing at that time to the people in Chechnya, and was poisoned on a flight from Moscow and survived and detained and harassed, but persevered and continued to write truthfully about what was happening in Russia and ultimately with family and friends, is just one story of more than 1800 journalists who have been killed so far, just a century. And I think that's just a staggering statistic and an important subject that I think more people should be aware of through bringing this woman. Her name was Dana Politkovskaya, bringing her story to to audiences, hopefully will be just a reminder of the importance of the work that journalists do, the importance of protecting a free press and and journalists right to report what is happening truthfully, without fear of death or reprisal.

Mark Maxey 00:27:22  Both types of stories are so important.

Mark 00:27:25  I think. So important. Yeah, right. Yeah.

Arnold 00:27:28  Your Emmy was for the honors. A Salute to American Heroes. And that was in 2014. But you've also done some television specials that really related to our veterans American Valor, Salute to Veterans, The Wounded Warrior Experience, National Memorial Day Parade, and as you mentioned, the concert, holiday concert for the troops with Marvin Hamlisch. What is it about? Is it just D.C.? Is it the environment of veterans that are at the time when you were where you were working and how you were working? That was projects that you were really embracing?

Mark Maxey 00:28:03  Yeah, I did not wear the uniform, but my father did, as did some of the others in his generation and in generations before, and I have so much respect for the men and women that do serve in the armed forces at that time. This was during the Bush administration and 911 had happened. We were at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we're deploying large numbers of people overseas.

Mark Maxey 00:28:31  And there were so many stories of heroism and valor and courage and service that, you know, it just made sense to try to share some of those with viewing audiences here back home. So each of those programs you mentioned all focused on different American heroes and from our servicemen and women, and it's truly just remarkable stories that were an honor to to help kind of spotlight on unsung heroes, everyday hero.

Arnold 00:29:00  Now you live in the DC metro area, but The Rolling Pictures is in Burbank. So I know electronic media is is great phones and and Skype and Zoom and all that stuff. Do you travel back and forth from coast to coast, or how do you deal with all of that?

Mark Maxey 00:29:18  I do, yeah, I go where the work dictates. So the company is based in California. I choose to reside on the East Coast, which has been my home since I left Canada. Back bleak. And and then the work is where it is. So the words of film I mentioned had me living in Latvia.

Mark Maxey 00:29:35  We filmed that in Eastern Europe because in the film it was set in Moscow and we needed complete to look like Moscow, but with, say, for us to work in. We spent several months in Latvia for the the Kevin Bacon film. We found that on a flower farm in Rhode Island. So it was a month in Rhode Island or the Dustin Hoffman film we filmed in new Jersey. So it was spending 4 or 5 weeks in new Jersey. In my work, I tend to go where the work is, which gives me the freedom to live where I want and then have my company where I want.

Arnold 00:30:07  Now, as you look back on your career. What? What are you most proud of in your accomplishments? What? We've mentioned highlights and things. But do some things rise to the surface above others?

Mark Maxey 00:30:18  I think I'm most proud of my kid.

Mark 00:30:21  Good for you.

Mark Maxey 00:30:22  I think my greatest work, my greatest accomplishment, producing two remarkable young men, one of whom is, is a music music educator.

Mark Maxey 00:30:30  as with my father, he's a he was a choir kid growing up and is now a music teacher for Loudon County Public Schools and in Virginia and and in my other thought that getting a master's and psychology, currently having completed the undergraduate in psychology at Michigan State, I think they're my two greatest accomplishment or contributions to the world. But I think if I had to choose a favorite film or a favorite story, I think it's always the next one. So in that case, that would be the.

Mark 00:31:02  The.

Mark Maxey 00:31:02  Story about the journal. I think that currently my favorite I'm always excited about what's that next?

Arnold 00:31:07  Very compelling.

Mark 00:31:07  Story. Oh, yeah. Wow. It's fantastic. You've met quite a few people. Do you ever get autographs from these folks at the Crazy Game?

Mark Maxey 00:31:18  It's funny, I, I don't I've never been an autograph seeker. And, I do have a few photos of people from over the years, which has been fun. But yeah, that for I think for maybe the upper story was perhaps the most rewarding for me personally in that sense, because not only not for your friend, but I.

Mark Maxey 00:31:39  I like the West Wing, I like The Wonder Years, and I like the show that he had worked on. So to tell the story by sitting down with, I mean, I spent my birthday with Martin Sheen one year because he was who we were interviewing that day for that film. Or Aaron Sorkin is one of my favorite television writer. And so to be able to sit down with their, Aaron and talk about his stories about working with snappy and why not be has been an prison for him. Both were real treat for me. That's where it doesn't feel like work. I feel like I'm getting the better end of that deal. I really enjoyed the people that were part of telling sign.

Mark 00:32:17  Mark, you're not in Kansas anymore, that's for sure. Thank you. Thank you. All right. What a journey to end up in Burbank, California, from Kansas. It's just it's just happens, right? I mean, absolutely. It's just it's one of those things that you follow your dream, you follow your heart and just find out where you end up.

Mark 00:32:37  It's just amazing in the end.

Mark Maxey 00:32:39  That's one of the things I tell my kids that follow the farm. If you're having fun and if you love what you do, then every day is a good day and going to work does feel like going to work. So I think that's the important lesson that some people don't learn early enough and like is to follow the fun you.

Mark 00:32:57  Yeah. So you're you're you pinch yourself every so often is.

Mark Maxey 00:33:03  I yeah No, I, I am in awe of where I am and the things that I'm doing and the people that I'm fortunate enough to work with. Yeah. No one's more surprised than I.

Mark 00:33:14  Yeah. And I'm sure they feel the same way about you, though, Mark. I'm sure. There. I do, I bet they do. They say I'm working with a fantastic producer here, and they put a lot of faith and trust into you, I think, as well. And it says a lot, I think. I don't think they would do that if they didn't have that, that faith and trusting in you.

Mark 00:33:32  That's true. They wouldn't do it with me. I think.

Mark Maxey 00:33:36  That's.

Arnold 00:33:36  Why that's why producers don't get the love at first. But when you look back on a on a production that's completed, what immense work went into organizing and oh, the logistics of. That's crazy.

Mark 00:33:49  And the money. I don't understand how they find the money for some of these projects. That's it's got to be,

Arnold 00:33:56  Where do they find the.

Mark 00:33:56  Money? It's a remarkable feat.

Mark Maxey 00:34:00  Yeah. Financing and distribution are the two most challenging aspect, at least to my various independent filmmakers. I think if you're working with the big Hollywood studio because the money and the distribution provided to the studio, but for companies like Rolling Pictures, they had the hot package and financed and produced and then fell to a distributor of the book that we've created. So that's definitely the things that make it feel like work. And it didn't like, work. It definitely. And things related to financing in distribution.

Mark 00:34:33  Sure. So would you think some really great films may fall through the cracks because of distribution? Like here's a fantastic film, but it never got the legs, the sea legs or whatever got the distribution that it really should have had.

Mark 00:34:48  As a result, it didn't get out there like it should.

Mark Maxey 00:34:52  I think both films, there are films that that have been made that didn't get the distribution, get up and so aren't getting the visibility or having the impact that they got us. And then I think there are some stories that just never get told because things didn't line up. There's a screenplay that I had acquired the right to. It was a story about a remarkable person of color who had a very unique place in American history, and I thought that the kind of story I wanted to help tell and the type of story I wanted to spotlight, but for a variety of reasons, we actually were able to find the funding to help put that together, but couldn't find the right team, couldn't find it. We needed a very specific type of director. You want a director who loved the material as much as you do, and make it their own, and have the vision for how to carry it forward. And it just it took a while to to find the right person.

Mark Maxey 00:35:44  And by the time that, that we did, you know, I think when they would pay for making the kind of movie I wanted to make their. That's a story that I still think is a great story, but it may never be told. I think that's just one example. I was just reading, actually, and maybe the New York Times or the Post, I forget. But there's a filmmaker that made a nine hour documentary on the musician Prince. Yeah, the article said this may be the best movie about Prince that no one will ever be because of some kind of complication in the right to the light of the thing, or something to do with that post-production, where it's possible that that film will never be released. But the filmmaker spent a year making this nine hour epic feature film about this incredible musician, and it's possible. I hope, I hope things turn around and the film is really I love the type of story. The Beatles documentary was brilliant. I loved that look behind the music and into the people that have been the soundtrack of our life in the background.

Mark Maxey 00:36:45  But yeah, that's another example of that for whatever the challenges are facing that project and that filmmaker. This article was lamenting that the film might never see the light of day, which would be tragic, and it would be.

Mark 00:36:56  Almost seems like there could be an industry waiting for distribution of these kind of films. I've heard of it before. We have another movie and more show than, and they discuss this as a real issue with films that are great, films that just aren't getting there. They're not getting out to the public. And it's, it seems like such a shame. So much talent, so much effort, so much heart that goes into many of these films. And like you say, the Prince film may not even see the light of day. That's just tragic, I think. Yeah, it really is.

Mark Maxey 00:37:32  It seems like that the money is in the big superhero couple franchises and films like Barbie with with our great film that I'm glad that they did so well. But there's so many other stories that are not those that are equally deserving and equally compelling, that are smaller films.

Mark Maxey 00:37:55  They were the a classic film called My Left Foot that was an award winning film back in the day starring Daniel Day-Lewis. But if that were made today, I'm not sure it could get distributed and that it's just the market's in a different place and audiences are in a different place, and and stories like that might have been considered arthouse film 30 years ago, are not as easily finding a home and in a very crowded marketplace. That is the the state of the film industry today. Is that why you.

Arnold 00:38:28  See more of film festivals popping up and really entrenching themselves and in large cities or communities and, and then films can make the circuit on those rather than like in the, the big box office kinds of things.

Mark Maxey 00:38:42  Yeah. I think that both play an important role for, for independent film. And I love gold and not just my, but I've been to dozens of festivals across the country, and I think that the stories that they find and the films that they share with audiences are powerful and and oftentimes overlooked.

Mark Maxey 00:39:01  I think that's an important way for filmmakers to connect with audiences. And the downside is that it's not a good way to monetize it. If you're making a film and it doesn't find any type of distribution beyond the concert circuit, then go make another film. It's not a model that helped the same filmmaker, but it is an important step and in the filmmakers journey with the story to try to connect with audiences and gain the visibility necessary to hopefully secure a distribution deal that'll make the film more widely available.

Arnold 00:39:35  Now, I know you've been asked this question multiple times, so you could you probably have it memorized, and I want you to approach it from two different ways. So the question is you're talking to individuals maybe in high school or even middle school or even at the university level, and their interest in becoming a film producer or involved in the film industry. And then that's one perspective, but also the perspective that you're talking to yourself. Who had no idea you were going to end up in that industry? So what suggestions and what recommendations do you give?

Mark 00:40:11  And you can't say run?

Mark Maxey 00:40:12  I think that one of the great things about this industry is that if you want to be a filmmaker, all you need to do is to do it.

Mark Maxey 00:40:21  You don't need any stamp of approval. You don't need to go to a film school. You don't need a certain degree or a certification. Anyone can be a filmmaker. Anyone can be storyteller. Anyone can put together a group of people and make a film or a story or a television program. It's just a matter of finding the right story and finding yourself at the right people. And so I think that's one of the things that that I learned early on, is to try to help with people that are more talented than I, if I'm the smartest person in the room, then I'm in the wrong room.

Mark 00:40:53  Me too. The way.

Mark Maxey 00:40:54  I look at it.

Mark 00:40:54  I think about.

Mark Maxey 00:40:56  It all. Thanks for the really talented people. And you'll end up with really terrific results, though. So yeah, I think that would be my advice to just do it and then find other people that are as passionate and as or more talented and learn from each other and work together. It is a collaborative medium.

Mark Maxey 00:41:15  It could take the village, but find your tribe and just go do it. And there's nothing that would stop anyone from being a filmmaker. And these days, I mean my iPhone create video that was better than what cotton market would go on. It's amazing how technology has evolved. The tools have made everything more accessible. It used to be you'd have to go and do an editing suite and pay a lot of money, and you're doing things on film, and it was a lot more difficult to make a film in the old days than today were, and that with YouTube being the internet and TikTok and all these people that are now Influencers and content creator people are making a phenomenal living somehow just off of creating and sharing content with the public, which is just the same thing that the filmmaker is doing. I think it's an acceptable, attainable goal. You just have to believe in yourself and and and do it.

Arnold 00:42:07  Great advice, great advice. We've been talking to Mark Maxey who is a Emmy Award winning producer.

Arnold 00:42:13  And Mark, it's been a real honor and privilege to talk to you. And it's been a long time in talking with you and greatly appreciate your time today. Yeah.

Mark 00:42:22  Got to get you back again soon. And yeah. Thank you both. Yeah, I know it's early there in Burbank, California.

Arnold 00:42:29  Yeah, he's in DC area.

Mark 00:42:30  Oh, he's in DC. Okay. I beg your pardon.

Arnold 00:42:32  So he's got to get ready for lunch here.

Mark 00:42:33  Oh, probably. All right. I thought you were in Burbank. Okay.

Arnold 00:42:37  Mark, thanks very much.

Mark 00:42:38  Thanks, Mark.

Mark Maxey 00:42:39  So much. You, Arnold. Thank you. Mark. Okay.

Arnold 00:42:40  Take care. Bye bye.

Mark 00:42:42  What a fun. What a fun fella.

Arnold 00:42:44  Oh my gosh, the kinds of things that he has accomplished, not only the documentaries and the things with the military, but the movies, and how he has intertwined himself in the film industry with Space Odyssey rare objects as they made us beyond 60 up to snuff. Burst the silence.

Arnold 00:43:06  Words of war. These are the films, the projects that he's been involved with. Soul. Prison. No. Rain in hell. Another one. So you folks, you need to check out his website. Rolling pictures, dot com, rolling pictures, dot com and the kinds of people that he's surrounded himself like what he was talking about. Get yourself with people that are smarter than you, which isn't hard for me. I got everybody who I seem to see is smarter than me, and that's great. That's why I guess I love I love to be around people. And he has been involved with so many great actors and so many great directors.

Mark 00:43:44  When you were going over that list? Just. Dustin Hoffman, Candice Bergen, I'm just Alan Cumming, Katie Holmes. I can't. Who else is on here? Just. These are just a few. Jason. Isaac. Ben. Miles. I can't believe it.

Arnold 00:44:00  Martin Sheen. Tom. Arnold. Yeah, Aaron Sorkin.

Mark 00:44:03  I know it.

Mark 00:44:05  Ed Asner.

Arnold 00:44:06  So the all of that. And that's one of the things that I think is really important that, you know, on here. You know, he wouldn't be anywhere around that thing is what he said is so true that and I learned this, and I know you learned this of what to do and what not to do. And you can be around really wonderful, intelligent people and watch what they do. Watching is very important. Listening is very important. And sometimes they make mistakes and sometimes they don't. You remember, I need to remember the things that they did, and I remember the things that they did that didn't work. And those are all things about and those are things you pass on to your kids so they don't have to learn those lessons again. And it sounds like he's done that with his sons. And kudos to him for doing that.

Mark 00:44:54  Oh yeah. Yeah, it was just a lot of fun to talk with. Oh yeah. Yeah, we don't get Emmy Award winning.

Mark 00:45:02  I know.

Arnold 00:45:03  We don't.

Mark 00:45:04  Pass often, but we are I yeah. Anyway, I.

Arnold 00:45:07  Got to thank his mom and dad, Linda and Larry Maxie, who I know very well.

Mark 00:45:11  And you know, it's not what you know. It's who you know.

Arnold 00:45:15  Is that what you're saying, Larry? Maxie, my clarinet professor was just announced. Does his dad play the clarinet? Pardon me?

Mark 00:45:22  Does his dad play the clarinet?

Arnold 00:45:23  Oh, yeah, he's his father. He has clarinet. Professor. Really? Yeah, he was clarinet professor. Wow. He was, you know, never a really good clarinet player. I don't mean to.

Mark 00:45:32  Laugh, but I just. You don't hear that there's a professor of clarinet.

Arnold 00:45:35  Oh, yeah. If you go into clarinet performance or any kind of instrument performance, there's always a professor of that particular instrument. Wow. Who? They've mastered that instrument. And doctor. I call him doctor Max. I won't call him Larry. Doctor Max, out of respect, he would say he's still learning.

Arnold 00:45:52  He's still accomplishing? Yeah, the instrument. And. But there's more to playing than just mastering the instrument. There's life, there's the music. And how do you translate what's on a written page right into something that people will enjoy? And then his mom, Linda, who I will call Linda because she was never one of my professors, is an outstanding marimba, an international acclaim. Really? Yes. And just outstanding individuals, people that you really like to be around that you have great conversations with, that you again, you learn from you. They are models and role models for you and that kind of thing. The kudos to the Max's, Larry and Linda Maxie for raising a great son, Mark, and they also have a daughter, Kim, and she's very successful also.

Mark 00:46:47  So do we need to call you Doctor Arnold then?

Arnold 00:46:50  You could, because I do have a doctorate.

Mark 00:46:52  Yes, in education. So I should be Doctor Arnold.

Arnold 00:46:55  I don't know that I've been called a whole lot worse might.

Mark 00:46:59  Be Doctor Stryker. Arnold, I don't know. Yeah, I like Doctor Arnold, but.

Arnold 00:47:03  But I had a lot of fun and and really seeing what he's done. Oh, yeah. And if we've had a lot of film people on and and talk to them through the new Jewish Film Festival and also the the Saint Louis Film Festival, International Film Festival, and. Yeah, so those kinds of things, and it's always fascinating to talk to individuals who work like that and pick their brains and wonder what they're thinking and how they've come across different roles that they've played, or how they've approached a different theater production or something like that. Okay. It's very fascinating. I hope he.

Mark 00:47:41  Comes back soon.

Arnold 00:47:42  We'll have to have him back when he's done with that particular project, and we get a chance to view it.

Mark 00:47:46  Oh yeah. Oh, that'd be great. Yeah, it sounds like a fascinating film. A little real on it.

Arnold 00:47:51  Yeah. Sounds like a fascinating film. Okay. Do you have any days of the day, Mark?

Mark 00:47:56  Actually, there's a couple national TV dinner day.

Mark 00:47:59  Did you.

Laughter 00:48:00  Know.

Arnold 00:48:01  It takes me back to those Swanson's? Yes. You peel off and the peas were kind of fried. And what is it? Swiss steak in the mashed potatoes.

Mark 00:48:10  Stouffer's TV dinner.

Arnold 00:48:11  I just can't wait. It's mouthwatering. Yeah, yeah.

Mark 00:48:14  Now, the round building that's empty in downtown Saint Louis used to be sold first. Yes. Owned by the Stouffer's TV dinner people.

Arnold 00:48:21  Really, I know that.

Mark 00:48:22  Wow. It's, swap ideas day. Oh, it's a good day to swap ideas.

Arnold 00:48:27  We do that every day. Do?

Mark 00:48:29  Yes we do. I know just a couple others here. Let's see. Libraries remembered. Libraries are treasure troves of knowledge. And you should think about that National Hot Cross Buns Day. Where is this.

Arnold 00:48:44  One? A penny to a penny?

Mark 00:48:46  Yeah, and also one of my favorites. No news is good news day.

Arnold 00:48:50  Oh, that's every day.

Mark 00:48:51  No news is good news day. Who would have thought that? It's no news is good news day.

Mark 00:48:57  Are you okay? Day. Are you okay? You should call someone and say, are you okay? And that goes along with the National Day of Encouragement. Oh, yes. Today is the do a bit to uplift uplift those around you. So again.

Arnold 00:49:13  Should be in every day a.

Mark 00:49:15  National Police woman Day. how about that. There you go. Thank a police woman for her service today, National School picture Day.

Laughter 00:49:26  That's one that I know.

Arnold 00:49:28  All right. So a story about that. Yes. Let's say there was this teacher who, every year from his first year to when he retired, wore the same outfit.

Laughter 00:49:36  For.

Arnold 00:49:36  School pictures.

Laughter 00:49:39  I love it. What a great idea. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, that's a fantastic idea. I do. Okay, that's about all I got. Okay, I.

Arnold 00:49:48  Can't. I've got a couple of funnies here. Oh, no. never make snow angels in a dog park, Mark.

Mark 00:49:55  I think that'd be right. That'd be a good idea.

Arnold 00:49:57  I never make the same mistake twice. I make it 5 or 6 times just to be sure.

Mark 00:50:02  Okay.

Arnold 00:50:06  And have you ever talked to someone about something and they laugh? Maybe. Especially appearance. We all know that mirrors don't lie. And I'm just grateful that they don't laugh. Oh. So after winning the game, I decided to throw the ball into the crowd like they do on TV. Apparently it's unacceptable in bowling. You think sometimes you meet someone, and from the first moment that you want to spend your whole life without them, I get.

Mark 00:50:38  Yeah, I understand that.

Laughter 00:50:40  I know.

Arnold 00:50:42  I know, passwords have changed. They also asked, funny that I've seen this before. That technology is now asking us to prove that we're a human right. But passwords. Sometimes you say it's got to have this and got to have that. So here's one. It says sorry, but your password must contain at least eight characters. Upper and lower case letter, a symbol or number, a hieroglyphic, a haiku, a musical note, the feather of a hawk, and a drop of unicorn blood.

Laughter 00:51:09  Wow. No kidding. Yeah.

Arnold 00:51:13  Some of them are like that. Oh, yeah.

Mark 00:51:14  Yes they are. Oh, my gosh, that's just not right. What are.

Arnold 00:51:17  You trying to do to.

Mark 00:51:18  Us? Oh, I know, it's okay.

Arnold 00:51:21  Let's see here. I told my suitcases that there will be no vacation this year. Now I'm dealing with emotional baggage. Oh, wow.

Mark 00:51:31  Oh, golly.

Arnold 00:51:32  Then there was this sign.

Mark 00:51:34  That's almost a.

Arnold 00:51:35  Dad joke that said, you can't change the people around you, but you can change the people around you. I'm going to say that again. You can't change the people around you, but you can change the people around you.

Mark 00:51:50  Got that horse out here.

Arnold 00:51:54  And the longest drum solo. You think maybe buddy Rich or Gene Krupa or somebody like that back in the day. But the longest drum solo is ten hours and 26 minutes. It was performed by a child sitting behind me on a Delta flight from LA to Tokyo.

Laughter 00:52:08  Yes. Yes.

Laughter 00:52:11  Oh my gosh.

Mark 00:52:13  And the parents don't do anything about it.

Arnold 00:52:15  No, no. They smile. What a good.

Laughter 00:52:17  Boy. I know. Yeah. As he kicks the seat also.

Arnold 00:52:23  Oh, that's all for this hour, folks. We thank you for listening. If you've enjoyed this episode, you can listen to additional shows at STL and toon.com. Consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts, Pod Chaser or your preferred podcast platform. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and continue to grow. Thanks to Bob Birtwistle for our theme music. Thanks to Mark Maxey, our guest and co-host, Mark Langston. We thank you for being a part of our community of curious minds. Saint Louis and Tune is a production of Motif Media Group and the US radio Network. Remember to keep seeking, keep learning, walk worthy and let your light shine for Saint Louis and tune I'm Arnold Stricker.