Having had my own brush with scarcity and changing media business models, I’ve been paying close attention to what’s happening in the Hollywood economy. The LATimes has been doing a great job reporting on the impacts of the production downturn in movies and television on workers who don’t have bold-faced names.
I’m also a big fan of movies and TV, and I’m feeling the pinch as a consumer. My husband and I recently finished rewatching Veep for the second time and have just started on Better Call Saul reruns. We need new things to enjoy.
So, as a fan and someone who thinks about evolving creative business models, I was really excited by this week’s episode with filmmaker and actor Mark Duplass.
Mark Duplass has long made things that hit exactly at the center of my taste. They have plots with verve and complicated emotional landscapes. They also have self-awareness about how place shapes its characters, something your newsletter writer appreciates. Sometimes it’s pleasant neighborhoods of Pasadena, other times…a biosphere.
The movie Biosphere came out last year and is now available on Hulu, and stars Mark along with Sterling K. Brown as lifelong friends who end up isolated together in a biosphere. It’s a study of their complicated relationship and what happens when they’re both…under stress. It was the first feature film directed by Mel Eslyn, the long-time head of Duplass Brothers Productions, Mark’s production company with his brother Jay.
Mark and I talk about how he’s tried to build those kinds of first-time opportunities for filmmakers into their production business, and we also talk about making money.
I love money and I love business and I love making money. Even though I don’t really keep it. I give a lot of it away. Kind of like taking it from a huge studio who I don’t think is efficient with their money and like, I get to grab it and Robin Hood a bunch of it to a bunch of the young filmmakers that I’m working with. That gamesmanship is endlessly rewarding and fun for me.
-Mark Duplass
After you listen to our episode, here are some movies and TV shows from the Duplass orbit you may want to check out or enjoy again:
Biosphere (Hulu) – A weird and delightful buddy movie, with threads of animal ecology and political science braided in, that will make you appreciate Sterling K. Brown and Mark Duplass even more.
Somebody Somewhere (HBO) – This show has for two seasons, told stories and introduced me to characters and storylines I know well from living in small cities and towns, but rarely see on television. Themes of feeling stuck resigned or out of place unfold alongside celebrations of queer life, chosen family, and the ecstasy of finding a best friend to powerwalk with. Produced by the Duplass Brothers and starring Bridgett Everett, Jeff Hiller, Murry Hill, and more, it just won a Peabody!
Togetherness (HBO) – Two seasons of television that are a close study of how childhood friendships evolve as you grow up, and how marriage gets complicated when the gauntlet of kids and work prompts a midlife malaise.
Paddleton (Netflix) – A movie about mortality, friendship, disease, and what we owe each other, with a surprisingly poignant performance by Ray Romano.
Puffy Chair (Prime Video) – Do you have fond and/or cringey memories of road trips as a young adult, where your sense of what was required was a little off, and so was your ability to deal with conflict and communicate clearly? This 2006 movie feels like that.
Wild Wild Country (Netflix) – I remember watching this surprising, twisting six-episode documentary series in 2018 about a spiritual community leader and its followers and thinking two things: 1. Whoa, I need to understand more about the political and cultural history of Oregon, and 2. The Duplass Brothers produced that? You will enjoy it.
Language Lessons (Max) – A sweet, contained 96-minute movie that actually made me want to keep watching a Zoom screen. Mark Duplass has great chemistry with Natalie Morales, who also directs.
Your Sister’s Sister (Sundance Now/Prime Video) – A movie I saw in the movie theater and loved, back in a life phase when I went quite often to the movie theater to feel big feelings and cry in the dark. From 2011, written and directed by the late Lynn Shelton, if you are a fan of dramedies about family and romance, check this one out.
The Morning Show (Apple TV) – I love a juicy soapy show for beloved 40+ women actors to dig into, and The Morning Show doesn’t disappoint. It also helps me think through all the change that broad television and corporate media owners are going through, and to appreciate the context for Tig Notaro posting about her on-set outfits.
Room 104 (HBO) – This is a TV show that demonstrates how controlling for a few costs – like, reusing a set over and over – can make room for more risks and surprises, as Mark described in our episode. For four seasons, the modest hotel set was a proving ground for new directors and the backdrop for strange and varied experiments in storytelling.
In this week’s episode, I also catch up with Death, Sex & Money listener Jihan Crowther, who is a TV writer in LA. She talks about what it’s like for her to navigate the tough economy right now for workers in film and television production in LA. Here’s her IMDB if you want to check out her work too.
And now, some treats for your ears
I’ve also been doing a lot of new listening to new series, including some that I just heard about in New York at Tribeca Festival. Here are a few that also transported me to some exciting places:
One of our forever favorites at Death, Sex & Money, Niecy Nash-Betts, hosts a new series from Audible called Queer West, “a show that gets at the heart of what it means to be an American.” Listen here.
The first episode of the new series, A Field Guide to Queer Animals, starts on a bird-watching expedition in Manhattan’s Central Park. This series is hosted by Owen Ever and Laine Kaplan Levenson, who years ago, worked with Death, Sex & Money on our series In New Orleans. In other words, Laine knows what’s up when it comes to making compelling audio. Listen here.
I live in California and send my kids to public school there, but until I started listening to the latest season of Slow Burn, I did not know the history of the Briggs ballot initiative in California that sought to ban gay and lesbian teachers from classrooms. I appreciate all the on-the-ground voices that look back at this history, and the resistance that organized to defeat the statewide vote. Listen here.
And one last listen that isn’t a podcast series but is a 5-minute story from Wyoming Public Media that I caught on the radio this morning. Reporter Caitlin Tan was there in the small town of Kemmerer in Wyoming where Bill Gates traveled to break ground on a new nuclear power plant that Gates’ TerraPower invested in along with the Biden administration’s Department of Energy. Kemmerer has long been an energy town with a coal mine and coal-fired power plant that is scheduled to be pulled offline, and this story captures the voices of people on the ground as American domestic energy policy is transitioning. Listen here.
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Listen to our latest Death, Sex & Money episodes
6/18 Mark Duplass on Making Money, Mental Health and Midlife
6/11 My Shy Bladder
6/4 I Was Afraid of Losing Myself to Motherhood. I Found Myself Instead.
5/28 Why You’re Not Having Sex
5/21 The Night Magic Mushrooms and Jam Bands Helped Me Walk Again
5/15 My Eating Disorder Turned Into an Obsession with Money
5/7 Filling the Health Care Gap (and Filling Lips!) in Appalachia
I recently discovered Mr Inbetween and spent a wonderful long weekend bingeing it. It's not often I find myself going from belly laughing to bawling in one 25 minute episode of a show. Scott Ryan (creator and star) is brilliant and the cast (all Australian) are just incredible. Hope you check out this under appreciated gem!
Writing from Parkersburg WV to let you know I appreciate your appreciation posts.
On the music front, let me throw The Green Pajamas on your pile. Several good ones, from this 80s Seattle band, but if you start with "Just Another Perfect Day" and don't enjoy it you've only wasted a few minutes!