From Armenia to Prime Video: Winter Song’s Journey Towards Global Screens

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Every single one of us is trying to get the Armenian community

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to understand if you want more voices like this, if you want our stories told,

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every single person has to show up for a movie like this. And we're not

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just our movie, just any movie there needs to be. We need to prove that

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there's a market for it and that people care for these types of stories.

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Sit back and grab a glass. It's Wine Talks

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with Paul K.

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Hey, welcome to Wine Talks with Paul Kay. And we are in studio today in

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beautiful Southern California, about to have a conversation with the

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crew of Winter Song, a great show that just came

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out. Introductions. Right now, we have with us Yvette

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Amirian, the editor of the show. Welcome to the show. Thank you. We have Annie

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Dashtoyen. Wow, that was good. Well done. You did

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great. Edgar Dalmatian

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and Arman Aloyan. You know, look, you think that I would

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have a better grasp of Armenian names after growing up in

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Armenian household, but I don't. So that's the way it goes. So, you

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know, here's what happened. We have this family chat, and my mom, my

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sister's a judge in San Diego, and she

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writes, I just saw the greatest rom com, which I didn't know what that

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meant. And she says, you have to put up. The whole family

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watched it, and they all chimed in how great it was. So my wife and

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I watched it that night. It's called a winter Song. And

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so tell me the impetus of this song for the audience and the listeners. It's

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about. It's sort of a Hallmark movie. Feel good,

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but back to your roots kind of thing. And it's

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professionally produced, as we would say. You know, the.

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The production value is very high, but this is kind of a new thing

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for the Armenian community to be stepping their toe into it, putting their toe into

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how did this happen? What's the original impetus for it?

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So. So I'm Iette. I'm the editor of the movie. Armand's our

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composer. Annie's our producer. Edgar is also the

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lead actor of the film, and he and I were also producers on the film,

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in addition to our editing and acting roles,

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respectively. So the movie was written and directed by a woman named Angela

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Alsaturian. And she kind of, you know, surrounded

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herself with this group of individuals, this crew, this cast and crew,

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who were equally passionate about what her vision for the film was. Which was

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what? Wanting to showcase our culture for a wider

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audience through the lens of, you know, this universal

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coming home for the holidays kind of story. You know,

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we didn't want it to be specific to just Armenians. We

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wanted it to be something that, you know, even though it was independently produced, our

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goal was to help it land somewhere mainstream, which thankfully we were

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able to do. And the goal was really to

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showcase the Armenian culture, you know, through. You know, we're often portrayed through

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this very tragic lens, given our history. And so we wanted to

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really showcase it through this joyous lens of. Of what it means to be

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Armenian, what the country's like now, what it is to fall

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in love there, what it is to kind of come of age there in a

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lot of ways. So that was the impetus. That's how the

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movie came about for me personally.

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Edgar had been cast in the film, and he brought me the script to read

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and I gave some feedback, and we just kind of had these conversations over the

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course of what, like, two years until they. Angela.

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Angela wrote it. Yeah. So let me stop you there for a second because I

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want to go back to this. It's a very important part of our

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culture is that tragic woe us, the

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Armenian misery, we've been through it all kind of thing.

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It's. It's kind of part of the DNA. Right. It's just part of what's going

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on. So what an interesting, inspirational thing to do to try

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to break out of that mold. Yeah. And put it in a more contemporary,

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you know, viewpoint from. From what's going on. Did that meet

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as a producer? Did that meet positive

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feelings, or did it. Were there? You know, I want to go back to this

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because I. I see this in the wine trade all the time. I really want

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to, you know, pound on. On who we were instead of who we could

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be. No, actually, that was kind of one of the biggest reasons why I wanted

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to be part of the project is because it had no trace of our

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tragic history, but it was more so of us looking forward. It's a

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young Diasporan who's, you know, wanting to go back and visit

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where her father was from. She's just lost her father. So

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it's the beauty of what our country could be and what it should be.

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You know, the history is obviously very important, and we need to be aware of

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it and make sure it doesn't repeat itself as we've seen it, you know, happen

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multiple times. But I think it's important to also showcase what the country has.

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So we're not just. We're not. We're more than just our

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genocide. We have to look forward and see what more we can do. Now you

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had to go Shop this well. So I came onto the project after

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the fact and after the money was raised, which is. That's a little easier,

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doesn't it? Yeah, I was yes and no. I was on the studio

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side. I was at Warner brothers for nearly 15 years and I've never actually worked

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on an Armenia project. I know the rest of these guys had, but this was

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my first time and having read the script,

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I knew that it was something that it talked about our culture, but it wasn't

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hitting you on the head. You weren't feeling like it was a history lesson or

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you're trying to force culture down people's throat. It was just a feel good, happy

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movie and we were pretty confident in, you know,

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that the non Armenian community would show up for it. And the reception from that

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community has been pretty amazing. We did also we

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partnered with the Wonder project. It was pretty amazing how that even came up.

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We saw a very vague posting, Yvette and I on LinkedIn

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and we just reached out and we made a connection and that's kind of how

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the movie got acquired as well because we knew that in order for

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someone to see the vision, they kind of had to understand the past as

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well. And Ani, being Armenian herself, she kind of, she

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saw the potential of this movie and which was pretty amazing. And a lot of

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our Ians and y which is so rare trade,

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you know, you think I'm going to a dinner few nights for

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Hair Kazanjian.

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Yeah, yeah. And this we're sort of buried. And who's the guy that

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produced some great movies? He's always at the scripter awards at usc.

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I forgot his name. But you know, we're around. Right. And so

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in this being your first Armenia project is kind of interesting. So how did you

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get involved as an actor? Like did you do reading or did you have to

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respond to a, you know, backlot thing or what? So there was a

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hotel room. Kidding. I'm kidding. Yeah. I actually met

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the director just through a mutual friend. So I was the first one on

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this project and I, you know, she was a first time

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director so I wanted to help her with the process of it. I obviously have

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some experience in this industry so I wanted to be like a helping hand.

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So I kind of worked with her throughout the whole beginning and obviously

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entire process throughout the development of the film.

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So we kind of worked on the script and we like the.

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A main purpose was to keep this, like you said, a very

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positive and light hearted movie. And we like made it a thing to not

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mention any genocide, anything on purpose,

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because we wanted to make that message of, let's make something positive.

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Let's have the other communities who are not Armenian see this

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movie and learn who Armenians are in this very positive light.

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So with that being said, I work with

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this crew sitting Tim by my side and also Muko, our cinematographer,

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very closely. So I recommend kind of all of them in their own right

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positions because I knew, like, this is the best people that I know who are

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the most talented that I know as well. So I knew that putting

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this crew around this movie was going to make this the best

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movie possible. That's great. You know, it's very funny because,

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yeah, we have that DNA issue about, you know, woe us and what

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the problems are, what we've been through. But at the same time, and I grew

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up in Los Angeles. I grew up at the beach, you know, surf cat, my

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day. There's always that guy that knew an Armenian guy growing up

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in the neighborhood, and he was a great guy. You know, there's always a great

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guy. There's always this gregarious person. My grandfather came

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from itap, and he was a gregarious guy. He was president of

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the Rotary Club in Hollywood, like in the 50s, you know, it's like, kind of

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crazy. So there's that. We have that, you know, that

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gregarious. I don't know what the word is, if it's happy be lucky

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or happy, go lucky type of attitude. But at the same time, we have

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a tragic story to tell. On the flip side, when

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I was doing this interview in. In Italy, in the glass room,

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there was another group there from another side of the wine business.

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And they go, you're Armenian. You know, we used to have, and this is no

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joke, an Albanian secretary. And I was like.

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It was like the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It was at the same

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time, it was crazy. But I think it's a very

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important piece because we were talking about that the videos that we have coming out

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on the wine trade in the first cut that I got back, which

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the footage is great and you feel good about it, there

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was a duduk in the background. And from a music

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standpoint, that just. It like, brought down the whole thing,

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right? And when I told the director, she goes, oh, we're not allowed to

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use duduk music. This is the Armenian director. It was an American

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editor put it in and we took it out. It changes the whole thing.

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How did you manage that with this show? When it came to making

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the soundtrack, very intentionally, Yvette did a great job

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like, mapping the whole thing out for me with, like, past

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soundtracks. And so it was like she already had, like, a great

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guideline, and we kind of went off of that. I intentionally

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didn't want to make it, like, crazy Armenian. We do have some, like, super Armenian

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pieces in the times where it feels traditional and, like, there's a scene where they

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go to, like, one of the oldest restaurants in that spot, like, Edgar's walking

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through. And you really feel the culture through the music. But overall, we still

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wanted to keep it, like, very romantic comedy style to stay true to the

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genre. And you said Duduk. I did use Duduk, but you

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wouldn't be able to tell unless I, like, soloed it for you, because I use

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it very transparently. Well, you didn't use it to bring down the old.

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Exactly. Yeah, yeah. Duduk is known as being really sad, but

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it could be very cheerful if you use it, sprinkle it, you know?

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And that's kind of what we did. Well, I had a new player sitting where

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you guys are not too long ago on turning. He's

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on it. Okay. So when he sat. I had

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tried to play the hood growing up, and I have some beautiful Oods. But

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either he was able to show the diversity of those

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instruments just by the chord structure, how you play

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through. And I think the Dudik would probably have that same. Yeah. Versatility. If

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you give it a chance. For sure. So

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you said that there was four or five authentic scripts and

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scores from that, from the movie you wrote. And then

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some of the stuff was. Oh, so. No,

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no. Yeah. No, no. So we had used, like, pretty much. I think all

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the source tracks were Armenian. Were they by Armenian artists? For the most part, all

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the. What we call needle drops or, like, the lyric music was. We were

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really intentional in using Armenian artists.

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So we had Rosalin. We had

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a band called Jinj. Savannah, from Jinj, we

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have Ruben Hakbertian, which is an older song. Saya Ravana,

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which was actually written into the. So there were a couple of songs that she

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had actually written into the script, and for the most part, we kept them

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as they were. Christa Marina, who plays the lead role, she also

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is a singer, so a couple of her tracks were kind of worked into the

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script, and thankfully, they worked really beautifully. So that was really nicely thought out.

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And executing it editorially was really fun

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to make it work. Like Armand said, I had temped

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the score part of it using old. We had used

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a combination of rom coms and things like that that we all

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really liked. And so that gave him a guide, but he really took that, obviously,

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and elevated it. And then, of course, bringing in Andranique and

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Ayda, who plays the Kannon, we had a beautiful session with them in

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Armand's studio, where we were able to put together

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one piece of the score that did heavily feature Armenian music.

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But then they were able to give us some pieces that Armand was able to

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weave through the entirety of the score to kind of give it that sprinkling

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of Armenian without it being too over the top. So that was

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a. That was a nice balance. There were some sections where I kind of, like,

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looked to Armand and was like, should this be needle drop? Should these be score?

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What should we do here? So we experimented a lot to. To get the right

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balance, you know, producing something like this. In my

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limited experience, I was an extra, you know, during college. Nice. Oh,

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cool. Okay. Very professional. But I think the two shows I was

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in, I was cut out anyway. But you were there. But you

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have. You know, there's a lot of moving parts to this. And so in the

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grand scheme of producing a show like this, whether it's a miniseries or a movie

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or whatever, you've got a lot of moving parts. Is that your

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job was to organize those parts? You know, we actually worked really closely

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together, all of us, with Angela as well. Well, we. It was

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a lot of moving parts also because. Because it's an indie project

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and, you know, obviously a budget is a little bit more limited, and me coming

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from the studio side, it was a lot more where things I can just kind

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of hand off to coordinator or even like a music

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supervisor that we had to do was. It was. It was a big learning experience,

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but it was also pretty amazing to really. We all rolled up our sleeves. It

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was a very collaborative process. We were just constantly talking.

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I think figuring out how to license all these songs were.

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I wouldn't say challenges, but I think it was a learning curve for all of

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us, you know, so, like, for example, Rosalind, she's with some pretty big labels.

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There are big publishers involved. So we were kind of wearing

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many different hats. We were, you know, music supervisors,

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post production supervisors. We did it all. And it was pretty amazing.

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It seems almost like, how do you get something done? Like,

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how does it even get done when you've got so many things to worry about?

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It was really interesting also, like, shooting in Armenia with a local crew there.

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Like, we're so used to American crews, local crews that are very different to work

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with. Like, the language is different, the. The way they Operate is different. Yeah,

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that's true. So that was a very interesting learning curve. Our

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cinematographer Muko, who has shot movies there, he's. He's, he's from there.

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He knew kind of Leia Lance. So he, he helped us out a lot in

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terms of like navigating the day to day

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filming process of what it was, site, location, location scout,

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permission. A lot of that was Angela and one of our associate producers,

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Nona, who went out there I think the summer before this was all shot

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and securing a lot of those locations.

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We also work with a local production team. With a local production. That's what I

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was going to say. Yeah. So a lady by the name of Diana,

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her and Angela and Mago actually went and did all the location scouting and stuff

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like that. How about call sheets, all that stuff. We had like Thursday

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working this. That's. That's incredible. That's formidable. Formidable thing to do.

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I didn't have all that when I went out there. Were there any political

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issues that happened or show up people? No, nobody

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objected. Actually, I would say it was the opposite. The country and the

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city really took us in. Like anytime we need any kind

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of permit, any location, it was given to us. There was never any trouble with

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that kind of stuff. So like they were very welcoming of this production coming in

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and shooting in some of the most historic places Armenia has to offer. So

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it was actually surprisingly amazing. So start to finish from

255
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let's say, let's say when you got the script the first time and you started

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to correct it to the time you showed. Were

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able to show the first screening. How long that take?

258
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Three years. Yeah. You were on longer? Yeah, I got the script. Really?

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Yeah, I was like, yeah, I was the first one on three years. Yeah,

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basically. But I think from like almost three years. Almost three years active

261
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pre production, which I think started in summer of 2024, right? No,

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no, summer of 20. Summer of 2023 was when I got the

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script and then they shot it in the winter of

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22, I think she was in Armenia. That's when you met her, in the summer

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of 2024? Yeah, summer 2024. And then

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we screened it for the first time at the Armenian Film Festival in September. September

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of last year. How long is the whole. I forgot how long. Oh,

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85 minutes. The movie's 85 minutes. So on an 85 minute Hollywood

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project of this, let's say this storytelling magnitude,

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three years normal, long or short? That's pretty weird. It's pretty. I

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mean I've had been on projects that lasted four or five years.

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So, you know, we shot this. Don't. Go ahead. It took us 20 days to

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shoot this movie. That's the part that was amazing. Yeah. Told me that it was

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even less than the month I thought it was. And that's. That's amazingly. And in

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the winter time, like, given our locations, like, driving to that mountain

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was not easy. So, like, there was a lot of obstacles we fought, like, for

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example, Mother Nature and just everything in general that, like, could have

278
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extended this, but as well as the roads in Armenia. That's what I'm saying.

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Like, which we can't really argue now because you've been on the 210

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freeway, those roads. But,

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yeah, all those. Those historic areas of Armenia, they're not close. Destiny,

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right? Exactly. And you got a place to go. I mean, and these guys were,

283
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you know, on top of mountain, dancing and running around, and it was

284
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pretty. You guys did such an amazing job at that. Because when we got to

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the mountain, I looked cold. Just watching it. I got cold. We got to the

286
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mountain and the equipment was put on a ski lift to

287
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go up to the actual mountain. Wow. Yeah. So that was really. I've been on

288
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that ski lift. Because we got there, we're like, yeah, I'm not sure.

289
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In case it's over. Yeah, yeah. No, we had. I mean, that.

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I think that just speaks to, you know, we had this amazing crew there. Like

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I said, like Edgar mentioned, McGo was sort of

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spearheading this, the camera department to be able to

293
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pull this all together. And there were a lot of those. Those challenges, but

294
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especially for me, having watched all the footage, you know, I can see how

295
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they were navigating all that. And it was really, really well done, really professionally done.

296
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And I think that's one of the goals with the film as a whole, for

297
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all of us involved, from the director to, you know, like, me in post,

298
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is we want there to be more productions there. We want to be able to

299
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showcase. Exactly to your point, like, oh, this is really professionally

300
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put together. We want people to see that and say, well, maybe Armenia is a

301
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potential shooting location for whatever this feature is that I want to do.

302
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We want it to be able to compete with some of these other locations that

303
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are being utilized when people need, you know, these.

304
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A different type of landscape than you would find, let's say, here in la, not

305
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just shoot, but also record music. Record music. We originally had

306
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planned to record the whole soundtrack there, but budget and time didn't

307
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allow for that. But people pay serious money like to go to

308
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Abbey Road because of the space. Some of the churches in Armenia, if you get

309
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some musicians in there, it'll create this totally unreal

310
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sound. And so I think if you make that available to Hollywood, it'll

311
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be a very sought after sound. Hollywood. Just. Did you go to, did you go

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to the op? Did you, Were you guys in the Opera House? We, we didn't.

313
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Well, she and I were not there, but they. We did, we did film in

314
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front of the opera house. We did, yeah, we did. I think we seen if

315
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I remember that. Yeah, there was little montage scene. So, you know, this is

316
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interesting for me because I'm working on

317
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a bunch of stuff and obviously the industry is in a different state now. The

318
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wine trade, which I came from, is in a terrible state.

319
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And maybe because it's transitional, because of Gen Z does

320
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business differently, maybe because, you know, the way people consume media

321
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is completely different than it's ever been. You got micro dramas on your portable

322
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phone. I mean, did you guys consider this a big risk to

323
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try and pull this off or was the money, was the

324
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production costs not happily given, but

325
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given with the sense of Armenian pride to do this?

326
00:19:55,300 --> 00:19:58,700
Sorry, go ahead. No, you're wrong. No, I think with any production there's pressure. You

327
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want to make sure that it lands in the right place. And like Annie said,

328
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we were very intentional, exploring every

329
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opportunity that we could. And when we were able to

330
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partner with the Wonder Project, that felt like the right fit because they, I think

331
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they had the film's best interest at heart. They wanted to make sure that it

332
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was given the kind of platform that it, that it deserved. I think

333
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for us as Armenians, it was more than just about,

334
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you know, the monetary value of it. The significance was we wanted

335
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to make sure that A, it was a beautiful film, B, it was something that

336
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Armenians could be proud of. And of course the primary

337
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thing was wanting to make sure that it reached a wider audience. And so getting

338
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it onto a platform like Wonder Project where, where this is now streaming exclusively

339
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on Prime Video, you can't watch it anywhere else unless you come to like a

340
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private screening or something like that that we're hosting. It's available to everyone

341
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here in the US to watch. And that's a, for me, that's a big

342
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deal. And I think that's a really big goal that was accomplished

343
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and I think we're all really proud of that. That's one of the things

344
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that's changed, right? You can, you can

345
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get on a platform, but who knows about

346
00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:11,920
it, right? So now we gotta tell people. We could have just put it up

347
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on YouTube and charged like 3.99 and that's how people would watch it.

348
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But it was really important for us to make sure it's on a well known

349
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streamer. And that way you can have people just happening across,

350
00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:26,600
you know, the. The title. Because right now I think it's really difficult

351
00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:30,200
to have a movie sold or acquired if you don't have

352
00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:34,720
either a massive director or massive actor that every single person

353
00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:38,040
knows. So we really knew we were kind of fighting up against that. While

354
00:21:38,500 --> 00:21:42,340
amazing actors who are very talented, you know, they're. But we don't have. He's sitting

355
00:21:42,340 --> 00:21:44,900
right next to you. He's sitting right here. How many times are you gonna say?

356
00:21:46,020 --> 00:21:49,780
A few more times. But we don't have Brad Pitt. We don't

357
00:21:49,780 --> 00:21:53,460
have a George Clooney a name. But he will give him like, give him another

358
00:21:53,460 --> 00:21:57,180
couple years and he will be up there. But that was

359
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something we were also, you know, we knew that was going to be something we

360
00:22:00,180 --> 00:22:03,860
would have to fight against. So it was really important to partner with a streamer

361
00:22:03,860 --> 00:22:07,650
who saw the vision like we did. It's an important piece of

362
00:22:07,650 --> 00:22:11,370
what you do. I mean, we know acting. Getting jobs

363
00:22:11,370 --> 00:22:15,170
is tough. And I do belong to one or two of this things

364
00:22:15,170 --> 00:22:18,970
as a voiceover guy and it's just hard work.

365
00:22:19,450 --> 00:22:23,290
And so this must have been kind of a. Not a relief, but

366
00:22:24,330 --> 00:22:27,370
an opportunity that you thought, wow, I get to do two things at once. I

367
00:22:27,370 --> 00:22:30,570
get to get a job. And I also now can tell some stories.

368
00:22:32,010 --> 00:22:35,610
Absolutely. I mean, just, I love the genre of rom coms. I think it's a

369
00:22:35,610 --> 00:22:39,010
lot of fun. It's always like a feel good movie to watch. But also being

370
00:22:39,010 --> 00:22:41,650
in one is a lot of fun as well. Also being a lead is also

371
00:22:41,650 --> 00:22:45,170
very tough to ever book as an actor, let alone get one line on a

372
00:22:45,170 --> 00:22:48,810
TV show. So obviously I jumped at this opportunity

373
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and I wanted to bring my friends along as well. So, you know, a part

374
00:22:52,410 --> 00:22:56,210
of that is the camaraderie of working together and building something that you

375
00:22:56,210 --> 00:22:59,830
can keep moving forward with. But also, like, I trust

376
00:22:59,990 --> 00:23:03,590
everyone does their job here. Amazing. And

377
00:23:03,590 --> 00:23:07,070
a part of the reason why you also take that risk in an indie

378
00:23:07,070 --> 00:23:10,910
movie is because you put all the trust in yourself and the team. And

379
00:23:10,910 --> 00:23:14,310
that way, you know, the result is going to be that much better. So

380
00:23:14,549 --> 00:23:17,350
let's go. Professional experiences. Sitting right here.

381
00:23:18,390 --> 00:23:21,590
I did a project for some nuns up here in

382
00:23:21,590 --> 00:23:25,350
Monrovia. When I added up their experience, there was like 300

383
00:23:25,970 --> 00:23:29,650
years of ministry out of these young amongst these 14

384
00:23:29,730 --> 00:23:33,330
women. So we actually calculated, we calculated it recently. So

385
00:23:34,130 --> 00:23:37,410
your, your background in the. In the sound side of things is

386
00:23:37,890 --> 00:23:41,330
diversified, it sounds like. But how long you been doing this? Probably since I was

387
00:23:41,330 --> 00:23:44,610
like 5 years old. I'm not expecting.

388
00:23:45,890 --> 00:23:48,690
I started on the piano because my mom wanted to learn, but she couldn't afford

389
00:23:48,690 --> 00:23:51,770
in Armenia, so she took like one or two years and then just kind of

390
00:23:51,770 --> 00:23:55,330
dabbled around. So, like they bought me one and

391
00:23:55,490 --> 00:23:58,890
I was obsessed with playing. But I never thought like, film music would be like,

392
00:23:58,890 --> 00:24:02,530
what I wanted to get into until my brother started making films. And then

393
00:24:02,850 --> 00:24:06,490
he asked me to try and write one and I did it. And then I

394
00:24:06,490 --> 00:24:09,530
did another and another and another. And now I have like eight of his movies.

395
00:24:09,530 --> 00:24:13,290
Plus, like so many other wonderful filmmakers that I've had the chance to

396
00:24:13,290 --> 00:24:16,970
meet, whether through social media, whether through word of mouth. Sometimes a friend, like an

397
00:24:16,970 --> 00:24:20,240
actor can get you a gig like this too. So it's amazing. Like what, what

398
00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:23,920
can come. So is that your primary focus when you write as scores, or

399
00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:27,560
is it right now? It's kind of all over the place. It kind of

400
00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:31,160
like varies year to year. Sometimes I'll get more film projects, which is what I

401
00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:34,280
do want to focus on. But in this day and age, you kind of have

402
00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:38,120
to be flexible to work on anything audio, sound, just because one doesn't pay

403
00:24:38,120 --> 00:24:41,680
the bills. So how long you've been editing? I've been

404
00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:45,280
editing, I guess professionally about

405
00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:48,760
a little over 20 years. But I like Armand, I learned when I was very

406
00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:52,470
young. I started messing around with the first editorial

407
00:24:52,470 --> 00:24:55,790
platform I used, which is still the one I use. I was 14, I think

408
00:24:55,790 --> 00:24:59,550
I was in high school, so almost 30

409
00:24:59,550 --> 00:25:02,710
years. Avid. Avid media, yeah. That's what my daughter learned in

410
00:25:03,750 --> 00:25:07,390
Sarah, you know, Sarah grade or something she's not very good at.

411
00:25:07,390 --> 00:25:11,030
It has changed considerably. Yeah. And now you

412
00:25:11,030 --> 00:25:14,630
have editing software on your phone. I use Capcut for that kind of thing. Yeah,

413
00:25:14,790 --> 00:25:18,390
my kids do too. But 20 years of doing this.

414
00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:23,720
I say professionally necessarily, but yeah, no, 20 years professionally. So I

415
00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:27,480
go, yeah. Because I graduated college in 2005. So

416
00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:31,240
professionally I've been working as an assistant editor and then an

417
00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:34,919
editor for 20 plus years. I also teach at

418
00:25:34,919 --> 00:25:38,480
USC in the film school. And.

419
00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:42,480
And yeah, I've been primarily. It's been the last five years has been primarily

420
00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:46,240
movies, some shorts. I did TV for

421
00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:49,800
a really long time. I did documentary series, documentary features.

422
00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:54,600
And so it's been a good combination of things. I Also have produced and written

423
00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:58,360
in tv. I'm also a screenwriter. I have a, she's

424
00:25:58,360 --> 00:26:01,920
a great writer. Thank you. I have a few screenplays that I've written and hopefully

425
00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:05,720
will get to produce. So a little bit

426
00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:09,480
of everything. But primary focus has, has been editing for 20 plus years. You

427
00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:13,320
ever get depressed? As an editor? No. As a screenwriter

428
00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:16,660
and the fact that you get, I'm just going to come from my own experience.

429
00:26:19,140 --> 00:26:22,660
It's like a numbers game. Plus it's a perseverance game.

430
00:26:22,980 --> 00:26:25,540
Yeah, of course. I, look, I honestly, I don't know that I could have just

431
00:26:25,540 --> 00:26:28,940
been a screenwriter for 20 years. I feel like it may have been depressing. And

432
00:26:28,940 --> 00:26:32,380
that's when I, I, when I

433
00:26:32,380 --> 00:26:36,220
graduated from college, the first thing I tried to do was write. Even though I

434
00:26:36,220 --> 00:26:39,980
knew in my heart I was an editor. Tried it for like

435
00:26:39,980 --> 00:26:43,220
a year, was a little bit depressed. I couldn't find an agent, I couldn't find

436
00:26:43,220 --> 00:26:46,860
representation. And then I got, you know, a few editing jobs and realized

437
00:26:46,860 --> 00:26:50,680
I, you know, I think it was like that realization that I'm still telling

438
00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:54,280
stories as an editor. And I think that's one of my strengths is I am

439
00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:57,960
a good storyteller. I know how to look at something and say, okay, this is

440
00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:01,480
not working for this reason. If I restructure this, putting it here, putting it here,

441
00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:04,240
and I had to do that with this movie as well. It was a lot

442
00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:06,640
of trial and error. It was a lot of, okay, let's put it together the

443
00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:10,080
way it's written in the script. Let's show it to a few audiences, get some

444
00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:13,400
responses. Okay, now I see what the issues are. Maybe we need this

445
00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:17,190
reshoot, maybe we need to rewrite this section. And you know, all of

446
00:27:17,190 --> 00:27:20,190
us working together to bring that all to fruition.

447
00:27:21,230 --> 00:27:23,990
It was a lot of, I always say it to my students, the last draft

448
00:27:23,990 --> 00:27:27,830
of the screenplay is the last cut of the picture. So you're constantly

449
00:27:27,830 --> 00:27:31,430
rewriting. And thankfully, when you're able to work with a team like this and with

450
00:27:31,430 --> 00:27:34,910
a director like this, that is really just open to

451
00:27:35,070 --> 00:27:38,870
that flexibility and that creative process where you get to work together. It

452
00:27:38,870 --> 00:27:42,630
comes together in a really beautiful way. Phenomenal. So you

453
00:27:42,630 --> 00:27:46,350
were corporate. Very corporate, yeah. I am depressed

454
00:27:46,350 --> 00:27:49,910
and depressed. Yeah, depressed in the corporate world. That's right.

455
00:27:53,910 --> 00:27:57,590
No, I, I, I was very blessed to kind of,

456
00:27:57,590 --> 00:28:00,070
you know, being on the studio side, that was kind of like my film school.

457
00:28:00,630 --> 00:28:04,390
I worked with amazing directors and producers and on their

458
00:28:04,390 --> 00:28:08,070
sets. I was producing all the behind the scenes documentaries and the making ups that

459
00:28:08,150 --> 00:28:11,960
Ended up on the DVDs. If anybody still watches them.

460
00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:15,600
I know you do. Christina Hagopian. Yes.

461
00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:18,800
She was one of my vendors. Oh, that's my wife. Yeah. First cousin. Yeah. Yeah,

462
00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:22,360
I know. Christina's great. We. That's actually how we met because there's not that many

463
00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:26,560
onions, so it was amazing to, you know, to work with her. Pretty

464
00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:29,240
Little Liars was actually the first time I met. Was that Warner Brothers then? All

465
00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:32,880
of it. Your whole career? Yeah. You left that recently, or are you still doing

466
00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:36,650
2024? Summer. I was. As amazing as it was to have collaborated

467
00:28:36,650 --> 00:28:39,290
with some of the biggest directors in the world, you're at the end of the

468
00:28:39,290 --> 00:28:43,010
day telling their stories or the studio stories. So I just

469
00:28:43,010 --> 00:28:46,810
really wanted to carve my own path. And I felt like I. I

470
00:28:46,810 --> 00:28:50,570
learned enough on the business side, the marketing side, the PR side,

471
00:28:50,810 --> 00:28:53,890
the legal side, where I felt like I was kind of ready to take the

472
00:28:53,890 --> 00:28:57,650
plunge and start to tell stories that I wanted to tell. You know, I. My

473
00:28:57,650 --> 00:29:01,290
career was. My dad was an entrepreneur. His

474
00:29:01,290 --> 00:29:04,650
pictures there, you saw. I thought that's what I was going to do for sure.

475
00:29:05,130 --> 00:29:08,930
And then went to college and did nothing. And then told myself

476
00:29:08,930 --> 00:29:10,890
in college, I'm not going to go to corporate America. I'm going to be an

477
00:29:10,890 --> 00:29:14,090
entrepreneur. And I went to corporate America. And I wouldn't trade that for anything because

478
00:29:14,090 --> 00:29:17,530
it teaches you so much discipline and layers of bureaucracy and how to deal with

479
00:29:17,530 --> 00:29:21,130
people, all the different life lessons that come with that. And then it prepares

480
00:29:21,130 --> 00:29:24,970
you to take the risk. If not just. I got to get out of here.

481
00:29:26,490 --> 00:29:29,760
Absolutely. It helps. That's interesting. Now I have to say I have a relationship with.

482
00:29:29,910 --> 00:29:33,110
With the Warner Brothers. Yeah. I just bought at auction

483
00:29:33,430 --> 00:29:37,270
wardrobe. Oh, wow. Yes. I go. I have this. There's a guy

484
00:29:37,270 --> 00:29:41,110
in Glendale called R.L. spear. And they take. So

485
00:29:41,110 --> 00:29:44,950
I bought a Brioni. You know what Brioni is? Yeah. Okay. Very fancy

486
00:29:44,950 --> 00:29:48,670
Italian stuff. And it's a. Two Brioni jackets. And I open it up and

487
00:29:48,670 --> 00:29:51,350
I pulled the sleeve out, and there's a little Warner Brothers sticker.

488
00:29:53,190 --> 00:29:56,920
And who knows what. Who wore it, what movie? Because usually it says it. It.

489
00:29:56,920 --> 00:30:00,240
Who wore it. It does. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think it was. It had felt

490
00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:03,880
pinned over it. So I can only see the Warner Brothers, whoever wore it. They

491
00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:07,280
don't want you to know that. Tom Cruise on there. But

492
00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:11,560
smaller than I am. The Warner Brothers archive is actually pretty amazing.

493
00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:14,360
If you ever get a chance to visit. I mean, they have. I don't even

494
00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:17,800
know how massive it is, but they just have rows and rows of just

495
00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:21,600
wardrobe from different studios and they do have all the labels inside and who wore

496
00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:25,190
what, what year. It's pretty amazing. My wife's like, really need another jacket.

497
00:30:25,590 --> 00:30:28,710
Yes. It's Brion. Come on.

498
00:30:29,350 --> 00:30:32,710
And how long you been acting and what's. I've been acting since I was like

499
00:30:33,270 --> 00:30:37,110
15, 16 years old. And I've been just lucky enough to,

500
00:30:37,270 --> 00:30:40,870
you know, be able to book some projects on the way to like

501
00:30:41,270 --> 00:30:44,550
through my journey classes. I did, yeah. I, I went to acting school. Then I

502
00:30:44,550 --> 00:30:47,830
coach privately with like this one like mentor that I had.

503
00:30:48,630 --> 00:30:52,160
I was born in Hollywood, raised in Boston. So a lot of my training is

504
00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:55,800
from the east coast in New York City in Boston. So I have

505
00:30:56,520 --> 00:31:00,280
a lot of background from there. And then came out to California.

506
00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:05,480
Born in Hollywood. Yeah. That's a pretty good credential for this actually. Armand,

507
00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:08,920
also born in Hollywood. Yep. And his brother as well. Same hospital.

508
00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:13,200
My mom lived on Gower. Well actually the small

509
00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:16,960
street. But you go up by Cheramoya School, right By Franklin. You go up in

510
00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:20,590
the hills by the Hollywood sign. That's where she grew up. Wow. Yeah. My

511
00:31:20,590 --> 00:31:24,270
mom, my. My grandparents, my grandmother and my grandfather were two brothers and

512
00:31:24,270 --> 00:31:28,030
two sisters married each. Oh, that's. So they live next to each other in

513
00:31:28,030 --> 00:31:31,870
the Hollywood. And so she went to Chair Moya. So they're always around Hollywood. She's

514
00:31:31,870 --> 00:31:35,310
a chic. Hollywood high chic. Yeah. So did you go to

515
00:31:35,310 --> 00:31:38,950
Ruskin or Berg or any type of acting class like that? No,

516
00:31:38,950 --> 00:31:42,790
like Juilliard or stuff like that, but just in New York. I took a

517
00:31:42,790 --> 00:31:45,910
lot of scene study classes, trained with some really high profile coaches there.

518
00:31:47,030 --> 00:31:50,790
So that, that was that. And I've just been lucky enough to book a

519
00:31:50,790 --> 00:31:53,910
lot of really cool stuff. I mean, the life of an actor is very hard.

520
00:31:54,630 --> 00:31:58,390
I'm always dealing with the idea of like, my passion in

521
00:31:58,390 --> 00:32:02,070
acting always comes first. No matter what day job I've had, I've always

522
00:32:02,070 --> 00:32:05,790
risked that for the work. So that's always my

523
00:32:05,790 --> 00:32:09,350
mentality and always will be until it's officially full time, full

524
00:32:09,350 --> 00:32:12,990
time. Like I was even working during the production of Winter

525
00:32:12,990 --> 00:32:16,670
Song. So like it's always a, it's always a give and take.

526
00:32:16,990 --> 00:32:19,790
I was working remotely. Like Paul's Bakery down there.

527
00:32:20,670 --> 00:32:23,910
No, no, I've worked in like tech and all that kind of stuff. So like

528
00:32:23,910 --> 00:32:27,390
I was working remotely at nights while we're shooting. Like in between

529
00:32:28,030 --> 00:32:31,629
I would be like running off night. There's morning. I have a call

530
00:32:31,629 --> 00:32:35,430
tomorrow at 11:00pm there, 11:00am there. 11:00am talk to

531
00:32:35,430 --> 00:32:39,230
civil night. It'll be 7:11am here. Yep. So he didn't sleep for three weeks.

532
00:32:39,230 --> 00:32:42,990
Yeah, basically I was there. So it was really interesting. But like, I

533
00:32:43,070 --> 00:32:45,950
just like, you have to do those kind of things to survive as an actor.

534
00:32:46,570 --> 00:32:50,330
And, but the work always comes first. Acting always comes first. Do you think

535
00:32:50,330 --> 00:32:53,730
most. My daughter's a baker. She's a trained French

536
00:32:53,730 --> 00:32:57,570
baker. And the hospitality

537
00:32:57,570 --> 00:33:00,410
side of food is very tough. And so we went to

538
00:33:01,690 --> 00:33:05,170
one of the schools to get a

539
00:33:05,170 --> 00:33:08,970
lecture and he was sort of pitching the idea that

540
00:33:09,050 --> 00:33:12,820
cookie school was an alternative to college because, you know, you can

541
00:33:12,820 --> 00:33:16,140
get on TV and become an, you know, become a food chef, you know, TV

542
00:33:16,140 --> 00:33:19,940
chef. Sure. And you know that's not accurate. Right, right. It's like very few

543
00:33:19,940 --> 00:33:23,620
and far between. So as a, if, if I'm a young man getting into

544
00:33:23,620 --> 00:33:27,340
the industry or an old man, what's the number

545
00:33:27,340 --> 00:33:31,020
one rule that you have to follow as

546
00:33:31,020 --> 00:33:34,820
to try and be successful? The number one rule is if you

547
00:33:35,140 --> 00:33:38,420
do not put a hundred percent of everything you have into

548
00:33:39,070 --> 00:33:42,870
following this path of acting, there is zero reason you should continue

549
00:33:42,870 --> 00:33:46,670
the path of acting. Probably zero chance you'll get anywhere. Right. Like, if you,

550
00:33:46,670 --> 00:33:49,790
if you're not willing to risk basically everything else,

551
00:33:50,270 --> 00:33:53,950
then it's, it's not going to work out. So

552
00:33:53,950 --> 00:33:57,790
as a, as a voice person, I thought I,

553
00:33:57,870 --> 00:34:01,550
I wanted to act. And I've shot, I shot with David Zucker, you know, the

554
00:34:01,550 --> 00:34:04,270
fame director. But I had to pay him, of course, to show up. But,

555
00:34:06,190 --> 00:34:10,020
and, and it leads to another part of this conversation. But I

556
00:34:10,020 --> 00:34:13,740
thought, you know what? I'm going to sell the company. Maybe I'll dabble

557
00:34:13,740 --> 00:34:17,580
in it. And I talked to John Ruskin, who's, who's. I forgot the,

558
00:34:17,660 --> 00:34:20,700
the methodology he uses. And he's like, yeah, it's two days a week and it's

559
00:34:20,700 --> 00:34:24,140
going to be like three years. I'm like, there's no way

560
00:34:24,380 --> 00:34:27,980
now, if I'm a young man. And I would have done

561
00:34:27,980 --> 00:34:31,580
that because I had the perseverance. But this age, you know,

562
00:34:31,580 --> 00:34:35,059
this. I said, look, man, I can't, I can't. You do have a great voice.

563
00:34:35,539 --> 00:34:38,339
I can totally see it. Five hour a day. I got work to do.

564
00:34:39,619 --> 00:34:43,379
But I can see that perseverance just from when I put my toe in the

565
00:34:43,379 --> 00:34:47,059
water a little bit. Here is the number one key to this

566
00:34:47,059 --> 00:34:50,779
whole industry in general. All of it. It is. And also, like, experiencing life

567
00:34:50,779 --> 00:34:54,539
as a human being makes you a better actor. So, yeah, Go live

568
00:34:54,539 --> 00:34:58,299
your life. But when the work comes, like, you have to,

569
00:34:58,299 --> 00:35:01,819
you know, take. Put everything aside and focus on that. And

570
00:35:01,819 --> 00:35:05,660
that's eventually, like, you. You break through and you find success and you

571
00:35:05,660 --> 00:35:09,060
build off that success and have that be a catalyst for the next job and

572
00:35:09,060 --> 00:35:12,740
the next job, because it's, I mean, builds on each other. Rejection is every single

573
00:35:12,740 --> 00:35:16,260
day. There are a lot of roadblocks in this industry, I think, no matter in

574
00:35:16,260 --> 00:35:19,820
what field you are. So if you're going to hit a roadblock and just quit,

575
00:35:19,820 --> 00:35:22,900
then this is not it. I was not going to make it if you quit.

576
00:35:22,900 --> 00:35:25,580
But, yeah, so let's, let's talk about that for a second, because

577
00:35:26,780 --> 00:35:29,420
each discipline has its issues, as you just said.

578
00:35:30,710 --> 00:35:34,550
And the production side of this thing is so

579
00:35:34,550 --> 00:35:38,230
interesting to me because I love the creative

580
00:35:38,230 --> 00:35:41,830
part of the business. I'm not good

581
00:35:41,830 --> 00:35:45,630
at all the organization of it, but, man, if I can think of

582
00:35:45,630 --> 00:35:49,110
a story, and this is my favorite thing to do, and I play with

583
00:35:49,430 --> 00:35:53,270
editing software to see if I can make emotion out of it. And that being.

584
00:35:53,670 --> 00:35:57,460
When I shot three little stories, I had a story, not a

585
00:35:57,460 --> 00:36:00,980
story. I had a character. It was the man with the million dollar pallet.

586
00:36:01,300 --> 00:36:04,580
And it was this guy that would go around to different scenarios in the world

587
00:36:04,660 --> 00:36:08,340
of wine and fix them. And one of them was the last supper.

588
00:36:08,420 --> 00:36:11,860
You know, like, we saved Jesus because I poured better wine than they had at

589
00:36:11,860 --> 00:36:15,580
the table. Or, you know, the gladiator was going to get

590
00:36:15,580 --> 00:36:19,060
killed, but I gave wine to the. To the emperor and he

591
00:36:19,620 --> 00:36:23,140
called it off. You know, this kind of thing. So we thought we shot three

592
00:36:23,140 --> 00:36:26,930
of them. One was a date that I interrupted, one was a dinner party I

593
00:36:26,930 --> 00:36:30,090
interrupted. And one was just a psycho shower scene,

594
00:36:30,810 --> 00:36:33,730
which my wife's like, you didn't tell me you're going to shower with a naked

595
00:36:33,730 --> 00:36:36,410
woman. She wasn't naked, but whatever.

596
00:36:37,770 --> 00:36:41,530
Anyway, the point being, I had USC cinematographers,

597
00:36:41,530 --> 00:36:45,210
masters of shooting. David Zucker was the director. And

598
00:36:46,490 --> 00:36:50,100
you have to understand what's going on there because the.

599
00:36:50,180 --> 00:36:53,940
As Stephen Smith said, the cinematographer said, now

600
00:36:53,940 --> 00:36:57,700
the magic's kind of. After we wrapped up, now the magic happens.

601
00:36:58,020 --> 00:37:01,780
Yep, that's really what happens. It's really the production crew

602
00:37:02,340 --> 00:37:05,740
that once we've got the shots that in the music, that

603
00:37:05,740 --> 00:37:09,060
changes the whole thing. It doesn't seem like you get enough

604
00:37:09,060 --> 00:37:11,380
credit now, Shade.

605
00:37:13,220 --> 00:37:17,020
Yeah, no, I mean in general, that the production crew, the

606
00:37:17,020 --> 00:37:19,980
credits roll at the end of the film and they roll by so fast, but

607
00:37:19,980 --> 00:37:23,280
they call up. Yeah. The director, usually the writer, and that's it, right? Maybe a

608
00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:27,080
few of the actors. Seth Rogen, who just won the Golden Globe in his

609
00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:30,800
speech thanked the whole crew basically by name. By name. So like more of that

610
00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:34,600
is great. And like when you're on set, you're so appreciative, everybody. But

611
00:37:34,600 --> 00:37:38,200
then when you leave set, it's like you never talk to people ever again. So

612
00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:41,000
it's like done. You move on. And I think that's why a lot of directors,

613
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:44,640
they have their go to people, they're, they just, they use the same crews for

614
00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:48,000
every single project. Cuz there's like a shorthand with them. They know what they're getting.

615
00:37:48,240 --> 00:37:52,090
It's. It's just easier for them. So I suppose that synergy is

616
00:37:52,090 --> 00:37:55,690
kind of what makes some, some shows more special than others.

617
00:37:55,690 --> 00:37:58,610
Absolutely. For sure. It's so important. And I think that's what I loved about this

618
00:37:58,610 --> 00:38:02,450
project too is everybody was in it completely. And

619
00:38:02,450 --> 00:38:06,130
it wasn't about money, it wasn't about fame, it was just about. We all shared

620
00:38:06,130 --> 00:38:09,530
this passion. We had a mission. And I think, look, every single

621
00:38:09,930 --> 00:38:13,690
one of us is trying to get the Armenian community to understand if you

622
00:38:13,690 --> 00:38:17,250
want more voices like this, if you want our stories told, every single person has

623
00:38:17,250 --> 00:38:20,410
to show up for a movie like this. And we're not just our movie, just

624
00:38:20,550 --> 00:38:24,030
any movie, there needs to be. We need to prove that there's a market for

625
00:38:24,030 --> 00:38:27,830
it and that people care for these types of stories and our efforts didn't go

626
00:38:27,830 --> 00:38:31,550
to waste. Like when the movie released on Wonder Project, it got in their top

627
00:38:31,550 --> 00:38:35,390
10 on Amazon on the first week. And when you look at these bigger movies,

628
00:38:35,390 --> 00:38:38,550
they have, you know, marketing budgets of millions of dollars.

629
00:38:39,110 --> 00:38:42,550
We had zero. It was just us and our community. Our budget was depressed.

630
00:38:43,830 --> 00:38:47,230
It's still depressed. Over and done at that point. There's

631
00:38:47,230 --> 00:38:51,040
depression everywhere. Happy go lucky movie. Well,

632
00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:54,320
it's, you know, it's the same in the wine business. You walk down the, the

633
00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:58,120
shelf of the Ralph's or Vons and all those wines that you see that

634
00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:01,280
the same brands all over the place, those are backed by tons and tons of

635
00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:05,080
money marketers and every celebrity has a wine company. Yeah.

636
00:39:05,080 --> 00:39:08,840
And if you, you and I try to start. Well, let's just talk about AR

637
00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:11,760
wine for a second. There was a scene in the movie where you guys are

638
00:39:11,760 --> 00:39:14,360
pouring wine and was that, was that actor

639
00:39:15,230 --> 00:39:18,950
indigenous Armenian or did he come with you? Yeah, yeah. He's from the

640
00:39:18,950 --> 00:39:22,590
uk, but he's Armenian. Really? Yeah. We have wine here, you know, we

641
00:39:22,590 --> 00:39:26,270
have Armenian wines, but that's It's a parallel issue

642
00:39:26,270 --> 00:39:30,070
because frankly, if freedom

643
00:39:30,070 --> 00:39:33,550
came in 91 and the wine trade was. Had been

644
00:39:33,550 --> 00:39:37,150
completely suffocated by the Soviet rule. It's.

645
00:39:37,630 --> 00:39:41,230
From my standpoint, it's an amazing transition. Absolutely. Today

646
00:39:41,650 --> 00:39:45,330
because it's a very slow business. It's only once a

647
00:39:45,330 --> 00:39:48,810
year, as you already know. So in order to pull off what they've pulled off

648
00:39:48,810 --> 00:39:51,650
so far with people like Bhai Kashkari and his daughter and

649
00:39:52,450 --> 00:39:56,050
Voskavas and those people, it's pretty amazing. But. But

650
00:39:56,050 --> 00:39:59,850
that's fine. They make good wine. And some of the stuff I think is world

651
00:39:59,850 --> 00:40:03,170
class. I'll pour that at my home. The wine guy will pour that.

652
00:40:04,050 --> 00:40:07,530
But try and sell it. It's hard. I mean, that's like, you know, try and

653
00:40:07,530 --> 00:40:11,290
get a spot on that shelf is almost impossible. Yeah, there is a slug

654
00:40:11,290 --> 00:40:15,060
it out. And I'm wondering if that's the same, you know, the same

655
00:40:15,060 --> 00:40:18,740
headwinds in the. This side of the business for. For Armenian

656
00:40:18,740 --> 00:40:22,460
stories specifically, or. Yeah, yeah, I think. I mean, I think that was one of

657
00:40:22,460 --> 00:40:26,140
the. What was really wise about the way this was

658
00:40:26,140 --> 00:40:29,700
approached was like I said earlier, it's this kind of very

659
00:40:29,700 --> 00:40:33,460
universal story, you know, that kind of going home

660
00:40:33,460 --> 00:40:37,260
for the holiday story or girl trying to find herself story. It's not

661
00:40:37,420 --> 00:40:40,660
like there's not something about it that's like super unique in that. We haven't seen

662
00:40:40,660 --> 00:40:44,410
it done before, but it's taking that. That we know that kind of

663
00:40:44,410 --> 00:40:48,090
general formula works well, figuring out how do we make it unique, how do we

664
00:40:48,090 --> 00:40:51,890
make it specific to Armenia and, you know, putting that on paper and then

665
00:40:51,890 --> 00:40:55,490
eventually having it evolve to. To what it. What it became.

666
00:40:56,610 --> 00:40:59,810
You know, the. The making the movie part itself

667
00:41:00,370 --> 00:41:04,050
was. Had its. Had its challenges, but getting

668
00:41:04,050 --> 00:41:07,130
it to land somewhere, that was the big goal that we were talking about. And

669
00:41:07,130 --> 00:41:10,370
so thankfully we were able to do it. I wouldn't say it was easy. I

670
00:41:10,370 --> 00:41:13,860
think there were a lot of things that had to sort of align for that

671
00:41:13,860 --> 00:41:17,660
to happen. And we were. We all operated very intentionally. You know, we saw this

672
00:41:17,660 --> 00:41:21,100
opportunity, we approached it, we were very thoughtful about it.

673
00:41:21,500 --> 00:41:24,500
We did everything that we could to make sure that it kind of landed where

674
00:41:24,500 --> 00:41:28,140
it landed. And we feel really blessed that that was able to come together.

675
00:41:28,460 --> 00:41:32,140
There must be other genres

676
00:41:32,140 --> 00:41:35,260
that this could apply to, so to speak.

677
00:41:35,500 --> 00:41:38,940
Absolutely. For sure. So you can expose the story without

678
00:41:40,190 --> 00:41:43,870
the same issue, without the focus on I. The focus on

679
00:41:44,110 --> 00:41:47,830
us or them. For sure. So nothing on the books right

680
00:41:47,830 --> 00:41:51,030
now that you're thinking about, but your brain has to be sort of

681
00:41:51,030 --> 00:41:54,870
massaging, you know, what can we do? That's just so much. This was so much

682
00:41:54,870 --> 00:41:58,590
fun to do. We've got some traction. Maybe you

683
00:41:58,590 --> 00:42:02,390
got a strike soon. Anyway, you have a show coming up. Don't you have a

684
00:42:02,390 --> 00:42:06,190
show, a showing coming up at usc? Oh, we did that on Tuesday. Oh, you

685
00:42:06,190 --> 00:42:09,390
did on Tuesday. How'd that go? It was good. It was really well received. Yeah.

686
00:42:10,350 --> 00:42:14,170
And it was a nice mix. Mix of. There were Armenian community members, there were

687
00:42:14,170 --> 00:42:17,570
some people from film school. Like I had some of my TAs, my old TAs

688
00:42:17,570 --> 00:42:21,130
came out to support. That's great. I had a few people from the editing community.

689
00:42:22,010 --> 00:42:24,650
So it was a really good mix of people. And I think that was a

690
00:42:24,650 --> 00:42:28,330
really positive response. I mean, look, all of our screenings have had positive responses,

691
00:42:28,650 --> 00:42:32,290
both from Armenians and non Armenians. I think the,

692
00:42:32,290 --> 00:42:35,730
the number one thing that I think we've all been told, which is always really

693
00:42:35,730 --> 00:42:39,440
nice, is that you leave kind of having this warm fuzzy feeling. And

694
00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:42,960
that's what we wanted, you know, we. We wanted it to be something that you

695
00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:46,760
walk away feeling that it's enjoyable, you know, and, and that you

696
00:42:46,760 --> 00:42:50,360
get to have this great, you know, movie going experience, whether you're watching it in

697
00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:54,040
a private screening or whether you're watching it online at home. This

698
00:42:54,040 --> 00:42:57,440
Armenian institute, usc, that's that I'm active. They were, they were actually. They

699
00:42:57,600 --> 00:43:00,120
helped promote the film. They were the ones who led the Q and A at

700
00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:03,120
usc. Oh, they did. Okay, great. But I think

701
00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:07,440
Shushan. Yeah, not Shushan. It was a Marle, who's their managing director and she's.

702
00:43:07,440 --> 00:43:10,620
She's wonderful. We're going to wrap this up now, but I'm just asking each

703
00:43:10,620 --> 00:43:14,340
individually what is on the horizon for you personally and what

704
00:43:14,340 --> 00:43:17,980
you're working on and then you know, how you see navigating

705
00:43:17,980 --> 00:43:21,820
this short term potentially or hopefully

706
00:43:21,820 --> 00:43:25,660
short term glitch in the industry. Yeah, I just wrapped up a

707
00:43:25,660 --> 00:43:29,340
few short films. We have two podcasts that we're working on

708
00:43:29,900 --> 00:43:33,500
with my brother. Hopefully you can turn them into miniseries

709
00:43:33,500 --> 00:43:37,170
eventually and also a feature film that hopefully all. Well, not

710
00:43:37,170 --> 00:43:40,290
hopefully all of us are going to be a part of podcast, as in producing

711
00:43:40,290 --> 00:43:44,130
one like a narrative scripted podcast scripted. So it is

712
00:43:44,130 --> 00:43:47,730
a story. So that one will be fully in my hands

713
00:43:47,730 --> 00:43:51,570
because no visuals attached and so just audio and

714
00:43:51,570 --> 00:43:55,250
music. It'll be fun crafting the whole story myself almost, other than the script,

715
00:43:55,250 --> 00:43:58,450
obviously. And you're just cruising along

716
00:43:58,930 --> 00:44:02,450
stuff on your editing. Are you doing this with the.

717
00:44:02,840 --> 00:44:06,520
The 16th? Well,

718
00:44:06,520 --> 00:44:09,600
there was A. There was a short film that I had edited for a wonderful

719
00:44:09,600 --> 00:44:13,440
director, Ophelia Tunian, a few years ago that we qualified for

720
00:44:13,440 --> 00:44:17,080
the Oscar. So I'm currently in the process of wrapping up her next short film

721
00:44:17,720 --> 00:44:21,400
and then obviously pushing. Pushing this through and

722
00:44:21,640 --> 00:44:24,600
promoting. This has been a lot of work. And like I said, I teach at

723
00:44:24,600 --> 00:44:28,240
USC part time and hopefully getting to collaborate with these folks

724
00:44:28,240 --> 00:44:32,040
again very soon. And I'm writing a lot. I have a couple of

725
00:44:32,040 --> 00:44:35,590
scripts that I've written. One of them I really spent a lot of time

726
00:44:35,590 --> 00:44:39,190
developing with Annie especially. So hopefully

727
00:44:39,190 --> 00:44:42,870
more to come soon. Excellent. Outside of what they

728
00:44:42,870 --> 00:44:46,590
just all mentioned we're doing, I do have a few book options that

729
00:44:46,590 --> 00:44:49,670
I'm shopping around with different production companies.

730
00:44:50,870 --> 00:44:54,590
Books to sell the story. Film rights. Yeah. Acquired film

731
00:44:54,590 --> 00:44:58,390
rights to buy. We have to have a conversation after this. Uh. Oh,

732
00:44:58,630 --> 00:45:02,070
I gotta go. No, it's fun.

733
00:45:02,310 --> 00:45:05,660
And for me, I had a good Knock on wood. Had a pretty good year.

734
00:45:05,660 --> 00:45:09,300
Last year I had a few movies in theaters, not including this one. And

735
00:45:09,300 --> 00:45:12,900
then this year, I have a couple TV shows releasing. I'll be on the Lincoln

736
00:45:12,900 --> 00:45:16,740
Lawyer on Netflix season four, and I'll be on the Rookie

737
00:45:16,740 --> 00:45:20,460
season eight as well. And then aside from that, I have a couple other

738
00:45:20,460 --> 00:45:23,540
things lined up that I can't talk about right now. But it's gonna be a

739
00:45:23,540 --> 00:45:27,220
good year. 2026 is gonna be a big year. I think it's on its way.

740
00:45:27,220 --> 00:45:30,660
Yeah. Stay tuned. It's such an honor to have you guys in here. Thank you

741
00:45:30,660 --> 00:45:33,220
for having us. This was so much fun. This was great. It was really nice

742
00:45:33,220 --> 00:45:36,020
to meet you. My pleasure. And I think think we're going to probably do it

743
00:45:36,020 --> 00:45:39,740
again sometime as this goes on. And there's more projects to do because

744
00:45:40,540 --> 00:45:44,380
I think there's an important aspect of telling

745
00:45:44,380 --> 00:45:48,140
the story of the culture in a more modern fashion. Yeah,

746
00:45:48,140 --> 00:45:51,820
absolutely. Thank you. Usually I end these things with cheers because they're talking about wine.

747
00:45:55,020 --> 00:45:55,740
Take care.