 You just do stuff for free for people, then there's no expectation. And you become reliable, and then all of a sudden, people will start buying into your vision. And then once you have a string of successes and you keep it going, then people will start to listen. And that's kind of the point that I'm at now, where I have a lot of trust from a lot of different musicians, brands, and they'll listen now. But I get it, it's very hard when you're just starting out. Matt, come on, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. Yeah, obviously we talked a little bit about your age and being a youngin' but having created some videos that have gotten tremendous views, two plus billion views of music videos, et cetera. How did you get started in finding your passion and being a filmmaker? It started pretty early on. Probably when I was around 13 or 14, I picked up a camera for the first time and it was nothing really serious. It was my parents' old little handy cam, like Canon camera. And it's just something that I enjoy doing and kind of just like stuck with it. And here we are. What was your first video, do you remember? Oh my God, it was like this really, really bad skateboard video out in my parents' cul-de-sac in Orange County. It was absolute trash, but. I feel like that's where a lot of us started is filming some sort of activity of ourselves. Skating, sports, friends. Well, I certainly remember the camera that I had to film, our skating bits. And it was probably a little bit larger than the one that you were working with. Probably, yeah. They have a VHS deck in it. Damn straight. And of course, putting together massive projects like that, it takes a certain level of confidence and being able to step into roles that at first can be a little intimidating. So how have you developed your confidence, especially in your creative vision? I think practice definitely helps a ton. I live, eat, and breathe film every single day. And I study the craft like no other. So when it comes to actually executing on something, it just feels like another day. Obviously there's pressure depending on how big the project is, but anything you've been doing for a really long time, it kind of, I don't know, not that I'm numb to it, but it's, I don't know, it's like another at-bat if you're a pro baseball player or something. Same thing. Getting your start with skating and music videos is Spike Jon's somebody that you had studied and looked up to, much? Not really, to be completely honest. I know why you would say that though. I look up to people like Christopher Nolan. He's like my number one main inspiration, Scorsese, Spielberg, a lot of those guys. I do like Spike Jonze, I think his work is incredible. And when you're starting out, obviously, doing videos on the side and getting going, it's one thing, but when you're actually asked to shoot a music video, get by and at a young age, what was the most intimidating situation you walked into and how did you deal with it? I would probably say, oh, I worked for GoPro for a while. I was really intimidating to start because I left college and I worked at GoPro for almost three years, like two years and like eight months, to be exact. And that was nerve-wracking because I was 21 and I was on the social team there. Yeah, I don't know, you just have like a blind confidence, I guess, in it that you trust, you know what you're doing it's all like measured risk, so to speak, and take a calculated decision on something and hopefully you don't fail with it. Right. Did you find working for them? I would expect that it would be certainly back then with it and it was a brand new camera and everything about it, how it was gonna be used was all new. So was there a lot of freedom in working for them and everything you guys produced? Not to start for me personally, I came in around Hero 5, so they'd already had a lot of wins under their belt at that point, but when I started, I definitely didn't have the say or the freedom of creativity that I had when I ended up leaving. So with GoPro and obviously landing that gig, walk us through a little bit of how that came to me. So I went to, right before that, I went to film school for four years, I went to Chapman University and I studied film production, emphasized in cinematography, so I already had a film background and schooling and then GoPro was just a company that I always wanted to be a part of. I grew up, like you mentioned, skating, snowboarding, all that stuff, so it was a very good culture fit for me and I actually applied for an internship and didn't get the internship and I applied for a job and actually didn't get the job. It was for like their ski and snowboard department and then kind of a little bit of luck and the universe kind of aligned itself. My resume got on director of social at the time in front of her and she gave me a call and an interview and a month later, I'm working there. That's kind of how that ended up happening. So not giving up is a big part of it? Kind of, yeah. I was actually just talking about this the other day with somebody and I didn't really view them as failures or like it wasn't for me. I kind of just, yeah, I kept trying and it ended up working out and thank God it changed my whole life. Yeah, and coming out of that, what was the first really big exciting project for you? Oh my God, within a week of me leaving, I shot a music video for the Chainsmokers called Everybody Hates Me with a good buddy of mine named Rory. He directed it, a longtime collaborator. So that was probably the most exciting thing and that was like a week or something after GoPro. And how'd you get connected with the Chainsmokers? Through my friend Rory. Rory's another great videographer, filmmaker, director type and he was touring with them way back in like 2014 or 15. I've been a big Chainsmokers fan for a long time and yeah, kind of just through him and now we're all like really good friends. Was that their holiday party last night and it's good. Yeah, he worked with them on a number of projects. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's had to be exciting, especially with their career trajectory as well. It's been a lot of like right place, right time for me and hopefully that keeps happening because that's like the part that you can't really predict. Well, typically there's a lot of hard work behind that. Yeah, yeah. The doors open and I know and we've asked this before when we've talked to creatives and we are certainly amateur filmmakers as you can see from our stream but how do you deal with that seeking perfection knowing when to release it and not getting hung up and ultimately getting projects out there to get viewed? I struggle with that a lot because I definitely over index on the quality side versus quantity and the system of digital media it doesn't reward that. It's quantity driven business and you always need to be putting something out to stay relevant. But then I just, for me personally, like the quality and to answer your question, I kind of just had like a sense when I know that it's ready to go and then I also am like self aware to know, okay, am I being too much of a perfectionist and like is this 90% of the way there we can get this out and it's just as good and it's just being aware of that fine line and you're always trying to dance on that. Right, you know. And developing that sense, a lot of our audience has thought about creating content, has thought about entrepreneurship or trying things and a lot of times being perfectionists they get in their own way and sabotage. How did you develop that spidey sense? I put out a lot actually to contradict exactly what I just said. I did put out a lot for a while and you kind of just know what ends up working. I mean, you guys are artists in your own right and anything you guys are probably working on, you probably just, you just know. You're like, okay, this is... So the audience response has sort of guided you over the years. Kind of, yeah. And especially when you show the film or whatever you're working on to somebody in person, what I find remarkable is people kind of react very similarly to like certain parts within the film or video or whatever it is. So you can kind of gauge it that way too. So you're looking at their response, their body language, what moments are really captivating for them? Of course, yeah. Do you ever feel that maybe perhaps you're a bit of an old soul when it comes to filmmaking? For some of the stuff that I had seen, this goes over the quantity and quality situation where there was so much time spent on all these beautiful shots, it was more of an art form than shooting a quick video. And certainly in today's day and age, it seems that everything is just so throw away. If you're throwing it, even I made a stupid video for Instagram and our, the person who's in charge of making sure they get scheduled and going out there, I didn't have the proper title and I was like, now no one's gonna see my video. And I was all upset. And of course I had to sit back and go, and you could do another one. It took you five minutes to put that together. It was like, but it just, things just fly by so fast. Yeah, I would definitely say I'm an old soul and I do, I care about the craft of it and I don't put out videos just for the sake of blowing up on social media or anything like that. And that's incredibly apparent just through the type of content that I make because what I do doesn't make any practical sense. Things take way too long, cost too much money and anyone who's sensible would be like, this is not worth the time. But for somebody who is an artist and a filmmaker, it is worth the time you just ask yourself like, what do you actually wanna be known for? And do you just wanna keep putting, not garbage, but do you just wanna be putting these half ass things out into the world or do you actually wanna focus and make something meaningful? And hopefully the fewer things that you do are more impactful when people see it. I think you said the word right there that has the way you view it, right? Which is, first and foremost, you're an artist. That's what you're there to do and there is a part of you that has to be into what you're doing and excited for what you're doing. And at the end of that result, happy about the time and what you've put into it and regardless of who's going to see it, it needed to be done. And I think that's the artist in you that will always need to have that quell before how many people see it on social media. Right, exactly. And that's what's taught the vanity metrics of everything. In one hand it's great because it's self-validating and in another hand it's like, okay, if you do something and it doesn't perform well, that's also hard on an artist too. Absolutely. And of course, working on projects and balancing the creative side and the business side, there are deadlines, there are budgets that you have to hit. How do you find the balance and how have you dealt with it when it's been really high stress, especially at a young age? Just get it done. I don't know, I guess I do have, it is hard to get stuff out in a reasonable time. Like, don't get me wrong, being creative on any deadline is incredibly difficult but then you do have to say to yourself, okay, this is the box that it's put in, just do the best you can. So I kind of just live by that. I'm always trying to just do the best in whatever box, budget, timeline that I'm in. And do you ever feel like there are times, especially when you've had to be now in a leadership role where it's not just a project of you and a camera and a skateboard, there's teams of people, how do you go about getting buy-in on your creative vision and getting people to help you execute it? I'll answer that in two parts because it's different now than it was back then because nobody knows who you are and no one knows. Yeah, on the come up. Yeah, it's really, really difficult. So the easiest way around that is you just do stuff for free for people and there's no expectation. And you become reliable and then all of a sudden, people will start buying into your vision. Once you have a string of successes and you keep it going, then people will start to listen. And that's kind of the point that I'm at now where I have a lot of trust from a lot of different musicians, brands, and they'll listen now. But I get it, it's very hard when you're just started out. So definitely understanding how the system works, essentially, that you gotta put out content first. If no one's watching your content, you're not gonna be able to build those relationships. And it seems like now, a lot of the projects you're working on and opportunities are happening through the network you've built along the way. Oh, of course, of course. It's all relationships, 100%. And what's been your approach to building relationships, like, Steve? To be a good person. Yeah, just be kind to people, be a good person, do what you say you're gonna do, put out good work, and it's really that simple. I think a lot of people try to overcomplicate it. And fortunately, I don't need anything from anybody. If an artist doesn't want to do this this month, I'll just go to another artist, or I'll go take time off for myself, and I'll just go make something on my own. So I guess maybe it's that approach, where I'm never in a position where I need this thing, you know? Because as a filmmaker, there's so many different avenues. You have music videos, you can do short films, you can do YouTube, whatever. So I'm never bored, I guess. Is there a grand plan? In a certain respect, yeah. I would love to be a huge director at some point, like feature films that we're doing well with music videos and things of that nature right now. But I look up to a lot of people that are multi-faceted and multi-talented. So like, the Virgil Abloz of the world, who found it off-white, he's a career director, Lee Vuitton, he DJs in Bradley Cooper. He's an actor, he also directs, he can sing. So I'd love to be a director for feature films. I'd love to maybe career direct a brand, global skill potentially, again, do clothing, who knows, a little bit of everything. So really challenge yourself creatively and I feel like, especially watching your career as it's gone from GoPro onto these other projects, like how do you find that balance of what is your strong suit and then pushing the boundaries of creativity and trying to grow in other areas? That's a really good question. I like to learn a lot. So I just try a bunch of different things and try and get good at everything and understand it. And I study things quite a bit through reading, through watching endless hours of YouTube videos of how things are directed or how companies are started. And that's probably, I guess maybe the secret to the success is you kind of just study what worked with other people and you kind of re-replicate it in your own fashion now, I guess. So just forever being a student sounds like. Of course, of course. And then trying to master the craft. And I think for a lot of creatives, especially now with social media and those vanity metrics, everyone is so worried about becoming viral. How can I have that one smash hit? And what do you say to those creatives who are starting out in search of that one viral video? Probably won't get it because you can't really say you're gonna go create something viral. It doesn't necessarily work like that unless the only way that happens is unless you already have a pre-established fan base and you're already speaking to millions of people. Yeah, just create good things. Because the quicker you pop off, the quicker you're gonna fall off if it's based on nothing, so to speak, where you look at a lot of people on social now and let's say that they're influencers and they have a big following. Okay, that's great for a little bit, but once you've pumped through brand deals for a year or two, you make some cash, then where do you go from there? You don't really have a transferable skill set. So you kind of die with the platform unless you jump when a lot of the Viners jump to YouTube and jump to Instagram and some of them turn them into fully fledged businesses. Well, to go along what you're saying, any success that comes in a lightning strike when you're really young, as you mentioned, you hadn't had time to develop other skills. So that is only going to last for so long. And it is incredibly hard to transition on that. And as you were making, mentioning, even the transition from Vine to YouTube, how many people, there was certainly some who were able to do that, how many weren't able to make that transition? They went to TikTok. Yeah, there you go, yeah, they waited. They went out vertical, yeah. So we talked a little bit before the show, but I'd love to hear what you're really excited about now. You got a really interesting project you're working on. It's gonna be coming out soon. Yeah, and I have a short film that's coming out that I directed and wrote, and it's about my grandfather who has dementia and it's getting pretty gnarly for him. So I've been working on that super focused since probably July and August of this year, and we're in post-production now, and hopefully it's done by February. So that's kind of been what I've been doing. I've turned down every music video, every brand deal, everything since July to make this. It's quite the passion project. Yeah, yeah. Family's excited. Yeah, they're very excited. But I mean, it's important, because he doesn't have that much longer left and he needs to see it. So once you've kind of run the gamut of, I guess, LA and just film and work and stuff, you say to yourself, okay, it's worth the sacrifice. What am I gonna do from July to the new year? Just crank out three or four more music videos, make some more money, do some more brand deals. Yeah, it's fantastic. But this is one of those things where if I didn't do it now and he passed, I would regret that for the rest of my life. So you just stop everything, get this done, the second I get this out and I put my foot back on the gas with everything else, it'll come. Have you felt there's been added pressure knowing that it's a family project and it's really personal to you? Yeah, it's been, to be completely honest, been really difficult to make because it's a delicate story. It obviously hits close to home. It's super emotional. And I just want to do it right. So, but we're getting there slowly but surely. And what's the plan to unveil it for him to see? Well, it's impossible to get to move him anywhere, like it's getting really bad. He has to be in a wheelchair and like he doesn't remember much more than, you know, 10 minutes ago. So we'll do a premiere in LA with all the friends and network and whatnot. And then I'm just gonna go down to where he lives in Orange County with a laptop and sit next to him on his bed and show it to him. Right on, yeah. That's gotta be an awesome moment for you. Hopefully, yeah, yeah, yeah. Putting it all together. Of course, it is a mail bag episode. If you guys have questions following along, please do shoot him over. We'd love to ask Matt. We're gonna dig into our mail bag. We have some great questions here. The first one is from Jeremy. He's a fire dancer, object manipulator, multi-staff martial artist. He's been doing this at an amateur level for about five years now. And he's gonna soon be representing his own brand and diving in at a professional level. He asks, how do you think changing the medium changes how stories are told and how people relate to them? In person versus text versus audio. And also visually without any of those things, how much of telling a story is rooted in language? What is your perspective on that, especially diving in to start his own brand now? To tell in stories, yeah, the medium. Well, even all the different platforms that we've been talking about, you know, everyone. They all have a different voice. Exactly. You need to be aware of what that voice is. Twitter is very informal. It's short. It should feel conversational. YouTube's a place where you can tell longer form stories. It can be a vlog. It can be a narrative. Instagram is getting get out. You know, do something flashy and move on to the next thing. So yeah, you do have to adapt for what each platform is. And that's also different for the visuals as well. You know, like for me personally, like the Instagram stuff is very flashy. It's very travel driven because that's what works well there. The YouTube stuff is a lot more slower. It's longer form content. So yeah, I just evaluate that. He's a fire dancer. Is that what he said? Yeah, fire dancer, object manipulator. Yeah, that's the one I was curious. So I don't even know that. I couldn't manipulate quite a lot of objects. You know, the other thing about it is if each one of those platforms has a different audience. Right, that's true. And understanding of course, that moving from an amateur to a professional, there's certain expectations, right? It's not just hamfisted with the video camera, but it's actually taking some time to edit and think about things a little more thoroughly. Oh my God, yeah. Oh yeah. The pre-production process is probably the most extensive. That production actually shooting the thing is the easiest part of anything, always. It's the pre-production and then it's the post. And he's asking lastly, what is your model or storytelling advice for putting together a project like this? And obviously, as we just talked about, the pre-production, the storyboarding, that's a huge part of the process. So how do you walk into that situation, especially when someone else has contracted you out for their idea? I think you need to figure out what you need to say or want to say or what the client wants to say first and then you work your way backwards and that kind of dictates the visuals, the story within it all. So you always figure out what the angle is. And if you don't know what that is, just ask. Most of the time, the artist, the brand, whatever they are, they know what they want, but they just can't make it, that's why they're hiring you to do it. Right. So starting with the end in mind, working back is a big part of your creative process. Yeah, if you listen to a lot of screenwriters talk, most of them say they start with act three. They know the ending, then they move on to the first act and then act two is the bitch. It's impossible to get through. But yeah, you mostly start with the end. And have you been in situations where there's been disagreement on the creative side? Oh, of course, all the time. And how do you handle that and manage that, especially at a young age, being persuasive for these big brands who have their own expectations? Well, at the end of the day, they're paying you. So the dollars are coming from them, so whatever they want up into a certain point, you gotta give them that. And it's this weird dichotomy of being completely involved in your craft, and it being your baby, and then also being able to just let it go and be like, this isn't mine. Have you walked out on a project? No, I've definitely been in post and there's been a ton of revisions on something and it's this never-ending thing where the client doesn't know what they want, which means that I can't really make something for them. But now I've never really left anyone hanging. I can understand on the post and how troubling that could be. I was, we were in a shoot for one of my projects. It was a band. And one of the guys in the band had handed the guy who was putting the video together in post and when he was editing, two pages of shots that he wanted to see of him in the video and I was like, oh my God. He's like, he does know this is a three minute song and that's not gonna happen. Yeah. And he just threw them out, but it was just one of those things like, really? And that is just, for me, I can understand there's things that you would hope make it into the cut, sure. But to sit down and write out two pages of shots of yourself that you would like to see in the video. Yeah, yeah, that's obsessive. I don't know if you deal with this, but Wesley asks, how do I stop procrastinating? I mean, how bad do you want whatever you want? You know, that's kind of like the thing. Yeah, the why of why you're doing it. And if you really want something bad and I feel just there is no procrastination, you just go and do it. Yeah, the motivation, the willpower all becomes a lot easier. So asking yourself first, if you've identified what you're procrastinating on, asking yourself why, why is this something that's intimidating me or I'm not getting to? And then of course the flip side of that is do you have the time to actually get it done? And time management is also a part of it. I think I've certainly struggled with procrastination. It's usually stuff that I'm not good at. So I know it's gonna take a lot more of my time. It's gonna be more frustrating. Right, which I'm the same way sometimes where I feel like if I don't know something super well, sometimes just even the thought of doing it is more intense than just actually doing the thing because I don't know it. Right, it's intimidating. I know for myself when it comes to reading, I don't wanna start a book and not be able to finish it and so that will usually keep me from getting into it. I've now since, as I've gotten orders, like if you just don't like it, just put it down. You don't need to force yourself through this thing. Right, that's true. But yeah, that had always made me procrastinate in the past. Yeah, I think it's also, again, getting to the deeper why there's a level of self-sabotage. Next month we're gonna be talking to Dr. Judy Ho who wrote a book on self-sabotage but in general, especially if you've started something but you can't see it all the way through, there's some self-sabotage going on there of like why do I not wanna get this thing published? Why do I not wanna hit post? Why do I not actually wanna get this out? I think a lot of people are afraid of other people's opinions and you put out something that is you through and through whether it's a book, a song, a film and the thought of someone saying something bad about it is terrifying for a lot of people. How do you deal with that? Because nobody who criticizes me is doing more than I am. See, that's an incredible thing and I hope for the young kids who are listening to us to put that in quotes and write that down somewhere but on top of that, I mean, what is the one thing that you do when you're seeing one of your friends doing things that you wanna be doing? You immediately go to wherever they're creating and hope and you try to vibe with the nasty comments so that you're like, see, I knew he couldn't do it, I knew it wasn't gonna happen but then, if you engage in that sort of behavior, when it comes to your time to raise your hand and put something out there, the only thing you're gonna be thinking about is the negativity that goes along with that because that's what you've engaged in. Right, and you know, most people that are in the ring with you, so to speak and putting stuff out and actually creating, there's a mutual respect for everybody and yeah, you might get a cheap shot from somebody who's also working as well and could just be like a jealousy thing but for the most part, the criticism online just comes from people who probably wish that they were doing whatever they're watching is. Yeah, I think in general it's a lot easier to tear down than it is to build. Of course. And everything that we're talking about here, it takes a team, it takes hours and hours, months and months of work to put together to have that finished product and it's just so easy to pick apart one little thing. Yeah, you just see the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. And a lot of times too, because I'm not, I get negative comments on my stuff, not too much but I definitely do and a lot of times I just say to myself, well, if you can really do it better and you know how to do it, then just show me and do it. Yeah, I'd love to see it. I don't have an ego about always being right or anything like that, always listen if it's a valid point and it's coming from a valid source so just show me why or how I could have done it better. And do you have any sort of comparison envy when you compare with other artists and creatives out there? Of course, yeah, yeah, I deal with that a lot because I work with a lot of incredibly, incredibly successful people all the time. And they're all really young, around my age, maybe a little bit older, 27, 28. And of course you compare yourself because like, and it's so strange because a lot of people probably look at me and think I'm ultra successful and you're always kind of just like benchmarking yourself. Yeah, I think pushing yourself. And maybe you can speak to this a little bit. Obviously there's no top of the mountain. No, no, it keeps moving. Exactly, you see the next project, you see the next thing in front of you and it's great to hear that from you because a lot of our audience exactly that looks at everything in your body of work and it's like, oh my God, he's crushing it, he's killing it, he's made it. And of course there's gonna be that level of, I want more and oh my God, these other people are creating stuff that I wanna be creating too. And that balance, so do you find yourself in situations where that comparison leads to some negative self-talk or some self-doubt and how do you deal with that? Yeah, I would be lying if I said it doesn't affect me or I'm completely immune to negative self-talk. I don't know, we all have our different journeys and paths and they might be in a season of life where they just struck gold and that might be coming for me again in a couple years from now, next week, who knows? So you just tell yourself, okay well, what are the actual variables that you can control and it's how hard you're working, how talented and skillful you are at your craft, it's how well you treat people and then the rest kind of just, you just gotta throw your hands up and be like what's gonna happen is gonna happen. Right, but it's gotta be published, it's gotta be out there for things to happen. Yeah, exactly. That's the most important thing. Doesn't help on a hard drive, just sitting there. Exactly. We got a question here from Luke, he says he was raised in a poor community and my understanding of what is possible personally and professionally is pretty limited. Now that I'm educated and live in a city filled with opportunities, how do I decide what I want and how to get it when I have no frame of reference and obviously as your career has taken off, I'm assuming the big gig in the beginning was GoPro and then you complete that and now it's like, how do you open up yourself to that world of possibility and figure out what's next? I think you just, you do things that excite you because even I don't really necessarily know what's around the corner a year from now. I have a gauge of where I wanna be but I kinda go by the things that fulfill me and excite me doing the film for example is a very fulfilling thing and I kinda just, you know, we were talking about earlier how things just don't make sense, like doing this film makes zero sense, completely self-funded, it's a ton of money, it's a time suck, I'm giving up music videos and directing campaigns for commercials that people would kill to have so it really doesn't make sense. It's what I know is gonna fulfill me and excites me so I do it. So raising that level of self-awareness and really listening to your intuition. And this, I don't know who this person is but this person when they were living in the poor community or wherever they're from, they obviously had aspirations to get out of there and they are out of there now, right? So I would just have them ask themselves when you would daydream about where you wanted to be, what were those things and then just get in tune with that again. And have you had any mentorship along the way? Cause I feel like this is definitely a situation where Luke could use a mentor who has experienced that and has a frame of reference that he could draw from. I talk to my dad a lot. My dad is someone that like look up to a ton. He's a good businessman and just through and through a very level headed with a lot of things. But as far as like a formal mentor in like my industry, no, I haven't had anyone, probably should, but it'd be nice. So you've carved your own way. Yeah. Damian asked, basically I struggle a lot with initiating and maintaining conversations, especially with the opposite sex. I kind of get stuck and start to filter out things that would not be fun enough. This makes the interaction much more awkward and difficult for me. How do you gauge how to initiate a conversation with someone in a social environment and if it's going well? Do you have those situations? Have you struggled at all socially? No, not at all. You're pretty outgoing. I was like, hey, I'm Matt. Yeah, nice to meet you. And they're like, hey, like even if they don't even know who you are, you're in a weird spot and then just get them talking about what they like. Yeah. Sure enough, like they'll talk the whole time. I was like, oh, that was a really good conversation. You're like, I didn't say a word. Do you find yourself, would you describe yourself as an extrovert or introvert? Both, I guess. I can switch it on or off depending on what it is. I like my alone time and I like creating alone, but then I also like to go out and have fun and be with friends and yeah, both, I guess. Yeah, I think in general, you realize the time and place for both, right? Being creative, you have to retreat, figure it out for yourself, and then also knowing what the career takes to get to the next level, the network you have to be building, you have to be able to be extroverted as well. Right, right. Otherwise, those opportunities are not gonna present themselves. Yeah, I would, awesome. You know, it's through this question, you can see that Damien also is extremely analytical, right, he's stopping himself because he wants to figure out whether or not what he's about to say is gonna be interesting enough or fun enough. And if he continues to think in that manner, he's going to let a lot of things, a lot of opportunities just roll past. So he's going to have to learn to speak up, and of course we talk about this in our workshops all the time and we even put together improv in our workshops for this very thing so that you can let loose of your anxiety of what's going to be fun and what isn't going to be fun because if you're sitting there thinking about it, you don't really know. And this is the same thing about creating. If you're not putting it out there, how do you gonna know what you have and what people are going to enjoy? That's true, that is true. Well, what you were saying earlier, right, hey, I'm at, it's being present. Yeah, it's not being in your head is half the battle here. It's not that something's gonna be funny or not be funny, it's actually being committed to the interaction and being present to allow the conversation to move forward. And we see this in clients all the time who try to work out this sort of screenplay in their head of like, I'm gonna say this, she's gonna say that, that I'm gonna say this, and everyone's gonna laugh and then we're gonna go on a date. Life doesn't work that way, filmmaking doesn't work that way. That's also putting people on a pedestal and the more that you get into just the industry and life in general, you realize everybody's the same and everybody has their insecurities, everybody has some sort of deep-rooted pain that they're trying to sort through every single day. And once you realize that, it kind of takes a sword out of everyone's hand. Yeah, and certainly walking around, feeling that pressure to be fun enough is difficult. And Damien, that's why we run the boot camps. Improv is a great way to plug in and start working on your sense of humor and let go of what you think could be funny and not funny, because you don't know till the audience laughs. And I wanna, just one little point I wanna add to this. You are not broken because you think this way. Every guy on the planet has tried to figure out the best way of getting people to like him or getting girls to engage and like him. And you'll sit there for hours and hours and hours until you just give up and throw yourself into the arena and take some shots. Well, I think, and you mentioned this earlier in a different answer, I think the hard part for a lot of people is they get so wrapped up in other people's opinions, not realizing that that girl you're talking to doesn't know who you are. There's nothing about your backstory and there's nothing about how interesting you are. The only thing they're judging is your approach and that initial conversation and response. And the more present you are, the more engaged you are in the conversation, the better it's gonna go hands down every single time. I agree, I agree. I mean, think about like the people that you respect the most or you like strike them as the most confident. They just fully embrace who they are. So a lot of it's just not trying to like put on and be something that you're not, you know? If you're awkward and goofy, like rock with that. Like that's your thing, you know? Yeah, like I have a frickin' 12 year old face. Like I can't barely grow facial hair, you know? Like this is a lot of work right here, right? Months in the making. And it's like that's, you know, I have the boyish charm, that's just what it is. I don't try and go and like, you know, be a tough guy with tattoos and all this stuff. Like it's just, you know, rock what you got. Yeah, play to your strengths, definitely. Now this is a question, and I'm sure as a youngster who's achieved a lot of success this early in his career, it is a fine line. Dean asks, how do you self assess the difference between arrogance and confidence? I think being confident is knowing that, you know, you're the best, but you don't have to feel the need to tell everybody all the time. And you're humble. It's like a humble confidence where what's the phrase where like a lion doesn't go around telling everybody he's a lion, like you just know, right? Absolutely. And like it's like LeBron, he doesn't need to go tell everybody he's LeBron, like we know who he is. And the reason, you know, is because everyone else is taking care of that for you, right? If you're such a badass, then everyone in the room is going to be talking about how, what a badass you are. And then the other thing, when I see this question, though, the first thing that came to my mind is why are you asking it? Are you trying to get some attention for yourself and you don't want to be come off as arrogant? Do you want to share some things that you were excited about that you've accomplished and you don't want to be coming off as arrogant? I mean, that was my first thought. And there is nothing wrong with patting yourself in the back and celebrating your wins as long, but know that those wins are there for those moments and you should be focused on the next challenge. And I think it's confidence is a belief in yourself. Arrogance is the comparison to other people. Right, and you're always, when you move with arrogance, you are constantly putting yourself as if you're better than somebody. Right, arrogance is the judgment of others. Confidence is the belief in yourself. So if you find yourself judging other people's performance, trolling them on Instagram, whatever the case may be, being harshly critical of other people, putting them down to feel better, that's really when we're arrogant. Confidence is a belief in yourself and a belief that things will work out and that you have the experience in the past of it working out. That's where we're building off of. And it's when we're tearing other people down, when we're comparing other people and looking at ways that we are better than them, that's where we start to become arrogant. Right, and you know what's really interesting at least from what I've observed over the last couple of years is that it seems like the people that just came into a little bit of money or just came into a little bit of success tend to be the more arrogant types and they tend to be the ones who are the most flashy, behind the cars or doing all these things. All the people that I know personally in my life that are incredibly successful, incredibly successful for musicians, to real estate moguls, yada, yada, yada, yada, they're all the most down-to-earth, humble, simple, kind human beings. So you just say to yourself, what, that's what it is. Like you get to the top, you don't tear people down. Exactly, humility opens far more doors than arrogance. Of course. And the more flash you are and the more that you are outwardly self-comparing and advertising how much better you are than other people, the less opportunity you're gonna have. Of course, 100%. And here's the thing, you may not realize it, but when you leave the room, as someone who's arrogant, people are talking and word gets out and people don't wanna work with someone who's arrogant, who's willing to tear other people down. And that's really, for me, and I was labeled as it just for being quiet and sometimes when you're introverted and quiet, people assume, oh, he's naturally judging, not realizing that, hey, there's an internal struggle going on and lacking in confidence. So I think as you start to build confidence, you start to realize that the comparison to others is not really relevant. You don't know their backstory. You don't know where they are on the come up or the come down, wherever the case may be. And behind every success story, exactly your point. There's deep pain, there's turmoil, there's struggle, you may not see it. And certainly social media isn't the best place to see it, but it's happening whether you want to believe it or not. The last one for today is from Hans, one of our alums. If most of your friends are in their midlife, looking at you, Johnny, settle down. Do you have any good ideas to spice up the get-together so they're more fun and in an elegant and charming way? And I talked a little bit about this. Certainly a lot of our guys coming through, whether it's relationship that ended, divorce or just a change in their career and now they're in a new position, they find themselves sort of unplugged from their friends and looking for opportunities to make things fun and exciting to get people interested. So what are some ideas that we can give Hans here to help him have some more fun and have his friends get together in a way that maybe allows them to feel more comfortable? Well, you know, ask them what they want to do, what they're interested in. I mean, if they're settling down, there's probably good reasons for that. They have children. Their lives are becoming more structured. They want to make sure that they can engage in their own life to the best of their abilities as they're getting older. And so it's harder and harder for those people to just take time off and go out and get hammered, which you might have done in the old days rather easily, but, you know, so asking, I'd like to hang out with you. What can we do this week that would make it easy for us to spend some time together would certainly help with that. I think experience-based as well, like doing something new, finding some adventure, exploring a new part of town or even a new board game, something that, talking about spicing up, like everyone, as they get older, exactly that. It gets sort of stuck in a routine. And especially if you have kids, you're balancing work and a family. It's easy to lose touch with the silly, playful, childlike state. So having those opportunities, building experiences that allow people to learn a new skill, try new food, experience something new, see a new part of town. And of course that creates memories too. This last question came from Insta, actually. Charlie asked, last year I went through a pretty major health scare at a young age and it made me realize that I've been wasting my life due to anxiety. So I'm looking to gain confidence in myself and take more risks like starting my own business. We're asking for help from my tutor, from my uni degree. The last few weeks I've been listening to motivational speakers and feel more content with myself, but I was wondering what else a young and raw young man can do to get things moving to start building that confidence. You know, it's great that maybe you wake up and you listen to some Jaco Willink and fire yourself up or maybe you listen to A.J. and Johnny at the Art of Charming and get inspired. But there's only so much of that you can do. The best way to learn and to fire yourself up and to gain confidence is to go out and do. And that's certainly what we've been speaking about today, especially as he puts it, young and raw. Yeah, a lot of it is just doing it. And we were talking earlier about just being insecure and intimidating, that's the word you used. And sometimes the intimidation factor of doing something kind of just stops you from doing it and now it becomes this overarching, overbearing thing. So you just chip away, just start small and keep working from there. The other thing about it is I think a lot of people think this idea of being inspired or being motivated is something that you find. And it comes from inside, it's a drive that you are engaged with, that you already have. It's just whether or not you want to spar with it. You don't wait to get motivated to go to the gym. You go to the gym to get motivated. And habits come into play here, right? So looking at building out habits that lead to your goal is more important than trying to find the motivation or hope that confidence strikes. And every single day you go to the gym, you're putting a little more weight on, that's building confidence. It's not one day you go in and you're setting your personal best or it's not one day you go in and naturally the film is made. Every single day, as we heard, you're a student of the craft. You're watching other people, you're modeling other people and then you're going and trying and doing it yourself. You get some good feedback and you start realizing, hey, things are working, then the confidence starts. It's all baby steps, just break it down to small things. But I get it, you always just want to do a lot quickly. That's the other thing too, is I fortunately have time on my side because I started so young, so I've never been in a place where I'm older in life and being like, oh shit, I wasted it, so yeah, I guess you just put in the time at whatever it is. Obviously, we mentioned some of your projects. Where can our listeners find out more about all the exciting work you've done? Definitely, so it's in a couple different places, but if you just Google YouTube, Twitter, my name, Matt Como, that's my handle for pretty much everything. So yeah, go check out my YouTube, Instagram, and you'll find most of the stuff there. Yeah, and get excited for the premiere. I know, yeah. I gotta finish the film, but we're getting there. Fantastic, thank you for joining us. Yeah, thank you for having me. And you can support with the questions. Of course, of course. Thank you for having me. But I feel alive with you.