 Today we're excited to welcome two people who founded their own production company before even finishing college. Michael Perone and Jeffrey Mikowski join us to talk about their award-winning film and what they're cooking up next. This is School of Hustle, the show where we find advice and inspiration from people who are making their own way. I'm Shannon, the VP of Social Hierarch Go Daddy and I live and breathe at the Hustle of Business. Today we're filming from the Hustle of It All at the WeWork Time Square in New York City. Everybody, let's give Michael and Jeffrey a big welcome. Woo! Thanks for being here. Thank you for having us. This is amazing. Well, you two are business partners in Saundra Productions and you founded your company while you were both in school. What is each of your roles at this company that you run together? Well, I'm more of like a director-writer. I'm like creative and he's functional and producing. I'm more of operations. How did you manage to launch your production company while in school? You were probably pretty busy. After the creation of our first feature film, we realized we needed to become a legitimate business. It also legitimizes you as filmmakers. I mean, everything down from business plans to taxes and you really need to surround yourself with a really good team and that's what we did. And we also were creating a bunch of original content that we knew that we needed to stay in-house with. We had an amazing crew from SVA that were all looking for work and we knew that by legitimizing ourselves as a production company that we would be able to provide these people with work and a means to make some money. And what was that first film? It was called Evil, EVOL, which is Love Backwards. It's a story about a 17-year-old kid who basically is sent to New York City to seek psychiatric care and through the process he learns about the brutalities of life and the realities of love. It's a coming-of-age love story, but it's a little more of an R-rated form. Well, the film won eight awards at 10 festivals. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Seriously. And this is your first film, by the way. I don't know that many people come out the gate so hot, so good for you. Yeah, you're welcome. Why do you think the film was received so well? Well, I think that. I think everybody kind of wanted to see what a 19-year-old director could make. But I also think that, you know, we were talking about a topic of love, so love is absolutely universal. And so everybody kind of was receiving it well. The story is structured in like a soap opera sense in the sense that we kind of bounce back and forth through a lot of different characters. So there's a character for everybody in the movie. And if you don't relate with the main guy, then you'll relate with somebody else. And how did you come to not only write this script but fund it and produce it? What was your process? I'll talk about writing. I'll let him talk about funding. Writing, I actually got this story idea from a news article I read about this woman in Colorado who more or less slept with a student and she ended up going to jail. Wait, was she a teacher? She was a teacher. Okay. And she essentially went to jail and 10 years later came out of jail and married the student. So it kind of sparked this idea it's like can love really have societal borders. Well that is a point of view. And what about the funding and the production? Is that where you came in? So funding was a lot of groveling to private equity investors. We pitched up a fantastic idea and we are fantastic at what we do. And just the award sense what we received from the feedback was a testament to our professional quality and our abilities. And frankly we had a lot of people that believed in us and it's worked out. And also SVA helped us out a lot and I think that that's something to say about like to young college kids is that you know everybody tries to make you shoot a short film and there's not really much all that you can do with a short film. So I think that our idea was like to make a feature and at least we can sell it. Even if it's not the best thing it'll sell. And that's what we did so you know. Well what do you hope that viewers take away from the film when they watch it? You know that love essentially can be really hard and challenging and we can get so upset with our partners and at some point you know we all go through it and we all pursue it for that like that one moment where nothing else matters but you and that person. And I think that you know it's something you know everybody deals with their struggles and their own love relationships and I think it's important to keep going with the people that you started with that sometimes not. So you have to make that decision and it's tough you know but yeah definitely the relatability of just dealing with love. And in general you are a filmmaker with a purpose. You've spoken out against misogyny in the entertainment industry. How does this purpose influence your work as a director and writer? So yeah we're making our next film. It's called Kurt, K-U-R-T. And you know it's all about this fading fashion photographer who's kind of still living in the 90s treating women and men with such a harsh tone and you know kind of an all-powerful dictatorship sensibility. And you know it's something that as young filmmakers we don't want to produce that anymore. We don't want the entertainment industry to be known for that. We would like to actually come in and give things and give everybody respect. And yeah I just think that we love our mothers so much. So at some point we had to make this film for women in this world and coming from the voice of a 26 year old male including a 9 year old male I think that what we're really trying to say is it's not all men are bad out there. There definitely are some good guys but we need to talk about this because if fathers continue to create have sons and the chain reaction if you have a bad father they will create a bad son. So our hope is to kind of start hitting the young world and telling them that's it's not okay to talk to somebody like that. What other ways do you use your work to send a real message and make impact on our society? Well we're shooting a documentary in Venezuela about what's going on down there and you know I mean people are out there with money but still no access to food and it seems just kind of ridiculous how the world doesn't really want to help out. So definitely with film as a tool you can really make an impact on the people that don't even know what's going on. You can educate and for us we're doing the same every time we step into a film we try to do as much research like for this fashion film I actually ended up taking a job for 9 months at a studio just to kind of gain research yeah I just put myself in there I wanted to like know what it really was like. It was a very undercover boss of you. Right, right. So you know it's a method I guess. But yeah so we we connected ourselves with a Venezuelan cinematographer Rafael and he kind of you know he's still got family down there and it's hard to see that heartbreak in his eyes so we put some money into this and now we're going to shoot that in February next year. Thank you so much. Now this next question is for each of you it's a very important question what is your favorite movie and why? Go for it. I'd say right now it has to be Whiplash simply because of the way that they created the movie how they shot it as a short and then they funded it through the spec short and that's how we've been handling our careers is shooting a lot of shorts and then getting the funding proof of concept and then to go on and win an Oscar and frankly I haven't had a movie that's made me have incited something inside of me to want to see the protagonist win as that movie so I'd say that's mine. I think it's American beauty you know American beauty is like just everything to me from Newman's score to the ensemble cast and the writing as well by Alan Ball so the other film really does it for me I also just want to say that I think Finding Nemo is the greatest screenplay ever written so if you haven't seen that you should check that out. It's a feel good. Yeah I mean it's just so structured like the idea is a lot of writers are out there and they don't really care about their third act but we were taught in school to have a rising action in your third act and they have the best rising action so yeah. Is there any particular actor or actress who has had influence on you in your career? Matthew Lawrence Matthew Lawrence is from Boy Meets World Mrs. Delfire and you know on our first film we just kind of took a chance on him he took a chance on us but we took a chance in sending him an offer and he responded so warmly and it was just like I was a 19 year old kid and this guy who has such a career and everybody knows him and it's going to give me an opportunity so yeah we're working with him on the next one and we're excited for that. I'd have to review with that Matthew Lawrence considering he was the first actor that I was able to work with yeah. Well how can we watch all of your work do? I am pledging that by the end of the weekend I'm watching everything you've done. All of it. I love your story. How can everybody watching look at your work today? You can go on Amazon you can type in Evil that you'll find or I'll find it up there. E-V-O-L. Yes here I got it right there. Wow that's commitment. Yeah exactly. I got crude over there. Good. So you can go on Amazon, you can go on iTunes conveniently enough we're at Walmart if you still watch DVDs Best Buy as well that's about it. Our other stuff, our new stuff will go out to Netflix. Okay that's great. Well I enjoyed learning about your past projects, future projects. That was fun. Yeah we're here. Now it's time to play our favorite game called Hustle Time. We're going to set a clock for 60 seconds and see how many cards you can get through. Who wants to start? So I just need 60 seconds on the clock. You ready? Best part of your workout. I don't work out. Personal trainers, effective or too much cash. Too much cash. Grape flavor, yay or nay? No. New York or London? New York. Good. Ideal fake sick day. Play video games? Would you rather visit Licorice Castle or Peppermint Forest? Peppermint Forest. Well we got to take turns we're bollying. No it's okay let him go. I mean I was your Skittles. Skittles. All of it. Favorite pastime, music or movies? Movies. First place you visit when you retire? Bora Bora. Number one guilty pleasure. Jewel. One word you wish you could take away from the English language? Flabbergasted. Kitchy. Boozy brunch or morning workout? Boozy brunch. Football, NFL or soccer? Soccer. Alien's factor of fiction? Facts. Beer or wine? Beer. Favorite part of a s'more? S'more. All of it yeah. Top quality and employees? Dedication. Instagram or Twitter? Instagram. Favorite holiday? Christmas. Which would you rather add to your life, time or value? Time or value? Time. Volume. Okay that's what's going on but I think the perceptions you were going to do all of it and then we were going to do it again. That's what I thought. Take one. Take one. Take one. Take one. I shut them out. I shut them out. This is a lot. This is a lot. Let's see how we did and I think we found a rhythm. We'll switch off. A panic sort of effort right there. I mean we've been with each other for so long we're kind of becoming the same person. We kind of are. A lot of the answers are exactly the same. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. Blackjack. Blackjack. That's lucky. Wow guys. Is that good? That's really good. Part of your day. My favorite is the morning. Best piece of advice you've ever gotten? Tough times don't last. Tough people do. Don't sweat the small stuff. Worst piece of advice. Stop. Maybe you should consider something else. How do you use your career to inspire others? Just doing I think just kind of doing stuff like this and promoting young students to do the same thing that we did when we were in college by being happy. Do you want to learn from the way? Yes. No. One thing you still need to learn? Everything. Everything. What do you want people to learn from you? To stick together with your best friend and have loyalty and undying loyalty. As cliche as it sounds, hard work and dedication pay off. What's next for you? Take over the world and make some movies in the meantime. What an ocean. What's next for you? Michael. Paul Thomas Anderson. Who challenges you? Michael. Paul Thomas Anderson. Jeff. This next question is actually from our favorite pug, Noodle. Here he comes. Noodle. Noodle. Jeff. Noodle is working on a new video series here at GoDaddy called Tools of the Trade. A series where our school with hustle guests can create this entrepreneurial box for Noodle to unbox with Jonathan, the fantastic Jonathan. So while Noodle is very excited about this he's very nervous. What advice do you have for Noodle as he sets out to gain engagement in a very crowded demanding space? Well, Noodle you definitely need to stay true to yourself most importantly definitely have any advice for Noodle. Avoid people wearing black. Definitely. Dedication. Just be kind to people. It's kindness you'll attract more flies with honey. I love to leave everybody with a final thought as we finish up and I'm going to read three quotes and ask you to listen to the three quotes and tell me which quote resonates the most Okay? A champion is defined not by their wins but how they can recover when they fall Number two if you look at what you have in life you'll always have more Number three we must be willing to let go of the life we planned in order to have the life that is waiting for us. The first one resonated with me the most. The champion is defined not by their wins but how they can recover when they fall. As filmmakers as filmmakers you have to steal yourself a failure in every aspect and it comes down to how you pick yourself up and doing it with grace. You know you're only as good as your greatest victory. And all your films are widely and publicly reviewed even, right? You're opening yourself up to all kinds of different criticisms positive and negative. You carry it with you everywhere you go and you ignore those negative reviews and keep going. Absolutely. Well, I enjoyed this conversation. Thank you so much for having us. My pleasure. And tell everyone one more time how to watch your work. Amazon, iTunes and if you go to Walmart we sell DVDs there. And if you loved this conversation which I'm sure everybody did on social because we are bringing more inspiration from fabulous entrepreneurs every week. So until next time, bye.