 I've seen it all. I mean, you're not going to tell me much. I don't know. There's some big actors to have worked with that I wouldn't work with them again, you know? I know what I like. You're entitled to like what you like. Just don't talk to me about it. I don't give a shit. Unless you live it, or unless you've done it, you don't have a right to speak it. Do you know much about the, uh, the history of Hollywood? Lo, it's quite fascinating from what I've heard. You know, I know quite a lot. I actually was born. I'm probably one of the only people that was actually born in Hollywood. I was actually born here in Hollywood. And funny thing is, is my office, my new office is, I'm now at the Hollywood production center, which is a very popular studio. I mean, we have Warner Brothers shooting outside right now. We've had Machine Gun Kelly was in here yesterday getting fitted for wardrobe or whatever. You know, I saw him, I didn't even, you know, I don't really follow music that much. So one of the girls here said, Hey, you know that is, I'm like, no, he's like Machine Gun Kelly. And he said, I didn't mean I'm like, Hey, whatever. You see it every day. So this really matters. I mean, I'm not impressed with it, but, um, so what's really ironic is I grew up about two blocks from my office here. And we, my partner, Jason, who's a fabulous writer and director, we do a lot of in-house writing and scripting and development here in offices. And he was looking for offices for us to rent. And he grew up on the Warner Brothers lot because his father was one of the most famous editors in Hollywood. He actually did all of the Warner Brothers productions. I mean, you leave the weapon and, you know, all the sports niggers films and pretty much every film out there back in the 1980s and 90s, he was the editor on. And he's retired now. He's actually really tight. He was tight with Dick Donner, who just passed away. Um, fabulous director producer. Um, but what's really, really ironic was he came and he's just like, Hey, I found this office. I know you want to go to Warner on the lot of Paramount, what's out off the Paramount one time, which is down the road about a half a mile from here. Um, he goes, but I found this spot. I think you're gonna like it. So we come over and we look at him like, you know, yeah, dude, it's weird. I grew up two blocks away. And then I went to the Con Junior High for a while before I moved back east, you know. And then my grandmother's buried over here in Hollywood forever. Um, a block away also, you know, it's a famous, you know, mortuary or whatever. You know, they do a lot of films in Hollywood forever. I don't know if you know that graveyard, but it's pretty famous. Um, so it just, it's weird. It's just right. It's just, I came back to my roots, you know, and I said, let's take it. So we're here now. We love it. It's a great, great building, lots of security and LeBron James is actually in this building also. I haven't really ran into him, but he's got a VIP parking next to mine. I got one. He's got one. I got two in front. So it's kind of funny, but you know, he's a bigger name than me, I guess, in sports, but it is what it is. But, um, you know, it's just cool. It's like you're, I'm back at home every day, you know, in my backyard. And it's, it's cool. You know, we get a lot done here. Um, we have a lot of meetings here. It's two, three yesterday. We just, we have about four or five a day, but a lunch, you know, go out and kind of grab a wheel and deal. So we can do, you know, we've got a lot of stuff going on. I've got my um, a docu-series going on, Prisoner's Path, which is about Prism of the Forum. We've shot in Chicago. We've been back and forth there about three times, going back one more time to 23rd. Um, then we, we go, we were in New Orleans recently shooting New Orleans version of it. We'll be going up to Two Rivers, uh, Oregon to Two Rivers State Penitentiary to shoot up there here in the next probably month. And then, and then actually what I'm going to do is I'm supposed to see a rough cut of the first, uh, first, uh, episode. I'm hoping them all. And, uh, from that, we'll just edit up the big trailer, which you'll see down the road online. Um, are up on the website and, and, and then sell it to like a Netflix or whoever, Amazon, you know, whoever, you know, we do a bidding more probably. You know, at the end of the day, I have my own, uh, I'm a partner at Fire Network and we're in 115 countries. So I can distribute it myself, but I'd rather take a check from somebody and get some of my money back, you know, um, so I sell finance the whole project. And we got, you know, as you can see right here, I don't see it. That's a red helium right there. Um, can you see that camera right here? Yeah. Okay. Well, that's a red helium, uh, with about a $90,000 Fujiton lens on it. Whoa. And that lens right there was the one used in, uh, uh, 1917, I believe the movie, um, that they shot. Um, and there's only two of those lenses and I have one of them, Canovision has one. So it's just sitting there and then I have, I have, uh, we have, uh, the new Komodo cameras, um, that are hard to get. Um, I actually just went to red the other day, they invited me to the studio, which is about a mile from me, um, red, uh, digital. And, um, we're going to do some business back and forth. Um, it's exciting. You know, they have a really cool studio that I was blown away because I've never been over there and they got a screening room and they're producing, there's several, uh, uh, Netflix productions going on a lot. It's, it's kind of a cool thing. You know, we're kind of clicked in near, near everybody and kind of coming in and we're self sufficient, you know, production company. We can turn key pretty much anything. Um, you probably see that my favorite picture I bought, it's on that wall back there with the sticky fingers tongue, you know, that's one of, one of 15. I got the first one out by Risky. He's a famous graffiti artist and, uh, and, uh, they had to license that tongue. And after a while, I think he took that down now because I don't know if there was something going on with the queen, but I got, got it like four years ago. So they're not getting it back from me. I bought it off the art wall, you know, at the art, art showing. And, um, it's one of my favorite pictures though. So you guys, you don't want another war, do you? You know what? I got plenty of guns, so I ain't worried about it. You know, I'll take it as it comes. Hey, we can talk about that. So for our friends at home, it's my absolute honor to welcome one of our American brothers onto the podcast. Lyle, um, is an award-winning Hollywood producer. Um, I'm not going to go on and on like an Oscar speech now, but we're going to unravel that as we go in the podcast. But what I, this, um, one thing I do want to mention is this gentleman produced the best ever show in what I'd say to my son, the whole wide world, ever. And that is the jukes of hazard. Well, I got to clarify that. I was, I was just one of many, many, many producers and I only produced a few, what I did was I actually raised some money for it, which is called the executive producer, co-executive producer. But that was back at the beginning of my career, which is, you know, I went from acting to that. And, and probably the last movie I ever was in where I had the actual lines was, uh, Weekend at Bernie's too. I don't know if you have saw it, but I was in New York cop in the subway. The first one was better. The first one was the best one. The second one kind of hang, you know, it was a lot of money. It was kind of a bomb, but I was in it. And that was the last time I really acted. I mean, I've done cameos in my own films. Uh, I think the last one was 2016. And, you know, you'll see me in some of the docuseries here that we're doing the new one. Um, but other than that, I don't care about that stuff. Yeah. I think what's more important than producing Dukes of Hazard is did you get to meet Catherine Bark? Oh, yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, that was was everybody in that was every guy's dream back then, you know, um, I actually briefly met her and then I met her, um, out because, you know, I've been to quite a few red carpet things, stuff, stuff that nature. I met her out once or twice. And that's it. I really haven't seen it years and years and years, but, um, in fact, way back since then. So I don't really, you know, I know that, um, what's his name, uh, kind of just blanked on the actor. Is it one of the boys? Yeah. I blanked on his name. He's actually doing films. He's actually just did a film with a friend of mine, Mindy, Mindy Roberts. Is that John Schneider? Yeah, John Schneider. There you go. Yeah. John, I blanked on him. I'm just kidding. No, no, no. Hey, I, no, I blank now on like my best friend. I tell you what, as you get older, it's just, you know, and I try to stay active in my mind because I'm pretty active, but it's just that, there's so much and so that goes back so far that I just, I don't even think about it. It's like, you know, water under the bridge, so to say. Um, he's actually active. He's doing a couple of films and a good friend of mine, Mindy Roberts, and is, is in him. She's, she's actually Randy Couture's girlfriend. And he's a sweet guy. Randy Couture's a really nice guy. I've done work with him, uh, on, on the project. And, um, he's been on a set of mine that many years on back in 2016, but, um, yeah, he's still, Snyder's still going at it, man. He's still making movies, you know? So he, and he's got the, he owns the orange, uh, uh, general, the car, you know? Wow. Yeah. He still has it. Yeah. Oh, we, I love that series. When I was a kid, every Saturday, I can't remember. I think it was, it was shown always around about, yeah. Well, it was a, it was a good show. It was a good show that, you know, like, you know, the women were good looking and, you know, it was fun to look at. It was just a fun, fun show, you know? It was a, a kick in the butt, you know, you know, hog and, you know, some of those characters were just funny as hell, you know? They look like really nice people. They, oh yeah, no. I mean, you know, you know, on set, and I'm sure you know, uh, I've been on a lot of them over, I've probably produced, been involved in over 150 productions now and, um, you get your good people and you get your bad people and you kind of just take it as a grain of salt and you learn who to work with and who not to work with and, you know, it ain't a big deal, you know? There's some big actors to have worked with that are, I wouldn't work with them again, you know? And, uh, just I'm one of those guys, I'm one of those producers because I come from a, uh, kind of a, I'll say a hard background where I was a foster kid growing up and, um, I'm a self-made guy and raised two sons to the adults and actually one was over here yesterday, my older one, he's a good kid. He's actually just gotten in the effects union here in California, which is hard to do. So I use him, uh, as much as I can, but, uh, he's got his own thing going, you know, I'm with Sony and all these other big productions. So God bless him, you know, he's a hardworking kid and he makes good money. And, um, but, you know, you learn who's who to work with, who not to work with. I'm just a down to earth kind of guy. I treat everybody, especially my crew. Um, my crew is the most important thing to me on set. Um, I treat him not only with respect, but like family, you know, and I have certain people I fly and it costs me a lot more money to do this, but I'll fly people from, you know, Boston to Chicago to LA to wherever because they're my part of my family, you know, they're camera men or whatever they are. Um, I'm a real close bind with them, you know, and a mutual respect with all my, my people. And, you know, what I find amazing nowadays is and what I feel that we're missing in the world today is respect. People just don't respect people. And, you know, I'm sure, you know, uh, being in the UK and I'm sorry, I've been, I've been to the UK numerous times and I love it. Um, I've got some pretty good friends that own properties there, you know, and, um, the problem I have with people nowadays is respect. Nobody, they just say what they want. And, and, you know, when I was growing up and said what she wanted, you got knocked in the mouth, you know, um, nowadays you can't do that because nowadays you get arrested for it or, you know, the lawsuits or it's a joke. I mean, I've been through six decades now. I mean, I'm 63 years old just turned and, um, I've seen it all. I mean, you're not going to tell me much that I don't know. I mean, as far as the world goes and, and, um, there's a lot of people think they're right about a lot of things. A lot of them think how they want to think, but I know how they are because I lived through it, you know, I, I actually lived and slept and breathed it. So my main thing in life is I, no matter who I treat them with respect, unless they, they don't respect me. If you don't respect me, then they're going to get it back. So yeah, I'm sort of like a follow the money guy, you know, who, who stands to gain by ruining our young people. And that's what's sorry, young people, if you're listening, but you, you, you, we, we say you've been shit on from a great height. Yeah. All this social media crap, all this, you know, I get terrible. I mean, because, you know, the problem is, is unless you live it or unless you've done it, you don't have a right to speak it. Okay. And especially when it comes to your opinion, everybody's got an opinion. They keep it to themselves because the thing about it is, is in, in, in, in your, you've hit it right on the nose. And I've raised, I got two sons that are, I guess millennials, you'd say, once 28, once 30, both completely respect. I mean, they respect, trust me, because that was our key in, in, in me bringing them up was you're going to respect me or you're going to get knocked. Okay. And I don't give a shit about laws or the whatever. You know, I, when I grew up, my grandmother, when I, you know, she mainly brought me up when I was a kid. And let me tell you something. She took a wash stick to me. Okay. And I'm talking about wash stick, thick one. Okay. And there was no child abuse thing. So I never knew what child abuse would mean. You know, you get these little spanks on the ass and they call it child abuse. To me, it's just a joke, man. If you don't, if you don't make your kids mine, they're going to end up like a lot of these kids that are out there. I'm not seeing all of them, but there's a lot of just entitled kids, you know. Yeah, it's, it's, it's very if you look at everything in society, just look at it like we don't gain from it. You and I don't gain. I mean, you know, you know what? I don't care anymore. I go on my life and live my life. I don't get into political shit. I know what I like. You're entitled to like what you'd like. Just don't talk to me about it. I don't give a shit. You know what I mean, right? I don't. It's all good. Just don't preach to me. It's like religion. Don't preach me. I believe in what I believe in. And that's, that's where the door shuts, you know, and it really doesn't matter to me. So people get into that shit with me and I say, Hey, it's all good, man, but I don't want to hear here to do whatever. So that's how I keep it. I keep it clean like that, you know. Yes, it's a strange, it's a strange life. It gets more, gets stranger as you get older, I think. As you get older, you see it like you, we've seen it. We've seen it. And especially growing up in the UK. Okay, I've been there numerous times. I love the UK. I love it. I've been to Cornwall. I've been to, you know, wherever. But you know the hard knocks because UK has got hard knocks in it, man. I mean, I know some pretty tough guys there, you know. And, and it's like here. I mean, I guess I was considered a tough guy at one time, you know, I collected as a youngster and did a lot of shit I shouldn't have done, but I did. But it doesn't matter. It's how I live. That's how I survived. But let me tell you something. A lot of people think there's so much freedom, you know, there's no freedom here in the US, boy. You take you back to UK and try to pull some of the shit you pull here into the US. Or in any of these other countries, I've been to numerous countries, you go to Asia or something, man, you're in deep trouble. I mean, no, the key there, you have a joint on in Asia that you put you to death. I mean, it's legal here in California. Okay, so you can smoke here, you take it with you on a plane to China, you go, they'll put you to death, you know, or jail for the rest of your life. So yeah, you can tell someone in Thailand to f off. And if you make make someone lose face, they'll run you over in their car. And oh, yeah, they don't care. Yeah, nobody ever know. It doesn't happen often, fortunately, but I saw a guy take a real, real beating in Ko Pan Yang one time. And yeah, he just upset the local. He just said the wrong thing. And they didn't do that. You can't go and it's like me when I go into these prisons, okay. I go into these prisons with these prisoners. I obviously did time years ago. So I understand the mentality. Okay, it's all about respect. Like I was saying, I don't go into those prisons and act like Mr. Hollywood. Okay, I go into those prisons with my mindset in how I was when I was inside and how I wanted to be treated. And I'll tell you this, in Chicago, which is, you know, notorious for crime, those people love me what I call in their house. And I actually was in the cages. I was actually in prison cells. We had guys wrapping with us. When I left, I bought the whole prison pizza, which they don't get that the food there is shit. Okay, green baloney. Okay. And it and I mean good pizza, not dominoes. I'm talking good pizza from Italian place there. And Chicago's got some of the best pizza ever. Okay, so when I came back to do a reshoot, they were like, Oh, you know, thank you me. I'm like, Hey, guys, you don't think you invite me in your house. At least I could do is buy you guys dinner. And I bought all the men and women prisoners, their pizza. And it wasn't a cheap task, but it was my gift to them for letting me in their house. I mean, and that's all about respect. So when I go back to the reshoots, they love seeing us. They love talking to us. We, you know, if they get out, we actually they can text us and won't help them out if they need a pair of shoes or whatever. We still stay in contact with a lot of these guys getting out to help them for extra counseling. Even though we're not counselors, we just talk to them as friends and whatever we can do to help them, you know, that's what our whole game is, you know, is giving it back, you know, and guessing that you think prison should be rehabilitation rather than just the punishment. Well, you know what? Here's the deal. You've got your hard and criminals, which you're not going to rehabilitate most of, I'll say at least 90, 90%, 95. But then you got your nonviolent criminals. Okay. There's a lot of that going on that the laws are different. They shouldn't even be in there for the amounts of times they're in there. It's just basically the city laws. But at the same time, I don't know if you're familiar with the the reform programs in like Germany or in Denmark or wherever, Switzerland, they actually train these guys inside. They have classes, whether mechanics would work in welding, whatever, they actually are training them inside to, so when they get released, they can get a job on the outside. See, prison is a business. They don't want you up till this point, they don't want you to reform. They want you to go out, go back in the revolving door. Their prison makes a fuckload of money. Oh, sorry about that. A ton of money. And it's just a process. And they don't want it. Now it's starting to get a little bit out there of how it works. Now, the whole reason why I'm doing the show, I'm doing the prisoner's path is because I'm just going to show people what the reality is behind reform and how it can be successfully done. And we're not just doing it one way. We're actually doing it a few different ways. We're actually lucky to be able to film up in Oregon. They are doing the European way where they're training people prior to getting out, they give them therapy inside, they give them therapy when they get out, somebody to talk to, and they get them a job. Now, that's what's been missing in this whole queue the whole time for all these years. It's like, how easy would that have been to do billions and billions of dollars back instead of paying these prisons to keep these prisoners, which cost, what, a million, two million a year? Some of them are hundreds of thousands of dollars for one prisoner. Why don't you put a reform program inside? They work them inside in like Unicorn, and they're working these guys for pennies on the dollar, and then they're making furniture for the state offices and shit, and nobody can compete with those prices. So now they got basically slave labor inside the prisons in California. And I know this for a fact, because I was there, and I had a job, I was a milker at the dairy. So you basically have these guys that are making 12 cents an hour or whatever it is, some stupid amount, and they're actually doing a trade inside, but yet they're not getting paid for it. And then the government or the Unicorn, what they call it, is not a fed, it's not, those are privately owned by governors, those businesses, which is, I don't know how they pull that off. The commissaries are owned and supplied by private entities like Keefe Foods, who is owned by, from what I understand, the Bush family. And it's just a zoo of money and billions and trillions of dollars within this system. So instead of helping these guys and reforming these guys inside, and I'm not saying all, because that's what we're doing, is there are prisons that have these reforms, and that's what we're about. That's what we're trying to show, is the good side to these guys, you see what I'm saying? And you got guys in there to get in bust for 900 plants of pot in California back 10 years ago, or whatever it was. These guys are doing 25 years, well, pot's legal in California. You can go buy it at any store in the corner. And why are they still there? What am I missing? You know what I mean, right? These weren't hardened criminals. So it's just a cycle that needs to be fixed. Yeah. Well, you know, we could talk forever about the Bush crime family. You know, they're responsive for quite a few. They own numerous, like I said, the Keefe Foods is owned by Barbara Bush's family on her side, I believe. And they supply all the prisons, they supply all the commissary food that the prisoners buy from the commissary. Yeah, it was the same in Iraq, wasn't it? They owned all the contracts for the soldiers and the reconstruction. All that gold came up missing, all the money came up missing. Yeah. Billions of dollars in cash. Yes, exactly. Never found it. Six trillion or something ridiculous. Yes, from the Pentagon. Yes. Lo, you're obviously a very well balanced, well rounded guy now, but I'd imagine coming from foster home background. That must have been tough. Well, you said you spent a bit of time inside. Did you, were you like me? Did you go down the drugs route or have problems there? Well, you know, I'm sure you, I don't know your background, but if you're anything like me, as a kid, as a foster kid, I had PTSD as a kid. I did go down the drug path, but not hard. I kind of didn't really, you know, I smoked a lot of pot when I was a kid, you know. But then I got to the point one time where I just didn't like it no more. You know, I've always had that strong will to pretty much get over, which I'm lucky, okay, get over things. Now, in the 80s, it was a lot of coke and drugs of that nature. And, you know, I was involved in that stuff. And that was another hurdle that I got over. But I did it on my own. I didn't go to rehab or whatever. I jumped on a plane. I sold everything I had. I jumped on a plane. I went to the Bahamas and I worked out with this big Bohemian guy who kicked my ass every day working out and sweat that poison right out. And when I got done, I came back to LA. I was cold turkey. I think, you know, there's no secret in quitting drugs or anything else. And you'll probably tell me I'm right. I hope on this. If you don't hang out with those kind of people that you're doing it with all time or you're around it, you're not going to do it, okay? Unless you're a really powerless person. Everybody's got the power in themselves to stop anything or do anything they want. That's a fact. And I'm a proven concept of that. I'm no angel. I've done shit in the past many, many years ago, but I learned from it. And that's what life's about. Learn it. Learn, fail and error. And from that, if you take the lessons from that, then you learn. If you don't, you're going to stay and don't fuck your whole life, you know, as I'll say. And the thing I can tell the younger kids today is do research on things. Don't just listen to all this shit you're hearing on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook and all this crap. What they're trying to do now and what they do is they program people to think a certain way. And basically that's called communism, as you know. And that's where our world is intertwined right now. They want to control the minds and control how you think and that it's not good to do certain things, which is bullshit, okay? Now, I overcame my PTSD. I still have certain moments, but not bad. I overcame that on my own. And you know, one of the biggest things I've learned in life is to quit hating things. Because when you hate things, it's a drawing. And I used to get so pissed off. And you know, somebody'd screw me on a deal and I fucking tell them I'd go beat them up or I'm going to get here just dumb shit that gets you in trouble. And I just learned a long time to put that shit aside and say, you know what? It is what it is. Move on to the next thing and just you learn from this, you know, you learn from this and then you're going to learn not to do it again. You'll do it again because I fucked up many times. But at the same time, you know, you got you got good cons and you got bad cons and this is part of life and you get sucked into stuff sometimes. And what all you can do is lick your wounds on the way out and come back bigger and stronger. You know, I've been sued a few times. I've won, you know, but and you know, I've lost only by default on one thing, but didn't make it right, you know. But people know how to use the system and that's what they do. People utilize the system in bad ways. And that's what you got to watch out for. Yeah. So I've learned my lessons like that. I don't preach to anybody. I don't tell anybody how to do anything. I'll give them some advice if they want advice. And I'll tell them, hey, this is how it is. I know because I've lived it. I've been there, done it. And I know it. And I know it well. And I know what the outcome is going to be. But other than that, you know, I don't hate anybody. Like I met my mother when I was 12 years old. I don't know, 10 years old. And I never, you know, she deserved me as a baby. One year old. I think I was in six foster homes for the time I was six years old. But you know, I didn't hold any, you know, back then I was rebellious and I had put a lot of hate in me. And I was a mixed up kid. And I, but I went on my own when I was 13 because I just didn't like living with her. And there was all these other kids she had, my half brothers and sisters. And there was 12 of us all together. So it was a packed house. And I just went on my own when I was 13, doing various jobs. And got back to California when I just turned 17, I guess. And I met my father then. And my father was a professional jockey, which is a really funny story because, you know, I'm not a short, I mean, I'm pretty big. I used to be even bigger when I was younger, but I trained a lot and stuff. Didn't they call you the pit bull? Yeah, yeah. Well, there was a reason for that. I was a collector when I used to collect for organizations back in the day. So I was not a nice guy. He didn't want to piss me off. But I met my father. My father was a famous jockey at one time, which is funny because he's a little guy, he's a little tea guy. And, you know, one thing I loved about my father, and I didn't know him that, you know, he passed away many, many years ago, but I got to spend a few years with him, couple of years with him. And we'd go drinking. He was a fun drinking buddy, going to all his liquories, a little guy. I used to have to carry him with my shoulder and walking down the street, throwing in his bed. It's funny because he's a little guy, you know? I was named after Lyle Secrets, who was a famous racehorse driver or jockey. And then they all were buddies with Shoemaker and all these famous jockeys. So that was my dad's life. My dad's family were all thoroughbred racehorse people out of Washington state. So I really, you know, my dad didn't try to, like my mother, she came up with all the excuses and blame and whatever. And my father didn't do that. He didn't get into it. He didn't try to say, Hey, you know, I'm sorry. I pissed you to the side or whatever. It's like, Hey, I'm, you know, fucking human. I fucked up. And here I am. It's like, you know, I like that I'd like rather have you be honest and bullshit. I mean, so we got along fine, you know? And I had a good time for I actually missed my father because he was actually a lot of fun when I was around. But I, you know, that kind of installed, it's still things to me. It's like, I think in life, the best thing is to just tell the truth to people, you know, don't don't bullshit people because you're gonna, they're gonna find out anyway. You know, I mean, shit comes around. And, and it's always better to just be straight shooter, you know? Yeah, definitely. Yeah, it's like when I was a kid, I wish I had guys like you and me around. Yeah, no one told me shit when I was a kid. That's what I'm saying. No guidance. They just told me stupid shit. Like, you know, I mean, it really was. And just being told to obey things all the time, you know, be quiet and obey. Well, yeah, that's fine if it's someone that deserves your respect. But if it's some, you know, some system or some institution or some area, it's just led us down a path of now everyone's so compliant, they just go along with everything. And it's, it's very frightening. I mean, your kids have grown up, my lads, he's just, you know, he's very young still. And fortunately, there's quite a few people out there, I think they understand, you know, I think they understand life and what's going on. And they're starting to take a stand about it. But I don't know, you know, I don't know how successful they will be. Well, we'll see. I got to say something. I think at the end of the day, I don't honestly, there's a lot of people that just sit back and don't say anything. And, you know, I'm in Hollywood. And I know a lot of people. And like I said, it's real political here in California, especially. And there's a lot of people I know that just sit back and they don't say anything either because we don't honestly, we know what to do. We just don't want to start any fires. You know what I'm saying? And that's the best way to be, you know, stay neutral. And, and you got to do what you got to do when you got to do it. That's why I look at it. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, but you guys, they're going to challenge the wrong person. You're lucky, though, you still have the right to bear arms. They've taken that away from us over here. Well, they're trying to do that here. Yeah, I can, I get it. It won't happen. It won't happen. Let me explain something to you. They try that shit here, man, and they're going to have a major problem. Yeah. Not only that, they're trying to take all the, they're trying to cut the budgets on the police, all kinds of shit, stupid shit. And here's the deal. And I have several officers that I know. Okay. I deal with sheriffs in my shows. They're great guys, man. I deal with a lot of good people that shot at it, all kinds of crazy shit. And neither of these people, and they get this little trendy thing. Oh, you know, cops are bad. Well, there's some bad ones, but there's a lot, the good ones outweigh the bad ones. You know what I mean? And what they do, do is they protect us. Okay. Now you take that shit away and see what happens. Okay. You take that shit away and see what happens. You're going to have every criminal there is raping, pillaging, robbing, and you name it. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, of course. And it, it, it, people here, they won't put up that shit. I mean, I won't put up that shit. You know, you want to come play with me, you better bring a bigger gun in mine. And I got some big ones. So, you know. Yeah. No, can I ask you something? I don't know what, what your take is on this, but what about all the, what are we called esoteric Hollywood? All this, this symbolism that you see the, the, the actors are doing and the celebrities and the pops. You mean like, by getting political or? No, I, I mean, it's almost like a sort of followers following like the masks, shit. No, I mean, I mean like this, it's almost like a sort of quasi-masonic cult that, that's, that people seem to join and they're always doing this stuff and, and and, oh, I, you know what? Honestly, I don't, I haven't really seen a lot of it probably now that you said it, you know, I'll look for it. Yeah, I'm sure there's a lot of that stuff around and there is. I think it's, it, it, it's weird shit, you know? I mean, I don't get involved in it and, but there's a lot of it. There's a lot of secret societies and stuff, you know, that have a lot of weird shit going on, but that's been going on for years, man. That's nothing new. I mean, that's, you know, the, the, you know, the elite is protected, you know, in a sense. And, and if it gets exposed, they use one sacrifice. It's almost like, you know, you watch his movies, they sacrifice a body or whatever, same shit, you know? I mean, look what they've done to, you know, some of these top people in Hollywood, they've fed them to the wolves to evade the focus on others, you know? And yeah, it's a, it's a bad thing. I mean, fortunately for me, I've always been a pretty stand-up guy. And yeah, everybody got crazy in the 80s and 90s. And, you know, it's not like it is now. This whole acting thing, or a producing thing. And it was a lot different, you know? There was a lot of things that, that you could do that you can't even do now, which is another big control factor nowadays, you know? It's almost like an extortion type thing. You know what I mean? Where you got to watch what you do and what you say and who you say it to. And, you know, back in the day, you didn't have that problem, you know? Now everybody sues everybody and it's just, you know, it's just gotten out of control, you know? I mean, that's what I'm going to say to that. I mean, you know, I, I, I kind of watch what I say and do and behind closed doors, I do whatever I want to do. So I don't put it out there, you know? You don't ever see me really putting my life out on social media. That, that amazes me right there is how people put their shit out on social media all the time. You know, there, there was happening to them and, you know, all this stuff might, you know, dude, suck it up, you know? I mean, I don't get it. I don't, you know, in all it is, the sympathy part to me and I don't give a shit what anybody thinks. Yeah. You're going to end your life out there. That's kind of silly, you know? I've said this a lot. If I wasn't in the media or, you know, an author, there's no way I'd have a Twitter account or an Instagram. The notion that other people want to see my shit is just, it's okay, maybe if you had five mates and you all loved, say, running triathlons and you wanted to, yeah, okay, possibly, but, but, you know, this is me walking on the beach. This is me eating my dinner. This is my child at one year's old and it, it's silly. I find it really, really strange. I've only got social media. I mean, I used to, I used to once in a while, on my, on my Instagram or whatever, like do a challenge or show myself hiking once in a while or something like that, health-wise, but I don't even do that anymore. I mean, I spent forever, a long time, you know? I might, I might show a dinner out once in a while, but I don't really talk about personal life and I don't show it. I don't, like I said, most of the stuff I post is business related, you know, for promotion of a project. I don't really get into it. And it's funny because I spend no time on Facebook. I mean, in fact, even messenger, when we talk, me and you talk, we talk privately. We don't really talk, as you know, on the face of the shit. I don't really go in there maybe once, once, or once every other day or two days or three days. You know, I don't, that's why I don't get back to somebody. They get pissed off or whatever, which I don't, you know, don't care. I just don't go on this shit. If you, if you got my email, email me. If you got my phone number, text me or whatever, you want to get ahold of me. Other than that, I don't go on that social media stuff. I got three different Facebook accounts. I've got, or more than that. So I went for street, went for skin fly, went for, you know, this bullshit person. So I got about 10 actually, eight or 10. And then I got several Instagrams because of the different shows and personal, which I can't even get into now. So I use skin flies most of the time. And other than that, I don't do, you know, I don't do the thing. I don't care because, and I don't get into people. I don't have to waste my fucking time in the pigments. You know what I mean? So I'd rather say nothing. Yes. Lyle, how is, so how has Netflix affected the industry? Has there been changes in that respect? I mean, I kind of like Netflix. I mean, I know one of the head guys, you know, hey, it's a fair game, man. You know, I think they're geniuses. I think they, they started something that's a monster now. I think that it's a better platform than the studio deals. Studios, I mean, I've done numerous films and had numerous things distributed. I've had things in theaters for self-released myself. Because when you do a deal with a lot of the majors, you never see any money. And that's been going on for years and years and years. So with a Netflix or a Amazon or whatever, they, I mean, they got some good checks up front. They pay you. You make good money. It's not like that old system where they're taking, you know, 30% of this from you, you know, because typical studio deal, you know, they're taking what 25, 30% of whatever, and then they'll distribute something. And then you might see money or you might not ever. And even if the film, for instance, a Good For Instances, the first Batman done made over a billion dollars. Okay. The producers on that show never saw a cent and they had got points. And it was because the studio said, well, it costs this much for theaters and this much. And the prices just keep, the debts just get added and added and added. And that system doesn't work. And it works for the studios. They get rich and wealthy and make all the money. So that's what's good about, I think, Netflix and Amazon and Apple and all these, you know, different Hulu and is you actually make your money. You know what I mean? You get money. And for indie producers, it's a huge break. You know what I mean? It's like my network that I'm a partner and buyer. We don't do exclusive contracts. We do non-exclusive. So you can air and Martin actually has a show up on our network. You can view your stuff and, you know, it's a nice split. It's a 70-30 split. Every quarter, you get paid in your account. Can you shout out the name of your network? Just remind me. It's vire, v-y-r-e, network.com. Yes. I've watched it because I watched, I saw Martin, Martin's friends on the documentary. Yeah. Incredible, huh? Yeah. So you can watch for free and we have the apps and you can actually download the smart app on your smart TV with that watchfire.com. And it's clean, man. You make money and for indie filmmakers, you know, sometimes you don't even get a deal, you know, as a lot of these people know. So if you put it on our platform, you make whatever people watch, you make the streams, you know, you get paid by streams. So until you get a better deal, say you're streaming on us, you're in 115 countries, we might be a little more now. But we've survived all the startups. We actually bypassed a lot of these companies that started out bigger than us and they're out of business now and we're still in business and we're going strong and we're making money, you know. So our whole thing is, is we don't want to own your project. See, that's the problem with studios, you know, they take your project for most distributors, they want to take your project for 10 years and own it and license it out and make all this money that you're not seeing. And that's what, in my opinion, was wrong with the studio system where Netflix is, boom, they're straight deals. It's an indie filmmaker's dream come true, as far as I'm concerned. It's hard to get studio deals anymore and honestly, why? I don't know why you would, you know. And I'm not saying that in a bad way to the studios. I'm just saying there's so much overhead in studios that it's like, that's why you're not seeing any money sometimes, you know. I mean, not every deals like that, but like I tell you, I've heard and experienced it myself that it's easier to do. Everybody wants that studio name, you know, behind their film, but nowadays you don't even need it. Nowadays Netflix is just as big or you go do a deal with Lionsgate and Netflix or they do joints or however, you know, like I said, I've self-released where I've paid for my own theaters. And the whole secret to that is you have to release it in certain cities, okay? And you do a limited release on your indie film. And then what you do is then you go to Netflix, once you do your limited release in those certain cities, there's 10 of them, eight to 10 and they'll pick your project up if it's decent, you know, and you'll get some good money. I mean, you know, I think you've got to think and people all understand this is, you know, I get film packages brought to me all the time with these stupid budgets to them, with these actors that, you know, I'm going to say aren't worth their money anymore, you know, and I'm going to say that in a nice way. But the budgets are like these stupid budgets and these people come to you and go, oh, we've got such and such, we've got this guy, we've got that guy, he's an award winning, you know, he won award, yeah, what, 25 years ago, you know, when he was hot, now he's getting five grand of, you know, picture, you know, and people don't understand that's these, these, some of these amateur filmmakers and I, and I'm not knocking up, I got to give them kudos for trying to get something done and getting out there and, you know, doing whatever, but there's a right way and a wrong way. And you need to learn what people are worth and what they're not. And because when you go for a distribution deal, that counts. Now, if you go for a distribution deal and the distributor says, hey, I'll give you a hundred grand for this and it costs you a million bucks, you're in deep trouble because you're never going to see that million bucks back. And another thing that's important for filmmakers, and I'll give my little secret out, you might probably already know this, is tax laws. Here in California and the US, you have the 181, you have the 161 and you have, there's one other one, I forget what it is. Those three tax laws are very important for any filmmakers because if you've got stuff shot, the 181, the investor can get 100% of his investment back in right off. And then he doesn't have to pay taxes on anything until he starts recouping profit. Now, once you do start recouping profit, you hit the 161 and you can get 20% off your profit. See, so there's a lot of things that any filmmakers need to learn to get their money. And if they do their homework and they learn these tax laws, it's wonderful. People give you money because you know why? They're not really losing it. They need to write off anyway, they'll write off 100%, they're not losing anything. And when they do start making money, then they're going to start paying taxes. But then you got another tax law that gives them 20% off the profits. So there's a lot to learn. I learned the hard way. I learned the right ways how to take care of investors. And I finance a lot of stuff myself, mostly in-house stuff. I mean, I do do a few things outside, which I've got a couple of things out right now, but they're still within my company. And I produced them, put the money up to finish them and stuff. But indie filmmakers, they just need to know how to take advantage of different things and educate themselves. And they'll be successful on the get go and know what they're talking about when they go after money or pitch to somebody like me that knows the value of actors and budget. You understand, it has to match. If it doesn't match, you're done. Yeah, I bet. You must have heard of William Morris Agency. Of course, yeah. They're like one of the biggest agencies in Hollywood. Yeah, they approach me for the rights to my first memoir. But then I must also say that I've had about 10 Hollywood agents ask me now about the rights for my memoir. It got to the point where I just got fed up with them asking me because nothing ever came of it. It was like they were fishing a bit, but I don't know what they were fishing for. Well, sometimes what happens is they take your memoir and they steal from it and they do their own watered down version of stuff. Yeah, do you think there should be something I could be exploring through Netflix with my memoir? I mean, I have to see it. I mean, Jason is an award-winning writer. He was an in-house writer for Steven Seville at one time. He's a phenomenal writer. He's been mentored, was mentored and studied under some of the best writers out there. I've known him half most of his life and he reads stuff. He does diligence and he's amazing. I got to just say he's an amazing guy. I'm lucky to have somebody in house. He's like a brother anyway, but that's so smart. I mean, because he does shit, I don't do. He's smarter than me that way. I can say that. So if you get it to me, I'd let him look at it and then shoot back and forth, see what we think and he's smart. And then from that point, maybe it's something we develop on our own in house and then take it to Netflix. Maybe we do, it just depends. It depends on the budget. It depends on what it is. I don't know what it is obviously. Yeah, let's talk about that. That could be good. You have my memoir. Yeah, I won't bore you now with my memoir, but I won't focus. Yeah, but let's just say, did you ever see the film Midnight Express about the president? One of my favorites, the guy in Turkey, right? Yeah, well, here's the thing. They don't make films like that anymore. Oh, no, that was an insane. That was based on a true story. Yeah, but yeah. That was one of my favorite films, that and Shad Shark Resemptions. Yeah, exactly. They don't make films like that anymore. Yeah. Well, my memoir is that it would make that kind of film, right? I mean, I lived in Hong Kong. And yeah, it would really make a good film, which is why I think maybe no one has picked it up because it actually would make a good film. And now they don't seem to want to make good films. It's garbage, a lot of garbage. Yeah, a lot of garbage. And remakes, they remake films and they're not even. And they remake films and use the same storylines all the time. Yeah. So what's been, how I should ask you, when you see the credits at the end of a movie, it's phenomenal, the amount of people. Yeah. It's just phenomenal. How do you manage all that? What was it like? I mean, obviously, you don't work with all of them, but I mean, was it like trying to just be involved in that, a project of that scale? Well, and I've had it. I mean, you actually do meet quite a few people. Sometimes if you are on the set and you are a real producer, you know, me, I'm always hands-on. So I mean, pretty much that goes to the editor, you know, and it's a job of a production assistant or PA. You know, you have to have sign-offs, you have to have different contracts and that all, they have to keep track of all that stuff and there's lists. I mean, it's been a nightmare for me actually doing that prior titles and stuff. And we probably missed a couple at one point or another, you know, no fault of ours, but just you're in such a hurry to get that shit done sometimes that, you know, last minute stuff comes in and you're already locked, cut the film and you're like, fuck, we can't add another title in there, another credit. I mean, we didn't know this guy was there and, you know, that was up to his boss to get his name in there. If it's not there, then how do we freaking know, you know? So, you know, a lot of that crap goes on behind the scenes, but yeah, no, you're right. There's a zillion credits, man. And I try to get them all. I mean, that's why I have extensive documents on all my films, especially sign-offs, especially like in prison. Every inmate we have on camera, we get sign-offs from inmates, which is pretty bizarre because if we use them, you can't just put their face on TV or film, you know, you have to have their permission. People don't understand that. You know, you can't just go film some people and put them on stuff. So, but that, yeah, that's a good subject. I mean, and my answer for it is sometimes some shit slips through the cracks, you know? But like I said, I'm on the set, so I kind of have a pretty good memory. Although when it comes to editing, I'm kind of focused on the whole project, not really names, but I'll go through it sometimes and look at the credits and if there's something missing that I know of, I'll say something, you know? I've done that before, actually, because I'm pretty hands-on. I mean, I'm pretty, you know, my stuff, I make sure I watch everything from the first beginning to end. So, my stuff, not so much. There's other stuff, though, that, yeah, there's people, I know people have been in stuff that didn't get on the credits. You know, it's funny. Yeah. Not for them, but, you know. And was it like living over there in California? Are you actually in Hollywood? Yep. I'm in Hollywood right now. It's where my office is on Gower and Santa Monica. Wow. In the midst of Hollywood. And behind me, if you go out in the parking lot, the Hollywood sign is right there. Oh, here, I'll show you something. Here you go. There's Hollywood right there. Yeah, there it is. That's the sign and that's right in back of me. There's a little piece of my office here. It's a really nice office. We've got a full bar over there in the corner. Some of the best scotch you'll ever have. That's important for me. I'm a good scotch drinker. So, I mean, people come to our office and they love it because, you know, you have a cocktail there and a meeting or whatever. It's kind of Hollywood, you know, I guess you say, or we go to a restaurant down on what they call large font is a lot of restaurants down there. Trendy place, you know. Do you see many of the, what they would call stars? Do you see them all the time? All the time in here. Oh, yeah. I mean, they're doing inside my building, they're doing Netflix shows, Warner Brothers shows, they're all in here. But, you know, it's funny because I really honestly, I don't pay attention to that shit anymore. You know, I'm my own guy. I mean, I'm kind of one of those guys, I guess you say, but I don't really, it doesn't impress me anymore. It's just, you know, unless I'm working with them or whatever, I really don't, you know, I might walk by them in the hallway here, hey, how are you doing? You know, whatever, you know, but I don't, so big deal with me. So, you know, it's not like I stop them and say, hey, dude, I got a script for you. I mean, I don't do that. I kind of just, I mean, if they approach me, then great. But, you know, I get approached here by certain people. Which is fine, because then it's legit. I don't have to mess with their agents all the time, but until it's negotiating time or whatever. But, or unless they have their own production company, which a lot of these guys do, then I'll have to deal with that shit at all. So, that's how my lawyers deal. I have a law firm that works for me. So, you know, that's kind of it, you know. Anyway. Yeah, love. I just, before we say our goodbyes, I just want to say thank you to Martin Webster. Oh, yeah. Martin's been through a lot, you know, and I respect the fact that he's overcome what he's done, you know, PTSD and stuff, and he's gotten his message out there, and he's helped a lot of, I feel he's helped a lot of people. You know, his show, his movies helped a lot of people, and it'd be a good thing to watch, go up to Byron and watch it, you know. I went to the premiere of his latest movie the other day. Yeah, I haven't seen that yet, but I heard from, you know, he sends it to me, and honestly, I get so busy, honestly. I can't watch everything all the time. There's not enough time in a day because I got my own stuff going, I'm looking at editing, people don't understand that, and Mark's a really cool guy. I got nothing but love for him, but, you know, Mark actually told me, Ryan, he saw it, and he said he was really good. He said it was really, really good, so I'm going to watch it when I get a chance. I just haven't had time. I've been flying, you know, sometimes I don't even know what day it is, you know, flying from here to there in different places all the time, so it's like, you know, I only got so many hours in a day. Yeah. I got to sleep at least two, three hours to stay normal, you know, so. I'm the same people, very often people send me a link to watch a video, and I'm like, dude, I don't have an hour and a half in my day to watch some, I mean, I might just have a quick look at it, but. Yeah. I don't have enough time for my own stuff, let alone. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. So yeah, so Martin Webster, thank you, and you know Mark Ryan quite well. Very well. Good buddy of mine. Good buddy of mine. Oh yeah, he's been in my film, so very talented actor, very well. I mean, you know, he's famous. I mean, he's a famous guy. I mean, he did the, what do you call it? The voiceover? The Transformers. Yeah. There's all the Transformers voices, a lot of them. He's just a talented guy, a great actor. I'll say this, he's a great mate, great way. Me and him have our scotches together, and I hope he doesn't mind that. I don't think he does. He's a pretty cool guy. But he's my mate, as you call it, one of my mates. Yeah. Just don't lend him any money. You'll never get it back. No, I don't know about that. No, listen, stay on the Zoom chat after I hit the record button off, just so I can thank you properly. Okay, no problem. But while we're still recording, just massive thank you to you. It's just amazing for someone sat over here in the UK to even have a little bit of an insight into what goes on in Hollywood and to have it. Yeah, it's much different than there. I mean, I've been in both places. So yeah. And to have to hear it from such a great guy. It's I think that great. There's a lot more greater guys than me put it that way. I'll give it to you how it is, you know? So yeah. Well, great and humble, I'm going to say. Thank you. So yes, Lyle, please. Thank you ever so much. Just stay on the line. Well, I say goodbye to our friends at home. Massive love to you all, folks. I hope you've enjoyed this as much as I have. I went to my first red carpet premiere for Martin's Do the other day and yeah, I feel incredibly honored to just to know these guys. So if you have enjoyed it, if you can like and subscribe and we'll see you next time. Thank you. Take care.