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The Tracksuit Podcast: Daily Summaries Delivered
by BJ Hendricks & James Cullen Bressack
The Tracksuit Podcast is media industry professionals sit down with fellow creatives, filmmakers, and experts for wide-ranging authentic, unfiltered conversations about the entertainment industry - covering everything from the business of entertainment to the unexplained. Hosted by BJ Hendricks and James Cullen Bressack.
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- 2 weeks ago44 min
Alex Csillag (Proper) - One Take, Real Guitars & the AI Music Debate
Alex Csillag (Proper) — One Take, Real Guitars & the AI Music Debate Alex Csillag, aka Proper, is a Sherman Oaks-based music producer, sync licensing specialist, professional trombone player, and longtime collaborator of James Cullen Bressack. From scoring Bethany and Restoration to producing Racks on Hundreds and Raise 'Em High, Alex has been quietly behind some of the most fun music in James's cinematic universe — and he got it all done in one session. This episode covers the craft of music production, the real debate around AI in music and film, and the industry philosophy that keeps both of them moving: do what you love, protect your business, and never forget to take your baby to ballet under a fake age. Key Topics How Raise 'Em High got recorded in 90 minutes — the karaoke-track-first workflow that saved the session Why the AI album cover almost killed James's very real country song Alex's time at LAMP, the Stargate-founded production school where he leveled up alongside 18-to-38-year-olds who did not get the Anchorman reference The Jacob Collier commencement speech at Berklee: the world doesn't need more great musicians, it needs more good people AI as a tool vs. AI as a replacement — from Opus Clip to acoustic guitar demos to angry email rewrites Why AI music is getting demonetized and what that means for real artists The drum machine parallel: every generation panics about the new thing and then builds new jobs around it The lo-fi beat market, Johan's 3,000 Spotify tracks, and working under Ramy Yacoub (producer of Hit Me Baby One More Time) Performing trombone at Tiny Desk with Denzel Curry, reggae fests, ska, Save Ferris, and top-40 bands Staying honest in a business full of wolves — and why you can't keep a lie straight at toddler ballet
- 4 weeks ago52 min
James Kondelik - Pitfall, Evil Dead Summer Camp & The Bigfoot Pitch Trailer
James Kondelik — Pitfall, Evil Dead Summer Camp & The Bigfoot Pitch TrailerWriter-director-editor James Kondelik sits down with James and BJ for a conversation spanning their shared history at The Asylum, the 14-year road to getting Pitfall into AMC theaters, and the pitches that keep him up at night — including a summer-camp Evil Dead reboot, a Cronenberg-style snake-hybrid body horror called The Slithering, and a Bigfoot movie built on Jack Links beef jerky commercials.Key TopicsAsylum origins: How James and his twin brother John reverse-engineered Airplane vs. Volcano from a title alone — same year Sharknado hit the schedulePitfall's long road: 14 years of pitching, a fake pitch trailer cut from Wrong Turn footage, and a producer who called mid-May asking if he could shoot in AugustThe spam folder deal: How checking his junk mail led to signing with a management company after they saw the Pitfall trailerMarketing muscle: 7–8 million trailer views across platforms, a publicist found at the grocery store, and James spotting the trailer at an actual AMC screeningHelp Me: His follow-up horror-comedy starring Virginia Gardner (Fall, Halloween 2018) and Adrian Grenier, produced with VMICondemned: A $15M+ demon-action horror script James Bressack wrote that Kondelik has his eye on — probably needs to be shot in BulgariaEvil Dead pitch: A summer-camp setting, a nerdy kid named Sam, Stranger Things vibes, boat propellers as weapons, and Bruce Campbell ideally involved in some capacityThe Slithering: A Cronenberg-esque body horror about a man slowly turning into a snake — pitched relentlessly, reviewed with mixed resultsFound footage love: Raven Encounters, Hell House LLC, House of October Built, Sinister, and why Hardcore Henry made everyone dizzyIndustry survival: Staying visible at The Asylum, the depression dip right before a dream release, and why the congratulations always come at the wrong momentAdvice for filmmakers: Stay busy, stay in the mix, don't be too proud to take the job, and understand that endurance is the actual skill
- Sep 25, 202656 min
Dani Abraham - Making Stupid Games
Dani Abraham – Cops, Camels & a $7,300 MovieProducer and co-director Dani Abraham sits down with James and BJ for a conversation that covers a police standoff on a Burbank set, a Birthright trip to Israel fueled by cheap tequila, and how a possessed board game shot in Dani's own apartment for $7,300 became Stupid Games — a PG-13 indie horror that landed on the CW, racked up Letterboxd reviews, and proved that $7,000 is basically the same as $0 when it gets your movie made.Key TopicsThe 6:45 a.m. gun situation — four cop cars, a swapped license plate, and a first AD who still wrapped an hour earlyBirthright Israel origin story — how James and Dani met, camel rides, hangover hikes up Masada, and bottle service that cost less than the tip back homeMaking Stupid Games — a $7,300 budget, Dani's own apartment as the set, a Jumanji-meets-Game-of-Life concept with a demon, and co-director Nicholas Wendell's vision that got him a million-dollar budget nextFrom Knowing Aaron to Meeting Marsha — Dani's unreleased 18-year-old Young Filmmakers Club feature found on an old hard drive, and her upcoming Meeting Marsha premiering at San Diego Out FestivalStupid Games one-year screening — still available on Tubi, CW app, and Amazon PrimeEric Roberts on everything — Jean-Claude Van Damme fanboying over him on the Darkness of Man set, Q-card mastery on Scissors, three movies in one day, and why he's the lifeblood of indie filmForget About It — James, BJ, and Dani in pre-production on Gordon Ressick's script, now reimagined as a puppet filmDani joins the slate — live on air, Dani agrees to help James pick next year's 12 filmmakers; DM @daniabe with your loglineAdvice for aspiring producers — make your movie; the stakes are only high in your head
- Sep 18, 20261h 0m
Hana Mae Lee - Directing Her First Feature MAGICK MTN.
Hana Mae Lee – MAGICK MTN. & Directing Her First FeatureHana Mae Lee drops into the tracksuits to talk horror roots, her debut feature, and the scrappy, organic magic that happens when you give a powerhouse creative total freedom and a hard deadline. James is hearing most of this for the first time — he still hasn't watched a single frame.Key TopicsHorror origins: Nightmare on Elm Street at age six, graduating to The Tenant, The Evil Within, and Terrifier 2 — and why psychological horror still hits hardestJump scares decoded: James breaks down the exact scoring formula that makes them work (and why it no longer works on him)MAGICK MTN. — Hana's debut directorial feature: a black-and-white, death-rock rock-and-roll fairy tale set in Laurel Canyon and Joshua Tree, with three interlacing stories, Aleister Crowley, Eva O, Super Heroines, Ross Williams, Lord Murk, and Cleopatra Records' deep catalog (17 tracks used)Making the film: crew of two (Hana + partner Hal Sutton), shot over 18 days, zero professional actors — architects, a fashion designer, a punk rocker — everyone a real friend with real IPFull creative control: James greenlit the project, was never shown a script, never recut a frame — and received the finished hard drive the day of this recordingThe Cleopatra Records deal: free access to the entire library, including six tracks from Anne Timyassui's band Voyeur, songs from Hana's brother's band Resistant Exists, and an original by actor Ben PriceHana's music in Boris Is Dead: her single "Weapon of Performance" (from debut album Atmospheric Paradigm) made it into the film — she found out it was staying at the premiereHow James's micro-budget greenlight program works: pre-sold to distributors, director gets full creative control and the lion's share of the back endJames's first film: My Pure Joy — $7,000, camera in one hand, boom in the other, two and a half hours longBJ and James's production companies: Robotic Donut (horror/action) and Bent Rest (LGBT-focused), with projects like Bears vs. Karen / Bears vs. Zombies and Forget About It (BJ's first voice-acting gay role)Hana's path into the industry: Elite Model Management rejection, Dragon Models and Talent, a Honda national commercial, Mr. Brightside and Hilary Duff music videos, then Mike and Molly, Pitch Perfect, and Workaholics all in the same monthPlaying villains: why it never feels like work — from The Babysitter to Sean Whalen's Swipe to A Company of Thieves (Onur Tukel)MAGICK MTN. premiere: World Premieres this September the 22nd at Fantastic FestAdvice for breaking in: slide into the DMs of filmmakers whose work you love — that's how Hana met Onur Tukel and how she and James connected
- Sep 11, 202657 min
Unique Chung - The Makeup Chair Knows Everything
## Unique Chung | The Tracksuit Podcast Unique Chung — hair and makeup artist, influencer, trained actress, and founding member of the Dirtbag Crew — sits down with James and BJ for her very first podcast appearance. What starts as a warm reunion between set family quickly spirals into conspiracy theory deep-dives, a heartfelt origin story, and a frank breakdown of what really happens in the makeup chair. ### Key Topics - **How they all met** — the Mondrian pool party, GG Saul Guerrero, and the birth of the Dirtbag Crew at a monster truck rally - **Jim Carrey & the Mandela Effect** — James's theory that Jim Carrey single-handedly implanted false pop-culture memories via *The Mask*, *Ace Ventura*, *The Cable Guy*, and *In Living Color*; the Jimmy Kimmel Illuminati rant and whether the laugh track was faked - **Conspiracy corner** — CERN, the ice wall, hollow moon physics, black holes as a matrix on-ramp, and *The Whyfiles* fish - **Casting without auditions** — James breaks down why he never auditions actors, how watching a full performance beats four sides in a room, and the friendship fallout that happens when he doesn't hire someone - **The Workout & Complex Texas** — BJ on the pressure of hitting every mark with no second takes, shooting out with Kevin Dillon, and auditioning six (eight?) times for a role he didn't book - **Unique's origin story** — Loxa High School for the Arts (rival to James's Hamilton), a theater teacher who spotted her, the clinic waiting room moment that made her mom keep her, and why she wasn't named Cedric - **How she fell into makeup** — a church pageant, a natural-makeup hire, and a special-effects class she only took because theater was full - **The makeup chair as intelligence hub** — actors spilling everything, a wardrobe dog that got dropped and sent someone to the hospital, and why the makeup artist always knows the set's temperature before the director does - **Horror talk** — Chucky as a three-year-old introduction, *Pinocchio Unstrung*, *Obsession*, Backrooms, and why scary movies only fully hit in a packed theater - **Unique's dream role** — a murderer nobody suspects, possibly in a film called *Unique* - **Future plans** — app and invention ideas she won't say on mic, a makeup brand, a beauty school, and reopening her mom's boutique Ice Queen - **Fantastic Fest chaos** — a serial killer targeting chubby dudes in Austin, James sober-wrangling a drunk crew the night before his first-ever boxing match **Find Unique:** [@vain_vixen_makeup](https://www.instagram.com/vain_vixen_makeup/) on Instagram
- Sep 4, 202658 min
Augie Duke - Two Movies, a Million Memories & a Medieval Die Hard
## Augie Duke - Cabbages, Ghosts & Half-Quitting Augie Duke — actor, producer, and self-described "eepy" personality — joins James and BJ for a conversation that starts with cabbages being put on a breastfeeding chest at Fantastic Fest and somehow ends with a pitch for a medieval Die Hard shot in a Napa castle. Along the way they cover a decade of indie filmmaking, ghost encounters, and the very real art of the half-quit. **Key topics:** - How James cast Augie on *Blood Craft* (she looked like Fairuza Balk — that's literally it) and their ongoing campaign to actually get Fairuza Balk on a project - Making *The Workout* during COVID and the legendary Fantastic Fest premiere: David Lawrence, tipsy, holding cabbages - The *Yellow Jackets* PR error that gave Augie 15 minutes of IMDB fame for a show she was never on - *Hacked* — how Shane Brady and Emily Zercher turned a real wire-fraud nightmare into a revenge-comedy feature, with Chandler Riggs (*The Walking Dead*) as the hacker - *Morton Meets the Eye*, a whodunit musical that debuted at the Beverly Hills Film Festival - James's VHS horror film — shot with no crew, analog, as a deliberate antidote to AI-generated content - James's Fantastic Fest boxing match: a month of Golden Gloves training, professional sparring, and accidentally hitting too hard — the last fight night the festival ever held - Ghost stories: BJ's shadow figures at a San Francisco Hyatt, the Cecil Hotel's body-in-the-water-tower history, and Shannon's ice-cube message from beyond the fridge - Augie on self-doubt, quitting every day, and why making your own content is the real career advice - The pitch: medieval Die Hard in a castle, starring Augie Duke and Fairuza Balk
- Aug 28, 202658 min
Tom Malloy - Magic Castle, Film Markets & The Ant Theory
## Tom Malloy — Magic Castles, Film Markets & The Ant Theory Tom Malloy crashes the Tracksuit Pod (filling in for Brad Pitt, who shockingly could not make it) for a wide-ranging conversation about 30+ years of being an actor-writer-producer-distributor-magician in Hollywood. From his first movie *Graves End* shot guerrilla-style on the streets of Brooklyn with Oliver Stone attached, to running Glass House Distribution's 230-film catalog and now operating inside Shaked Berenson's Studio Dome across 12+ international markets, Tom is one of the most quietly prolific multi-hyphenates working in indie film. Tom also digs into the philosophy of staying in it — the ant theory, the mailman theory, grit over luck — and why Los Angeles is still the only place to be if you're serious. **Key topics:** - Tom's origin story: *Graves End* (Brooklyn streets, Oliver Stone, 1997), the agent who told him to pick one lane, and becoming the "pretty girl at the prom" as a producer who could raise money - *BankRoll* — the bestselling film finance book that launched filmmakingstuff.com and accidentally inspired Mike Flanagan's first feature - Glass House Distribution acquired by Studio Dome: going from 4 markets a year to 12+, doing deals in Mongolia, Malaysia, and Singapore while competitors retreated - Repping the Full Moon / Charles Band catalog (including Surrender Cinema's erotic films — and Mongolia's unexpected enthusiasm for them) - Why Sundance is a lottery ticket, not a distribution plan — and the real numbers behind festival movies that never get picked up - How international territories actually buy: Africa (family-friendly), Middle East and LGBT content, Europe vs. the US, the death of DVD revenue - The Nollywood detour: Nigeria's film industry, *I Do Not Come to You by Chance*, and satellites pointed at the sky - Tom's "Ant Theory" (Brian Regan's ants + film financing = never stop rebuilding), the mailman theory, and the book *Grit* - Why LA is still essential — the Nick Chartier / *Dallas Buyers Club* script-under-the-door story, and hiding that you know Mike Flanagan from your Rochester improv friends - Bringing kids Tyler and Ella to film markets, red carpets, and the set of *The Alphabet Killer* (Tyler as a newborn extra) - Martin Kove, Christa Locan, Sean Ferris — on the surreal moment when people you watched on screen start texting you - *Orge's Justice* — Tom's comedy film with improv partner Scott Baker, born from their extra work on *Anger Management* (Adam Sandler, Jack Nicholson) - *The Wicked of Oz* — Tom and James's horror Wizard of Oz collaboration, now on Tubi and Amazon - Where to find Tom: [@tommalloy](https://instagram.com/tommalloy) on Instagram and [filmmakingstuff.com](http://filmmakingstuff.com) for free lessons on film finance and distribution
- Aug 21, 202657 min
Bryan Koss - The DP Who Wandered Onto Soderbergh's Set
## Bryan Koss – Seven Days, Mel Gibson & The Roomba Shot Cinematographer Bryan Koss — collaborator on *Fortress*, *Survive the Game*, *Hot Seat*, and *The Workout* — sits down with James and BJ to unpack the craft, chaos, and camaraderie behind making fast, real movies with big personalities on tiny schedules. ### Key Topics - **Shooting *Hot Seat* in seven days** — how the schedule kept shrinking from 12 days down to 7, why prep ("the seven Ps") was the only thing that saved them, and how Mel Gibson, Kevin Dillon, and Shannon Doherty showing up with 25-page days focused everyone's minds - **The 180-degree line** — James and Bryan's long-running disagreement explained for civilians, including when you're allowed (or obligated) to break it, and what Park Chan-wook does with it - **The Fortress kitchen Steadicam sequence** — one of James's favorite shots in any film he's directed, sacrificed a significant chunk of a 10-day schedule to get right - **The Workout's found-footage approach** — 15 cameras, zero respect for the line, placing every camera where a security camera or webcam would actually be, and the legendary Roomba shot Bryan never got to make - **The Soderbergh story** — Bryan as an uncredentialed background extra on *The Good German*, wandering out of a styrofoam building onto the live set, standing next to the monitor while George Clooney and Cate Blanchett filmed a scene, getting eyeballed by Soderbergh, and eventually getting screamed at by an AD for pulling out a telephoto lens - **Owning your own gear** — the pros and cons of building a full kit, how it opened doors early and occasionally stifled creative choices later - **The Klaus origin story** — Werner Herzog, Klaus Kinski, a production office in New York, six weeks of being called the wrong name, and how an entire crew network across LA, Georgia, Puerto Rico, and the East Coast now calls each other Klaus - **Detroit pizza in Los Angeles** — the Detroit Pizza Society, square pans from auto-shop drip trays, and a valley field trip James is apparently now committed to - **UFO sightings** — Bryan and a childhood neighbor, a slow-moving object over Michigan, reconnecting years later and both immediately knowing what the other was about to say - **The air fryer incident** — Puerto Rico, day one with Bruce Willis, cracked pepper chicken sausages, and what happens when a Costco run meets a live take - **Kevin Dillon on set** — why he's a number-one worth having, how his energy affects the whole crew, and the CVS encounter that counts as their third collaboration - **Bryan's path in** — finance degree, Florida real estate, a two-day filmmaking seminar in a Howard Johnson conference room, PA work on big-budget commercials, and bringing coffee to DP Darius Khondji
About The Tracksuit Podcast
The Tracksuit Podcast is media industry professionals sit down with fellow creatives, filmmakers, and experts for wide-ranging authentic, unfiltered conversations about the entertainment industry - covering everything from the business of entertainment to the unexplained. Hosted by BJ Hendricks and James Cullen Bressack.
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