Adult Film NYC Pod David

Ross Shenker!!  Ross is an incredible New York Casting director, Chekhov teacher, scholar, writer and big friend of AF.  And he’s definitely gonna get mad at me for calling him a scholar.  But it’s true!



We discuss Joanna Arrow’s ‘The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something has Passed’.  It’s a f*****g wild ride.  See it while it’s still in theaters. 



Ross and David have both scene Adult Film’s production of the Seagull.  We give thoughts (very honest).



We talk about success.  What makes a film successful? How do we define it?  And what are any of us really chasing after?


Also.  How does someone who’s not a 19 year old model break into the industry.  No shade to 19 year old models, but how does an average looking adult start to think about building a career in the entertainment industry.  Ross weighs in.  



Listen please.   Please.  We're desperate.



Ha ha. just kidding. We're cool baby (our space is in Bushwick).



K love you. Bye.

We had a very open, VERY AF conversation with the incredible Tina Satter.  



Tina’s an Obie and Drama desk winning playwright and director, and (sometimes) teacher at Adult Film. Her Broadway produced play ‘Is This a Room’, was adapted into the critically acclaimed feature film ‘Reality’ with Sydney Sweeney.  



We go in depth on Tina’s writing, and directing process.   Finding a personal connection to Chekhov, and how the hell she gets her students to leave a 2 day workshop with close to fully formed plays.



Also advice to a hypothetical writer who’s written a great feature.  Now what?



We talk details on getting her movie ‘REALITY’ made as a first time director.  



And then we talk a little shit about actors not acting.  And the secret, relatively non woo woo way to turn intentions into reality.  



Also.  David saw a rehearsal of @AdultFilm production of the Seagull.  Gives thoughts.  



Enjoy.



Time codes:



4:00

Tina’s workshops, how she structures them, and deconstructing how she works into her teaching.



6:45

How Tina’s teaching process developed and using prompts.

Using personal themes and experiences in work.  



9:10

Using gestures



10:10

Specific physical behavior in direction being freeing vs limiting



14:00

Finding secret codes during rehearsal process



14:30
Tina’s journey, path to theater, and creative inspirations



19:30

Brooklyn College playwriting program



22:30

Knowing what to write about



27:00

Tina’s play ‘Seagull (Thinking of You)’

Discovering her way into Chekhov.



31:00

Experience doing a Q&A for ‘Reality’ for a Russian audience. 



33:56

‘Reality’ discussion begins



35:21

Cinematographer Paul Yee having seen ‘Is this a Room’ on broadway from which ‘Reality’ was adapted. 



36:00

The play vs the movie



40:02

“Boring trap” in Chekhov, a lot of classic texts and application to ‘Reality’

Making what’s seemingly passive on the page active.  



41:50

Nuanced acting w repetitive dialogue. 



44:30

Reality’s involvement in the process



46:30

The process of actually making ‘Reality’.  From reading transcript to making the film.



51:10

Pushback on being first time director? 



52:30

Tina’s non traditional path to making her first feature.  



55:30

Dealing with resentment and developing “why not me attitude”



56:30

The process of doing. 



57:30

Advice to writers who’ve written a feature.  Now what… 



1:01:00

AF training center by necessity.  



1:01:45

Intentionality and creative/energetic output.  



1:05:00

Actors not acting.  

We have to do the thing.  



1:08:30

Tina’s relationship with setting intentions

“Intentions with actions” 



1:13:50

Writing in the age of cell phone addiction 



1:14:40

Tina coming back to Adult Film???



1:15:15

David sits in on Seagull rehearsal (Opening may 10!!!)

How Ryan is feeling with the process, acting.

David tells semi unhinged story.

Will he or wont he???? Have a panic attack as we’re recording that is ;) 



It’s a fun, slutty lil episode.  You’ll see.  



Small business ownership is hard and some people are mean.  What do we do about it?



Adult Film was featured in the @gothamist… but not everyone’s happy about it.



Alotta psychology talk.  About our responses to people talking shit, and where those responses were formed. 



Ryan just shot a movie in ATL. We get into this experience. 



We talk in depth about Kenneth Lonergan’s ‘You Can Count on Me’, the performances, and themes. And of course a great Jungian debate ensues.  



David learns big lesson from Austin Butler in Dune, and thought on the play “The Effect” that was just up at @TheShedNY.



Ryan goes on our favorite (acting) podcast @backtoonepodcast,



And David makes a resolution to give up pettiness.. 



Enjoy.  

“Hollywood Contraction: Actors Struggle To Find Jobs As TV Castings Dry Up” declares deadline.  We get into it.   



Are we all f****d? Should we find another profession?  Or is everyone playing a different game?



We talk the TV revolution, Pilot Season’s last sighting, and who exactly is to blame for the near extinction of 22 episode seasons?



Also.  Acting in NY vs LA, investing time/energy into things that don’t exist without us, and building a home at AF. 



Then we break down Mike Leigh’s ‘Naked’ (which won best director and best actor at Cannes).  And Mike Leigh’s use of improv to develop character and script.  



Okay bye.  



Time Codes:



2:00

A3 doesn’t exist anymore



2:50

The TV revolution

Girls, True Detective, House of Cards



4:10

True Detective’s supernatural through line



6:20

Sofia Coppola 



10:00

That deadline article



11:15

When was the last time pilot season existed? 



13:40

Who’s to blame for no more 22 episode seasons?



17:30

Series regulars are capped at 100k an episode oh nauuuerrrrr



19:15

Is “Peak TV” over?



20:45

Our takeaways from the article



23:40

What does being an actor mean to us.



26:00

Acting in La vs NY



28:30

We’re all living in different worlds



31:00

Building a home at Adult Film



35:40

Not putting your life on hold



37:20

Meaning.  And Investing our energy into things that don’t exist without us.



40:45

Mike Leigh’s ‘Naked’ Discussion begins



And also quick tangents to Meryl Streep, ‘Sophie’s Choice’, Charlie Kaufman, ‘Bridges of Madison County’, ‘Past Lives’



46:50

Mike Leigh’s method.  Using improv to develop character and script.



49:00

Using improv to understand dynamics that aren’t on the page



50:45

What stayed with us from “Naked”



57:45

Sheila O’Malley’s ‘Streetcar Named Desire’ essay

Cynthia Robinson came on the pod and completely shifted Ryan and David's dynamic. This is good. Very unhinged episode. I think this is excellent for us.

We broke down Jonathan Glazer's "Sexy Beast", and our slutty reasoning behind picking it to review. Ryan tells us his biggest acting/career related regret of his 20's, and we talk about the roots of our deepest egoic desires and whether they're worth following.

ALSO. Our experience being in our mid 30's at Adult Film, and in this industry in general. Expectation, and things we would have done differently.

Oh. and we even talk about everyones favorite channeled non-physical entity Abraham Hicks!

This is a good one.



Time Codes:

2:40 Sexy Beast Conversation begins. 



5:30 Why’d David pick this movie



9:00 Surprising characters qualities and casting 



13:00 How we pick the movies to talk about and differences in our tastes

Types of movies going forward



19:40 cultural/film context around Sexy Beast



21:20 Ryan’s favorite film subject 



24:20 Brief ‘Irishmen’ discussion



26:40 Sensitive movie mobsters and what we’re projecting on to them.



28:45 societies expectations of men… and are they real.  

Who actually punishes young men for vulnerability?  



37;44 Cynthia loves making guys mad.  Thoughts around jealousy and acting out in a relationship. 



41:10  Getting older and AF.    Being 35 and not having ‘MADE IT’



42:30 Ryan’s biggest regret in his 20’s.  Art vs businessmindedness



45:00 Actual timeline of a career.  Missing benchmarks.  



46:22 Trap of class and community validation.



48:00. What are we actually in control of?  Leaving a body of work…  

What is the “Meaning” of Adult Film? And defining meaning.  



52:00

Why do we want the things we want?

Should we follow purely egoic desires?



56:00

Difference between Ryan and David’s identities or non-identities as actors



58:30

Not trying as a defense mechanism to avoid heartbreak



1:01:00

Doing something for the sake of the doing.



1:04:00

Lil Abraham Hicks//manifestation debate



1:13:00

Very interesting conversation that I will not include in these notes.



1:14:00

Sex and The City discussion.  

Happy New Year!!  Wanna hear us say stuff we might regret?  Great.



We talk some of the new movies of the year, Ryan’s experience on Ariana Grande’s video for ‘Yes, And?’.  AND the original ‘Rocky’, which turns out is 95% incredible indie drama and 5% boxing movie.  



There are some spicy takes, cringy confessions and a day of Intermittent Fasting broken with 4 glasses of red wine.  



Oh.  And we discover a major plot hole in Long Day’s Journey Into Night.  Why does no-one talk about this? 



Is 2024 is the year of Adult Film?  Lets see baby.  





Time Codes:



2:55

Ryan is in Ariana Grande’s new music video



4:45 

Thoughts on new movies 



6:45

Blue Valentine 



12:10

May December and Charles Melton’s performance 



15:00

Adult Film’s end of year showcase 



16:00

Dramatic improv/fishing for compliments 



17:50

Sense memory class at AF? 



19:00

Rocky discussion 



26:20

David is a new man, Ryan watches Mean Girls



27:45

The Notebook

Rachel McAdams and Ryan ‘The King of Love’ Gosling



28:50

Sylvester Stallone documentary 



29:45 

Setting goals/intentions for 2024

Thoughts on manifestation and affirmations 

And a big embarrassing confession 



35:00

The year of Adult Film ;) 



36:30 

An interesting encounter on the L train. 



38:30

AF schedule for the year 



39:45

Big plot hole in Long Days Journey Into Night. 



41:45 

We need help making video content for the pod!!



42:30

Closing thoughts from Ryan