Cole McCormick shares exciting news about his latest creative endeavor—a feature-length film inspired by his parents' love story in 1990s Las Vegas. Cole reflects on his journey of self-discovery and the impact of his father's passing, which has fueled his passion to create a movie that honors his father's legacy and explores the transformative power of love. He discusses the challenges and possibilities of using AI in filmmaking, contemplating how it might help recreate the youthful essence of his parents for the film.
ValueForValue
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Did you know that I'm making a movie? What's up, everyone? It's America Plus. I'm your host, Komal McCormick. It's another week. Another episode of what's going on, everybody. It's Sunday, July 20, 07:12 in the PM. It's a beautiful day to be alive, folks. I'm happy to be here. It is a good time to be alive, folks. What is going on, y'all? I'm coming to you in good vibes. I'm getting off a really chill shift at work at my new job, making car keys at Costco. It's a it's a really fun, easy, laid back job, I would say, and I'm getting paid fairly well, I think. So, you know, I'm just in, like, a better mood. My life has been topsy-turvy the last few months, last year, you know? And I've just been trying to find myself, you know. I've been trying to really find my place in space, and just really try to connect with my soul.
But now, I feel like I'm really doing it. I feel like it's just a new vibe, you know. A few weeks ago, it was a beginning of a new era. We're in the middle, you know, we're in the very early stages of this new era for the show and for my life. And what I want to focus on this week, guys, you know, I haven't done a movie episode in a minute. And, I just wanna focus on the films and cinema, and what's going on in the movie world. Pretty much, I wanted to focus on two different stories. One pertaining to AI, one pertaining to myself. Okay? And I'll I'll get to that in a little bit.
But what I wanna talk about real quick is there is this article that came out a few days ago or a couple days ago. It was from The Hollywood Reporter, and it's connected to Netflix. Netflix had a recent, earnings report that came out. They had some Wall Street talk. And they had an announcement saying that they actually used Netflix said that they actually used AI in one of their television shows, which I think is really interesting. This is the first time a major studio has really discussed the use of AI. And, pretty much long story short, the CEO, Ted Sarandos, he said that we remain convinced that AI represents an incredible opportunity to help creators make films and series better, not just cheaper.
So this is a real so this is real people doing real work with better tools. Our creators are already seeing the benefits of production through pre visualization and shot planning work and certainly visual effects. This is used for a show called the the Eternauts, the Eternaut. It was an Argentinian sci fi series. And there's, like, I don't know. They they use the AI to, like, create some, like, apocalyptic scene, some, like, some building was falling down. But pretty much, they were able to make this scene within, like like, 10 times faster than what would happen with with regular with regular, like like, VFX, visual effects workers, you know. Like, pretty much what happens with, like, a common visual effects workshop, like, with, like, a VFX, like, company. It takes, like, I don't know, like, six weeks to make one shot. You know, and I'm talking about, like, one, like, frame, or, like, like, a three second shot.
And it it takes six weeks to make something like that. And that's why it takes so long for, for the Avengers movies to be filmed. And that's why when you go to a Marvel movie, that's why the credits are always, like, a like, 3,000 people deep, because that's how many different visual effects companies are working on these big movies and big shows. And here we are in 2025, and Netflix is actually using AI to shrink that time from doing one shot in six weeks into one week. Okay? That's pretty insane. That's a pretty cool and crazy, and I guess, from one perspective, scary story.
You know, when it comes to visual effects and AI, I don't care about it. Like, I don't think it's that big of a deal. I think it's just been obvious that AI will take over visual effects. If you're a person who's in visual effects, and it's your job to, like, model things, then you gotta figure out how to use AI. You gotta figure out how to position yourself. If you still wanna be in this business, you're going to have to figure out how to use this tool and, like, position yourself for strength. Because if you don't, then you're done. And, this is just gonna lead the way for all other studios, you know. There's a lot of consolidation happening within Hollywood.
Paramount is trying to be bought out by Skydance. Disney just continues to buy things, you know. Disney's in the middle of an of a lawsuit with an AI company called Midjourney, my favorite AI, actually. They're saying Midjourney's stealing their designs. They're ripping Disney off, which I don't think really has any legs. They might win it. I don't know. We'll see. You know, it's it's super early in the process of that, but pretty much, AI and Hollywood, they're sort of at odds with each other. But at the same time, Hollywood is embracing AI, because they need to bring their costs down. It costs way too much money to make a show. It costs way too much money, to to make a movie.
They did Netflix did share their earnings reports a little bit, and they're making billions of dollars. But what I think is interesting is this graph that was shared. Pretty much, Netflix is making over $11,000,000,000, within this quarter two of twenty twenty five, and their operating income now I'm assuming this operating income involves them making their shows. They're only spending 3,700,000,000.0. Okay? So they're they're making 11, and they're spending 3.7. And, you know, that I think that's a good business model. Spend a few billion to make tens of billions.
That sounds pretty good. And now they're trying to shrink that number even more. If they're spending 3,700,000,000.0 on content now, this could be bullshit. Like, I could be wrong here, but, like, you know, I'm just going off of this number in front of me. If they're spending 3,000,000,000 on content, and just, like, to make sure the the system keeps spitting out things, then, how much can AI reduce this number? If it can reduce it by 25,000,000, you know, that's a pretty big deal. If it can reduce it by 700,000,000, that's a pretty big deal. You know, that's almost a billion. Like, what if AI is able to save studios a billion dollars in how they make their things?
You know, that's, the if I'm a business person, I have to move towards that technology, you know. And there's talk saying that, you know, it might take up half. Like, Hollywood might might be able to save studios half of what they're spending right now. You know, for an example, I'm pretty sure the new Jurassic World movie, that cost, like, over $250,000,000 to make. You know, like, all these movies, like, the common big movie costs over a quarter of a billion dollars to make. And they're hoping to make half a billion, you know, just to break even.
You know? And so if they're using AI, if I'm in Bob Iger's position, and if I'm in, Netflix's position, I have to use AI for this. Okay? And I'm really interested to see more interviews with filmmakers who are using this technology, because that's really like, it's one thing for the business people to say, we're gonna use it. It's another thing to actually hear the artists and, like, the people on the ground talk about how they were approaching it and what they wanted to accomplish with it. Because when you're on x and when you're on Twitter and everything, there's all this, like, discord about, oh, like, I don't want anything to be made with AI. Like, there's all these, like, freaking non creative people who just complain about AI, and they just, like, they want like, they're upset at any little any little AI. If AI was using anything, it's it's a bullshit movie. You know, that happened with this one horror movie. This horror movie that was made for, like, under $10,000,000, they used fucking Midjourney to make these, like, still images. A still image.
Okay? They didn't replace an actor. They didn't take away any jobs. They used Midjourney to make a still image for the film, and people got pissed off. And, you know, that's sort of where we're at right now. And but these people these Hollywood people are just gonna keep on chugging along, because, you know, they're they they have to. They have to. Otherwise, they don't have a business. Okay? It's pretty that simple. And and I've used AI in my films. I used AI in my short film, Magic Mushroom Fun Time. I was one of the first artists, to actually use AI for a short film like that. You know, there's some people who wanna say that they're like AI directors or AI artists, but I actually, in 2023, used AI to help me tell my story. I didn't replace anything with AI.
I used AI to create, psychedelic visuals, and to portray images that were in my mind and in my body. Okay? You can scroll down on my on my Twitter to look for Magic Mushroom Fun Time. I was also the first person to release a movie via RSS feed. So that was pretty cool, and I got my I got my whole crew paid through value for value, and that was like a big innovation. And so I'm not, against AI in filmmaking. I'm actually gonna be using it more, like, I want to. I think it's only gonna help. But I am at a crossroads, and I'm, figuring out how to move forward with my own creativity and this new technology. Because this, it's just blatant, and I can't ignore it. And the sheer fact that I've already used it just means that I I need to learn to use it more or use it better, at least, you know. And that really takes me to my to what I wanna really wanna talk about, to to this, like, announcement, this movie announcement.
I am making a movie. I'm making I've decided that I'm making a feature length film. Okay? That's what's going on. Cole McCormick is making a feature length film. Okay? Feature length means, like, eighty minutes plus. Okay? Hour and a half, maybe a little bit more. We'll see how it goes. But pretty much, I'm making a movie. And because of where I'm at in my life, and because of what I've experienced, I've always made movies that are a bit autobiographical. The two short films that I've made, they've been about real moments in my life, or at least real moments, like like like aspects of real moments in my life.
And, my first short film was The Break In. Somebody actually broke into my apartment when I was sleeping, and I shook the guy's hand, and I told him he was gonna be safe, which is super weird, and that with that, like, I had to make that movie. Magic Mushroom Fun Time was, of course, me taking mushrooms and just hanging out, and just, like, having a good time. You know? And now, when it comes to my creativity, and and this is connected to my dad. Right? My dad died last year. It's coming up on the one year anniversary. How many how many days am I, like, away from this? I'm, like, one week, two weeks. I'm, like, I'm I'm, like, two weeks and a few days away from the one year anniversary of my dad's death.
And that will forever be the most intense experience of my life, and I don't wanna go too deep into it because I've already shared what that was like. Maybe I'll share more about that soon and and talk about it. Come I'm trying to figure out how to commemorate that one year properly and healthy. But regardless, like, connected to that, I've been living my life chasing towards this dream and this goal of being a director and making movies. And, I grew up in a household where my parents supported me. And my father had was always, extremely supportive of that. He when I said I wanted to move out, and I wanted to make movies, like, they never said no.
They never said, do you wanna think about a new career? Like, they never my parents never did anything like that. And they just it it it's an unrelentless love and support that I got from my parents. And during the, cancer diagnosis, during my dad's last last years on Earth, you know, that dream was sort of fading away. Right? So I found out that he had cancer in '20 in summer twenty twenty three. I make the movie Magic Mushroom Fun Time, and I'm just trying to be creative, you know. And I and and and I've always done my best to express myself creatively. And, when it got closer, like like, during Magic Mushroom Fun Time and getting closer to his death, I went through this phase of, like, do I even wanna make movies?
Like like, do I really wanna do this? Like, I need to, like, just be responsible, or I need to just I need to be sustainable. I need money. I need consistency, like and and I've I've always been chasing that, you know? Like, I've always been wanting consistency and stability in my life, but, you know, just something about post COVID, you know, I've been through a few different jobs, and now my dad's sick, and it's like, what am I really doing out here? The industry is changing. There's strikes going on. There's, you know, people are losing jobs. Technology is is rising, and I sort of fell out of love with the idea of chasing, like, a Hollywood dream.
I never wanted fame. I wanted some money. But now, it's like, I just want enough money, you know. I just want to be able to pay my bills properly, and go on a vacation with my family. Pay for a vacation for my family. You know, that's really what I want in my life. And objectively, like, chasing a career in Hollywood, like, I don't know how that's gonna happen in today's day and age, you know. I'm sure there's people doing it, but I don't know how to do that. I don't know how to chase Hollywood anymore. I don't want to chase Hollywood. But recently, within the last within this year, within 2025, it got to a point where I would think to myself, and I'm really trying to, like, think about my life, and I'm meditating, and I'm praying, and I'm trying to reorient my priorities.
And it came to a point where I said, you know what? Like, what if what if I just made one movie? Like, what if I just put all of my energy into one movie? Would I be happy? And I thought on that for a minute, and the answer was yes. If I don't make any other movie after this film, then I think I'll be happy. I think I'll be satisfied with my life. Okay? And, I wanted to make a movie that honors my father. And I wanna make a movie that would make me feel good. And I wanna make a movie that that hopefully helps other people believe in the power of love. Because that's what I think the world needs. The world and people need to refine their understanding of the power of love.
And that means that I need to figure out a story that that portrays that. And, you know, this comes to what the movie's gonna be about. I this film will be about the story of my parents falling in love in the nineteen nineties in Las Vegas. That's where they met. Okay? And I got this picture up here, of like their, my mom did like some old school cropping, back in the day, and, you know, this this frame has been within my within my family for a very long time, since they were kids. Since they were very young adults. So I've seen this image. The image that that's the podcast image and what's on the video right now. Like, this is I have seen this frame for all of my life. And I've always thought it was a cool cool image.
But after my dad dies, I'm seeing this image, and it's just it just hits in such a crazy level, dude. It just hits in a crazy, crazy vibe. Because, you know, this is they were high school sweethearts, And my mother grew up Christian, my father did not. He was a fighter. He drank a lot, and he made a conscious choice to change his ways, to choose a new faith, and to commit to my mom. He wanted a better life for himself. I don't have the full story yet. I have aspects. I have snippets. I have chunks of what the story is. But right now, what the story is is my dad wasn't happy with his life, with his home life, and he got into fights, and he was angry, and he drank and ate.
But when it came to my mom, he was willing to change. And he was willing to look into himself and change his choices. Change his thoughts, change his heart, and he was able to live a life. He he actually became that family man. He became a business owner. He became a loving father who was able to pay for Disney trips and to support his kid moving out to LA. And and it's like, it's crazy to think that this is like, this is that guy. This guy at prom. This guy at his prom was able to change his ways, and to to live a happy life.
And this is such a real story, dude. And, I need to do this. I feel like I must do this. I don't know the exact way that it will happen, but I feel compelled that I must make a film about my parents falling in love, and how that love transformed my father. That's the real thing. That's the real story. Okay? And, I set myself a little release date. I've, given myself a deadline, December 2027. That's two years from now, two and a half years from now. December 2027. That's for some, that might be a long ways away, you know. Some people might die by then. You never know when you're gonna die. But, that's just my that's my deadline. That's when I wanna release it at the very latest.
I'm gonna give myself time to to let the story cook and to do some research, because this is going to require some research pertaining to my family's or my parents' friends growing up. They're in they're still in Las Vegas. So I gotta do interviews. I gotta talk to my mom. I gotta look at I'm sure there's old VHS tapes, of parties. I know I've seen some, like, old VHS tape, but my dad with some, like, the hat with the two beer can holders, and he's, like, sipping two beers at the same time. Like, I know there's I know that video exists. I've seen that. I gotta find that. And, I gotta write it. I gotta figure out, and maybe there's a writing partner out there, who will help me write it.
I don't know how it's gonna be made. I want it to be good. I want it to feel like 10 Things I Hate About You, and that Wham music video. Wham's last Christmas music video. If that makes any sense to you. Please look up Wham's last Christmas music video. It's like a day in the life of these, like, teenagers hanging out at the ski resort, you know. It's a very, like, authentic video. Like, it's just like these people living. And so I want this movie to be authentic to these young people living in this era, nineteen nineties Las Vegas. I did it sounds so unique. And there's a handful of films that take place in Las Vegas already.
And it's such a fun area because it's where I was born, and it's where they met, and it's it's, it's Vegas, you know. So what could, you know, whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, unless until they move away and have a kid. It's very it's very unique, and I think this is a good take. I think it's a unique angle on on love, on a love story. Maybe there's past love stories, like within Shakespeare or other literature that I might be able to be inspired by. I'm seeking to make the best possible film ever. Ever.
The best movie ever. That, and if you wanna call me arrogant, go ahead, dude. But I read a quote from Christopher Nolan. That's how he goes into every movie. Every time Chris Nolan goes to make a movie, he believes he is making the best movie ever, and that's he's fucking Christopher Nolan. So that's how I gotta go. I gotta I gotta copy. I gotta listen to my dad. When I was in high school, my dad and I was, like, about to play football. I was going into a football camp. My dad goes right right before I left, he he tells me, quote, my only advice, just look at what the seniors are doing, look at what they're reading, look at how they're practicing, and just do what the seniors do.
And that's like one of the biggest advices, like, awesome things that my dad said to me growing up. And so, and I and I'm I gotta do the same thing for for movies. If Chris Nolan believes that he's making the best movie ever, I need to believe that I'm about to make the best movie ever, and I gotta, like, be obsessed with this, and I gotta commit to this, and it's going down. It's going down, dude. Like Donkey Kong. It's on like Donkey Kong. You heard? I'm making a movie, folks. It's happening. It's happening. So I'm really excited for it.
And that takes me to a little part of this, like, discussion of, like, how am I gonna make it? Am I gonna get actors? Do I need to film in Las Vegas? Am I just gonna film in Arizona? How is this gonna be accomplished? Should I use AI to do this? You know? And here's one idea that I'm playing around with. Because of all the images that I have of my dad and mom, is it possible to use AI to create to recreate them? Could I recreate the youth of my parents through the tech through the power of AI? That would be surreal. I haven't experimented with it, but that sounds crazy. Right? Now that would mean that, like, maybe the whole movie might be AI, and I low key don't want that. Like, I sort of wanna be on set. I wanna be filming things. I wanna be getting locations and set dressing. I wanna bring in old couches. I wanna I want there to be I want there to be a crowd at at a party, you know. Like, I want these, like, certain scenes. I want this I want the environment to be authentic, and I wanna live in this environment for a minute, you know. And I want there to be a crew around me. I want there to be cast, and people, and costumes, and I wanna get the get the set right, and I wanna get costumes right, you know, and there's a whole thing that goes into movies.
And I wanna do that. I wanna make the best movie ever. And this movie is going to honor my father. And it just has to. It will. It just will. So will I use AI? I don't know. Is there a way to use AI in terms like motion capture? Possibly. Could I use one actor? Or help, maybe it could be me. Maybe I could play my dad, and I got some dots on my face, and I'm getting the computer to read all my to read, like, my face my facial expressions, and then I just put my dad's face on me. That's hilarious. That'd be surreal. I don't know how that will happen, but I'm sort of just putting this out into the ether, so that it will be recorded, and people will know that this was the beginning of the process of my film.
This is the beginning of the process of Cole McCormick making a whole new experience. And that's the other thing too. So so when it comes to my movies, I always want my movies to be an experience. Right? That's, like, the tagline. That's, like, you know, every movie, if you see, like, a Spike, Spike Lee movie, Spike Lee did Do the Right Thing back in the nineties. His, every time he makes a movie, it's always a Spike Lee joint. You know, that's like his thing. Or every time when you when you see a Martin Scorsese movie, it always says, a Martin Scorsese picture. Sometime like, most of the time, it says, a film by so and so. No. No. No. This is my movie.
This is a Cole McCormick experience. That's what this has to be. This is a Cole McCormick experience, and that's the intention. And I'm gonna make it immersive, and raw, and real. And it's gonna grab you. And it's gonna twist your heart, and it's gonna make you feel, like, angry at times. And and you're gonna believe in the power of love. Can you believe in the transformational power of love? Can cinema help with that? I believe it can. The the message, the mission, the mission is love. Can you feel the love in this movie? That's the mission, dude. And I feel fucking good. I feel aligned with my soul when I say that, you know? The personality is aligned with the soul.
Wow. Getting crazy in here, you know? I feel good when I say that. Can cinema make you believe in the power of love? That's what's going down, folks. And so what do you think about that? Do you think it's cool? Do you think it's lame? Is that totally, like, is that so cringe? I'm making a movie about my parents. I just need to, because people need to know the story. Okay? They need to. And I think it's funny. I think it's gonna be entertaining. I think it's gonna be the best movie ever. So, whatever. I'm just toot my own horn, you know? Toot my own horn. But I I don't care if you're judging me, because I'm gonna make this thing. When I set my mind to it, I'm gonna make it. That's who I am. That's who Cole McCormick is. When I set my mind to something, I go for it. I believe in myself, and I know that I will accomplish it. I'm on some Tom Cruise shit, dude. Like, that's where I gotta be right now. Post dead dad, I gotta be in some Tom Cruise shit. We're just gonna figure it out, dude. We're just gonna figure it out. If someone tells me I can't do it, I'm gonna get someone who believes that we can do it.
What do you think about that, man? I wanna hear what you have to say, dude. Yeah. That that's pretty much all the value I got. Let's go into the value for value section, folks. America Plus is a value for value show. I come on my RSS feed and my Twitter and my YouTube just to talk about how I'm feeling, talk about what I think is is a valuable discussion to have with the world, and I certainly believe that leaning into your creativity is very important for Earth. It's important for your soul. It's important for how humanity is pushing forward. These are not just big sentences, whimsical things I'm saying. This is reality.
It is important for reality, for you to be creative in your own unique way. And this is how I'm trying to express it. And and and and I exchange this expression within value for value. If you're getting any value through this podcast, I ask that you send that back to me within time, treasure time, talent, or treasure. If you're on YouTube, give me a subscribe. If you're on Twitter, give me a retweet. Comment, send this to your friends, or you can send me some treasure, some money. You can do that through multiple ways. You can send me some cash or you can support me with the fountain app. Boosting is love. Value4value.info
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for more info, then download the fountain.fm
[00:29:17] Unknown:
app. It's the best way to support the show. Okay. So there's these podcast apps that let you send small bits of Bitcoin to podcasters. My favorite is called Fountain because it's, like, the simplest. And, you can load up your wallet in Fountain with a credit card, and you're able to send me, if you choose, small bits of Bitcoin, the number that you want. Some people send a few hundreds, some people send a few thousand. The number is really up to you, really. I think with the current Bitcoin price, 1,000 bits of Bitcoin equals a dollar. So just, like, think about it like that.
And when you send in some Bitcoin, when you send in a Bitcoin with some messages with a message, that's called a boostagram. And I'm gonna be reading the boostagrams here right now, folks. This first boostagram comes in from at pies. What up, pies? He's a regular. What up, pies? He sends in his usual 100 Satoshis. Thank you so much, pies. And what he has to say is, yo yo yo with the, like, salute emoji, with the two mushroom emojis, and the three flexing emojis. What up, Pies? Boost. Thank you so much, Pies. And then we got a few more boostagrams from this guy named this random guy on online called Chad f. What up, Chad f? I know this guy. Chad f is pretty cool. He comments on last week's episode.
I was talking about Jeffrey Epstein and Trump and how that's, like, connected to a whole insane, satanic cloning cabal. So if you wanna listen to some crazy conspiracy, go to last week. This first boostagram comes in from Chad Efony. He sends in I think he sends in 333. And he says, our big dumb mouth talked about this being much darker also. Yeah, dude. Chad, I I checked out that podcast, Our Big Dumb Mouth. That's a pretty good podcast. And I definitely vibe with the people talking about what I'm talking about. If you're talking about what I'm talking about, we're vibing. Next one from Chad Effie has, like, two more. Chad Eff sends another another 333 sets.
He says, I agree with your take that it's all darker than pedophilia, But I'm also an atheist, so I don't believe in God or the devil, but I do believe in good and evil forces. Influence, whatever you want to call it. I think Satanism is just a blanket term for people doing evil stuff because it comes off as fake or childish. Either way, I like your perspective from a religious perspective. Thank you very much. Because basically,
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you put Bitcoin with anything, and all of a sudden, that is more efficient. And then the last one from Chad f, another $3.33.
[00:31:54] Unknown:
He says, just got back the car and the random radio station that's on is talking about the Epstein list. LOL. Everyone's talking about this thing. He goes on to say, my infotainment system is a little busted, so it just skips to random local radio stations until CarPlay connects. But it's always the same m five m talking points, and that's why I listen to podcasts. Boosting is loving.
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And now, as the French say, it is time for Le Boost.
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Thank you so much, Chad F. Thank you to all those people who wanted to send in some sashoshis. That's value for value, folks. Get involved with the America Plus crew. Be a part of the crew. Download Fountain, send me some SATs, or send me some cash moola. I got my Linktree link down below. You can send me money on PayPal, Cash App, or Venmo if you wanna support me financially in that way. This is just I'm never gonna have advertising. That's why I'm asking for this exchange. This is just how what I what I think the best model for producing content on the Internet is. If you wanna support me, support me. And I would really appreciate it. What I wanna go into now is another okay. Let me share my screen here really quick. I always play a song at the end of the episode.
This is a value for value song. So involved so connected to value for value in podcasting, where you can send me money. You can also send small bits of Bitcoin to musicians. There's this new ecosystem of musicians releasing their music through an RSS feed and linking up a Bitcoin wallet to their music. And you're able to support them with that. And when I play this song, the song by Tony Salamone Tony Tony Salamone, I always give the artist a 90% split of of your Satoshi donation. So if you like the song, if you vibe with it, Tony's gonna get 90% of what you send in through a modern podcasting app like Fountain.
And, this is, like, how we get artists paid. You know? We don't need to trust Spotify. Screw Spotify. We don't need to trust YouTube or Apple. We need to pay each other directly. That's how the future of ecosystems, the the future of economies will work when we directly exchange with one another. Okay? So this song by Tony Salamone, it's called Cool Summer. I really like it. It's a good vibe. Don't forget to send in a boostagram if you like it, and I encourage you to just vibe with it, man. This is Tony Salamone, Cool Summer. Enjoy.
Cool summer day. That's America Plus, bitch. Stay free.
Did you know that I'm making a movie? What's up, everyone? It's America Plus. I'm your host, Komal McCormick. It's another week. Another episode of what's going on, everybody. It's Sunday, July 20, 07:12 in the PM. It's a beautiful day to be alive, folks. I'm happy to be here. It is a good time to be alive, folks. What is going on, y'all? I'm coming to you in good vibes. I'm getting off a really chill shift at work at my new job, making car keys at Costco. It's a it's a really fun, easy, laid back job, I would say, and I'm getting paid fairly well, I think. So, you know, I'm just in, like, a better mood. My life has been topsy-turvy the last few months, last year, you know? And I've just been trying to find myself, you know. I've been trying to really find my place in space, and just really try to connect with my soul.
But now, I feel like I'm really doing it. I feel like it's just a new vibe, you know. A few weeks ago, it was a beginning of a new era. We're in the middle, you know, we're in the very early stages of this new era for the show and for my life. And what I want to focus on this week, guys, you know, I haven't done a movie episode in a minute. And, I just wanna focus on the films and cinema, and what's going on in the movie world. Pretty much, I wanted to focus on two different stories. One pertaining to AI, one pertaining to myself. Okay? And I'll I'll get to that in a little bit.
But what I wanna talk about real quick is there is this article that came out a few days ago or a couple days ago. It was from The Hollywood Reporter, and it's connected to Netflix. Netflix had a recent, earnings report that came out. They had some Wall Street talk. And they had an announcement saying that they actually used Netflix said that they actually used AI in one of their television shows, which I think is really interesting. This is the first time a major studio has really discussed the use of AI. And, pretty much long story short, the CEO, Ted Sarandos, he said that we remain convinced that AI represents an incredible opportunity to help creators make films and series better, not just cheaper.
So this is a real so this is real people doing real work with better tools. Our creators are already seeing the benefits of production through pre visualization and shot planning work and certainly visual effects. This is used for a show called the the Eternauts, the Eternaut. It was an Argentinian sci fi series. And there's, like, I don't know. They they use the AI to, like, create some, like, apocalyptic scene, some, like, some building was falling down. But pretty much, they were able to make this scene within, like like, 10 times faster than what would happen with with regular with regular, like like, VFX, visual effects workers, you know. Like, pretty much what happens with, like, a common visual effects workshop, like, with, like, a VFX, like, company. It takes, like, I don't know, like, six weeks to make one shot. You know, and I'm talking about, like, one, like, frame, or, like, like, a three second shot.
And it it takes six weeks to make something like that. And that's why it takes so long for, for the Avengers movies to be filmed. And that's why when you go to a Marvel movie, that's why the credits are always, like, a like, 3,000 people deep, because that's how many different visual effects companies are working on these big movies and big shows. And here we are in 2025, and Netflix is actually using AI to shrink that time from doing one shot in six weeks into one week. Okay? That's pretty insane. That's a pretty cool and crazy, and I guess, from one perspective, scary story.
You know, when it comes to visual effects and AI, I don't care about it. Like, I don't think it's that big of a deal. I think it's just been obvious that AI will take over visual effects. If you're a person who's in visual effects, and it's your job to, like, model things, then you gotta figure out how to use AI. You gotta figure out how to position yourself. If you still wanna be in this business, you're going to have to figure out how to use this tool and, like, position yourself for strength. Because if you don't, then you're done. And, this is just gonna lead the way for all other studios, you know. There's a lot of consolidation happening within Hollywood.
Paramount is trying to be bought out by Skydance. Disney just continues to buy things, you know. Disney's in the middle of an of a lawsuit with an AI company called Midjourney, my favorite AI, actually. They're saying Midjourney's stealing their designs. They're ripping Disney off, which I don't think really has any legs. They might win it. I don't know. We'll see. You know, it's it's super early in the process of that, but pretty much, AI and Hollywood, they're sort of at odds with each other. But at the same time, Hollywood is embracing AI, because they need to bring their costs down. It costs way too much money to make a show. It costs way too much money, to to make a movie.
They did Netflix did share their earnings reports a little bit, and they're making billions of dollars. But what I think is interesting is this graph that was shared. Pretty much, Netflix is making over $11,000,000,000, within this quarter two of twenty twenty five, and their operating income now I'm assuming this operating income involves them making their shows. They're only spending 3,700,000,000.0. Okay? So they're they're making 11, and they're spending 3.7. And, you know, that I think that's a good business model. Spend a few billion to make tens of billions.
That sounds pretty good. And now they're trying to shrink that number even more. If they're spending 3,700,000,000.0 on content now, this could be bullshit. Like, I could be wrong here, but, like, you know, I'm just going off of this number in front of me. If they're spending 3,000,000,000 on content, and just, like, to make sure the the system keeps spitting out things, then, how much can AI reduce this number? If it can reduce it by 25,000,000, you know, that's a pretty big deal. If it can reduce it by 700,000,000, that's a pretty big deal. You know, that's almost a billion. Like, what if AI is able to save studios a billion dollars in how they make their things?
You know, that's, the if I'm a business person, I have to move towards that technology, you know. And there's talk saying that, you know, it might take up half. Like, Hollywood might might be able to save studios half of what they're spending right now. You know, for an example, I'm pretty sure the new Jurassic World movie, that cost, like, over $250,000,000 to make. You know, like, all these movies, like, the common big movie costs over a quarter of a billion dollars to make. And they're hoping to make half a billion, you know, just to break even.
You know? And so if they're using AI, if I'm in Bob Iger's position, and if I'm in, Netflix's position, I have to use AI for this. Okay? And I'm really interested to see more interviews with filmmakers who are using this technology, because that's really like, it's one thing for the business people to say, we're gonna use it. It's another thing to actually hear the artists and, like, the people on the ground talk about how they were approaching it and what they wanted to accomplish with it. Because when you're on x and when you're on Twitter and everything, there's all this, like, discord about, oh, like, I don't want anything to be made with AI. Like, there's all these, like, freaking non creative people who just complain about AI, and they just, like, they want like, they're upset at any little any little AI. If AI was using anything, it's it's a bullshit movie. You know, that happened with this one horror movie. This horror movie that was made for, like, under $10,000,000, they used fucking Midjourney to make these, like, still images. A still image.
Okay? They didn't replace an actor. They didn't take away any jobs. They used Midjourney to make a still image for the film, and people got pissed off. And, you know, that's sort of where we're at right now. And but these people these Hollywood people are just gonna keep on chugging along, because, you know, they're they they have to. They have to. Otherwise, they don't have a business. Okay? It's pretty that simple. And and I've used AI in my films. I used AI in my short film, Magic Mushroom Fun Time. I was one of the first artists, to actually use AI for a short film like that. You know, there's some people who wanna say that they're like AI directors or AI artists, but I actually, in 2023, used AI to help me tell my story. I didn't replace anything with AI.
I used AI to create, psychedelic visuals, and to portray images that were in my mind and in my body. Okay? You can scroll down on my on my Twitter to look for Magic Mushroom Fun Time. I was also the first person to release a movie via RSS feed. So that was pretty cool, and I got my I got my whole crew paid through value for value, and that was like a big innovation. And so I'm not, against AI in filmmaking. I'm actually gonna be using it more, like, I want to. I think it's only gonna help. But I am at a crossroads, and I'm, figuring out how to move forward with my own creativity and this new technology. Because this, it's just blatant, and I can't ignore it. And the sheer fact that I've already used it just means that I I need to learn to use it more or use it better, at least, you know. And that really takes me to my to what I wanna really wanna talk about, to to this, like, announcement, this movie announcement.
I am making a movie. I'm making I've decided that I'm making a feature length film. Okay? That's what's going on. Cole McCormick is making a feature length film. Okay? Feature length means, like, eighty minutes plus. Okay? Hour and a half, maybe a little bit more. We'll see how it goes. But pretty much, I'm making a movie. And because of where I'm at in my life, and because of what I've experienced, I've always made movies that are a bit autobiographical. The two short films that I've made, they've been about real moments in my life, or at least real moments, like like like aspects of real moments in my life.
And, my first short film was The Break In. Somebody actually broke into my apartment when I was sleeping, and I shook the guy's hand, and I told him he was gonna be safe, which is super weird, and that with that, like, I had to make that movie. Magic Mushroom Fun Time was, of course, me taking mushrooms and just hanging out, and just, like, having a good time. You know? And now, when it comes to my creativity, and and this is connected to my dad. Right? My dad died last year. It's coming up on the one year anniversary. How many how many days am I, like, away from this? I'm, like, one week, two weeks. I'm, like, I'm I'm, like, two weeks and a few days away from the one year anniversary of my dad's death.
And that will forever be the most intense experience of my life, and I don't wanna go too deep into it because I've already shared what that was like. Maybe I'll share more about that soon and and talk about it. Come I'm trying to figure out how to commemorate that one year properly and healthy. But regardless, like, connected to that, I've been living my life chasing towards this dream and this goal of being a director and making movies. And, I grew up in a household where my parents supported me. And my father had was always, extremely supportive of that. He when I said I wanted to move out, and I wanted to make movies, like, they never said no.
They never said, do you wanna think about a new career? Like, they never my parents never did anything like that. And they just it it it's an unrelentless love and support that I got from my parents. And during the, cancer diagnosis, during my dad's last last years on Earth, you know, that dream was sort of fading away. Right? So I found out that he had cancer in '20 in summer twenty twenty three. I make the movie Magic Mushroom Fun Time, and I'm just trying to be creative, you know. And I and and and I've always done my best to express myself creatively. And, when it got closer, like like, during Magic Mushroom Fun Time and getting closer to his death, I went through this phase of, like, do I even wanna make movies?
Like like, do I really wanna do this? Like, I need to, like, just be responsible, or I need to just I need to be sustainable. I need money. I need consistency, like and and I've I've always been chasing that, you know? Like, I've always been wanting consistency and stability in my life, but, you know, just something about post COVID, you know, I've been through a few different jobs, and now my dad's sick, and it's like, what am I really doing out here? The industry is changing. There's strikes going on. There's, you know, people are losing jobs. Technology is is rising, and I sort of fell out of love with the idea of chasing, like, a Hollywood dream.
I never wanted fame. I wanted some money. But now, it's like, I just want enough money, you know. I just want to be able to pay my bills properly, and go on a vacation with my family. Pay for a vacation for my family. You know, that's really what I want in my life. And objectively, like, chasing a career in Hollywood, like, I don't know how that's gonna happen in today's day and age, you know. I'm sure there's people doing it, but I don't know how to do that. I don't know how to chase Hollywood anymore. I don't want to chase Hollywood. But recently, within the last within this year, within 2025, it got to a point where I would think to myself, and I'm really trying to, like, think about my life, and I'm meditating, and I'm praying, and I'm trying to reorient my priorities.
And it came to a point where I said, you know what? Like, what if what if I just made one movie? Like, what if I just put all of my energy into one movie? Would I be happy? And I thought on that for a minute, and the answer was yes. If I don't make any other movie after this film, then I think I'll be happy. I think I'll be satisfied with my life. Okay? And, I wanted to make a movie that honors my father. And I wanna make a movie that would make me feel good. And I wanna make a movie that that hopefully helps other people believe in the power of love. Because that's what I think the world needs. The world and people need to refine their understanding of the power of love.
And that means that I need to figure out a story that that portrays that. And, you know, this comes to what the movie's gonna be about. I this film will be about the story of my parents falling in love in the nineteen nineties in Las Vegas. That's where they met. Okay? And I got this picture up here, of like their, my mom did like some old school cropping, back in the day, and, you know, this this frame has been within my within my family for a very long time, since they were kids. Since they were very young adults. So I've seen this image. The image that that's the podcast image and what's on the video right now. Like, this is I have seen this frame for all of my life. And I've always thought it was a cool cool image.
But after my dad dies, I'm seeing this image, and it's just it just hits in such a crazy level, dude. It just hits in a crazy, crazy vibe. Because, you know, this is they were high school sweethearts, And my mother grew up Christian, my father did not. He was a fighter. He drank a lot, and he made a conscious choice to change his ways, to choose a new faith, and to commit to my mom. He wanted a better life for himself. I don't have the full story yet. I have aspects. I have snippets. I have chunks of what the story is. But right now, what the story is is my dad wasn't happy with his life, with his home life, and he got into fights, and he was angry, and he drank and ate.
But when it came to my mom, he was willing to change. And he was willing to look into himself and change his choices. Change his thoughts, change his heart, and he was able to live a life. He he actually became that family man. He became a business owner. He became a loving father who was able to pay for Disney trips and to support his kid moving out to LA. And and it's like, it's crazy to think that this is like, this is that guy. This guy at prom. This guy at his prom was able to change his ways, and to to live a happy life.
And this is such a real story, dude. And, I need to do this. I feel like I must do this. I don't know the exact way that it will happen, but I feel compelled that I must make a film about my parents falling in love, and how that love transformed my father. That's the real thing. That's the real story. Okay? And, I set myself a little release date. I've, given myself a deadline, December 2027. That's two years from now, two and a half years from now. December 2027. That's for some, that might be a long ways away, you know. Some people might die by then. You never know when you're gonna die. But, that's just my that's my deadline. That's when I wanna release it at the very latest.
I'm gonna give myself time to to let the story cook and to do some research, because this is going to require some research pertaining to my family's or my parents' friends growing up. They're in they're still in Las Vegas. So I gotta do interviews. I gotta talk to my mom. I gotta look at I'm sure there's old VHS tapes, of parties. I know I've seen some, like, old VHS tape, but my dad with some, like, the hat with the two beer can holders, and he's, like, sipping two beers at the same time. Like, I know there's I know that video exists. I've seen that. I gotta find that. And, I gotta write it. I gotta figure out, and maybe there's a writing partner out there, who will help me write it.
I don't know how it's gonna be made. I want it to be good. I want it to feel like 10 Things I Hate About You, and that Wham music video. Wham's last Christmas music video. If that makes any sense to you. Please look up Wham's last Christmas music video. It's like a day in the life of these, like, teenagers hanging out at the ski resort, you know. It's a very, like, authentic video. Like, it's just like these people living. And so I want this movie to be authentic to these young people living in this era, nineteen nineties Las Vegas. I did it sounds so unique. And there's a handful of films that take place in Las Vegas already.
And it's such a fun area because it's where I was born, and it's where they met, and it's it's, it's Vegas, you know. So what could, you know, whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, unless until they move away and have a kid. It's very it's very unique, and I think this is a good take. I think it's a unique angle on on love, on a love story. Maybe there's past love stories, like within Shakespeare or other literature that I might be able to be inspired by. I'm seeking to make the best possible film ever. Ever.
The best movie ever. That, and if you wanna call me arrogant, go ahead, dude. But I read a quote from Christopher Nolan. That's how he goes into every movie. Every time Chris Nolan goes to make a movie, he believes he is making the best movie ever, and that's he's fucking Christopher Nolan. So that's how I gotta go. I gotta I gotta copy. I gotta listen to my dad. When I was in high school, my dad and I was, like, about to play football. I was going into a football camp. My dad goes right right before I left, he he tells me, quote, my only advice, just look at what the seniors are doing, look at what they're reading, look at how they're practicing, and just do what the seniors do.
And that's like one of the biggest advices, like, awesome things that my dad said to me growing up. And so, and I and I'm I gotta do the same thing for for movies. If Chris Nolan believes that he's making the best movie ever, I need to believe that I'm about to make the best movie ever, and I gotta, like, be obsessed with this, and I gotta commit to this, and it's going down. It's going down, dude. Like Donkey Kong. It's on like Donkey Kong. You heard? I'm making a movie, folks. It's happening. It's happening. So I'm really excited for it.
And that takes me to a little part of this, like, discussion of, like, how am I gonna make it? Am I gonna get actors? Do I need to film in Las Vegas? Am I just gonna film in Arizona? How is this gonna be accomplished? Should I use AI to do this? You know? And here's one idea that I'm playing around with. Because of all the images that I have of my dad and mom, is it possible to use AI to create to recreate them? Could I recreate the youth of my parents through the tech through the power of AI? That would be surreal. I haven't experimented with it, but that sounds crazy. Right? Now that would mean that, like, maybe the whole movie might be AI, and I low key don't want that. Like, I sort of wanna be on set. I wanna be filming things. I wanna be getting locations and set dressing. I wanna bring in old couches. I wanna I want there to be I want there to be a crowd at at a party, you know. Like, I want these, like, certain scenes. I want this I want the environment to be authentic, and I wanna live in this environment for a minute, you know. And I want there to be a crew around me. I want there to be cast, and people, and costumes, and I wanna get the get the set right, and I wanna get costumes right, you know, and there's a whole thing that goes into movies.
And I wanna do that. I wanna make the best movie ever. And this movie is going to honor my father. And it just has to. It will. It just will. So will I use AI? I don't know. Is there a way to use AI in terms like motion capture? Possibly. Could I use one actor? Or help, maybe it could be me. Maybe I could play my dad, and I got some dots on my face, and I'm getting the computer to read all my to read, like, my face my facial expressions, and then I just put my dad's face on me. That's hilarious. That'd be surreal. I don't know how that will happen, but I'm sort of just putting this out into the ether, so that it will be recorded, and people will know that this was the beginning of the process of my film.
This is the beginning of the process of Cole McCormick making a whole new experience. And that's the other thing too. So so when it comes to my movies, I always want my movies to be an experience. Right? That's, like, the tagline. That's, like, you know, every movie, if you see, like, a Spike, Spike Lee movie, Spike Lee did Do the Right Thing back in the nineties. His, every time he makes a movie, it's always a Spike Lee joint. You know, that's like his thing. Or every time when you when you see a Martin Scorsese movie, it always says, a Martin Scorsese picture. Sometime like, most of the time, it says, a film by so and so. No. No. No. This is my movie.
This is a Cole McCormick experience. That's what this has to be. This is a Cole McCormick experience, and that's the intention. And I'm gonna make it immersive, and raw, and real. And it's gonna grab you. And it's gonna twist your heart, and it's gonna make you feel, like, angry at times. And and you're gonna believe in the power of love. Can you believe in the transformational power of love? Can cinema help with that? I believe it can. The the message, the mission, the mission is love. Can you feel the love in this movie? That's the mission, dude. And I feel fucking good. I feel aligned with my soul when I say that, you know? The personality is aligned with the soul.
Wow. Getting crazy in here, you know? I feel good when I say that. Can cinema make you believe in the power of love? That's what's going down, folks. And so what do you think about that? Do you think it's cool? Do you think it's lame? Is that totally, like, is that so cringe? I'm making a movie about my parents. I just need to, because people need to know the story. Okay? They need to. And I think it's funny. I think it's gonna be entertaining. I think it's gonna be the best movie ever. So, whatever. I'm just toot my own horn, you know? Toot my own horn. But I I don't care if you're judging me, because I'm gonna make this thing. When I set my mind to it, I'm gonna make it. That's who I am. That's who Cole McCormick is. When I set my mind to something, I go for it. I believe in myself, and I know that I will accomplish it. I'm on some Tom Cruise shit, dude. Like, that's where I gotta be right now. Post dead dad, I gotta be in some Tom Cruise shit. We're just gonna figure it out, dude. We're just gonna figure it out. If someone tells me I can't do it, I'm gonna get someone who believes that we can do it.
What do you think about that, man? I wanna hear what you have to say, dude. Yeah. That that's pretty much all the value I got. Let's go into the value for value section, folks. America Plus is a value for value show. I come on my RSS feed and my Twitter and my YouTube just to talk about how I'm feeling, talk about what I think is is a valuable discussion to have with the world, and I certainly believe that leaning into your creativity is very important for Earth. It's important for your soul. It's important for how humanity is pushing forward. These are not just big sentences, whimsical things I'm saying. This is reality.
It is important for reality, for you to be creative in your own unique way. And this is how I'm trying to express it. And and and and I exchange this expression within value for value. If you're getting any value through this podcast, I ask that you send that back to me within time, treasure time, talent, or treasure. If you're on YouTube, give me a subscribe. If you're on Twitter, give me a retweet. Comment, send this to your friends, or you can send me some treasure, some money. You can do that through multiple ways. You can send me some cash or you can support me with the fountain app. Boosting is love. Value4value.info
[00:29:14] Unknown:
for more info, then download the fountain.fm
[00:29:17] Unknown:
app. It's the best way to support the show. Okay. So there's these podcast apps that let you send small bits of Bitcoin to podcasters. My favorite is called Fountain because it's, like, the simplest. And, you can load up your wallet in Fountain with a credit card, and you're able to send me, if you choose, small bits of Bitcoin, the number that you want. Some people send a few hundreds, some people send a few thousand. The number is really up to you, really. I think with the current Bitcoin price, 1,000 bits of Bitcoin equals a dollar. So just, like, think about it like that.
And when you send in some Bitcoin, when you send in a Bitcoin with some messages with a message, that's called a boostagram. And I'm gonna be reading the boostagrams here right now, folks. This first boostagram comes in from at pies. What up, pies? He's a regular. What up, pies? He sends in his usual 100 Satoshis. Thank you so much, pies. And what he has to say is, yo yo yo with the, like, salute emoji, with the two mushroom emojis, and the three flexing emojis. What up, Pies? Boost. Thank you so much, Pies. And then we got a few more boostagrams from this guy named this random guy on online called Chad f. What up, Chad f? I know this guy. Chad f is pretty cool. He comments on last week's episode.
I was talking about Jeffrey Epstein and Trump and how that's, like, connected to a whole insane, satanic cloning cabal. So if you wanna listen to some crazy conspiracy, go to last week. This first boostagram comes in from Chad Efony. He sends in I think he sends in 333. And he says, our big dumb mouth talked about this being much darker also. Yeah, dude. Chad, I I checked out that podcast, Our Big Dumb Mouth. That's a pretty good podcast. And I definitely vibe with the people talking about what I'm talking about. If you're talking about what I'm talking about, we're vibing. Next one from Chad Effie has, like, two more. Chad Eff sends another another 333 sets.
He says, I agree with your take that it's all darker than pedophilia, But I'm also an atheist, so I don't believe in God or the devil, but I do believe in good and evil forces. Influence, whatever you want to call it. I think Satanism is just a blanket term for people doing evil stuff because it comes off as fake or childish. Either way, I like your perspective from a religious perspective. Thank you very much. Because basically,
[00:31:48] Unknown:
you put Bitcoin with anything, and all of a sudden, that is more efficient. And then the last one from Chad f, another $3.33.
[00:31:54] Unknown:
He says, just got back the car and the random radio station that's on is talking about the Epstein list. LOL. Everyone's talking about this thing. He goes on to say, my infotainment system is a little busted, so it just skips to random local radio stations until CarPlay connects. But it's always the same m five m talking points, and that's why I listen to podcasts. Boosting is loving.
[00:32:22] Unknown:
And now, as the French say, it is time for Le Boost.
[00:32:27] Unknown:
Thank you so much, Chad F. Thank you to all those people who wanted to send in some sashoshis. That's value for value, folks. Get involved with the America Plus crew. Be a part of the crew. Download Fountain, send me some SATs, or send me some cash moola. I got my Linktree link down below. You can send me money on PayPal, Cash App, or Venmo if you wanna support me financially in that way. This is just I'm never gonna have advertising. That's why I'm asking for this exchange. This is just how what I what I think the best model for producing content on the Internet is. If you wanna support me, support me. And I would really appreciate it. What I wanna go into now is another okay. Let me share my screen here really quick. I always play a song at the end of the episode.
This is a value for value song. So involved so connected to value for value in podcasting, where you can send me money. You can also send small bits of Bitcoin to musicians. There's this new ecosystem of musicians releasing their music through an RSS feed and linking up a Bitcoin wallet to their music. And you're able to support them with that. And when I play this song, the song by Tony Salamone Tony Tony Salamone, I always give the artist a 90% split of of your Satoshi donation. So if you like the song, if you vibe with it, Tony's gonna get 90% of what you send in through a modern podcasting app like Fountain.
And, this is, like, how we get artists paid. You know? We don't need to trust Spotify. Screw Spotify. We don't need to trust YouTube or Apple. We need to pay each other directly. That's how the future of ecosystems, the the future of economies will work when we directly exchange with one another. Okay? So this song by Tony Salamone, it's called Cool Summer. I really like it. It's a good vibe. Don't forget to send in a boostagram if you like it, and I encourage you to just vibe with it, man. This is Tony Salamone, Cool Summer. Enjoy.
Cool summer day. That's America Plus, bitch. Stay free.
