070 – Lynne Fraser – Content Producer & Visual Storyteller
August 4, 2022
In this Happy Hour podcast, we’re chatting with Lynne Fraser about German beer hall party’s, film school, and the challenge of innovation.
Timestamps
- (12:20) Who is Lynne Fraser?
- (24:24) Good Fortune.
- (27:58) Ski Team.
- (30:41) German beer hall party.
- (35:15) Agencies.
- (48:29) Film school?
- (1:03:06) What innovations is Lynne excited about?
- (1:23:18) Two truths and a lie.
Transcript
Ryan Freng 2:56
Hello and welcome back to a another backflip happy hour. And if you’re listening on the podcast to the let’s backflip show, Happy Hour edition. We’re excited to be back here. We’ve been traveling and there’s been so much going on this summer that it’s nice to be back. I think we’re back to a couple of weeks in a row here. It’s going to be glorious. I’m Ryan Freng. co creative director here at backflip. Joining me as always, we’ve got John over here say Hey, John. Hey, John. You were telling me before to with your your current setup that you know, because it looks so cool with the guitars and very string instruments that until recently, basically that frame was clear and everything else around it was just nuts. Yeah, it
John Shoemaker 3:41
you know, usually it’s the magic of TV or the magic of video, like outside this frame is usually like complete insanity. But a couple of weekends ago, we had an opportunity to straighten up some things on here. So the shelves are actually like usable over here and the there’s mostly clear couches, and the piano looks very nice and minimalistic.
Ryan Freng 4:09
I wish we would have had some pictures of that that we could have shown because I can imagine what that’s like too because in here as well my office when I receive stuff, I’ll open it up and then when it’s happy hour I’m like okay, shove this over here. Hide this down here. It probably looks ridiculous when somebody walks in.
John Shoemaker 4:27
Yeah. weave my way over to this like one chair. Right here hoarding.
Ryan Freng 4:36
Alright, so before we bring our guests on, we’re going to mention the drinks that we have real quick. I’ve got a little carbon for a cucumber melon. I was looking for the fantasy factory variety pack but we’ve drank through it because I got this put up. Look at this. But for me if I light it, you can’t see it. It’s a really great fantasy Factory Art. But we drink through the variety pack so I just I’m limited to cucumber melon seltzer here. But, but I’m super excited with that. And we got a new Nespresso machine. So I’ll be sipping like this, I guess, on this little espresso.
John Shoemaker 5:11
This one, you gotta get one out.
Ryan Freng 5:15
That is straight espresso. Right to my vein. What do you got?
John Shoemaker 5:20
I had to think fast. Yeah. So I still have coffee from this morning to water. And then I was like, wow, I guess I should join them with something. But I’m like, out of everything. Well, okay, I have stuff. So what I have is I have the Bambara. I like
Ryan Freng 5:42
I like the story. There’s like a half an hour story before we get to what you’re drinking.
John Shoemaker 5:47
I have a yellow drink. It’s the bomb is a Bambara or Bara or whatever? Yeah, that sounds good. Honey, coconut rum from Turks and Caicos. Because I saw on the fridge that somebody bought pineapple juice. So some pineapple juice, and then just some random seltzer that hopefully doesn’t add too much other flavor, but adds the consistency that I want. So that’s what that is. Doesn’t feel like a coconut roam day outside now. That’s all right. You got to work with what you have.
Ryan Freng 6:22
You know, one time we were driving in the car, and we’re talking about loving loving your enemies and my son at the time who was seven said, like pineapple. And we’re like, what? And he’s like, Well, I don’t like pineapple. So pineapple is my enemy. Am I supposed to love pineapple? Like, oh my gosh, you’re so wonderful. All right. Yes. That’s enough preamble. We’ve got we’ve got people who want us to get to the meat. So let’s go ahead and bring Lynn in. What’s up, Lynn, thanks so much for joining us.
Lynne Fraser 6:55
Hi. Thanks for having me.
Ryan Freng 6:58
Yeah, so before we get started,
Lynne Fraser 7:00
I just have any construction noise for me.
Ryan Freng 7:05
When you talk there’s a little like a little hum. But beyond that know, like when you talk about,
Lynne Fraser 7:11
like a drill and saw in the background, but I’m glad it’s not too much.
Ryan Freng 7:17
Nice. That’s technological.
Lynne Fraser 7:19
Let me know. Too much.
Ryan Freng 7:23
Yeah, perfect. That sounds good. So we shared what we have to drink. What did you bring to this happy hour.
Lynne Fraser 7:29
So I was listening to you guys talk about your drinks. And I looked at the beer that I grabbed out of my bed and I was oh, I’m being too bad. Wisconsinite because it’s called. It’s called Check swing. And it’s a check Pilsner. And I’m like, I’m from Wisconsin. I should be drinking it Wisconsin beer. And then I was like looking closer at it. It is Wisconsin beer. It’s brewed in cans at the broken bad Brewing Company right here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Oh, wow. That’s awesome. It’s just a Czech style.
Ryan Freng 7:58
Pilsner. Sure, yeah. Well, I feel like with beer too, like, you know, we can be snobs. But it’s like, good Wisconsin beers of foundation. But then, you know, there’s no, there’s no judgement, you could have brought an actual check beer. And it would have been awesome.
Lynne Fraser 8:14
I just grabbed whatever, whatever was clearly not like prepped for the Labor Day weekend just yet. We’ll have to rectify that. But Happy Labor Day weekend to you both.
Ryan Freng 8:24
Yes. And you. Yeah. Yeah. Likewise, John was just saying he was ready for the week. I’m
John Shoemaker 8:29
panicking. I have like I have construction to do tomorrow. I’m doing my own construction in my house. Is this a family member of yours doing it? Or is this?
Lynne Fraser 8:39
Oh, no, no, we’ve got a whole team of people. We have an old house, we have like an 1890 house. And we were fixing ceiling weight. And it’s like a sweater when you start pulling the thread. You’re like, Oh, we’re just gonna get rid of this thread. And then the whole flutter starts unraveling. That’s, that’s basically our home. We were going to patch a week. And then now we’re like, tearing down walls in the back of the house. So
John Shoemaker 9:11
yeah, that’s homeownership. My house is not that age, but it’s older. And it’s Yeah, every time you like, Oh, I just got to fix this one little thing. We’re just gonna I gotta open up the whole reinstall this outlet here and then you get it open. And it’s like, Oh, I did not expect that to be in there.
Lynne Fraser 9:35
That’s that’s the motto of this entire project. Oh, I didn’t see that coming. just gets more and more and more expensive.
Ryan Freng 9:45
You also realize how terrible of work people have done like our homes, not even that old. It was 91 but I was what was I doing replacing a microwave? And behind it, there was an open hole that had wires coming up and why is joining and then being connected with, you know, one of those little caps, which, first off, that’s super janky even if like I’m doing something and, you know, I’m not a professional and I do janky stuff like that. But also, that’s super not up to code. You know, like, if you’re redoing stuff electrical in your kitchen, you’re supposed to rerun it. And I would say, if you’re doing it, and you want to do it without my headphones just got crazy. Without doing it up to code, just put a box, you know, make it safe, so that it’s not going to start a fire, right?
Lynne Fraser 10:36
Yeah, I just am like, Stop telling me things to the project manager. I’m like, just covered up, covered up with plywood. I can’t, I can’t take any more.
John Shoemaker 10:48
I need to hide it. So I can’t hide it.
Lynne Fraser 10:50
And we’re gonna sell this baby and it’s gonna be somebody else.
John Shoemaker 10:56
Yeah, hopefully there’s no inspectors watching, right?
Lynne Fraser 11:00
Find out oh, we’re live. That’s not good.
John Shoemaker 11:06
I in a childhood home, and then I actually experienced a similar thing here. Gotta a wall open one time. And there was like, like, okay, the childhood home, we opened up a wall. And in between the studs, you know, about several feet, like two feet high. There were remains of like mice. So like, the bottom layer was like mostly dust, skeletons. And then as you went up, like our archaeological, you get toward the top, and there’s more whole bodies. And they must have just been able to get you know, and then fall down in that cavity and then never get out.
Lynne Fraser 11:52
If they just kept going to find Bob like, Hey, what happened to Bob and they’re like, somebody go look for him. And then that search party never came back. And they just did it for years and years and years. And they’re still trying to find you’re still
John Shoemaker 12:07
doing it. And then in this this wall, am I right? Actually, when I redid this one, we got it open in a cavity. There was like two feet, three feet of like, acorns. Like, it was like some stash. For some animal that was like, I’m saving up this is where it’s gonna be. It’s gone. That’s a squirrel tactic.
Lynne Fraser 12:35
I think I’m pretty sure that they dash, but then they don’t have any recollection. And then then as a community, they all just find each other stash and like live off of that. So nobody’s found that one yet.
John Shoemaker 12:49
Which is also how I operate. Not with acorns and nuts, but like Ryan’s still struggling.
Ryan Freng 13:01
I was like, I love that I had a malfunction. And I come back and we’re talking about the stashes of chipmunks and squirrels. This is the way I like these to go. That’s awesome. You know, and this is, like I mentioned earlier, kind of how we go, we just flow. But I am curious. I don’t know a lot about you. You know, I knew Ryan when we were in school. And just looking up a little bit more information about you. Looks like you were there as well. You went to the University of Wisconsin Madison, in the comm arts program. So let’s let’s hear your story. what’s your what’s your origin story?
Lynne Fraser 13:38
So Ryan and brzowski, who you guys had on a month ago, few weeks ago, he’s my he’s my partner right now in, in our business. People I know him from going to UW we really near and we had a mutual friends. And now he and I are friends and business partners, which is good. But the thing that I keep finding as I’m talking to him, it’s like dude was really well connected in school. And like knew everybody. And so we were like, always throw out all the names. And I was like, Oh, I thought I was like a social friendly person. But apparently I didn’t know anyone either that right? Unlike squirrels, or you know, like squirrels don’t like elect anything very well. But anyway, so yeah, so I was a commerce student at UW Madison and I graduated in oh five. And then it was really tricky. And being a card student. When most of your friends were business majors. I don’t know if you guys experience experience this but like post Christmas break and you’re coming back into your final semester. All my business school friends were like, Oh, check out my signing bonus to go work for you know, whatever company and they’re like, totally set right. Like they’re gonna live their life and make a lot of money. And I was like, What am I doing with my life and then. So it was like graduating, and trying to figure out what to do. And I like landed this internship to teach English in Japan. And I was like, so relieved, because I had something to say because everyone’s like, what are you going to do after graduation, and I was like, I’m going to Japan. So that was good. But then when I got back from Japan had zero prospects at all, I was living in my parents house again, which really hard to do after being independent in college, I like, had gotten placed in like a labor union like pushing paperwork, I was like, This is the worst. And from a prior internship with the local Madison, NBC station, I did a stint there in news. As an intern, I got a connection to NBC in New York. And so I had applied for their page program. And so the NBC paid program is like a, they call it like an early career development thing. You’re a glorified tour guide for the studios is what you are like you are that they call you a public relations liaison, which is funny because you’re just your guy. But so you get to the studios in New York at Rockefeller Center. And then when you’re not giving tours, you can do these job assignments in different departments and like, learn more about the network, and about production and TV and the whole gamut. So I threw my hat in the ring in this page program application. And with just one contact there who’s able to say, hey, pull this girl’s resume, you should look at her. But I they I’ve recently heard that the page program is more difficult to get into than Harvard, which I was like, wow, that’s really impressive. So I don’t know how, aside from this guy saying pull this girl’s resume, how like, I even landed the interview. But like, I remember when they call me because I was driving home from this labor union job, which was just the worst. I was on an i nine before heading to Kenosha, and like, they call and they’re like, hey, we want to interview you. This is the NBC page program. And like before I could even get off the phone. I was sobbing. I was like, this is the best news. Anyway, that’s a long lead into me getting a job as a page and see what I did in the year after graduating. And so that was amazing. I moved to Manhattan.
Ryan Freng 17:27
I lived so that’s a Kenneth from 30. Rock, right? Yes.
Lynne Fraser 17:32
That was a page. And it was funny, because when I was a page 30 Rock, the starting Tina Fey was starting that show. And like everybody in the page program was like, Oh, my God, did you hear that? There’s a character who’s a page and like, we were all
Ryan Freng 17:43
excited about that representation.
Lynne Fraser 17:47
Right? Right. And he wore the same horrible blazer uniform, that leader that we were all wearing. But so that year was bad. Like we gave, I gave tours. But I also landed some really interesting assignments. I was assigned to Bob Wright’s office. He’s the chairman and CEO of NBC. So I was working in his office every day. So I went from being at like the bottom of the barrel at MPC to like going up to the executive suite. Like I can remember like sitting at this like workstation looking out the window, like the Empire State Building in the executive suite. And like, I’m like, I’m just this girl from Kenosha, Wisconsin. Look at me now. But like really, so I was very candid the page in terms of my outlook and way of behaving. But so yeah, it was great. I’m page program was awesome. Out of that I got a job in their advertising and promotion department. I did that for a couple years. And right about that time was when Jay Leno was leaving this night show for the first time. And Conan O’Brien was supposed to be taking over this night show. So we were good. There was a late night opening. There was a lot of speculation about who was going to handle late night at 30 Rock in New York. Oh, yeah. And it was Jimmy Jimmy Fallon. And so when we knew that, we’re when I found that out, I’d said to my then Boss, I’m like, I would chew my arm off to work on late night. Like, is there any way I can get in there? And he’s like, I know the executive producer. Let me see. So I went and met the executive producer Mike Shoemaker, who’s still up late night, Late Night with Seth. But it’s funny because Seth always talks about Mikey the shoe if you watch the show, but my good shoe is a real person and he’s EP in the show. And so I got the opportunity to meet him and he’s a delight and a wonderful man and was like, oh, like, have you shot come and be the assistant to the segment producers. So I started on that show and it was like 30 people Like I was like one of the first people in there like they were just hiring writers like starting to hire hire writers. And I was one of the little assistants running around. And I did that for two years and like, launched the show, and it got bigger and better. And now we have the Tonight Show. And so like, I still know, people, gosh, what is this? over 10 years ago, right? That are at that show. And it’s just really cool to see. And it was like really amazing to be a part of that the birth of that like show and like, watch the SEC get created and the writers getting hired. And just meeting and knowing Jimmy meeting and knowing the routes was like, dumb luck pinnacle of my career, for sure. And so after that, I was so broke in New York, like I was losing money living there. It’s really hard like Manhattan, and I was just tired of the streets that smelled like hot garbage in the summer. And I knew I was never gonna live in New York forever. I’m glad I did it for the time that I did in my former 20s. I learned a lot about myself. But then I was like, I’m gonna get back back to the Midwest. I’m just a Midwestern er through and through. And that was at the time that Oprah was leaving Chicago. So the local ABC station in Chicago was like we’re gonna launch a new talk show in the wake of Oprah leaving because Oprah started at that same station. It’s W LS ABC seven in Chicago. She started there with her talk show got syndicated, blew up into the behemoth that was the Oprah show. So the same station was like, we’re gonna do it again and started with this show called Windy City live. Spoiler alert. They didn’t become Oprah. I did that show for two years. It was a it’s just finishing. They did it. It was happening for 10 years. They’re just now stopping that show. But it was like a live daily chat show. Chicago centric.
Ryan Freng 22:08
Was there a personality for it? Or did they were
Lynne Fraser 22:10
Yeah, there were two that Warner and Ryan severini. But they were local news talent to Chicago. And they’re great and fabulous. It just didn’t ever. I don’t know. It just never got traction. It never. There was talk of it getting syndicated a little bit. It didn’t. But it was fine. In good, like doing live TV is a whole different animal, which I don’t, I didn’t love. Like I loved the aspect of what we were doing on Wait night, like you have the control of editing it right. And you have the control of like, making it what you wanted, and like fine tuning it for the comedy to be like, perfect. Whereas the live TV, I would work on these segments and you just kind of like, throw it to the host. And you’re like, please get it right. They never get it right. And then it’s over. And you’re like, Well, that didn’t go the way I hoped it would. But then I mean, I guess that’s kind of the positive side of it, too is when it’s over. It’s over. You can’t you can’t change anything like this, like what we’re doing right now.
Ryan Freng 23:09
Right? That’s why we do this the way we do it because it’s over. It’s over. And what happens happens?
Lynne Fraser 23:13
Yikes, yikes. But then after that, I moved to Scotland. I met a Scottish guy in New York. And then I fell in love with him. And then I moved to Scotland and I married him. And so I lived in Scotland for three years doing TV over there. I was just a freelance TV producer and worked on some stuff for the BBC. It’s funny, I’m talking about my husband like he’s a pest sensitive so very much married to him.
Ryan Freng 23:40
Yeah, I was kind of curious where it’s gonna go.
Lynne Fraser 23:44
We have kids, we bought this house. So for three years worked on some stuff for the BBC. And like stations over there they call love the program is called factual entertainment. It would probably be what we would refer to as reality TV. But it’s it’s different. It’s treated differently. Like they, they abide by a guideline of like truth and storytelling, where we in reality TV, you’re clearly don’t like we script on reality TV and we manufacture outcomes. Were there like nope, it was like very Docu style. And like, we have to capture this as it happens. Maybe it goes the way we want. Maybe it doesn’t, but we’re telling the truth. So like that, that was like a pain in the butt. Because a lot of times things didn’t go the way that you’d hoped they would for entertainment value, but I don’t know, I respected that. And it was like an introduction to the BBC way of doing stuff and the guidelines that they abide by, and I’m like, Well, no wonder everybody loves the BBC, because they’re not bullshit. They’re like actually telling the truth, which was delightful and different than America.
Ryan Freng 24:50
Yeah, they’re not like now now walk through the door again, and this time you’re mad just just do we have two versions,
Lynne Fraser 24:56
right? Like there was a time where I tried on on our shoot. got to do something like that. Like I was like we didn’t we missed this moment. I’m like, we need this for the story. And they’re like, You missed it. Then I was like, No, it was interesting. It was it was good and cool. And we did a whole makeover shows the most rewarding job that I did was for Bloomberg, actually. And it was called good fortunes. And we went and did Docu series about the world’s richest philanthropists. And so they sent me to Mexico, they sent me to India to meet these people and like document what they were doing with their money for good. And it was just this like, amazing heartwarming product to be a part of the scary part of it, though, was because I was going to Mexico City. And because I was going to Delhi, I had to go through hostile environment training. So they bring in this army guy to like, teach me what to do if I was kidnapped.
Ryan Freng 26:00
Oh my gosh, like, throw punches.
Lynne Fraser 26:05
Like that you do is keep photos of like children in your pocket so that you can pretend that you’re a parent. If they’re gonna kill you. You show them the photos of the babies and be like, these children need me Don’t kill me and I was you ever
Ryan Freng 26:19
did you ever watch documentary now online about drones with like Jack Black, and they just, they just keep sending
Lynne Fraser 26:28
guns, oh, style that was a gun style doc or something.
Ryan Freng 26:32
Yeah. And they keep sending them and they keep dying. But it’s the I can remember Jack Black or whoever keeps playing the same character. It’s like a new intern like, Okay, now you’re gonna go and they just keep dying. Sorry, you obviously did not die. But that makes me think of that. But like, then the one that really
Lynne Fraser 26:47
got me was when you’re talking about, they’re getting ready for the kill shot. They’re gonna, they’re gonna tell you to look at the ground and look away. And he’s like, never do it. You look into their eyes, and you plead for their light in your life, because it makes it more difficult for them to execute you. And I like looked at my production manager. And I’m like, I must have just turned white. And I was like, where am I going?
Ryan Freng 27:13
What happened? Oh, my gosh, I can’t even believe like, look,
Lynne Fraser 27:19
he’s really intense. wants to make sure that you’re gonna be safe. And I’m like, I don’t know about this. And she talked me down and it was completely fine. And Mexico City was amazing and amazing. And I loved every second of it. I still remembered keep baby pictures in my pocket when I travel. So that was useful. But yeah, but that project was like the most memorable, probably the most rewarding and just really cool. And so that was my Scott constants. And then we were getting married and wanted to buy houses. We wanted to have babies do the whole thing. And yeah, I wanted to come back to Wisconsin for that my family’s here. And we did that came back to Milwaukee. was originally went to Chicago, I thought maybe Chicago, I did a project with the onion down there that was short lived the TV gig with them. But then was like Marquis rad, like Mark is really cool. It’s a great city, it has a very similar vibe to Glasgow where we were living in Scotland. My husband enjoyed Milwaukee too. So this is where we landed. And then there’s not a lot of TV happening here, which is fine. And like I’ve got transferable skills, I moved into producing for advertising, which is very different. I learned a very different skill set and a very different way of operating. And Ryan was doing a similar thing at same time he moved into doing agency producing ad agency producing, and he and I would commiserate a lot about how we felt like we could do it better. How? Yeah, we could do it differently, right. And then bam, pandemic, we both lose our jobs. And it’s like, well, let’s put our money where our mouth is and like start a thing. So we did we launched a ski team because my maiden name is with snap ski and was be how anybody at UW and like, remember me when was Nevsky? He’s Ryan dobrowski. So when our powers combined, were a ski team and their company.
Ryan Freng 29:14
I love it. I love the name, too. It’s so active. And I was looking at the website to like, I love the kind of retro athletic icon you guys use. That’s how you describe it, but it feels like, like an old Patagonia type of logo.
Lynne Fraser 29:31
And that’s what we wanted. We were like, our big thing was like, what do we want to wear on our stuff? You know, we wanted to look cool, and like we’re both 80s babies. So that was like running our house. And so we had a good, really enjoyable experience with lightburn Marketing here in Milwaukee to create a brand for ourselves. And that was awesome. And that was a real treat to be on the receiving end of clients treatments like we were the clients and we’re like, oh, this is what it feels like. Like nice So that was a it was a cool experience to, to develop that and we’re super, super pumped with how just the whole thing turned out it made it feel really real. Like, again, like you’re like, wow, we’re actually a thing. And then the second time that I like got teary was I watched Ryan in my real like our real work. And I’m like, we did cool stuff, man. Like, it’s hard to have that perspective all the time. And like, when I first watched the real, I was like, we’re good at our jobs. Like a nice feeling.
Ryan Freng 30:37
Yeah, that’s awesome. And, you know, I don’t think I check this stuff out until we booked you. And it was like, the Lin is my partner at the production company. And I was like, Wait a second. I I don’t think I I’ve looked this up yet. Because we, you know, talked about a lot of different things with Ryan. But I love I just love this video that you guys have playing here. On spot. Okay, I was gonna say I have so many questions with what you’ve already told us. But we’re here now. I’d love to hear more about this. No, no, it’s okay. Yeah. It’s it’s so hard when we’re online, because it’s like, you talk and if I like tried to jump in, you might be like, whoo. And then, you know, it gets all funky. So
Lynne Fraser 31:23
I just kept talking, I’m sorry.
Ryan Freng 31:27
Also, because like I went, you know, middle middle in high school in Kenosha. So that’s another thing I’ll ask you about. But we’re here now. So yeah, tell me tell me more about this. This is so much fun.
Lynne Fraser 31:38
This is one of the first productions that I did with the agency, Laughlin constable as their agency purchaser and their client was Wisconsin at the time. And so it was such a challenge in that. We knew what the concept was a German beer hall party, right, like Oktoberfest, like look, we want to polka. We want a big party. And so they wanted to do it in Monroe, Wisconsin. And they had found this hall, right. But the hall did not look like that. The hall was the it was like a big white gymnasium. And they like had a picture of this beer hall in Munich. Germany is like a legit one. Right? Yeah. Like, can it look like this? And I was like, like, oh, man, like, what? We’re gonna do your best. And then. I mean, look at it. It really like it really came together. Oh, yeah. Like that shot that opening shot. It’s funny. I don’t cry a lot. But I’m telling you about all these times that I cry, like, this distress going into that shot that wide shot. The first thing we captured the very first thing because we had all of the extras everybody was in the hall, we had our Uber band up on the stage. And so the directors are like, yeah, like, we want to get this big party shot, you know. And so the extra I had been waiting for a while it was like a long lead up to that moment. And everybody’s in a bad mood. I’m like, I’m really worried about this. I’m like, and like it was just the all of the stress of the weeks leading up to like getting to that moment, and then yell, action. And like, look at those people. They lost their minds and like started dancing with stranger and the band, like went bananas. And I was in the back of the hall just like, like I was doing.
Ryan Freng 33:35
It’s so amazing. Yeah, I was I was curious to about like, you know, everyone looks so great. And that’s that’s a lot of talent to manage.
Lynne Fraser 33:44
I think we have like 140 extras in there. But it’s all like local Wisconsinites too. Yeah. Oh, we’re like, Hey, folks, do you want to come dance and like in there? In the bottom corner, you can see the shoulder and back of my own father dancing in the corner. I asked mom and dad to come and be extras. And they did. That’s awesome. He was so pumped about this. Like you can’t tell it’s him. It’s literally just a shoulder. You’ll see it. He’s wearing a maroon sweater. And he’s dancing in the corner. Hold on, it’ll turn around and it’ll happen but every time this there is cm down on the right lower right
Ryan Freng 34:24
corner. Oh, nice. That’s what they had.
Lynne Fraser 34:26
And like every time commercial would be on TV. You’d be like on the edge of his seat. And like look for himself and be like,
yeah
Ryan Freng 34:38
that’s so much fun. And we actually worked with Laughlin constable on one of these as well for supper club up at Lambeau which was so much fun.
Lynne Fraser 34:48
Behind the Scenes of that
John Shoemaker 34:51
no, we shot we shot
Ryan Freng 34:53
the actual spot. We did the spot. Yeah. We did. The setup
Lynne Fraser 34:59
one of the sticks I used to be a supper club to theory intial.
Ryan Freng 35:05
Yeah, so we didn’t do if there’s a docu style one about the stand we did the spot where
John Shoemaker 35:12
no, now we go not the not the spot. Not the supper club spot. But the the concession stand supper club. Spot.
Ryan Freng 35:25
Yes. Right. Right. Well, less fancy one.
Lynne Fraser 35:31
That supper club campaign went on to win, like the big Pumbaa prize that the Moeraki 99. That like, whole thing was the winning integrated campaign.
Ryan Freng 35:44
We, we were in it? Well,
Lynne Fraser 35:46
a portion of that award belongs to you.
Ryan Freng 35:50
I mean, it’s fun projects to do like giant agency stuff, too. But it’s, it’s super stressful. So you always got to balance that, you know, I’m sure you’re well aware.
Lynne Fraser 35:58
Oh, yes. Oh,
John Shoemaker 36:00
yes. Well, and even even more so on that one, the story that doesn’t need to be longer than then I’ll make it here is we were doing that that spot. We were working with travel Wisconsin, and we had been doing some other things for like the web. And then we had this spot, and they’re like, oh, you know, this is gonna be a fun one. And we’re actually going to run it, you know, for broadcast. And so because of that we’re actually going to bring in the agency. So we’ve been working on all these different things like, not through an agency, we’ve been working directly with travel Wisconsin and just with their team, right. And so we’re like, okay, yeah, great. We’re gonna we’ll, we’ll talk to the agency. And then they asked for a few more things like, oh, we should do this and should do that. And we’re like, Okay, well, that sounds great. But like, we already talked about a budget with you guys. Like, they’re, like,
Ryan Freng 37:04
for a docu style project.
John Shoemaker 37:06
Yeah. Anyone can just like make whatever requests they want, if there’s nothing that they have involved in it, like, so we’re like, what do you got? What do you want to do? Like, are we supposed to do this now and like, cast talent and stuff, you know? So we did all that. And then the last surprise we got was, on the shoot day, we’d been setting up for an hour and a half, two hours, all this lighting stuff or whatever. And
Ryan Freng 37:38
we’re getting ready to shoot. Yeah, we’re minutes away from our first shot, right.
John Shoemaker 37:42
And agency folk, like show up. And also, like one of the members of the client was also running really late. And they get there. And they like, come over. They’re like talking to us. And it was kind of like the first introduction. It’s like, Oh, hi. Yeah. Oh, you’re with the agency? Yeah. Yeah. I’m the creative director on this spot. That from this other person, like, oh, yeah, I wasn’t aware that there. There was another director, we would have been talking Yeah.
Ryan Freng 38:20
We had been, and you know, just with different people, and it’s like, hi, you know, we’re Ryan and John, were the directors. They’re like, Oh, I’m the creative director. He’s like, Oh, okay. And he’s like, I was envisioning something a little further back. And we’re like, Yeah, okay. Let’s do
John Shoemaker 38:37
it. What do you think? Can we move this? And you know, you’re trying to balance just like the screaming going on in your mind with like, acting just like, well, we have been setting up for about two hours. And if we do that move, that’ll put us about 45 minutes behind. But if you think it’s really important, and if the client agrees, we can certainly do that. And then and then we did, then we don’t do
Lynne Fraser 39:05
that. It’s yeah, it’s very familiar.
Ryan Freng 39:10
Yeah, it’s, you know, I can understand and empathize to which is big organizations and lots of things going on. And especially to they’re like, Okay, we’re doing a lot of work with with backflip, let’s bring them in, they can help us out with this. The agency is still in charge. Okay, but they’ll do it and looks like scripts are getting done. Okay. Make sure you’re there on the shoot day, make sure you’re there shooting, okay, we’re here. You know, like, now that we’ve done a lot more agency work, I can understand what happens in the
Lynne Fraser 39:35
agent, the agency producer’s job and I curious if that person was involved in what you guys were doing at all incident to like, try and help navigate that right. So the having a production knowledge and understand that the ask that they’re asking, is like, going to blow the budget is going to take two hours is going to, you know, that whole thing and like the Being able to, like navigate that both parties are like, you know, the job is to advocate for both sides, you need to advocate for production, right? Because you understand the realities of what they’re up against, and what cost implications there are. But then you also back to the production company, you have to advocate for what your agency people want. Because if you don’t your agencies like, what are why do we even work for us? It’s a real, it’s a real balancing act, and tricky, and you’re always the messenger and like, everybody hates you.
Ryan Freng 40:36
Yeah, it’s you know, being small production company in the Midwest, like, John and I, we co direct, one of us will produce one of us will direct in the cinematographer, we also get to work on enough big projects where we both get to co direct together, but we’re also producing them. So you know, it’s all the, it’s all the hats that you get to wear. But it’s, you know, sometimes we have to really be clear about okay, so creatively, the Bucks gonna stop with you, where are we here, bucks gonna stop with you. And I will make production decisions on this one, you know, so we’ll split it up. And part of that, too, is like just communication. And, you know, we’ve been at this, we’re coming up on 15 years next year, actually, in business is like, hey, according to our registry, you’re coming up on a big anniversary, you want to take out a big ad. But that’s cool, you know, and we’ve been making it up because we, we didn’t have necessarily the benefit of going I mean, we didn’t take the opportunity to go somewhere. I know John worked with another production company for a little while, and bounced around, where you get your D films. And then you were at the GEO Group. So he got to see kind of the way other shops run. I went right out of college from, you know, with my communication arts degree, and almost a second degree in computer science. And I worked in computer science, and then John and I built this business on the side. So for me, I’ve just been making it up, you know, all along
Lynne Fraser 42:06
the way. Wow, about, everybody’s doing that all the time. Well, and
Ryan Freng 42:10
you realize that too, you know, in 14 years in we’ve we’ve learned a few things, and one of them like that communication. And I just realized that like we’re on set, we did a big commercial with her chunk that we’re still finishing. And it turned because we’re crazy creatives, it turned from a commercial and some tutorials to essentially like 13 commercials because we shot them and filmed them all the same. Because we were in studio, it was kind of a scale thing that we were able to do. But what often happens, you know, with a big crew, it’s like, Okay, how much longer is it going to take to get to this, I need to be at that shot 20 minutes ago, and like, oh, well, we need 10 more minutes to do it. Right. And I hadn’t thought of this until well, after, I’d be like, Okay, you guys saw the schedule, you know, a couple days in advance, we’re all working on this together. You can go over, but we’re not going to have overtime, because I need you to go faster. You know, having a conversation like that can be a lot more helpful as opposed to getting at the end of the day. And it’s like, okay, we’re two and a half hours over now I have to pay everyone overtime. That’s coming out of my budget, because I don’t ask the you know, we kind of within reason, stick to our budget. And if there’s any major issues, we would add, you know, talk about that and advocate for a bigger budget. But in this case, it’s like, okay, well, this was on us, we’re going over, and now I have to pay overtime for six people for several days. So I was thinking about that. And I was like, let’s just communicate next time be like, Hey, we’re not going to do overtime. So how soon do you think we can get to that shot?
Lynne Fraser 43:44
Suddenly, things start moving a little faster, right?
John Shoemaker 43:46
Yeah, that’s, that’s the stuff that they don’t teach in school. That sounds like a cliche, but it’s like you’re in school. And it’s like, oh, yeah, so you know, and go to school and go to the come arts program. Now, I still, like what I did, and, and there are times when Ryan and I’ll talk and be like, you remember that like shot we talked about in whatever class like forever ago, that’d be kind of cool to do something like this here. But beyond that, like there’s a lot of days where like, the challenging work in front of us is not about like, you know, composing, like Ozu and making sure that all the colored vase is on the table lineup so that people can appreciate my attention to detail. It’s like, holy crap, we are already this far behind. You know, this person like this, like interned in show up today. And how are we going to like, it’s all this like, but I don’t know I so I’ve thought before like, talking about your friends in business school. I thought if I could do it again. Maybe I would have gotten like business and commerce, maybe that wouldn’t have helped. I mean, maybe it’s
Lynne Fraser 45:10
logistics, I got a business, I got a business certificate. And I can tell you, it’s the same thing. Like, you learn the business concepts, and you learn the theory. But like, until you’re out in the world, and like doing it, you, you I don’t know, like how you teach it, like, so much of what we do is that interpersonal, like management of the communication and personalities. And like, I mean, for a producer, especially, like, you have to be able to talk to everyone and understand everyone, and like, know, like, what they need, and like, what they want. And you’re also tasked with, like, keeping it fun and enjoyable. Like, that’s really, uh, I don’t know that that’s a skill you can teach. I feel like it’s something you either, like, have a knack for, like, being cool, and like rolling with the punches and like it, you know, and like, it’s something Ryan and I have talked about to like, in production, because like, we come across great talent, a lot like, great talent, and like, whether it’s editing or shooting, or, you know, and then there’s like that other component of like, are we going to be okay, on set? Are they going to handle the pressure? Are they going to be able to, you know, like, you deal with all of the things that come at you in production, because like, sometimes it’s obvious that a person might not be equipped to do that. And then like, he and I, as producers also, like, try to figure out how can we still champion their talent? How can we, as the producer, protect them from that, and let them focus on what they’re really good at doing, which is editing, right? And like, save them from the bullshit, and like, we’re the ones. Hey, it’s cool. Like, everything’s great.
Ryan Freng 47:03
Right, right. Yeah. And I feel like, I feel like we do that a lot to everyone. You know, and I hope that people don’t think it’s disingenuous. But that’s, that’s how we can continue to overcome just all the obstacles that come up, I feel like because in an edit, there’s going to be a ton of things in producing, there’s going to be a ton of things. There’s going to be things in communication. I know we have a longtime client, and we don’t work with one of these members of the company, and they just posted a comment like, Hey, can I see all the interviews because I want to help form the the creative messaging because I’m doing the the digital messaging. Our editor had already finished the first edit as a rough for internal review, and was just really concerned, like, ah, what do we do here? You know, and I could, I could just tell that he was very concerned. And I was like, Oh, don’t worry, I got you, I got you. And just jump in with a client. I’m like, hey, yeah, absolutely. Here’s all this stuff. We’ll get that to you. Here’s the rough edit that we have so far. You know, let me know, if you have any questions about that. We can certainly pivot as much as needed to match up with messaging, I don’t want to throw, throw it all away. So let’s just see what we can do here. You know, just a positive message from there, protecting your team protecting your editing. And it’s all about creative problem solving, and working together to create something great, because we might have had a completely different opinions on how to do something. And they might want to go in a different direction. And that’s okay. And we’ll figure it out. And then it’ll likely be better when we come to some kind of agreement on how to move forward with those two ideas in mind. Totally, and
Lynne Fraser 48:51
but it is the best when the client sees the Edit, and was like, Oh, you guys got it. Right. When that when that happens, you’re like, yes, like we know what we’re doing. Yeah. I feel like it rarely happens. The client always wants to change something or up end it entirely. But like the the moments where they’re like, oh, yeah, we were concerned about this, but you guys actually did what we needed. And you’re just like, yeah,
Ryan Freng 49:22
yeah, you know, I feel like it’s probably something that like a baker gets to fat more quickly, or like somebody who makes donuts, you know, you make donuts for a year. And then somebody comes in and like, yeah, you you you frickin killed it, you make great doughnuts, but with like our stuff, there’s so many moving pieces. There’s so many different things it takes, you know, it takes years it takes reps to get into this. And that’s, that’s the interesting thing I think about with school. We talked about this a lot. I’d be interested to hear your your take on it. I’m very happy to have gotten a degree you know, it was a good experience for me these days though, and it’s it’s funny when I talked to like the university students. I I try to be very careful about this. But I, if somebody wants to go into production, my recommendation is like, hey, take a year off, learn some stuff online, because you can learn a lot of the basic fundamentals and then go work for somebody for a year, go intern with somebody. And I’ve seen that, you know, with one of our guys, one of our best guys, he took a year off, worked with us, went back to school for a little bit for production, and then hasn’t been back to school. And that guy’s, you know, years ahead of somebody who went to school, and comes out with a degree and they’re like, Hey, I have a degree, here’s my salary requirement. And I don’t know anything, but I got a degree, I’m more prone to work with a guy who, you know, worked with me for free for three months or six months, and learned how we want to do it. So in the production world, you know, unless you, you are going somewhere where you can make connections, which is also very important, you think about how much you’re going to pay for connections, but I recommend people kind of take a step back, just go work for somebody, and then they can see, you know, where they want to go from there. Because a lot of people just want to be directors, and there’s not enough room for everyone to be a director. Well,
Lynne Fraser 51:15
that tangible experience is so so important. And like, for me, it was via internships, like the summers between class and then even semesters was to try and get that hands on real production experience. I mean, at one point in college, I was like, Maybe I’m gonna go do news. And then I did like, my new station internship. And I was like, nope, not for me. But it was like I didn’t, I don’t know how they would have like, figure that out. I had a lot of different work experience before graduating paired with the degree right. But like, I remember, like talking to people who like just got the degree, right. They just did the studies and got their grades. And then they’re like, Okay, we’re old. And I was like, I mean, just for me, I couldn’t have gotten the kickstart in my career without the networking that those internship and work experiences had gotten for me. So like, and sometimes when I talk to students who haven’t done any that, I don’t even like, know what to tell them. Right? Like when it’s like, I’m graduating, and here’s my degree, like, how do I get a job like you? And I’m like, Do Do you know anyone in the industry, because unfortunately, it’s awesome that you have a 4.0 and that you wrote a killer paper on like film theory. But like, if you don’t, yeah, I’m like,
Ryan Freng 52:41
No one gives a shit.
John Shoemaker 52:44
It also comes down to like, now there are roles in the industry that don’t have this as much. But when you’re talking about like creative work, or a creative like Job, I suppose I’m doing a disservice to other industries to say that it’s not similar, like maybe in business or finance or whatever. But like you said, if you’ve got this resume, and you’ve got a 4.0, and like, you’ve got your, you know, here’s your school experience. And here’s where you worked, you know, in the summers during school, and you’re applying to be an editor, and you show me a demo reel, and it’s total crap. It doesn’t matter. If you give me somebody who dropped out of high school, and who’s like dynamic, and, and cuts in amazing demo reel that just blows you away and is creative and makes you cry makes you laugh. You’re like, yeah, you’re hired, you’re an editor, like you. So I guess that can happen in other industries, too. But like, if you’re doing like, quantitative type stuff, it’s like, if you can do math, and you can calculate these things, you can work, you know, as an accountant. Yeah. But books, if you can’t, if you don’t have the thing that’s kind of hard to teach, you know that the raw material of creative stuff. You can’t you can’t do that role that you’re going for. Maybe you can do some work in the industry. But
Lynne Fraser 54:21
no, I mean, it completely. I mean, that the thing, the takeaway from school that I think is important. We use different I like different points of view. I’m the youngest of five kids, and like most of my family went pre professional. There’s a doctor, there’s a lawyer, my sister as like a graduate graduate degree in education, like they were like, really formulated paths. And I remember I didn’t declare when I got into Madison, and my mom was flipping out and she’s like, What are you studying that and then I’m like, I’m just gonna do the prereqs and see what happens in when I got into this fall semester of my sophomore year, when it was like push comes to shove Little bit of like, you got to declare something. I went to the the Career Center, and like, went and talked to a career counselor. And I was like, Look, I don’t know what I want to do with my life. And like, I gotta declare a major. And so they had me do this test this like computer exam, or you answer a bunch of personality questions and blah, blah, blah, and then the machine spits out potential work for you. So I got like, all these sheets, one of which was circus clown.
John Shoemaker 55:32
There’s still a chance
Lynne Fraser 55:33
that you can do, but one of them was a producer, like a TV and video producer. And that was like a kind of a light bulb moment for me. And I was like, wow, that’s not something I considered, but I read like, what the job description was. And then, as in tandem with that the career counselor was like, and this is what your major would be. It was calm arts, and like, I looked at some of what the coursework was, you know, like, filmmaking, and like, all that I’m like, wait a minute, that’s like the thing I can do in school. And she’s like, Yeah, and I’m like, that’s for me. Ding, ding, ding, then my parents freaked out again, because they’re like, What are you going to do? You’re gonna move to LA, what are you going to do? And so they were the ones who pushed me into the business certificate, it made them feel a little bit better. I got that on the side. But what’s the big takeaway, and then this is like my husband’s theory on it. And I think like school in the UK, he’s Scottish. There. It’s just different. Like, he got a degree in geography. And now he works as a digital marketing manager. But he’s like, it doesn’t like it doesn’t matter. He’s like, in school, you should study what is interesting to you, and what you want to know about what you want to learn more about. He’s like, because it teaches you a way of like, thinking bigger picture things like it employs critical thinking, changes your worldview. And he’s like, it’s not about the now I have a skill and IT skills, right. And now I can go and do that skill, right? It’s like, you just have a different way of thinking, and maybe problem solving, and like working through stuff. So that’s like a, like a higher level skill, right? Which I mean, I think is kind of what we were talking about earlier, and what we were hinting at about, like, some of those, like, bigger picture skills that you kind of have or you don’t, but like, I completely agree in the sense of like, if you know that you want to be a video editor. And that’s your passion, and you definitely want to do it. You don’t need a four year degree to go do that, like, go get that tangible experience, and like and do that.
Ryan Freng 57:34
Yeah, I don’t think you know, and that’s Ryan’s question, too. What advice? So we’ll ask that specifically, if you have specific advice for people entering the production world, but I think it dovetails from that idea. And Tarantino set it to I think it was Tarantino who’s like, study philosophy. Yeah, study, study, thinking, study, learning study, you know, or like geography. Like, there’s something so valuable to learning how the world works, and how the human mind works. That that is what makes good filmmakers is what he was saying, Oh, you will learn how to film make when you’re making films, like, make films, in college with your friends, but you know, learn something else. And so that’s, that’s kind of where I go to, like, don’t pay all this money for, like, you know, again, I got one a Communication Arts Degree, if you want, get a philosophy, you know, get something that is going to help you be a better citizen and person and thinker. And through that, you’re going to tell better stories? And how do you tell those stories? Well, you’ll learn the tools when you start using them.
Lynne Fraser 58:43
My my other certificate is in integrated Liberal Studies, which is exactly that. It was all classics, it was all philosophy. It was how I was getting those prereqs done, because like through the integrated Liberal Studies program, I was like, tick, there’s my social science tick, there’s my whatever else. And so that was like the third component of my, my degree at at Madison and the integrated Liberal Studies aspect, they only offered certificate, if I could have like majored in that I totally would have done it because it’s exactly what you’re talking about. It’s all of the philosophy and like, you know, we I remember sitting in a TA session in which we were evaluating I think, therefore I am and I just remember being like, like, Whoa, oh, and that your college experience should be right. I, I think that that bigger thinking, you know, what’s the meaning of life stuff?
Ryan Freng 59:44
Right. and Communication Arts had that that rhetoric side too. So we had to take some rhetoric classes, and that was my favorite college class. overproduction classes was rhetoric and speeches or something like that, where we had to analyze some major speech TJ’s and then write our own or write something. And it was basically like analyze the argument of argumentative or the argument in there and how how people were communicating. It was it was fascinating to well, and
Lynne Fraser 1:00:13
like still hugely helpful in what you’re doing, right. It wasn’t like a mega tangible skill set. But like, there’s nothing there’s like, there’s, there’s takeaways from doing that. I mean, the other advice that I would get for people entering the production world is also what like you’re talking about your network of contacts is so important, I wouldn’t have gotten any job, any job that I got without somebody picking up the phone, or writing an email that I knew on my behalf. And like each internship and each job, like, consequently, all came from that, like, I never have gotten a job, where I put my resume out into the world or into an application and had someone pick up the phone and call me just from like making an application never once. And like, that was a really rude awakening after graduation. Because when I was looking for work, before I got into the page program, I was submitting my resume, right, which I felt really chuffed about. I’m like, I had a 3.8 GPA. And like I went to Madison and like, get ready world here I come. And nobody gave a shit. Every job I applied for that I felt like I was super qualified for never once got phone call. And because somebody up the news station, or I had my internship, which I didn’t enjoy, called NBC and like got me into the program. And that like the get literally every other aspect of my career. So my takeaway for anybody who wants to work in production, meet people have meetings, I called them informational interviews, you go on informational interviews, where you say, Can I buy you a cup of coffee and talk to you for 15 minutes, just about what you’re doing? And like, can I tell you about some of what I’m doing. And if you think that I’m on the right track, people love to give advice, right? People love to talk about themselves and give advice. So split that do that a ton. And then, you know, six months down the road, when you see that that same person is trying to hire, guess what, you get to follow up with them directly with your resume and be like, hey, remember me? Like, that’s how you get the job. That’s how,
John Shoemaker 1:02:21
and and let’s connect this to what you’re looking for. When you’re talking about people on set. You need skill, but you’re like, can this person situation, and that requires that you know them somehow, like, and and I’ve had this conversation a few times in over the years have just like, well, you know, like, they, this is kind of like client stuff with sales or whatever. Like, it’s like, well, they should, they should choose the best. The best option, you know, the best logical option based on whatever. And I’m always just like, that’s not how humans function. A function like, I know this person, I feel good about them, because I know them. And I know what to expect. And I’m choosing that way, even though this is this over here is you know, maybe better quality, the budgets in the right spot when you know,
Lynne Fraser 1:03:23
oh, all the time. And I was always surprised how that would happen to with my agency work. When we would have new projects come up. Inevitably, it would be like let’s go with this director that we’ve worked with before and I’m comfortable with nevermind the fact that they don’t have anything in the reel that fits this project and these 10 Other directors who don’t know anything about, like, it’s clearly in their wheelhouse, and they know exactly what this is. But I like working with this person. Because I’m comfortable with them. So let’s just do it with them. Like I was always shocked at when that would happen. Yeah.
Ryan Freng 1:03:58
So we do have another question here too. As we’re rocking through these what are you most excited about in terms of innovation? Yeah, we have a plant
Lynne Fraser 1:04:09
I love it. Innovation wow that I did something he and I talked about a lot because I feel like the future of what we’re doing is changing like by the second all the time right and and some of what he and I got our training in right this like an older model of like agency work where you had these like Jagan the budgets, right to like, go and make a TV spot like let’s talk like late 90s Before internet advertising or anything was even a thing and like making a TV spot for broadcast was like the behemoth and that’s what everybody put their like marketing dollars into. Like, I think we’re still in recovery from that time, because it’s like hard to change people’s mind views out of that, right. We’re like, I don’t know that It’s like a big expensive TV Superbowl ad is where your money needs to go or where you’re gonna get the biggest bang for your buck, right? There’s like so many other ways to do marketing now that are like, especially to a younger demographic, like they don’t watch TV. Do you know what I mean? So like, I’m always interested in the media side and learning what new ways people are pushing content out there. You know, like, I was mega interested in augmented reality, I still am. And I still think there’s like, going to be a lot to that. And yeah, like any new kind of cutting edge, like how are people trying to market or get the message out in a different way? I always want to know about because I’m really worried about turning into like, the old the MC old old, right? who’s like, Oh, she’s still stuck back in the early 90s. You know,
John Shoemaker 1:06:02
we’ve got our Elon ships, you know, we’re all
Lynne Fraser 1:06:06
but it is it is the future, right? What is it? What is the future what’s going to be the new big way of like, getting content out in in to the world. And so it’s like, I kind of want to push Ryan in my, in our business a little more into that strategy side of things, right, like, and helping our clients think about that stuff. You know, because I’m like, of course, we’re not going to turn down a job when someone says, Hey, we want to make a TV spot, and we have a big budget to do it. Great. And I told him, like, we can do that in our sleep, because we’ve done it 100 times before. But like
John Shoemaker 1:06:40
it is it is kind of funny that like, I don’t think a lot of clients are thinking this way. I think it actually is some agency folks that are still thinking this way when it’s like, oh, this is going to be made for broadcast, right? Like that’s right. Broadcast. It’s still rolling. It’s like, oh, yeah, if it’s the web, just slap whatever crap on there. And I’d be like, no, like, and we’ve, you know, we’ve always approached it is like, it has to be the level that you’re looking for wherever it is, like, I don’t want it to just look like junk, because it’s like, online instead of broadcast like, so. Yeah.
Lynne Fraser 1:07:25
And like, and that’s something that I want Ryan and I should be able to communicate more about ourselves, right? Like, we always think like, we’re, we’re trying to position ourselves between, like a big agency production, or what I just keep calling guys with cameras, right? Because like, a guy with a camera is gonna come to you and tell you that he’ll make you a thing, and he’s gonna be the cheapest, right? So that’s always what’s attractive. Because it’ll be like, you want something for $5,000 I can do it, I shoot I edit. But then I’m like, but dude doesn’t have any bigger picture look at like, what’s the point of what you’re making? Or like, can help you think that through? Right?
Ryan Freng 1:08:06
And like, be there in a month or three months?
Lynne Fraser 1:08:09
Right, exactly. And so like, we from, like, our pre history and our agency side have some of that thinking. And so it’s like we can we bring that to the table? But how do you explain that? Right? How do you explain that to a client, when like, the biggest thing they want to know about is what numbers on the bottom of the bed?
Ryan Freng 1:08:28
Yeah, I like to think of it to like a little bit like the lottery, like, hey, there are really great guys with cameras out there. And sometimes, you know, people you know, win the lottery. Are you going to win big? Are you going to win consistently? No, right? That’s why you need an agent, or creative agency is kind of how we style it. But that’s why you need somebody who’s been around is going to be around and thinks about these things in a more grand way. As opposed to well, I just need, I just need an interview. And we’ll slap it up on the website. It’s like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, let’s talk about your brand.
Lynne Fraser 1:09:03
Exactly. That kind of thinking. And that’s that, like, it’s that less tangible aspect of what we do. And sometimes I think it’s hard to, to communicate that or like market that aspect of what you’re offering.
Ryan Freng 1:09:20
Yeah, absolutely. So innovation in Yeah, innovation is simply that. Trying to stay current as hard as well. Like, we were joking. I think John had the prompt of like, we want it to be tick tock like, and we were laughing about like, what does that even mean? And like, What the heck is tick tock? And I was like, Oh, dang, we’re kind of old.
John Shoemaker 1:09:41
Like there was a camera though. We’re looking at there was like, a new camera and it had some feature and we’re just like, why would you need whatever and then we like both looked at each other like,
Oh, no. Yeah. It’s happening.
Ryan Freng 1:09:56
When you know when people talk about Snapchat or Tik Tok, and I’m like, why do we even need to Do that I’m like, Okay, people, people are at these places, and we may not get it. There’s a lot of Asian men. It’s not rolling tick tock, and we need see. I mean, this is exactly what I mean. Like, this is where the big brands are right now is tick tock because everyone’s there, except for apparently us.
John Shoemaker 1:10:22
I’m, I’m just trying to maintain my age.
I’m trying to maintain a good, healthy relationship with my family and my wife. You know what
Ryan Freng 1:10:39
I was thinking about to get a great like, I looked. So I was sitting down for the first time last night and watched some tick tock for like, 15 minutes, like I tick tock,
Lynne Fraser 1:10:49
I think it’s awesome. You only did it for 15 minutes.
Ryan Freng 1:10:52
I know, right? I watched like three things. But what I realized is like, every generation has their tick tock, you know, it’s a weird thing to say. But like, John, and I will talk about like our parents who just have the TV on, like, my dad wasn’t even in the room he had left and the TV was still on, like, the TV is the boomers, tic toc. And that’s something you know, that’s interesting to think about.
Lynne Fraser 1:11:20
It’s exciting to think about what’s future tic tac, or like, what future internet
Ryan Freng 1:11:25
think. next Tuesday’s tick tock because it happens so fast, it’s silly.
Lynne Fraser 1:11:31
But like that paradigm shift, that paradigm shift going from the analog world of like filmmaking, and then it was like, whap, here’s the internet. And then like, that, changed everything. And it’s like, we’re naive to think that something like that isn’t going to happen again, like you joked about putting a chip in your head, but like, hey, you know, like, I It’s, what’s that thing gonna be?
Ryan Freng 1:11:57
Yeah, I got the Bill Gates chip in my arm. So
John Shoemaker 1:12:01
I know happen, because I know that like, you know, when I would make fun of grandparents about like, my dad tells a story about teaching my grandpa to use his computer. And my dad would be like, okay, just take your mouse over there and click on that thing. And my grandpa was like, it’s not, it’s not going over there. It’s like, Oh, this one over here. And he’s like, he’s like, you’re doing you’re doing that, like you and he couldn’t connect, you know, that, you know? And so I’m like, it’s funny, a funny story, but I know in the future, like, yeah, people are doing augmented reality with, whether it’s like implant or wearable glasses or whatever. I’m gonna be the old guy, you know, who my son’s just like, yeah, just flick your eyes up to the right. And I’m gonna be like, I can’t, I can’t get the thing.
Lynne Fraser 1:12:54
For what we do, like, that’s scary, right? Like, we gotta, we gotta be ahead of it. So
Ryan Freng 1:13:00
Exactly.
John Shoemaker 1:13:01
Are we have to identify the right talent that
Lynne Fraser 1:13:05
those young uns in?
John Shoemaker 1:13:08
Okay, I think, because I don’t know that, that anyone has that much neuroplasticity to be able to, like, shift your, like, complete way of thinking, every generate, right? Right. So like, it’s okay, we’re gonna, we’re gonna go older, we’re gonna have life experience that they don’t have, and be able to, like, run projects in a way that they can’t figure out. But they’re going to, they’re gonna know how to harness the new
thing.
Lynne Fraser 1:13:40
And right, in our, our wisdom, and old selves can help guide the youth in the waves of the world, there was
Ryan Freng 1:13:49
a shriveled
Lynne Fraser 1:13:51
there is though, it’s hard to put a value on that much value in that and like, you know, I mean, it’s like when people get aged out of industries, which is the thing that I think happens in ours. I’m like, it’s such a mistake it because the value of that person’s experience, like it’s, it’s hard to make it a line item, right? Yeah, like an hour of editing cost this but what is 30 years of experience costs?
Ryan Freng 1:14:18
Well, and having the capability to have that 30 years of experience, but then more current understanding of trends, like we haven’t advertised on Tik Tok or Snapchat for any of our clients yet, although we have done vertical stuff for Instagram. But even that is like five years old. And it makes me think about like, when the internet came around, and people like, Hey, we got to start advertising on this internet. I’m sure most agencies were like, that’s unnecessary. You know, just kind of like we’re like, Snapchat, tick tock. Those are super.
John Shoemaker 1:14:52
I’m huge on Periscope. Are we not still doing that or
Ryan Freng 1:14:59
but you know, That’s, that’s what I that’s what I think about because like right now, where are people they’re, you know they’re advertising on on Tik Tok. Right. And it’s not like our clients necessarily are like, you know, knocking down the door to get that. But it’s a thing to think about, like, do we have specific clients that we should say, Hey, you do Instagram? What do you do and on tick tock these days.
Lynne Fraser 1:15:25
Right, exactly. And I love Amanda’s comments about black mirror. I love that show. love that show. And Charlie Brooker, the guy who writes it is from the UK and he had a series over in the UK, called a TV wipe. Which if you ever want to YouTube, like something that’s so on the nose with like what we do, and like funny and satirical and great Charlie Brooker’s TV wipe, is amazing. And he writes black mirror as well. But that guy’s like a genius finger on the pulse of like, this current society and how we’re consuming things and the very dark direction it could lead.
Ryan Freng 1:16:03
It’s like, it’s like in the near future. Right. And there’s, there’s the social media, like reading each other episode. And that’s happening in China.
Lynne Fraser 1:16:12
Oh, come on. And what’s the one in which the cartoon character was running for public office? Any was Donald Trump? Oh, yeah. The cartoon character, I swear to God, Donald Trump said the same thing. Like, I was like, this happens black
Ryan Freng 1:16:30
happen. Part of it was like, it’s getting away from us. Like, it’s gotten away. It’s become its own thing. We don’t control it.
John Shoemaker 1:16:38
The the follow up to the Mask Singer, the next, like, follow on of that show is like, what the heck is it called? I don’t remember. But it’s like digital avatars, or whatever. Like, singing and performing. And I’m just like, holy crap. That’s like, another episode of The Black Mirror where? Yeah, I can’t I and I don’t know that. Like, I don’t know that. I, this gets back to the thing about like, well, we just gotta, like, keep hiring, bringing new talent in. Because I don’t know that I can get my thinking around to that, like, I because I just, there’s certain things that I’m like, I I just don’t know if that’s a good idea. And I could just force myself away from it. But like, I have a way of thinking about things. Not not trying to be old fashioned, but I just, I think certain things are better ideas and certain certain things are not. Yeah, gonna get left behind.
Ryan Freng 1:17:49
Gonna be old. Yeah, well, you like you mentioned the neuroplasticity. Like you, there’s only so much that we can hold in our mind and be experts at and if you want to learn something new, you got to get rid of something. And for us, like, I so again, I consume tick tock. So I know what people are doing on there. I can’t even begin to think like right now, how to advertise. Because a lot of the like, maybe one out of 20 advertisements. I don’t swipe past in the first half a second. Right? So I guess maybe studying some of those, I could have a better idea. But like, it’s, it’s just different. It’s so different than what we’re used to. And I haven’t taken the time to learn or think more about it. And we can choose to do that. Or we can choose to work with and bring on people who have those skills. That’s probably where I land to. Yes, John, John’s gonna run to the restroom.
Lynne Fraser 1:18:43
Who know what’s going on? I will grandma you into the production world.
Ryan Freng 1:18:50
Bring bring on the Utes isn’t that funny too, like, age is such a weird thing as well, because I’m assuming you’re in your, your 30s like we’re all in our 30s Maybe just past the middle 30s. But, like, that is so young. These days, you know, 30 is the new, I don’t know, 17 of 30 years ago, because like, you’re coming of age when you’re like 18 By no pre 1990 And you’re, you’re a man, you’re a woman, you’re gonna go out and do your thing in the world and have a family. Now, you know, people are 35 and 40 and just starting their families and right really kind of in their careers. I was so
Lynne Fraser 1:19:41
glad about that shift because I like the choices that I would have made in my early 20s about like this was going to be my life partner and I’m going to procreate and I’m going to, you know, like have my house and my job like oh, I can’t eat like her look like that girl that early 20s Girl, like, what a mess she would be in. So I’m glad, I’m really glad. And I wouldn’t say to anyone, like, go out, like, live your life somewhere else, preferably than, like where you were planted, because that’s gonna bring its own, you know, lessons, and like, Go live your life and like do some stuff. It’s really like the only opportunity you have in your lifetime to do that, go do it, make mistakes, learn some things, and then come back, and, you know, make choices about how you want to establish yourself and get settled.
Ryan Freng 1:20:40
Yeah, I and I think all that’s really great advice. And like you said, like, it’s, it’s one of the times that you can do that, you know, maybe one of the only times in your life that you can do that. So take advantage of that. I’ll also say, I think, you know, it’s not like we’ve we’ve discovered something new, like, oh, you know, people shouldn’t do this until they’re older, because you don’t know when you’re younger. I think we have just created older children. You know, like, Okay, well, your school is not done when you’re 16 or 15. And you’re in the real world, your school is not done until you’re 22 or 30. Even, you know, so you’re still going to be treated like a child, and you’re going to be educated like a child, and you’re not going to have the responsibility. So part of what we’re doing is like, our kids help with everything, including like groceries, like, Hey, we’re gonna go get groceries, 12 year old, here’s the list, go get it, you know, here’s some money to go go buy, you know, half the stuff or whatever. No, we’re gonna also help plan this stuff so that you’re not a 30 year old who has never shopped on your own before, because that’s, I mean, that’s another big thing, like you’ve lived with your parents until you were 30 until they forced you to move out. Like, I think we’re largely creating older children is what we’re doing. And so there’s certainly an opportunity to man better.
Lynne Fraser 1:21:59
Yeah, yeah, no, I, I totally agree. But then, like, the flip side of that is that they’re also exposed to so much more than you or I were at that time. Do you know what I’m saying in terms of like, the content that they’re consuming? Like, even with our two and a half years scary, like when he picks up the tablet and like, is watching stuff on YouTube? And like, I don’t know what he’s watching. And like, that is bananas to me, like at their fingertips, all of that like information? And like, that they can absorb? Like, I Yeah, that’s the whole other side of it.
John Shoemaker 1:22:38
Do you feel a weight of responsibility? Being in the industry, in the way that that I do? I’m like, like, I’m, I’m behind this. I’m one of the ones who’s like, you know, using psychology and you know, rhetoric and stuff, to influence people to buy crap that they don’t need, you know, or like, it’s an interesting challenge that I have going on mentally sometimes just like, at the end of the day, like you’re like, Yeah, okay, well, this is great. This is how we’ll serve that client and whatever. And then you’re just like, What is this thing that people are like? That I’m convincing them now to buy?
Lynne Fraser 1:23:26
Yeah, no, it’s a real question. And it’s like, it’s nice, I think, to be in a position that you guys are in and that I’m now in the ski team in which we have the control in which to make that choice, right? Like, do we is that content we want to make or not were like, one of the things in working for an agency, you got served your project and your client, and it was like, go make that I don’t care if you agree with it. I don’t care if you you know, like the manner in which we’re going to say this message, it’s your job to make it so they autonomy one feels and having their own business. Like that’s, that’s huge to me.
Ryan Freng 1:24:10
So we are at 125. And normally we do around of I don’t know if you got this far, of two truths and a lie. We’re not going to do a round but I would still like to do two truths and a lie with you. And we’ve even got this little thing so
Lynne Fraser 1:24:37
I was like you said your voice sound like a little
Ryan Freng 1:24:41
kid. Yeah. Yeah, so I can Vamp a little too. And your goal here is you’re gonna come up with three different stories to tell us and people at home can guess as well. And one of those stories is going to be a lie. So as I’m vamping, you have a chance to think about this a good way do a two is for your lie. Think about a story that maybe your husband tells or a friend tells that you can easily retell and a very believable way, but make it about you. Another good way to lie is to just change kind of a significant detail in a story, not a minor detail, but a significant detail in a story so that you could feel, you know, maybe Ryan watching or if your husband or anybody who knows you really, really well is watching struggle. Yeah. So that’s, that’s your tips. John wants you to struggle. You can take a minute to write some of these down if you’d like. I kind of want to I got it. Yeah. No, that’s fine. I can promo other things. So let’s see, I can pull up my happy hour notion over here. And we are back next week. We’ve actually got Matthew Pearson, a seminarian for the Diocese of Madison, who I actually played beanbags with or against a couple of weeks ago, and he destroyed me. He is very good at beanbags. But we’ll hear the rest of his story, his discernment story, which is really, really fun. We probably captured it several years ago, actually. But it’s been a while. And we do these every year. So I don’t I don’t remember it off the top of my head. So that’d be great. What else do we got? Let’s see. I know we’ve got father Tate who works at the the CDF and Rome what is the CDF somebody helped me, Carolyn, or somebody the Conference of Doctrine of the Faith or something. And I just learned that the Catholic Inquisition eventually, you know, essentially rebranded. That’s what it is. It’s It’s It’s the part of the organization that makes sure that people are being Orthodox and not doing bad things.
John Shoemaker 1:26:55
They get a Monty Python skit every time I hear that, where they just keep banging on people’s doors, and like nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.
Ryan Freng 1:27:06
That’s right. I do know that quote. I guess I didn’t realize that was Monty Python, because I have not seen that.
John Shoemaker 1:27:12
I haven’t seen it either. I heard it on record, by my dad. Oh, that’s right, a record of the comedy skits.
Lynne Fraser 1:27:21
For a long time, I thought that Monty Python was individual, a guy named Monty i. But then I then I learned and was exposed to that. And they’re all geniuses and very funny.
Ryan Freng 1:27:36
Hopefully before you went to England.
Lynne Fraser 1:27:39
Yes. Thankfully. How embarrassing would that have been? There was a lot of embarrassing moments like working like moving over there and saying things like real dumb American, especially when it came to pronouncing like place names. Yeah,
John Shoemaker 1:27:52
I heard that they were not overly popular there. Because part of what we find funny as Americans is the accent on top of the the joke because well, Oh, funny. Yeah, I can see that. When you like, when you think about it, like if you’re if you’re just speaking in a way that everybody else does. Then you’re just left with that raw material. And then like, you know, that’s what adds humor for us. Like
Lynne Fraser 1:28:23
no, I but I can attest that they are still very, very popular over there. But there’s definitely a British humor like a UK humor that is so bizarre and like my husband’s really into it. There’s this like comedy duo called Vic and Bob. It is the stupidest weirdest shit you’ve ever seen. And he laughed his ass off and I’m like, What is this fever dream? And he’s like, it’s hilarious. Vic and Bob and they’re very popular over there.
Ryan Freng 1:28:57
All right. Look it up.
Lynne Fraser 1:28:58
Little Britain. Like it’s weird. Weird UK humor.
Ryan Freng 1:29:02
I should also recommend Auntie Donna. Auntie Donna something something. It’s a show on Netflix. It’s like, they’re they’re not Australian. What’s the other one? They’re kiwis. They’re New Zealanders Zealanders. Yeah. And it’s hilarious and weird. And it basically what you were just saying of what even is this nonsense, like? Yeah, that’s, that’s what that is. So good. It’s so different.
Lynne Fraser 1:29:29
Indeed. I got I got my two truths and a lie.
Ryan Freng 1:29:33
All right. So if you’re playing at home, you can definitely participate as well. I realized I’ve got a branded shirt on and we could give branded shirts away too. So if you win, we’ll send you a branded shirt of your color and Lynn will will just send you some.
Lynne Fraser 1:29:48
How about if you’re a guest on the show? Yeah,
Ryan Freng 1:29:51
maybe we’ll we’ll do like the Tom Hanks. You gotta you gotta get to the five timers club. Now, you’re gonna share it after one All right, so what do you got for us? Okay.
Lynne Fraser 1:30:02
So, one time when I was working on windy city live in Chicago, we were doing this live hits on the river in Chicago and our host, Ryan should Marini it was supposed to be kayaking in the river with a live mic on talking to us doing the live hit from our truck. Right before we went live live TV, he tipped over. Instead kayak fried to the mic. And then I was standing there. I was the only other one standing there and they handed me the stick mic. And I had to feel it like a live reporter and send it back to Studio. That was number one. Number two, when I was first working on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, they were coming up with a lot of sketches. And they needed a in one of the sketches. They needed somebody to play Jimmy’s wife. And so very randomly, I sort of looked like Jimmy’s wife, like his real wife. And they’re like, Lynn, will you come and do this? Will you play Jimmy’s wife in this sketch? And I was like, Oh, my God, yes. And then I was also secretly thinking, if I get established this Jimmy’s wife, I’m going to play his wife, like the entire run of this show, and it’s going to be the best. Plus, they give you a little bit of money when you do an appearance. So I did that sketch. And then about a week later, they started doing a Real Housewives of late night sketch in which Jimmy played a version of his own life. He was in drag as his own life. And so my dreams of playing his wife again, were dashed. And I never got to do it.
Ryan Freng 1:31:32
It did you. You did the sketch on TV, did you say or
Lynne Fraser 1:31:36
did I did the first sketch on TV, I thought that was setting me up really nice. After that sketch, he played himself in drag his wife and he played his wife, as himself in drag. Anyway, third one was hanging out in Glasgow before the Commonwealth Games, which is like the mini version of the Olympics in which it’s just the Commonwealth countries that participate. I was with my mom who was over visiting, and we were heading into town, and my mom, like, bless her, it was one of the first times in the UK and you know, like, getting your your into the UK and she like, wants to ask questions about everything like, wow, they have grass here we have grass and home to like that kind of thing. And I’m like, just chill out. Yes. Like, they definitely do a lot of the same things. And we’re coming up to this intersection. And there’s a lot of barricades and police officers standing around. And she’s like, I wonder what’s going on. I’m gonna ask the police officer. I’m like, please don’t, please don’t talk to anyone. Don’t ask what’s going on. It doesn’t matter. It’s nothing. I’m like, let’s just get to our destination. I think we’re going to a restaurant. And she’s like, Excuse me, sir. What’s happening here? And he goes, You’re the Queen of England’s coming in 10 minutes. And I was like, Haha, that’s really funny. That’s really funny. I’m like, I actually live here. I know, she’s an American, but I actually live here so you don’t need to bullshit us. And he’s like, No, I’m serious. She’s gonna be here in 10 minutes. And my mom’s like, we gotta wait and meet the Queen. And I’m like, I don’t think this is happening. So like we go over to this barricade and there’s a handful of people around but you would have thought if it’s the Queen of England there would be a crapload more people but also we’re in Scotland and Scotland kind of doesn’t love the monarchy and like royal family so nobody there really cares. Anyway, I kid you not we’re standing there a bear. A whole motorcade pulls up. Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth, exit the car walk right past us way that my mom, the Queen of England. And then proceeds into the building. This was her first day in Scotland. And I’m like, what? Like no way and she’s like, the queen. I’m like, nobody sees the queen. Like it was bananas. That was number three.
Ryan Freng 1:33:51
Boy, you’re good at this. You’re a storyteller. But joking aside, those are good stories. Let’s see. Amanda Shoemaker. John’s wife says she looked it up. You do look a bit like Jimmy’s wife.
Lynne Fraser 1:34:08
The coloring? I don’t know. It’s weird.
Ryan Freng 1:34:11
Let’s see. All right, so number one, we’ve got Windy City live shoot on the river. The host fell in and you had to step in and host that live segment. Number two, you got to play Jimmy’s wife in a sketch. And then he played his wife
Lynne Fraser 1:34:26
in drag it for the whole rest of the time.
Ryan Freng 1:34:29
And then glaz, Glasgow Olympics
Lynne Fraser 1:34:33
are as though Commonwealth Games
Ryan Freng 1:34:35
Commonwealth Games. You’re on the way there mom’s first day basically became best friends with the Queen of England. Yeah, let’s see. All right, Emily says the second one, which is played the wife Amanda says the second one who what do you got? John? What do you think?
John Shoemaker 1:35:00
Yeah, I was I was thinking the second one. So I think one and two are suspect because they could be somebody else. Like, those things are plotting. But it could have been somebody else either host video or doing the playing Jimmy’s wife in the skit. I feel like that’s the one. Because I don’t know, because it just made me know, because your position was like, you were one of the first but you’re like a lower level like assistant or whatever. Right. So I guess I guess they’ll pull from whoever. I don’t know, I just feel like maybe that would have. That was that would have been a really, like, big deal to be able to do that. So I’m gonna go with number two.
Ryan Freng 1:36:06
All right. I’m creeping on your website. And I Yeah, so I want I want all of them to be true. But the clip you have on your website? Is it my personal one? Yeah. There’s like a head swap episode. And I feel like you would definitely post that. We’ve got the Commonwealth Games on here. So I’m going to also vote number to that and that’s what we got. John was your answer. I was looking this up and cheating. Through to Alright, everyone gets to you is true. Oh,
Lynne Fraser 1:36:52
that head swap that I posted is where I’m playing his life.
Ryan Freng 1:36:57
Okay, I wasn’t listening to it. I was just watching
Lynne Fraser 1:37:01
in the back half of that clip. You’ll see I show up. Yeah.
Ryan Freng 1:37:09
I can pull it up too. So
Lynne Fraser 1:37:11
the best part is at the end when they do like the head swap ending. That is my favorite part. Because I’m you can pull it up if you want to.
Ryan Freng 1:37:20
Yeah, I’m gonna pull it up on Vimeo here. We’ll do I think I can do audio too. So let’s see. Oh, no. Oh, no. Okay. This is my first time using a computer guys.
Lynne Fraser 1:37:37
Impressive the computer science major.
Ryan Freng 1:37:41
Yeah, I got I got through and this is the first time
John Shoemaker 1:37:42
Ryan breaks all the computers.
Ryan Freng 1:37:48
All right. That’s a new segment.
Lynne Fraser 1:37:54
This is the very first head swap that they ever did. And it was like a reoccurring thing.
Ryan Freng 1:38:03
Can you guys hear at all? No. Okay.
Lynne Fraser 1:38:06
But if you skip to like the halfway mark, that’s where I show up. And the ending part is really cute. See, I’m hiding in the in the office there. He thinks that his wife is cheating on him. With the graphics guy. That’s what’s happening. So he’s trying to is my wife in there. Yeah. So then he finds me in there with the graphics guy.
Ryan Freng 1:38:34
Also, it’s funny that these are just pictures.
Lynne Fraser 1:38:36
Yes, it was like 100 million photographs that they put together in this way. That’s his best friends. That guy is also one of the head writers. Not an actual graphics guy. And my name is Laurie in this oh, here I come up I’m hiding behind the door
Ryan Freng 1:39:10
it’s funny, because I also still don’t know what’s going on.
Lynne Fraser 1:39:25
The whole premise of this skit, which they use over and over and over again, is that Jimmy is trying to come up with a new segment called head swap, which is really dumb because you just take a celebrity’s head and you put it on someone else’s body. But like as he’s trying to do the head swap segment it always goes awry because some other side story happens. And this one he finds out that his wife is cheating on him with the graphics guy. And other ones they ended up going into like a biker bar and almost get murdered. Like so that’s the that’s the head swap series.
Ryan Freng 1:39:59
Alright, what’s the The truth.
Lynne Fraser 1:40:00
I’m the Queen of England.
Ryan Freng 1:40:04
That really happened.
Lynne Fraser 1:40:05
Yes, that really happened. I could not believe it. Like that was like my mom. The first issue they’re like, saw the Queen of England. Right, right. They’re really dumb. I couldn’t believe it. But the the kayaking story was not true. I did do a kayaking segment. I was worried the entire time that he was going to tip over, because I was like, what are they going to do? Are they gonna make me do it? And he didn’t tip over?
Ryan Freng 1:40:26
Nice. Yeah, you thought about it a lot. I was like that. That seems legit. That seems like something that would happen. Yeah. Awesome. Good. Well, that’s it. That’s all we got for today. We didn’t even talk about you that you’re from Kenosha, and I’m kind of from there. So we’ll have to have you back. To grill you more about
Lynne Fraser 1:40:48
five timers club and get better merch.
Ryan Freng 1:40:50
Yeah, exactly. Were you a Trojan is that? No, I
Lynne Fraser 1:40:54
was in the county, Kenosha County. I went to West OSHA central Falcon.
Ryan Freng 1:41:00
All right. Yeah. Because I went to Bradford you could tell pretty guy.
Lynne Fraser 1:41:08
Diverse. We did tractors to our high school. You were like a city guy.
Ryan Freng 1:41:14
Yeah, I love I love the idea that we’re the city city folk with the the tiny town of Kenosha, they’re awesome. That’s what we got for today. Amanda says she loves your background art. Oh, cool. Anything you want to plug? I do have a ski team. So check that out. I was trying to click around. Do you guys have work? So we can like look at because there’s that there’s that kind of rotating background? Yeah. Do you ever? That’s what I
Lynne Fraser 1:41:44
meant to say? Yes. There’s a real there’s a real on the website, too. That’s a lot of the work that Ryan and I have produced in some of the stuff that ski team has produced too. But I mean, we just started in April. So we are working on. Yeah, that’s awesome. Yeah, new stuff up new stuff that is entirely Ski Team produced and created. So more to come on that. But please check it out. And if you want, if you want a seasoned wizards professional to help you make some content.
Ryan Freng 1:42:15
Grandma Lin and Grandpa Ryan are here for
Lynne Fraser 1:42:17
you. Precisely.
Ryan Freng 1:42:20
Awesome. Anything else, John, that you got? And then I’ll plug the podcast.
John Shoemaker 1:42:27
I know.
Ryan Freng 1:42:30
I know. Perfect.
Lynne Fraser 1:42:32
I think he’s still dumbfounded from the two truths and a lie. That was
Ryan Freng 1:42:36
good. You fooled everyone. No one wins. You’re the only one who gets his shirt.
John Shoemaker 1:42:43
He really has gone. All
Ryan Freng 1:42:45
right. Yeah, so this is also a podcast as well. You can check it out at let’s backflip.com/ let’s back clip show or just look up. Let’s backflip. Happy Hour. Wherever podcasts are sold. We’re on there. Right now we’re going through the backlog. So we’ve got like 50 past episodes, we got to get up. I’m going to try to get these current episodes up to like a week late. So we’ll have a backup episode and a current episode. It’ll be awesome. So check that out. You can just go to let’s backup.com and click on blog as well. Thank you so much, Lynn for coming and hanging out with us and
Lynne Fraser 1:43:20
libations really fun and happy. Happy Labor Day weekend.
Ryan Freng 1:43:24
Yes, likewise, and like I said, we’ll have to get you back on soon. We’ll get get Emily on that so that we can talk all about the wonders of Kenosha in Kenosha County. Indeed, it’d be great. Awesome. Thanks, everyone for tuning in. That’s what we got. We’ll see you guys next time. Bye.
