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Hilarie Burton: Hi guys! It’s Hilarie Burton and you have tuned in to the Southern Gothic Productions Podcast! It’s our weekly look into the inner workings of a production company, so sit back, hang out, and enjoy a sneak peek into our journey.

Denise Gideon: I’m here sitting with the big 3! That would be Hilarie Burton, Kelly Tenney, and Nicholas Gray, and I want to welcome all you guys back for another edition of our podcast!

Nicholas Gray: Where are we? [everyone laughs]

DG: I think we’re gonna put… for this week, for the first off-the-bat question we’re going to put Kelly on the hot seat, and Kelly you’ve been holding down the fort for quite a long time in the last few weeks, and I think a lot of us want to know just about your role in juggling everything that you have to do, and especially, you know, with all the different projects that you guys are involved in, whether it be your webisode, your short, or any other projects that you got your fingers in, including this podcast, so tell us about being the master juggler that you are.

KT: [laughs] I don’t know about that, I mean, this is really, really a team effort. I consider myself of more of a catalyst. I think I try to start things or keep them going with Hilarie and Nick, but at the end of the day we all are juggling all of this together. I mean, there’s no way I could do this without them.

HB: Yeah, but Kelly, you really have the brain power to handle all of it.

KT: [laughs] Well, I mean…

HB: I’m going to go ahead and say for myself that I wouldn’t be able to do it, but Alicia also plays a big part, you know.

KT: She does carry a lot of weight, also. I mean, this is a big deal, I mean, the site itself is like a full-time job, and you know, all of us take a little piece of it and we try to keep it running smoothly, you know, and you throw in all these productions and stuff. Yeah, it keeps us all pretty busy, and, but again, all of us, I mean, we have help from some of our fans, but it is a full time job for all of us. I mean, Nick and I were talking about it yesterday. It’s… I mean, everyday… we almost talk everyday about stuff that we have to get done, and who’s going to do it, and we get a hold of Hil and say ‘Hey, how do you want to handle this?’ So, I mean, it’s just really a team effort.

DG: And you’re a Mr. Social Media because anybody who gets a Twitter from you guys… it’s from you.

KT: [laughs] Yeah.

HB: Oh, tell them about that one day at lunch! That was hilarious!

KT: [laughing] Yeah, I made the mistake of Twittering that we were having lunch at the restaurant, that one?

HB: Yeah, Kelly stands up and Twitter’s, like, ‘Hey man! Hilarie and Nick at the Phoenix Café having some lunch and a meeting!’ [laughs] Next thing you know, like, fans show up!

DG: Oh no! [laughs]

HB: We didn’t know people were actually following this thing! Let alone, like, in our town following this thing, and then they were hopping in to our lunch meeting! It was funny.

DG: Well, you know, I heard a story, I follow this lady who does social media for a lot of the sports teams, and she said they do this thing with Shaq where he said, ‘Hey, I’m standing on the corner of [such and such] in Phoenix. Whoever comes up first and touches me gets tickets to the game!’ and he was, like, flooded.

KT: Whoa. I don’t thing we’ll do that.

DG: [laughs] I don’t think so.

HB: Yeah. All of a sudden we’ll have a big game of Red Rover.

NG: You’ll probably do it to me.

KT: [laughing] I did do it to you, Tuesday nights.

HB: Oh, yeah!

KT: Poor Nick. [Nick laughs]

DG: I know that Kelly has gotten a few emails from me about adding a couple of things to Twitter.

KT: Very helpful.

DG: That’s not anything different, the emails and texts you get from me. It’s a daily thing!

KT: Yeah. We do communicate every day, don’t we?

DG: [laughs] Yeah, we do. I don’t know if it’s a good or a bad thing for you sometimes, but…

KT: [laughs and sighs] Yeah, it’s good.

NG: Good thing for unlimited texts, that’s all. [Denise and Kelly laugh]

HB: You should be on a damn commercial, ya’ll.

DG: Nick, you an Hilarie are probably just glad that he’s the only one getting them.

HB: He shares, man.

DG: He’s like, ‘oh my god. I got another one from her! Would you please…’ [laughs]

KT: [laughing] No! No, no. I share. We definitely… We share it.

HB: It’s a team effort. We’re going to get you a trophy, Denise. [everyone laughs]

KT: Yeah.

DG: ‘The Most Email and Twitter Messages.’

HB: No, it’s just going to have thumbs on it, you know, like texting.

DG: That’s good!

HB: Or, your emails. It’s incredible. It’s incredible.

DG: Thank you. I don’t know if that was an incredible good, or an incredible bad.

HB: No! It’s incredible! I can’t keep up with that much on any given day! I start thinking about tree houses and fairies and things. I can’t keep a hold of business. No way!

DG: So, we’ve talked about different projects that you’re doing, and we talked a little the last time about your web series and on track with that, and I think that one of the other things… one of the other questions that we will continue to ask you until it pops up is your short film, ‘The True Love Tale of Boyfriend and Girlfriend,’ and so, can you give us the status update on that as well?

NG: None of your damn business. [everyone laughs]

HB: [laughing] You’re such a bitch!

NG: No, we are… I’m a little sensitive about this… No, where are we? Actually, I was just in… we finished the… the webisode was really our first priority. We wanted to get that out as quickly as possible because it really had a lot to offer us and our company, and so once we finished that… Well, I guess, everyone told me that I would be back in the editing suite, working on ‘The True Love Tale of Boyfriend and Girlfriend,’ and I actually had been there for a good part today. Only a few problems with our footage, but nothing that is not able to be fixed, but it’s just going to take a little bit of work. Our editor, Mick Shane, is… Hilarie is going to say a wizard… but he is like a guru, awesome guy.

HB: He is just like a really good-looking surfer, you know. He’s, like, a cool dude.

NG: He is, and that’s Mick. He’s your unexpected editor. So we’re back in the editing sweet and, you know, the first time, really, I was like, ‘Yeah, guys! I’ll just edit this myself!’ and I sat down and I realized that I hadn’t touched a computer in that capacity since college, you know, on a different program. And, you know, it’s all pretty easy but there’s just all these little variables that come up, and, you know, little glitches and then of course we started working on other projects, but it’s definitely our priority, and, you know, I certainly want both Austin and Hilarie to be happy with the project. So, at this point, you know, we have one less project that we’re working on. You know, when you’re working on four projects at once, and it’s just the three of us, you kind of just have to take everything as it comes.

HB: Well we learned so much on the webisode, ‘Friendship Union’, because we actually had a budget for that, and we had actors for that, you know, and hair and makeup people, you know. We had a crew, and so we learned from the people that we worked with on that crew, and now we can go back and apply that in post to finish ‘Boyfriend and Girlfriend,’ and make it a sharper product, you know. What Nick cut together was great. It was fun to watch and really cool, you know, but Nick’s capabilities really make it sharp and really boost the quality of the project, so we’re excited to make it dazzling, right boys?

KT: Make it better, yes.

HB: Kelly, you love to dazzle.

KT: Yes, I do. [laughs]

DG: That kind of leads me into my next question is, you know, you learned a lot… I’ve learned, myself, a lot about patience, and here it’s a virtue. I’m still trying to figure that one out. But I’m guessing… I keep asking you all the statuses of your various projects, have you had to learn that as well?

HB: No, Kelly’s still pushing people over the Taco Bell line, you know? And I’ve been kicking people at the DMV, and you should see Nick at the post office. He’s mean. [laughs] No, we’re wildly patient. I think what we need is for our fans to be patient. [laughs] 

KT: Yeah.

NG: Yeah. I think, you know, it’s not so much patience because, honestly, I don’t even have time to think about patience. I’m thinking about everything else, and you know, I think one of the things that… this whole project, you know, has been a great, big experience for us because I think there’s not… I mean, I don’t personally know of another production company that does what we do. We’re updating our fans and our followers every single day with a blog or a vlog or the podcast. Sometimes I think when you’re not as open about the things that you’re doing, you don’t really have anything to necessarily make you look stupid. So, we’re just trying to push forth and make sure we can keep all the promises of the things that we’re talking about. So, yeah, like Hilarie said, I hope that our fans are being patient with us.

DG: That’s the one thing that I think is interesting with this company is you guys aren’t saying, ‘okay. We’re just going to do film.’ Or ‘We’re just going to do this or that.’

HB: We’re going to start selling Amway next. Mary Kay. [laughs] Do people even know what Amway is anymore?

KT: I hear commercials all the time. It’s like an eight-billion-dollar company now. You might want to invest.

HB: Yeah, no, we do everything! You know, there’s no need to pigeon-hole yourself. We’re curious about everything, man. And not only curious about putting out things for our fans, but about learning on our end, you know, we’ve learned so much in the last year. We want to continue to do that because it makes, you know, working so much fun!

DG: I have a suggestion.

KT: Which one? [everyone laughs]

DG: I have a feeling I’m quite the butt of many jokes. That’s okay! I emailed an idea that I had been looking through trying to find a new calendar for 2010 and I suggested…

KT: Oh, I haven’t even brought that one up yet.

DG: I suggested…

HB: Oh, you want us to do a shirtless calendar?! [everyone laughs]  Count me in!

NG: I’ll be doing a lot of sit-ups around here. [everyone laughs]

HB: Nick, how are your stack-house abs?

NG: Looking good.

HB: He actually has a decent stack-house.

DG: That’s interesting to know.

NG: It’s for the fans. These are the things that Kelly makes us do. [Kelly laughs]

DG: Do a calendar! That’s my idea. I think people would buy it.

KT: Yeah, I actually hadn’t sent that email out yet. I’m going to do it right now.

DG: [laughing] Just read that.

HB: Oh, I just got it! That’s crazy! [Denise laughs] Awesome. Calendar’s on the agenda, guys.

DG: I’m going to curtail my emails. I’m nervous now. If they all get forwarded, I’m a little worried. [Hilarie laughs] What was that one I sent of you, Kelly, about Hilarie. Oh, did you send that one? [laughs] No, I’m kidding.

HB: [laughs] Oh, girl! It’s like we’re passing notes in 10th grade.

DG: On a serious note, we’ll go into our new segment, which is taking fan questions, and we have 3 more fan questions.

HB: Okay!

DG: And our first question comes from Izzy: “What are your aspirations for SoGoPro in the next 10 years?’

HB: Yeah. Well, Kelly wants to do ‘Lance Armstrong: The Movie.’ It’s so true.

KT: No…

HB: Dude, you’d love that! It’s be so fun!

KT: [hesitant] Yeah… [laughs]

HB: Yeah! That’s Kelly’s heroes.

KT: He is one of my heroes.

HB: And I don’t know anything about bike racing, but Kelly came over to my house the other day and was like, ‘So, [something about bike racing]’ and I’m like, ‘… oh! Lance! Lance! Yes! Lance!’

KT: You humored me.

HB: Yeah, we’ll do his biopic! That’ll be perfect! Who are we going to cast? Matthew McConaughey? 

KT: Oh, that’s not bad, Hil. Yeah! I like that.

HB: Yeah, aren’t they like BFF? [Denise laughs]

KT: Yeah, they kind of are.

HB: We’ll win. I don’t know, Nick, what do you want to do in 10 years?

NG: I don’t know…

HB: ‘Susan Sarandon: The Musical’?

NG: [laughing] ‘Susan Sarandon: The Musical.’ Maybe. No, I mean, seriously, I think, you know, one of the tings that we’re really pushing towards is, you know, a lot of the film Meccas in America started in one place. It started with one small company, and eventually that company became the company that, you know, everyone would go through when they wanted to shoot in that location, and I think that is one of our long-term goals.

KT: Yes. Absolutely.

HB: Very true.

KT: Yes.

DG: Awesome.

NG: And, besides that, we’ll probably be on my, like, 7th movie by then, right?

HB: [laughs] Yeah.

KT: Atleast.

HB: Atleast!

DG: Not if you edit it, Nick.

NG: Right.

HB: [laughs] Look at Nick.

KT: Nick, aw.

DG: [laughing] I’m sorry.

HB: No so go, what’s round two?

DG: Question two! From P.K. Riley. This is for Nick and Hilarie: ‘Since you grew up in a theatre background, at what point did you decide you wanted to go into film, and was there any particular person or event that influenced you?’

HB: What do you think, Nick?

NG: Well, I didn’t really grow up with a theatre background, but, I don’t know, there wasn’t really anything… I mean, I really liked Susan Sarandon. [everyone laughs]

HB: I felt the same way about Barbra Streisand! I just saw how powerful she was, and then, you know, latched on to that. ‘Funny Girl’ and ‘Yentl’? God.

NG: You know, when was first writing ‘Pedestrian’ and I lived in New York, I really wanted Billy Crudup to play Lincoln, and you know, obviously he was too old for that already, but it’s just kind of something like, as I become more and more interested in writing, you know, I’m always being inspired by actors and actresses, really, that are working and that just get me all going.

DG: What about you, Kelly? Do you want to add anything?

KT: No. [everyone laughs]

DG: Wow.

HB: I bet he wants to answer question number 3.

KT: Oh, lord.

DG: Question number three! This is a long one. And, I’m just going to spell out the name. I don’t know how to say it. It’s Sian. That’s who it’s from, and this question…

HB: Oh yes, cousin Sian! Cool! Okay. [laughs]

DG: ‘Just wondering if you easily fall into the roles of producers and directors, or if you ever worry about stepping on other’s toes, and also, if you ever see yourself taking on different roles. Do the others inspire you to try what they do, or does it make you think you don’t want to do it?’

KT: That’s actually a good question. I think all of us work well together as producers. I think I never had a doubt when we started together. We play off each other. So, yeah, I’m totally confident with both of my partners as producers on all the projects that we work on. It’s actually a great feeling. I’ve done a lot of shows where you wonder just how that person got that title, but in working with Hilarie and Nick, it’s been just a joy to work as equals and get our projects… We work really, really well together. Nick?

NG: Well, you know, just going off of you, our roles were never said out loud to each other, and they all just kind of figured themselves out. We all, at this point, you know, as we begin to add more things and, you know, we’re dealing with different things, you kind of have to figure it out but it tends to happen on its own, but you know, Kelly and Hilarie, they’re going to direct an episode of the webseries, which is exciting, and I’ll probably be in one of them.

HB: Yeah!

NG: So, we’re all looking forward to, you know, the new roles, and if I never have to edit again I probably wouldn’t have to feel too bad about it. [everyone laughs]

HB: That’s something that I think makes everybody a good producer on our team is that we’re all willing to accept responsibility, even if it’s jobs that you don’t necessarily want to do, you know, you do it to get it done. And you learn in the process and that makes you a better boss when you’re telling someone else how to do it.

NG: Exactly.

DG: Hilarie, I think the next time it should be you in the editor’s chair.

HB: Yes! Sign me up! I can be bossy all day! [everyone laughs] All day. Just ask!

DG: But can you also compose the music, like Nick?

HB: If it’s a xylophone, perhaps, because everything sounds beautiful on a xylophone! No, my dad actually caught wind that Nick was composing music, and my dad brought over this keyboard that he somehow, I don’t know, got from my old high school? And it’s just like… it’s a little short keyboard. It’s a training keyboard. But it sounds like a circus organ, and it’s got this real, like, ricky tinky sound to it. It’s sitting on our kitchen island right now. Yeah, it’s not my instrument of choice. I’m going to stick with the triangle, xylophone, maybe the washboard. We’ll see.

DG: Yeah, and we can try the mouth harp!

HB: Oh! Lovely! Yeah, I’ll see if I can practice that. That’s god’s instrument, you know, it’s beautiful.

DG: Well, thanks guys for answering the 3 listener questions. Yeah, I’m sure they really appreciate all of your answers…. Maybe not.

HB: Well we appreciate the questions, Denise! [Denise laughs] We do! They’re cool!

DG: If you want your question answered on the Southern Gothic Productions Podcast, all you have to do is email it to sogopropodcast@gmail.com. That’s sogopropodcast@gmail.com. And maybe you will get your question answered by Hilarie Burton, Kelly Tenney, and Nicholas Gray.

HB: Thank you guys so much for listening to the Southern Gothic Productions Podcast. We hang out on Wednesdays, so be sure to check us out! See you next time!

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