hey there welcome

writer producer and actor you know from

Pineapple apple express Knocked Up and

super bad

Hollywood it's not a fair industry it is

not fair who makes any given phone call

is one that is like making your life or

one that is yet another door slamming in

your face we had finished super bad and

then we wrote Pineapple Express no one

wanted to make it

but if you don't quit you might make it

people would obviously look at you and

assume that you have zero self-doubt

because you've been so successful in

what you've done but what's your journey

been with self-doubt I'm at the point

it's funny my career where like not a

lot of people are in a position to like

yell ing but Iowa will have a cultural

institution tell everyone that I suck

that will add self-doubt

Green Hornet

critical reviews for that like what's

that phase like any opening weekend

honestly and any time I have a thing

coming out it sucks I think if most

critics knew how much it hurt the people

that they are writing about they would

second guess the way they write these

things like it's devastating and

something that people carry with them

literally their entire life foreign

before we get into this episode just

wanted to say thank you first and

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life to sit here with these incredible

people and just selfishly ask them

questions that I'm pondering over or

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[Music]

so if you've had an incredible

twisting turning career and I have to

say when I was reading about your

earliest years

an unexpected one in many respects

to me too

what do I need to know about

um about you where you came from how you

were raised to understand the man that

you are

I mean I get that depends on your

appetite I guess

um uh I don't think anyone needs to know

anything but if uh if you're curious

um

I don't know I mean there's a lot uh I

uh I think a general uh when I look at

my life I guess I started young I think

that's something that I uh I I kind of

view is one of like the defining traits

and characteristics of my life and I

think uh I've always worked very hard uh

and I've always had very supportive

parents and I think those things all uh

are things that when if you're looking

at like if you're if you're curious

about how I got to where I am from like

a career standpoint I think and just

like who I am as a person a lot of ways

I think those those things were

instrumental yeah your parents yeah I

was reading about them yeah they're very

strange people yeah

how so I mean everyone's parents are

strange to them I would imagine I would

uh yeah they're just they're kind of uh

you know my dad's kind of eccentric my

mother's uh also kind of eccentric

um you know they uh but again they were

very they're both incredibly supportive

uh I think because they're excited I

think a lot of you know my writing

partner Evan his parents were much less

eccentric by kind of more traditional

metrics and were much less supportive of

uh of his career in a lot of ways and so

uh I probably benefited from their you

know uh eccentricities more than

anything yeah eccentric's uh a broad

word what is it because I could I could

do this my parents specifically one of

them is being eccentric but yeah when

you say eccentric what exactly do you

mean

um I mean my dad

well my whole family you know I'm uh you

know like a lot my grandmother was like

an immigrant

um who fled uh World War One a lot of

Jewish families are defined by the fact

that people uh have been trying to kill

Jewish people for a very long time and

my family is no different

um a lot of the reasons Jews live where

they live and are where they are and not

you know in you know Eastern Europe

somewhere is because uh you know people

were trying to kill them and that also

shapes I think uh Jewish sensibility to

a large degree I know it did mine

because it's kind of informed by uh

neurosis and Trauma to a large degree um

and uh so yeah my grandmother is a

immigrant and

um she met my grandfather uh who uh his

parents were immigrants to uh Winnipeg

which is a very cold unforgiving part of

Canada

um

they moved to Vancouver ultimately and

had my mother

um and my mother wanted to go to Israel

to travel my dad's from Newark New

Jersey which is

um like especially where he's from like

one of the worst parts of America

from like a a kind of crime standpoint

especially at that time in the 70s and

80s

um and he my dad's like a so uh you know

a socialist and moved to a kibbutz in

Israel where him and my parents uh him

and my mother met and then move uh to

Canada so my dad has always been like

incredibly left-wing

um especially both my parents but my dad

really like he would have he would have

stayed like essentially living on like a

commune his whole life uh if you know he

never met my mother basically yeah

um Andy has like incredible kind of like

I guess it's OCD

I don't know if it's a disorder I would

say he has obsessive compulsive uh

Tendencies

um and uh yeah and he has Tourette

Syndrome so he's Twitchy and uh and I I

have it as well to some degree but those

are connected uh kind of compulsive uh

you know compulsion and Tourette's uh so

yeah I mean uh yeah no shortage of

strangeness to draw from when uh in my

family what was his um relationship like

with money

um I'd say not not that's relevant I

mean yeah we I was not Ronnie was I

think we did not I did not grow up with

a lot of money you know um

my parents my mother uh went to school

to be a social worker when I was very

young and then became a social worker

but when I was a kid she was a cashier

at a uh you know a department store and

my dad was uh worked at like a

vocational College as the known budsman

which uh kind of you know is like a

swing position to some degrees helped

facilitate life on the on the campus you

know a lot of time was spent working in

the game room from my memory uh so yeah

we grew up you know in a small apartment

and then

um so yeah I think some people who don't

grow up with a lot of money I think are

taught to really like Revere money and

kind of put a lot of emphasis on it and

I think other people who don't grow up

with a lot of money uh kind of are

taught that it's not that important and

as long as you have enough to do certain

things then then that's enough and it's

not something that you should like

fetishize or

um you know make the be-all end all by

any means and I was definitely

more raised like that yeah is there some

sometimes a bit of a paradox when your

parents

um don't value money and maybe they

sometimes struggle with it that you grow

up trying to avoid that struggle

definitely I for sure had some things

when I was younger I was afraid of being

broke and I'm sure that for sure

informed elements of my ambition you

know I'm very lucky in that it also

coincided with a very strong like

Creative Drive you know

um but I definitely yeah remember being

very concerned that we didn't have

enough money and my parents not being

that concerned that we didn't have

enough money which probably made me more

concerned that we didn't have enough

money because I was like why aren't they

worried we don't have enough money

um so yeah that was that was something

that was cut but then that was when I

was like very young and then as I got

older

I saw that

uh you know uh when I got into high

school and stuff I saw that it I would

be fine you know what I mean on the girl

on the grand scale of things in that

apartment when you were quote unquote

very young if I'd asked you if I said

Seth what are you uh what are you gonna

be when you're older what would you have

responded to me

um

I mean I probably would have said I want

to write movies or something like that I

probably would have wanted to be a ninja

up until a certain age uh a Ninja Turtle

specifically probably yeah

um and then uh and then yeah I remember

uh when I was probably like six or seven

years old is when I started to Really

Wanna like the idea of making movies

became very like fascinating to me and I

was one of those kids with a camera who

was like running around making movies

out obsessed with movies quoting movies

want to watch all I want to do is watch

movies I like I love I like fell in love

with movies at a very young age was

there an influence in your household

that inspired that of the movies my

parents love movies they're like huge

movie fans

um they would go to movies again it was

one of those things like we did not have

a lot of money we would go to movies all

the time and uh in Vancouver Tuesdays

was like the cheap movie night for

whatever reason it's a slow night so

maybe they incentivize customers and

almost every Tuesday we as a family

would go to whatever new movie had come

out that week so we saw I saw everything

in leaders like constantly and I loved

it um and my parents you know had a vcr

and would take movies off of television

and we had this you know I think a lot

of you know people my age are kind of

defined but also by like those VHS tapes

that you grew up with because it was

like a finite amount of movies and then

I went to high school me and Evan across

the street from two uh video rental

stores a blockbuster and a Rogers which

was like the Canadian competitor but we

would go there every day after school

and just like walk the hour aisles and

for hours and rent movies we go there on

the weekends and rent talk walk the

aisles and rent movies like we were

um and yeah ever since I was young and

then I met my riding partner who became

my producing partner directing partner

Evan when I was 12 so I was very young

but ever since ever since then I can

remember I was like obsessed with movies

basically yeah and stand up that came in

at 12 years old as well roughly yeah you

know for me I loved comedy in general

and I love stand-up comedy my parents

are big stand-up comedy fans but truth

fully it was kind of like a means to an

end to me because I okay again it's

funny because it's like it was like

weirdly well thought out for being 12 or

13 years old but I was like oh if I do

stand-up comedy at that time sitcoms

were very popular Seinfeld things like

that so I was like

I was like the most practical path for

me to have some sort of success doing

this is I'll start doing stand-up comedy

maybe I can get an agent and then maybe

I can like get on a sitcom and be like

you know Ray Romano or Jerry Seinfeld or

something like that and then maybe I can

write movies and that can like turn into

a movie career basically and that was

like if you were to ask me when I was

like 12 years old like what is your life

gonna be like that's what I would have

hoped it would be like you know

remarkable because most 12 year olds I

know

I'm thinking like that what was school

what was your relationship like with

school was there any influence there on

you as a man today that early

relationship with school in your peers

for sure I mean the first movie I wrote

was super bad with Evan and it was very

much informed by our high school

experience it's largely based on real

things that happened I would say the

educational aspect of school were was

lost on me and and I from a very young

age knew that My ultimate uh life path

did not it was not gonna you know follow

you know an academic route you know um

and and my parents never put that much

emphasis on it honestly like they

weren't like you have to my dad dropped

out of college you know that they

weren't like you have to do this you

know I think more than anything they

actually saw that I was like

very inspired to do comedy and I loved

movies and they saw I was willing to

work very willing to work very hard from

a very young age and so

um honestly from the time I entered High

School which when I was 13 they were

like

they didn't care that much that I was

not doing that well in high school

because from because I was always

working really hard on writing movies

and doing stand-up comedy uh like from

around that time

uh until I got a little older but like

they saw I wasn't like lazy I was just

motivated to do something other than

school but the culture of school I loved

and the things that happened at school I

loved and I thought the kids I went to

school with were hilarious and and we

would go to parties every weekend and

people's parents would be out of town

and we were trying to hook up with girls

and buy beer and our friends were

getting licenses and fake IDs and all

this [ __ ] and and I thought it was

awesome and hilarious and and I went to

like a public high school in like a big

city you know like

um there was like 3 000 kids at my

school Vancouver is a real big

Metropolitan City with downtowns and so

you know neighborhoods and the good area

the bad like hey you know you could

really get into trouble in Vancouver so

um it provided a lot of like Adventures

you know and and I loved it and and I

wasn't one of those people I haven't

either it's not like we were popular or

cool or anything but we weren't like

tortured by high school we were like

this is a fun adventure and we can have

fun here and

um and especially if we don't

put too much Stakes on the actual like

doing well here part of it

Adam at 15 years old you went to a

Canadian Comedy Festival do you remember

yeah

um yeah I remembered like a competition

I think it was yeah

um and uh yeah and I did pretty well I I

placed pretty well in the in the

competition I was okay I was pretty good

at stand-up comedy like it it was uh

yeah do you remember the instance where

Jerry Seinfeld showed up yes I do I I

came that was actually I was auditioning

to get into the Just for Laughs Festival

in Los Angeles and I show up and it's

during the day which is not great

there's not that many people there it's

maybe like five o'clock it's not a good

time to stand up comedy I'm like 15

years old and I fly I flew in for this

you know

um

there's Comics going up and doing their

thing there's like the Scout from the

just relax Festival there and like I'm

about to go up and I'm next and the MC

is about to introduce me and yeah and

someone comes over and they're like

Jerry Seinfeld is about to show up and

he's going to go up instead of you and I

was like what I'm like I'm here for I'm

here to audition for this thing and

they're like yeah well he'll go up and

then you'll go up after and I'm like I'm

gonna go on after Jerry Seinfeld uh

they're like yes and so he goes up he

like Anaya I mean he says his show is

still like he's as famous as as you can

as a comedy Star as there is alive at

that moment and it's what you're hoping

it's like you go to a stand-up comedy

club at that time hoping Jerry Seinfeld

will come in and then it happened and

these people like it's like they won the

lottery and he comes and he just like

annihilates and then he gets off stage

and then they're like and now like from

Vancouver 15 year olds Seth Rogen and uh

yeah my bombed horribly um and I did not

get into the Just for Laughs Comedy

Festival

and I told Jerry Seinfeld that story and

he was uh completely uninterested

he could have cared less

it seems like a tough thing for 15 year

olds a pretty horrific firing line for a

15 year old to put themselves in

stand-up comedy yeah I think part of it

honestly was informed by like my night

my overall like naivete to some degree

but I also

I

yeah I I was I was good enough at it

that it instantly wasn't like a visceral

painful experience you know what I mean

and it's probably

you know I played some sports in high

school but it was probably a similar I

imagine it's a similar mentality where

you're like yeah there's Stakes to this

and there's ups and downs to this but

overall I'm good at it and I seem to be

moving progressing in the right

direction so it's worth the the stress

of it in order to to pursue it you know

um and at times it's phenomenal and as

fun as you would hope anything would be

you know

um but also honestly what was more fun

was at that time me and Evan started to

write super bad

and that was like what I really loved

doing and like I like doing stand-up

comedy and writing stand-up jokes but

like I loved sitting with Evan and

writing a movie and to me that was like

at the time it's frustrating because

you're like will this ever get made is

this pointless are we wasting our time

is this just a silly Pursuit but it was

still

it was I just loved it you know is this

three line in all your sort of creative

work often which is about like making

people laugh

yep have you ever figured out like why

you know because I've sat here with a

lot of Comedians and I've and it always

seems to be something about comedians

where

I don't know some instance when that you

know maybe they were younger or some

kind of inspiration in their life which

made them somewhat compelled to

and and almost energized by the pursuit

of making other people laugh and happy

have you ever does that resonate with

you and have you ever identified where

that comes from in you that pursuit of

making people laugh and happy

um

I think for me

I don't I I don't like I think some

comedians have like a dark origin story

you know what I mean

um

I don't you know

um I think for me it was like something

I liked and something I was good at and

something that I was very like

encouraged and and fostered to do from a

very young age and I was lucky enough to

find another guy my age who was as good

at it as I was and as interested uh at

at doing it as I was which is like

miraculous like I had a lot of like

you know I read part of that Malcolm

Gladwell book and I'm not you know about

the uh

about you know the miraculous kind of

set of circumstances that it takes to

become like remotely successful in this

terrible world of ours you know what I

mean and like I think it was things like

my parents were big comedy fans so I saw

comedy from a very young age I'm from

Canada which is like a place that

acclaims comedy and respects comedy so

culturally I'm like from a place where

comedy is like

you know a relevant part of the culture

you know

um Canadians some of their biggest like

exports are Comedians and comedy shows

Lauren Michaels is Canadian you know

SCTV you know a lot of uh great uh some

of the greatest means of all time are

Canadian you know um and so it's

something that was always kind of just

always a part of like the DNA of being a

Canadian person I think to some degree

as well also I'm from Vancouver where

they made movies not to say it's like I

grew up in Hollywood but like they you

would see movie sets around you would

see I went to a high school they shot

some movies at the high school because

it was a very like cinematic looking

high school so you would see trucks and

stuff like that I didn't know anyone who

worked in the entertainment industry but

like you kind of would see it around so

it made it a little more obtainable and

if we lived like in the middle of

[ __ ] nowhere and it just seemed like

completely abstract you know what I mean

so I think that I think that like my

path is honestly one of like being

supported and and being and working hard

and being very diligent but also like

having an environment that kind of like

bolstered my ambition you know what I

mean

um yeah 16 years old you you get a part

in Freaks and Geeks yeah and that brings

you to LA with your family yeah

why your entire family came to L.A my

parents my sister was in college yeah

and I read that they'd lost their jobs

around that time yes and that made you

the sole Breadwinner in the house

basically yes

well did that feel like pressure

being 16 years old and being the

breadwinner for your house because your

parents have lost their jobs in a way it

felt like an alleviation of pressure

because after six I remember my dad

telling me like after after like three

months or six months of being on Freaks

and Geeks he's like you've made more

money in this time than I've made my

entire life put together so like like if

anything was like an amazing alleviation

of uh of a weight because there was

money all of a sudden for the first time

in our lives

things could be paid for easily you know

and so I was more than happy to provide

for everybody because I suddenly had

access to an amount of money that was

like absurd compared to the amount of

money

I grew up with access to or anyone in my

family grew up with with access to you

know you work ethic which I've read

about over and over again throughout

your book and throughout various

interviews you've done seems to be

pretty spectacular and one of the quotes

that I read is if there were any kind of

dark driving force behind

um your other Ambitions quote it would

be some sense of financial insecurity

yeah probably but that's gone which is

maybe why I don't make as many things as

I used to

that's um that's a that's an interesting

journey to go on being driven by having

that sort of financial insecurity

developing a real sort of really strong

relationship with work and then that

falling away yeah and it fell away

pretty fast I think honestly like I

think by the time I

you know there was a point

so yeah I was on freezing Geeks uh and

then Undeclared and then I didn't work

for years but by then it felt like my

parents were like incapable of making

enough money to survive on their own

also so like once I had some money like

they it was just bonus money you know

what I mean like uh part of what had

happened is they lost their jobs and we

lived in a house so we sold our house in

Vancouver and and that's why everyone

moved to LA so there was a little more

money available because we had sold

their house so like it's not like my

parents were like just like a you know a

leech on uh you know they they they were

able to like make a baseline level of

like survivable income so when I had

more money it just

um yeah it kind of just added a a

cushion of comfort and then there were

times then they moved back to Canada

um when I was like 18 and I was in LA

and that's around when I became

unemployed for years and years so I did

then start to have financial burden but

it was like a soul file you know it was

my own financial burden and and it was

not I did not feel like I was letting my

whole family down or not you know

providing for my whole family it was

more I just myself was like oh I might

have to move I might have to move back

in with my family because I might not be

able to afford to live in Los Angeles uh

for longer because I was unemployed for

years basically yeah you were unemployed

for years and years yeah

um after that first roll on Freaks and

Geeks yeah we did freaky Geeks and we

did a show called undoclare that was on

Fox in 2000 2001 and then then I

basically didn't work for like three

years essentially yeah what's going

through you you know you're presumably

doing auditions and stuff like that yeah

does it ever like what's that phase like

of unemployment most people quit at that

point that's the point where you say

[ __ ] this that didn't even occur to me I

I I I I I I did not

um I was freaking I was pretty kind of

had like a chip on my shoulder uh to

some degree I was writing a lot still

you know

um we were still

that's probably when we wrote Pineapple

Express you know so we had finished

super bad no one wanted to make it

um

but we thought it was good so we kind of

put it on the Shelf we're like let's

write another movie

um and then we wrote uh Pineapple

Express so we were busy and we thought

it was awesome and we thought both the

movies were awesome and in general we

were also getting like very positive

feedback as writers we just weren't

getting like hired to do anything and no

one would make our poofy so it was it

was this weird mixture of things kind of

being like encouraging and and very

frustrating at the same time and and and

that's almost like the worst part about

kind of being in that part of your

career which is the part of the career

most people who live in Hollywood are in

which is one where it's like

any given phone call is one that is like

making your [ __ ] life or one that is

yet another door slamming in your face

that you have to like just suck up and

keep moving forward you know what I mean

and and so that that's happening a lot

at that time

um yeah and seeing your friends also

start to do very well and start to make

things you know that is uh it's very

encouraging in some ways but you

inherently get very jealous and you

start to doubt yourself and you start to

doubt if you are good enough to

um do it or if anyone will ever like see

and you're seeing you what you see in

yourself you know

um but

yeah it's you know it's pretty warm you

know and only usually so it's easy to

just hang out and keep plugging along

what's your um you use the word doubt

yourself there what's your journey been

with been with self-doubt people would

obviously look at you and assume that

you have zero self-doubt because you've

been so successful you've done

um I think

I think all creative

people and people who have creative

Pursuits in their life have self-doubt

like it's impossible to put yourself out

there I think from my experience and

from meeting all the creative people

I've met in my life from people who you

know it's their first day on set

you know and and they have one line to

Steven Spielberg they all have

self-doubt they're all worried people

won't like what they're doing that

people are gonna think it's stupid that

they're gonna think they're stupid for

wanting to do it that they're gonna just

reject it and and and by proxy reject

them you know

um that is like that is

from my experience pretty constant

across the board for all creative types

who genuinely like care about what they

do I'm sure there are some people who

technically like are maybe actors or

something and and do not have any of

that but they're probably not very good

and don't care that much about what they

do you know what I mean but in general

from my experience I would say that

applies to to creative people with

self-doubt and and for me it's

it comes in waves you know you have you

make the thing Everyone likes gets a

little better you make a thing everyone

[ __ ] hates it gets a little worse uh

you know it you know and and uh and

that's a part of also doing what you

know I do is like you get you know like

there you know it's it's like

you know it's funny I was saying to

someone I worked with the other day like

I'm not I'm at the point it's funny in

my career we're like not a lot of people

are in a position to like yell at me in

my job but like the New York Times will

like publish an entire article like

saying I I suck at my job and so like

that's the trade-off is like I've worked

my way up to not having to deal with

that much like personal conflict and

face-to-face conflict but I will have

like a just like a cultural institution

to tell everyone that I suck you know

and so that that's kind of like that

that will add self-doubt uh things like

that you know

um and uh yeah and so it it's for me

it's for me something that's present but

I I try not to let it stop me from doing

the things that I think are interesting

and and uh and the things that I think I

would enjoy watching you know

um

oh yeah uh I mean what like what

self-doubt I'd say a lack of self-dest

baby hurt me at times

the criticism like someone oh yeah

of course it hurts everyone yes very

much so

um I think if most critics knew how much

it hurt the people that that made the

things that they are writing about uh

they would second guess the the way they

write these things like it's devastating

it takes year I know people who never

recover from it honestly years year

Decades of being hurt by because it's

very personal you know it's not like

it's not it is personal you know

um and so it is devastating when you are

being like institutionally told that

your personal

expression was bad like that is like

devastating you know and something that

people carry with them uh literally

their entire lives and and I get why it

[ __ ] sucks you know I read it I was

reading through various moments in your

life where I mean you've had back to

back to back successes so it's hard to

find

[Laughter]

it

that's definitely not true yeah you seem

to I mean from the bird's eye view you

look at your work your portfolio I've

been trending well

you talk about you've spoken about in

interviews is is Green Hornet where

you've got you received some critical

reviews for that can you zoom me if I

was a fly on the wall in one of those

moments where you've received that

feedback is coming in and it's coming in

you know critically what what would I

see if I was flying the wall in your

home like what do you does it do you

stay in your bed do you you like what's

the the human impact it has on you it's

different things and I think there's

different

you know and that's another funny thing

about making movies is like and having

like and just being like a person who

works a lot is like life goes on like

you could be making another movie as

your movie is bombing which is a funny

thing because it's it's bittersweet

because like you you know that things

will be okay you're already you're

already working you know what I mean if

the fear is the movie bombs and you

won't get hired again well you don't

have to worry about that you're all

right you've been hired it's too late

you know

um but it's an emotional

wait conundrum at times just just

dealing with that and navigating that

you know um for Green Hornet it's like

literally yeah like

the critics for the reviews were coming

out and it was pretty bad and people

just kind of like hated it like it

seemed like a thing people just were

taking like joy and disliking a lot you

know what I mean

um but it was it opened to like 35

million dollars which was like I think

at the time the biggest opening weekend

I'd ever been associated with in any

capacity and so it was also like it did

pretty well and that's and it was a

funny thing where it really didn't that

one and that's what's nice sometimes is

like you you do get

you know you can grasp for some sense of

success at times you know and and and uh

but I honestly think things like the

interview were more like painful as far

as like people really taking joy and

talking [ __ ] about it and uh and uh

really kind of questioning you know the

types of people that would want to make

a movie like that in general like I

think yeah that felt far more personal I

think Green Hornet felt like I just had

fallen victim to like

which was true like like you know I a

big fancy thing which was like I was

super and we were just kind of like also

like ahead of the curve a little bit too

much I think as well to something like

we were early on that on that wave you

know and so I think that

was easier to deal with in a lot of ways

because it was like not so much like a

creative failure on our parts but more

like a conceptual failure I think uh

like the interview people more treated

us like we had creatively failed uh

which sucked much worse uh and that's

happened a few times yeah where people

really act like we've just uh and again

it's not I'm not gonna act like this is

that bad like this is not on the grand

scale of things in life it's not that

bad like and I've gotten much better at

dealing with it as well and I think when

I was younger I really like

did not have as much perspective as I do

and now I am not I do not carry it with

me nearly as much as I used to you know

um yeah it's like it is the center of

Your World though these things because

you've pulled your creative heart into

into something so it's you oh yeah it's

like it feels like a personal rejection

it's like very much attached to yourself

oh yeah it feels like a very personal

rejection and it doesn't and it doesn't

feel like constructive it feels human

impact though what's like the human yeah

yeah I don't know sometimes you try you

try different things sometimes you go

out to dinner when you just try to

forget about it sometimes you sit there

and watch movies sometimes you literally

just like sitting on the couch [ __ ]

pissed and devastated uh that I've had

different approaches I use sometimes I

would go to the beach I used used to

have a house on the beach and I would go

to the beach the weekends my movies came

out

um yeah and and

any opening weekend honestly and anytime

I have a thing coming out it sucks

because it just is stressful it's like

birth like it which is just an

inherently painful process even though

it is maybe bringing something beautiful

into the world it is a painful act and I

think that is like what releasing a

movie is for the people who made it is

like

in some ways it's inherently painful and

and in some ways it's inherently

beautiful and joyous but in some ways

it's also just very painful this is the

story of creativity yeah

making anything that you care about that

is slightly challenging or original or

new risks both exceptional success but

also

um potential Faith like yeah and the

more personal it is it's like

the more

the the higher the highs can be if it

works and the lower the lows are if if

it doesn't so you know the more the more

personal the rejection feels yeah a lot

of people can relate to that I know for

sure that that period say after you

receive feedback on the interview how

long is that process of trying to like

get back on your feet and get it out

your head and stop it occupying your

mind

I mean

it's interesting like I think

it's different and it rears its head in

different ways and I think like imposter

syndrome or self-doubt or you know this

phenomenon where like the more you know

about a thing the less you feel you know

about it in some ways and vice versa

um you know I think that is something

again that is like a common theme in

Creative people's lives the fact that

you read about it all the time is is

comforting honestly because you're like

oh it's a thing it's out there you know

um but to me it's never been that hard

to

to do the Creative really risky thing

and it's never been that hard for me to

convince myself to like take the leap

and do the thing that is maybe crazy and

do the thing that is a big swing and and

to put myself out there and I think

that's also what's good I guess about

being rejected enough times is you kind

of like you see like it sucks but you

can survive it and so it's ultimately

worth

trying to do it again you know and and

and even the worst case scenario

is survivable if you just keep going uh

from a creative standpoint you know what

I mean so I think uh that's also like

yeah uh where yeah we haven't stopped it

it'll nag at you at times but if

anything my biggest fear is to make a

thing that's like [ __ ] boring or not

taking a big swing or it doesn't seem

like it's trying to push things forward

or or like it's just like

happy to relax and you know like I I

think like the fact that we get to make

anything movies TV shows it's like there

are so many people who are trying to do

it and we get to do it so like we we

should [ __ ] go for it and we're

spending the money of these giant

[ __ ] conglomerate corporations like

they're letting us spend millions of

dollars to make our crazy things like we

should go for it like we should really

look back and be like wow like can you

[ __ ] believe we did that we that we

spent hundreds of millions of Amazon's

dollars doing that you know like like

that that's what's exciting so

um yeah it's something that like nags

you but I think luckily for me and I and

it's who I'm surrounded by you know to

some degree as well but like we've

always you know there's moments where

you doubt yourself and you kind of

Bobble but I've had always someone being

like [ __ ] it let's do it you know

I get the same it's funnily enough from

just the couple of minutes we spent

together that

you you have no choice like you almost

don't

you're such a lover of what you do at

heart that you almost couldn't not do it

like yeah so here's a question then if I

told you today that you could no longer

make movies or do anything in the

entertainment or creative space

that would be hard I become a ceramicist

which I do spend a lot of time

a bummer though

what would actually your life be

um I mean I would it would I could I I

it's tough to think of because it is

very like ingrained with who I am and

what I do and like and it is like I

could stop working I have enough money

to if I didn't want to keep working I

could I could never work again and live

the exact life I live now until I die

you know

um it I have no kids I have not trying

to leave generational wealth to anybody

like I'm gonna I'm gonna you know like

we could just keep going

it's genuinely because like I enjoy it

and it's and it's a part of who I am and

how I spend my day and and what I love

doing and and people generally seem to

enjoy the output which I enjoy and and

it seems to be additive to the creative

landscape of film and television the

things that I get to be a part of you

know and so

um yeah it's but it I it mostly comes

down to I just like doing it and so it

would be hard to think of what else I

would do because like on it like I I

just write I love I enjoy writing and

I've been doing it since I've been

writing like you know screenplays since

I was 12 years old you know I'm 40. so

it's like it's so much a part of who I

am that like I do it all the time if I

have I'm generally working on a few

things if I'm making up a coffee and I

have five minutes like I'll I'll write

for a few minutes like uh you know I I I

genuinely enjoy it so it would be hard

to imagine I wouldn't I don't know what

I would do you're

um you have ADHD I don't know maybe

I mean I'm pretty good at focusing

honestly I read that um I read that you

had Tourette's in ADHD I do have oh yeah

I guess threats I mean maybe I'm more

true yeah I mean I I had some Tourette's

like yeah some Tourette's which is

connected to ADHD yeah yes yeah is that

ever had a role in your life is it been

caused a little

Tourette's if I'm being completely

honest I don't well well it's kind of

connected to like a compulsion uh

disorder where you it's like it it

manifests in like physical uh ticks and

Twitches

um the most extreme versions are like

people you know screaming like you know

swear words and [ __ ] like that but it

all roots from like a compulsion to do

it

um and like it's like scratching an itch

that's the best way I can describe it

I'm sure you've been sitting across from

people who twitch or have a weird

eyebrow thing they're doing or a weird

thing they're doing you know what I mean

and I see it so often and that is that

is a mild case of Tourette syndrome and

I think so many people have it are

undiagnosed and I know the exact feeling

those people have when they are doing

that and it literally feels like you

have an itch on your hand and you're

scratching it and it's the same thing

from like a

musculature like movement standpoint you

feel like if you don't [ __ ] up your

eyebrow you're not scratching that itch

and when you do you're like uh I did it

and you have fun uh yeah at times I for

me it was always pretty mild physically

but I still it does I I feel the urge at

times but I'm very good at not doing it

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certainly blew mine you know all that

success you've had all those movies you

named recently that you you know some of

them of which are coming up soon you

know having spoken to you today I get

work ethic I get your innate passion

which seems to have been there since

you're a child but I but there's people

that have both of those things and

they're not Seth Rogen you know what I

mean so is there anything else when you

look back on your life you talked about

the circumstance your mother's you know

being around that culture is there

anything about you in particular a

talent and people find this hard to

answer because it requires you to say

something nice about yourself but and so

celebrities often say you know

but is there any what is it that makes

you good at what you do

um

I think I

I think I think man I honestly think

because I grew up watching so many

movies

um and having parents that appreciated

them

um I

from a very young age had an inherent

understanding of

cinematic storytelling of what and that

specifically from a writing standpoint

from how the movies were written that is

for whatever reason how my brain

processed it

how the characters were introduced how

the conflicts between them were set up

how they played out throughout the movie

how they resolved themselves or didn't

resolve themselves throughout the movie

how they manifested and set pieces and

sequences that exemplified the conflicts

and the themes and the and the the

tensions between the characters for

whatever reason from a very young age I

was able to understand and write those

things and I you know I look back now as

like a 40 year old person who has

produced and helped countless people

with their screenplays and written

countless screenplays like there are

things about like what we put into

Superbad as like 14 year olds that are

like

fundamentally functional and good in a

way that is like Beyond like the average

14 year old's ability the average the

average writer's ability in a lot of

ways you know um like and and that is

something that me and Evan really just

we we're lucky like we we got it and and

I think honestly as an actor

I mostly credit my ability to act as my

from like a right through a writing lens

and I think as an actor I understand

what the story needs I understand

I understand how that character needs to

affect things what that character needs

to do in order for this story to be told

effectively I don't view my acting as

internally as the other actors I work

with I know it I see it I talk to them

about it all the time I view it much

more from like a big picture like okay

here's the role this character plays in

the story how do I make that work as

well as it possibly could you know

um and I can do it so I I have some

performance ability which not everyone

does but I think I think I am I think my

understanding of how story Works kind of

helps compensate for my the fact that

I'm not the greatest actor and that I am

able to work with actors who are much

better than I am honestly um but I think

if I had to answer that question which

I'm uncomfortable doing that is how I

would answer it is for whatever reason

me and I found a guy with the same skill

which is like miraculous but like from a

young age me and another guy had a very

inherent sense of like

how to write a movie basically there's a

young creative listening to this now sat

in their bedroom or driving in their car

pushing that problem walking their dog

whatever and they they're a creative in

whatever industry it could be DJing or

you know the author there could be an

actor no

what is the actionable advice that you

could give to them to to you know

give them a shot of because there's a

lot of creatives out there that are

struggling yeah and you you would have

had this bird's eye view on creators

that end up being successful you know in

their careers and those that maybe have

the talent but don't end up getting that

is there anything actionable that you

can say to them that would help them end

up in The Talented successful group

um unfortunately the only way to

mitigate not being successful is to not

quit

that's it

if you don't quit you might make it and

if you quit you definitely won't

and and honestly I think after all the

years I've seen people make it and not

make it the only

common denominator is is that like I've

seen actors write themselves off be like

I'm never gonna [ __ ] do this

try to get other jobs one of my dear

friends who's an actor

he's been an actor he's a great actor a

brilliant actor and his career Ebbs and

flows comes and goes they'll star on a

TV show for a few years he won't work

for two years he went and tried to get a

job at like a car dealership one day and

I was like what are you doing man like

and he's like I I can't I've quit acting

No One's Gonna [ __ ] hire me again I'm

unhirable now he's like

like the star of the most successful

player on Broadway right now and like

because he just got this role a couple

of years after that and he's in uh one

of the biggest movies that's coming out

next year he's in it like and and it's

because he didn't actually quit he he

kept going you know and it's not you

know especially Hollywood it's not a

fair industry it is not fair who makes

it the best people don't make it you

know it's very luck oriented it's very

connections oriented

um I'm lucky like and I also worked hard

and thank God I you know have I'm a good

enough writer that I've been able to

have enough longevity in my career once

I got lucky but

like a lot of luck played Into My

Success you know but that being said

I've seen people get lucky very random

times through random ways I always think

about like Ian McKellen like did you

have you heard of him before he was 65

years old like that guy I didn't like as

I had never [ __ ] heard the word Demi

Kelly until he was Magneto and X-Men and

all of a sudden he's like in Lord of the

Rings he's with one of the famous people

on Earth he got famous when he's like

60. like like that's what happens to

people sometimes you know what I mean

it's like you never know you know and so

I think that is is what's interesting is

and if you like it then just don't quit

and as long as you have enough to

survive then just keep trying to do it

you know but this could be something

that I can do to increase my luck be

really good at it

I think making being nice honestly being

nice being the type of person people

want to be around the people like that

people that comes down to it want to

help instead of not help that is very

good like I've seen

that just if people don't like being

around you then then then you will fail

because you need other people to help

you succeed you know

um working hard is like something you

can control in a very uncontrollable

world I find and like

um you know it's funny I was meeting

with someone recently who like ascended

very high in Hollywood and she was like

I always fetishized hard work like to me

that was like it like it it like if you

weren't working hard

I like had no regard for you basically

and like and to me that was like and and

that's a good reminder of like those are

the people you're up against and that

was something that I always knew from a

young age was like I I don't consider

myself a competitive person but I knew

succeeding in Hollywood was inherently a

competitive Pursuit there's only so many

jobs and there's way more [ __ ]

trying to get their jobs those jobs than

there are jobs available so by the

nature of that I was competing with

people for these jobs and I knew I had

to be able to look at myself and be like

am I at least working harder than

everyone else who is competing for this

job I might not be better than them or

smarter than them or have as many

connections with them or be as good

looking as them or any of these things

but I can at least work harder than them

you know

um and that to me was something that was

like controllable and I've never seen

someone regret the amount of hard work

they put into their Pursuit and so you

know that that is something that will

help you succeed I think

has you

certainly you don't have any kids I do

not that has helped me succeed as well

[Laughter]

finally

oh yeah

but there's a whole huge thing I'm not

doing

which is raising children

people obviously someone's listening but

yeah but it would make you happier you

know someone might say that I'm trying

to rebuttal I don't think it would I've

been around obviously a lot of children

I'm not I'm not ignorant to what it's

like to I've I've seen everyone I know

has kids I I see I'm a you know I'm 40

again you know like it's not I I know

you know I've I've some of my friends

have had kids for decades you know um

some people want kids some people don't

want kids I think a lot of people have

kids before they even think about it

from what I've seen honestly you just

are told

you go through life you get married you

have kids it's what happens

um and and me and my wife we're just

neither of us were like that you know

and

um honestly the older we get the more

happy and reaffirmed we are with our

choice to not have kids like it was

something we kind of

talked about more and we're like are we

made the right choice are we sure now if

more than anything the conversation is

like honestly thank God we don't have

children we get to do whatever we want

we are in our we are we are in the the

prime of Our Lives we are smarter than

we've ever been we understand ourselves

more than we ever have we have the

capacity to achieve a level of work and

a level of communication and care for

one another and a lifestyle we can live

with one another that we've never been

able to live before and we can just do

that and we don't have to raise a child

which the the world does not need right

now and so that was and so yeah it's uh

we're very happy with our choice to not

have kids and I just I work I I work

with a lot of people with kids and I see

definitively that I uh have more time to

both do the things I need to do and the

things I enjoy doing than they do and

not to say their kids don't bring them

Joy but I I say this truthfully I I I I

I me and my wife seem to get a lot more

active enjoyment out of not having kids

than anyone I know seems to get out of

having kids

speaking of your wonderful wife yes in

my very extensive research I found a

series of photos I found this one yes

that's my wife Lauren exceptionally

beautiful she's lovely and I found this

one

yes that's Lauren and her mother

that's a great photo wow it's like a

real photo it's a real face where'd you

get this

internet that's amazing yes this is

Lauren and her mother Adele Adele a few

years ago yeah you've campaigned

exceptionally hard for Alzheimer's

following

um Adele's diagnosis yeah can you tell

me about that Journey yeah definitely

um you know what's funny it's like a

celebrity I guess like you know I you're

kind of asked to do a lot of Charity

things and find like a cause I think you

know and there's I think there's

pressure to find a cause and I think a

lot of people adopt causes that are not

organic to them and who they are and and

they kind of find themselves you know uh

in the midst of a cause and and

um and that it happened to me in the

past I would go to some charity events

and I always felt very out of touch with

it and and didn't really understand it

and

um then uh I met my wife and um and this

is in regards to the charity but also in

regards to just our relationship I'd

never been in a serious relationship

ever in my life really like a few months

here and there I had dated but never and

in uh like 2005 I started dating my wife

Lauren and she was the first serious

relationship I ever had

um and very soon after we started dating

is when she realized her mother seemed

to be showing the first signs of

Alzheimer's and I knew nothing about

that it really

it was not in my family

um and and what I didn't understand is

like oh it was a disease that had like

no treatment no cure it was only going

to steadily get worse until she died

from it which was uh uh truly

devastating and put me and my wife on

like a pretty intense Journey for the

next

you know uh 15 years or so basically

um and uh it really uh it really took a

lot out of us and my wife especially you

know

um Lauren felt very out of control and

very devastated and really scrambling

for like uh Outlet or no way to gain

some kind of agency over the situation

um yeah and our friend uh suggested we

do a comedy show and maybe give the

money to like an Alzheimer's charity and

we did and it went very well and my wife

started telling her story as a young

woman whose mother was in her 50s and

diagnosed with Alzheimer's and it was

really not a thing like anyone was

talking about at all and she found there

was like an enormous need for people to

connect with someone who was going

through this because a lot of people

were going through it and really no one

was talking about it and

um we very

we kind of found like a need for this

organization that we made hfc which

um became like you know an Alzheimer's

charity that really was like focused on

talking to young people

um many of whom were caretakers for

their parents with Alzheimer's you know

and and again it was just a thing it's

very stigmatized disease and not a

disease very many people

are comfortable talking about at all and

uh yeah and Lauren

as her mother progressed more and more

just talked about it more and more and

uh and it really

um yeah kind of made our charity more

and more prominent in the space and

um yeah has allowed us to do kind of

more and more things to help people you

see people don't talk about it enough

and part of that is results in people

thinking about Alzheimer's is just

losing your keys or forgetting a

sentence or something yeah

um what is the reality of Alzheimer's as

you've observed it well it's different

for everyone but it's inherently for my

mother-in-law like she forgot how to

speak how to go to the bathroom how to

talk I mean how to eat how to walk

um and was essentially like

you know uh someone you would move from

the bed to the wheelchair

force feed essentially move back to the

bed she was like that for like

seven years or something like that all

right I think she didn't uh and again

I'm bad with years she didn't speak for

several years

um and

and it was yeah if you saw her you

wouldn't assume it was Dementia or

Alzheimer's you would assume she had

some like horrific stroke or something

like that it was not it was not what I

understood like cognitive decline could

could cause you know

um it was far more devastating and and

yeah and I think uh people don't

understand how kind of dire it is or

they do understand and they just again

don't like talking about it because it's

really scary and people are weird about

their brains mental health obviously in

America especially people are very weird

about not a thing they like talking

about

um and so yeah it kind of TAPS into a

lot of things people are just scared of

in general we're told does that have on

the people around her like yourself and

your wife

um I mean it was just devastating for my

wife especially like it was truly one of

the the most upsetting thing you could

imagine is like very slowly seeing your

mother die over the course of years and

years and years and years and years and

years and years and years and years you

know um it's uh yeah I mean it caused uh

uh yeah it was it was very Grim you know

um but through the charity you know

there was a lot of like

kind of hope that came up at times and a

lot of like uh

you know kind of like wonderful things

that it felt like we were able to do as

a result of it so there was kind of

Bittersweet moments but in general it

was terrible

these times if you're um

last couple of decades for you that that

process oh yeah for sure I mean yeah

especially you know

being married to someone who is going

through something

incredibly traumatic

um is

yeah is is you know it's hard for them

and it's hard for you to know how to

support them properly and and how to you

know navigate their feelings and they

you know uh productive and loving way

you know

um and it's obviously much harder for

them

um and uh you know it it is uh but yeah

it's a it's a it can be hard for

everybody Adele passed away 2020 yeah

what impact does that have on

the family

um I mean in some ways it is uh a relief

of Burden you know especially with

someone who

was so sick for so long with no hope in

sight for any for any way to get better

you know

um

and

and also like devastating you know and

and it's something that I'm always

having to not having to remind myself of

something I'm always reminding myself of

is like you know your wife her mother

died recently like there's there's a lot

going along with that and and although

there's like this constant thing that we

are not dealing with there is there is

another thing you know

um and and again in many ways like the

active Agony of her mother kind of

slowly dying was was probably worse but

this is also bad in its own way you know

you mentioned Americans don't like

talking about their mental health yeah

or really anything cognitive no this is

their cognitive functions yeah I've

never heard you speak about your mental

health yeah I don't think it's that

interesting

that might be why anxiety

um not really not more than the average

you know I often think I often think

that the creatives over index with

anxiety for kind of some of the reasons

we talked about earlier

yeah I don't I think I have anxiety but

I also am constantly reminding I'm good

I think at analyzing my own feelings and

behavior to some degree I do have

anxiety sometimes but I'm also having to

remind myself that I am like

going through things that are

objectively anxiety inducing to almost

anyone and I would probably be weird if

I wasn't feeling some sort of anxiety

with the amount of public facing uh

pressure uh and exposure I have at times

um so you just tell yourself like yeah

you feel you uh this is you are feeling

anxious right now because you are

dealing with this thing that has a lot

of

public pressure on it you know um so I

think in general no in general I have

pretty good mental health I think

ask the people who work with me

[Laughter]

it seems like an unhuman way to live

right being in the spotlight and being

being

um receptable to so much public feedback

like you talked about how shoes are kind

of unnatural in rooster and natural

there's the way that we all live these

days seem to be so far from what is what

it is to be a human yeah

what can we like what do we need to do

do you think to get back to being a

little bit more human

um I don't know I don't know if I'm the

best person to ask you but I uh

I personally have tried to spend less

time on social media I think that is a

good thing I don't think that

contributes to one's Humanity

necessarily uh I uh what are the things

that make you feel most human then and

most connected

um

spending time with my loved ones my wife

my you know my my my dog my my sister my

family my my parents you know my friends

going to dinner with my friends going to

their houses hanging out with my friends

I I even though I don't have kids I

enjoy going to my friend's house and

hanging out with them and their kids you

know

um you know writing with being creative

with my friends doing things with my

friends making things with people that I

respect and the the feeling that I'm a

part of making something that I am

excited about and that I think is really

good

um that is I I again for me that's like

those are the moments where I feel like

I am

personally like living up to my

potential you know and and feeling like

and and and it is about the other people

even at times when it is work related

you know and I and I do think you know

uh the connections that you make with

people

even when they are creative are are

relevant and important you know and

um and so yeah I think those are the

things that I like I value is like

personal relationships and and creative

ones which I also view as personal

you've done you've done so much in the

in the space of writing and um and

entertainment you've then embarked in

other Pursuits businesses you know Point

gray which success house plant massive

success that's in a different industry

that's in you know the more

entrepreneurial side of your your

passions what is it what is it now for

you like what is the the thing what

makes you having achieved all of this

fired up and excited about

a challenge

um I get excited when I and it's it's a

simple metric I think which is any time

we're making a thing that I know I would

be psyched if I saw it or got it or saw

it was out in the world I get excited

like and and that's kind of it like if

I'm making a movie and I'm like I would

love this movie I would see this movie

and be like this is [ __ ] great

whoever made this movie like [ __ ] they

went for it they did it I'd be jealous I

didn't make this movie that's when I

know I'm doing something good and it's

the same thing with houseplant if we

make a thing and I'm just like this is

awesome if I saw this I would want this

if I saw someone else made this I'd be

like [ __ ] why didn't we think of that

why didn't we make this what were we why

were we not thinking of this you know

um that to me and and then when we do it

and we're like we did it and we and it

worked as well as you wanted to and it

feels how you wanted it to to me that's

like it's exciting and because it is a

creative uh expression and and and I

think that's what's exciting to any

again I think person with like a

creative person suit which I view house

plan as and I kind of view everything as

to some degree which is like it's all

output that is meant to reflect my taste

and my sensibilities and and those and

that of those who are working on it with

me you know

um and and that could be a movie it

could be a TV show it could be an

ashtray it could be it could be any

number of things but but to me when I'm

excited about it and and when it works

is when I really think it is the thing

that I wanted it to be which is a thing

that I'm excited about and a thing that

if I saw it and someone else made it I'd

be like yes that's awesome you know

um and that's the same thing since we've

been writing super bad like that's why

we wrote super bad we were like let's

write our favorite movie let's write the

movie that we want to see and no one

else is making and it was the same thing

with Pineapple Express this is the end

and the boys was a comic book we loved

we were like let's make this no one else

is gonna [ __ ] let's make this into

something you know um it's the same

thing with everything that we've done

for the most part which is like let's

make the thing we want more than

anything why not make the thing that you

think other people want and

because who the [ __ ] knows what other

people want

and I think luckily

that's a thing we've been lucky with is

like either our taste in the public

taste has coincided or or the public has

been willing to take cues from our taste

and and and and and and bite to to what

we're putting out there you know what I

mean um which is which is just uh an

almost intangible skill I think to some

degree which is just making things that

connect with people in a big way and

that's not even what every creative

person is trying to do you know what I

mean I know plenty of filmmakers I some

of my favorite movies are movies that

are not trying to connect with giant

audiences you know what I mean but those

are the movies we grew up loving and to

us that's a fun challenge is like how do

we

put everything that we think is like

risky and subversive and difficult about

this idea into something and then have

it connect and then have everyone go

crazy for it and have everyone be like

yes like I can't wait to see that you

know um and that

that's just our taste you know what I

mean is we like to we're thinking of

like a packed theater Friday night and

just wanting people to like go Bonkers

you know and like that's not everyone's

goal you know and so that that that's a

big part of it too is like what kind of

audience are you are you hoping to have

you know when people you know study

people like you they're always looking

for like the the themes like what's the

three things he does that it would like

they're trying to find like the secrets

and whatever else they do that what's

his morning routine whatever else

um your creative process what is from

your own observation the most unusual

part of it the part that you go no one

else seems to do it this way but [ __ ] it

I I tend to be able to work on

a

not everyone and I work with a lot I'm

lucky also because I get to work with a

lot of like literally like the most

brilliant people in the world who do

what I do so I have a very front row

seat to like an incredibly high level of

performance you know

um on a writing standpoint acting

standpoint directing standpoint

all these things I'm getting to see like

truly the best versions of it you know

um but I think

you know for me I I am I am good at

Switching gears and compartmentalizing I

find some writers maybe would think that

is strange and and the idea of like

writing two things it two different

things in one day would be strange to

some writers the idea of like okay I'm

gonna write one TV show in the morning

and then a movie in the afternoon I

think that but again to me it's very

intuitive some writers find Switching

gears creatively especially midday

difficult I I can work on five different

things throughout the day and whenever

I'm working on whatever thing it is I'm

pretty able to like fully engage on that

thing

um

I I physically write more than I think

most people would depend no with on a

keyboard but like I find a lot of

writers want to talk about like to me

I'm like just write it let's just write

it let's just see how it looks let's

just try it just write it down like and

I think a lot of people are precious

with writing and a lot of people

you know it's like a big they kind of

like they try to like it's very like

sanctimonious or something like that you

know but I I try to like really just

write different versions of things share

I share a lot of early versions of

things with like a group of people that

I trust I'm sending rough versions of

things to people I'll rewrite it

instantly I'll do a hundred drafts or

something you know um I'm really not

precious with that you know but but I

don't know I mean I I don't know if like

yeah I don't know what other I don't

know people expect I I'm I'm more

Curious than other people's creative

processes honestly like it's so

ingrained in who I am yeah I've been

doing it since I was so young like it's

it it's truly like a part of like my

brain chemistry is and my development

was is built around you know writing and

and Writing Movies specifically so like

my my personality I think in some ways

is is is is engineered around writing

and and and making movies in some ways

because I've been doing it since I was

so young so I really think it's like

it's become a very fluid part of who I

am and it doesn't feel like often I'm

like sitting down to work it's like it's

just kind of a fluid part of my day I do

also have like I'm very I get a schedule

sent to me by my assistant at the end of

every night it tells me what I'm doing

the next day

pretty much just do what's on the

schedule she sends you an email right

yeah and it will say 10 p.m do this Seth

yeah it'll be like 10 a.m to 2 A.M but

and they'll be like giant free blocks of

time in there where I will write usually

or me and my partner will organize our

own we'll we'll organize our own writing

time amidst that but uh yeah I mean I'm

pretty regimented from a schedule

standby which does surprise people

because

people will encounter me and be like

let's get together like sometime this

week and I'm always like like I'm like

scheduled like like a month out pretty

rigorously throughout the days but if I

asked you what your schedule was next

week would you have no [ __ ] clue

I know my schedule is Monday I've also

yeah like I'm not I'm good at I I like

dealing what's right in front of me

honestly as well like I I I can't begin

to process what's happening next week

like I I truly that's too much for me

like I

I know like the big things like the

benchmarks you know what I mean but if

you're leaving the country yeah if

there's some big thing I have to do but

like in general I have no idea what's

happening the week before

a bit of a left filled one but have you

um observed a a point in your your

trajectory where

you become somewhat so successful or

somewhat you know so famous that

happiness begins to decline no

it was never like

being famous was never like a goal for

me you know what I mean and so I don't

have like this

this complicated thing where I was like

I was trying to become famous and then I

got famous and I realized being famous

sucks I always stop being famous kind of