Look, I’m not trying to be on my bullshit like that but the facts speak for themselves. And when those facts are attested to by footage, then only a fool would dare discount the claim.
Feast your eyes on The Aguilar’s Who Run Covina, Ca.
This is a rite of passage. It didn’t end exactly as planned but you can say it went as expected.
Gotta keep grinding. Gotta keep blessing. Gotta keep refreshing.
Gotta teach lessons. Gotta stop stressing. Gotta another session.
Coffee w Big Brown Dad Season 1 Episode 8 is all up onya.
One of the shows I produced at Associated Television International was Heroes Among Us. Basically, I scoured newspapers, magazines, local news websites from all over the country looking for stories of ordinary folks behaving heroically–and if the heroics were caught on tape, even better.
When the footage of off-duty firefighters from Milwaukee hit the web in ’09, I knew we needed to find and interview them.
So, that’s what we did. Finding the firefighters was easy enough but finding the person who owned the footage would take more work.
In fact, our Associate Producer Claire Tak found a name and then an address in a phone book, sent a letter via snail mail and helped us acquire the rights to the footage.
Then, I called up the homies Brad Haskell & Sebastian Hernandez and we rolled out to Milwaukee to produce this story replete with reenactments.
Check it out:
I’m a brand magnet.
What, you want proof?
Well, you’ll have to sit through a randomized benediction first.
Styling: Beanie from Seoul. Shirt from some Himalayan inspired shop in the #claremontvillage.
I wrote a Bible documentary in 2005 called Unlocking Ancient Secrets of the Bible hosted by Sir Roger Moore. The way I got the job was a hoot.
I saw a posting on Craigslist asking for a writer for a Bible documentary and applied. While I had a Masters degree in Philosophy from a seminary and had written for Mun2, I wasn’t optimistic about getting the gig. But I was eager to get back into TV writing and production.
In fact, on the day I was called for an interview, I was on the set of the never released Latin Rap film, Platinum Illusions. I was standing next to Chino XL when I got the call.
When the person on the other line gave me the address to the company, I gave a double take. Lo and behold, I would be interviewing at the company where our Mun2 offices were located, off Wilshire and Crenshaw.
When we launched Mun2 on the west coast in 03, there were about 10 of us holed up in a stretch of offices on the 3rd floor of a huge building. (Big ups Emiliano Miranda Carlos Caro Xavier Villalobos Sharon Barragan Alejandro Villegas & the crew.) The company who owned the building, Associated Television International, also had production staff on the 3rd floor. We’d see the mostly white employees in the hallways and they’d see a band of raucous Latinos running up and down the building. Occasionally, we’d say, “Q’vo.”
I remember one Mun2 employee weighing out Mexican tobacco in the bathroom while an ATI employee came in, eyes wide and then turned right around.
As it turned out, my interview for the Bible documentary job would be taking place in my old Mun2 office.
I brought some sample scripts with me but to be honest they were filled with the Mun2 claptrap that I’d been writing. Shit like, “They’re loud, proud and could rock a crowd. Give it up for Ozomatli” & “If it’s on and popping, it’s most definitely dropping…Off the Roof!”
Yeah.
When I sat down for the interview, the person interviewing me, Michael Bouson looked over my resume. “Hmm. Mun2? Wait, you look familiar. You guys had an office here a couple years back. They called you Bookworm, right?”
Oh, shit.
“Yes but I can tell you right now that the scale in the bathroom wasn’t mine….”
He looked at my Mun2 scripts. He smiled. He asked me to go home and write some sample copy related to the Bible. My dude gave me a fucking chance!
Whatever I wrote worked. I started writing with Steve Jarczak (who’s written for Netflix and Disney since then) and producing with Brad Thomas.
When I started, I noticed some holes in the apologetic argument the documentary was making so I coordinated and conducted several more interviews with leading philosophers, theologians, archeologist and Egyptologists.
The American Bible Society really liked the work. So much so that I spent over a year producing a show for them, ABS Presents, where I traveled all over the country producing stories on people doing interesting things with the Bible.
Boy do I have some stories about that. That’s for another time.
Here, I just want to give props to Michael Bouson for being intentional about hiring a diverse team. There’s no reason he should’ve hired a Mexican-American dude from Bassett to write for Sir Roger Moore. But he did. And I’m glad.
Against my better judgement, I’ve embedded the film here:
A lot of dudes getting BIG mad about the #LosAngelesRams having male cheerleaders. ?
FOOL!
You’ve been a male cheerleader your whole life! ??
This is what happened in 2007 when Current producer Ben Stein reached out to Big Brown Dude and asked if I had an idea for Super Bowl content.
The fact of the matter was I needed a new TV but I didn’t have the feds to make it happen. So, I devised a plot…a plot that would involved jeopardizing my good name and Donald Quintana’s good, er, OK, job at Circuit City.
As the legend goes, Donald Quintana’s co-workers saw the video on air and reported his Circuit City wearing shirt ass neck back to his supervisors.
Don’t cry for Donald Quintana–he’s since gone onto producing for real TV shows (big ups Grammy Awards this month!). Don’t cry for me, I’ve since gone onto multiple flat screens and a HOUSE (although, our LOFT was MEGA).
On the economics on this pods, they paid us about $1500 for this one. Donald and I would go on to produce over a dozen pods for Current TV. And to think, we had the choice of launching YouTube content careers or produce for Al Gore’s new TV network–and we rode with Al.
Who’s laughing now?
Stop it.
My son has an observation, no, an indictment that will ring all too familiar for some of you dads.
Pardon me but I’ll be out here looking for the lie.
Popping and locking is the new of talking. Claim your randomized benediction, sip some devil’s water and enjoy the show.
By now, you know the story. Al Gore and an heir to the Hyatt or Hilton or Motel 8 fortune launched a cable netlet in 07 that promised to bring the creativity of the internet to TV.
This wonderful experiment was Current TV. They were bought by some internet behemoth who didn’t care to archive or license the bundle of dope content that was produced, and I don’t care to remember which behemoth it was or is or whatever.
What I do know is that I’ve uploaded a handful of about a dozen short documentaries I produced for them.
Here is a fan favorite that seems to be generating views on views on views.
What can I say about this video that I didn’t say while making it?
In this episode, the theology is laid on thick and the coffee even thicker.