Markus Mentzer (This is the End, Neighbors, The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Garfunkel & Oates) has one of those jobs that when you explain it to someone who doesn't work in the film business it sounds both bizarre and insanely impossible...which it is.  He's a 1st Camera Assistant (commonly known as a "Focus Puller") and among many other things he keeps the image you see in the movie theater in focus.  I consider it to be the hardest and most thankless job on a film set and when you find someone like Markus (who is simply masterful at it) you can't help but wonder about how he does it.  Makus's story is emblematic of what this podcast is all about.  He's got one of those ludicrously tangential career paths that we love to hear about and will, no doubt, inspire those of you out there who want to follow your dream (or run away from your nightmare).  Enjoy.

You may have seen Billy Brooks on stage at Hall H Comic Con 2015 to promote the upcoming Vimeo series "Con Man" (starring Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion) as well as to be proposed to in front of thousands of ecstatic fans and the entire Internet.  If you missed that I can guarantee you didn't miss Billy's visual fx work in countless classic films that have are permanently burned into our collective synapses (Transformers Age of Extinction, Xmen 2, Galaxy Quest, Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots, Men in Black 1 and 2, The Empire Strikes Back Special Edition, Star Wars Episode 1 and 2, E.T. Special Edition, and Space Station 76 among many many more).  Listen in as Billy tells us how he went from scanning printer cartridges at Circuit City to working at the world's foremost Visual FX House Industrial Light & Magic.  If that weren't enough he makes a cameo in Con Man as a decomposed zombie eating a churro.  C'mon now.  

Jay met Kathrin just recently while working on the upcoming series "Con Man" (starring Alan Tudyk, Nathan Fillion, and almost the whole Joss Whedon-verse).  Kathrin is from Austria and runs a pretty smooth Art Department.  That was enough to inspire a little conversation about how she went from a tiny little town in the Austrian Alps to the glamorous landscape of sun baked pavement and cavernous sound stages here in Hollywood.  It's the Interntational Edition of Best Job Ever.  Viel Vergnügen!

Much like The Godfather...pt2 is better.  Enjoy

Growing up in the 1980's in Tehran, Iran the last place anyone expected Reza Tabrizi to end up in would be Hollywood, CA.  And yet the incrutable Reza managed to move to the US without speaking a word of English and (within a relatively short amount of time) create a vibrant career in the film industry.  Until recently Reza was an "A" Camera Operator on major network television shows (Detroit 187, Necessary Roughness, Chicago Fire).  Now he's in the drivers seat directing Network Episodic TV and killing it.  We talked for so damn long I had to break this one into 2 parts.  Here's part 1.  Enjoy. 

Jon Sperry is THE GO-TO voice and dialect coach in Hollywood.  Beginning with Harvey Keitel in Jane Campion's "The Piano", Jon has had a hand in shaping countless performances in feature films over the last 3 decades.  He teaches and coaches actors (in a general sense) but also specializes in voice & dialect technique.  If you need to capture what it sounds like to be a farmer in rural Spain circa 1912...Jon's the guy who cracks that code for you.  He's worked with Russell Crowe, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Gael Garcia Bernal, Liam Neeson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Zoe Saldana, Fmake Janssen, Olga Kurylenko, Juliette Lewis, Geena Davis, and Melanie Griffith (just to name drop a few).  If that weren't enough Jon Sperry is also a Magician.  

(Drops Mic and walks off stage).

Lex Halaby has been directing commercials and music videos day and night ever since he quit his day job over 10 years ago and going "all in".  The field Lex operates in is a hyper competetive arena in which you see a steady flow of flavor of the month talent come and go.  That said there are a few Directors who manage to stay hip, fresh and relevant and stick around for life.  Lex is one of those that are here to stay.  His body of work (with such acts as Death Cab For Cutie, Islands and Man Man) is unique and diverse.  He's got a very distinct voice while always evolving his styles and avoiding repetition.  As if that weren't enough he's also a pioneer within the cutting edge of fields of Virtual Reality (ex Oculus Rift) and 3D filmmaking.  The guy makes builds his own camera systems for God's Sake.  Ridiculous. Just Listen.

She's the 12th female to ever be inducted into the American Society of Cinematographers.  She's one of the most interesting and inspiring people I know.  Lisa Wiegand kicks ass and takes names.  Nuff said.  Enjoy.

Chad Damiani is yet another example of that typical, by the book, Hollywood career trajectory you've all heard before...Avant Garde Theater to Pro Wrestling Live Commentating to Studio Screenwriting by day and Underground Comedy Cultivator by night.  All kidding aside, Chad's story is anything but predictable.  The great Hunter S Thompson once wrote, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn Pro".  Yep.  Enjoy.  

Jay sits down with fellow Camera Department comrade BJ McDonnell.  For being one of the top Steadicam Operators in the world (yes, world) one couldn't have taken a more circuitous route to the top.  BJ talks about his youth growing up in Florida and his long tenure on the road playing in the punk rock band "Lick 57".  These days he hops from one movie set to another working on some of the biggest and best films being made (Tomorrowland, The Interview, Neighbors, Jack Reacher, Macgruber, The Lonely Island Movie, and so many more).  Most importantly though...Bj is metal as f**k.  Enjoy.