The Ryan Pyle Podcast

Glenfiddich brand ambassador David Allardice on what makes single malt Scotch, why casks are filled at 63.5%, peat, Sherry casks, and why the giant ice cube is a myth.

Based in Los Angeles, David is an accomplished brand ambassador for the iconic Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch Whisky, owned by William Grant & Sons. Beyond more than a decade of experience educating people in the United States about the magic of single malt Scotch whisky, David is also an accomplished DJ and has a deep love of football (soccer).

Chapters
0:00 Welcome David Allardice
1:01 Life as a travelling ambassador
4:16 Scotland, Dallas, Chicago, LA
6:23 The first pour
8:30 A birthday at the distillery
10:34 The occasion, not just the whisky
12:44 Growing up in a small Scottish town
14:50 Clubbing, techno and Glasgow
16:58 University friends
19:11 Old friends and bagpipes
22:23 Glassware and ice
24:36 First memories of whisky
26:41 Malort and other shots
28:48 The whisky that opened the door
31:56 Ryan's motorcycle ride across Canada
33:01 Cask strength and Madeira casks
37:21 Glenfiddich's on-site cooperage
39:29 The malt master
40:33 Why casks are filled at 63.5%
42:40 The angels' share in Scotland
44:42 Adding water and customising
46:49 Who says how to drink it?
49:59 Moving to the United States
52:09 Web design and finding his way
56:31 Into the whisky industry
58:35 Ryan's filming trips
1:01:49 Whisky on expeditions
1:05:03 Dark skies and a cigar
1:09:18 Barley versus corn
1:10:24 What peat really is
1:15:42 Parts per million
1:18:49 Fourteen years with one brand
1:20:56 Single malt's rocket ship
1:24:03 The five styles of Scotch
1:29:13 Tasting a Sherry cask
1:36:47 Dinners, tastings and events
1:41:44 The big ice cube myth
1:43:15 There are no rules
1:44:15 A family-owned distillery since 1887
1:49:38 Experimental releases
1:56:02 No whisky before 10am in Scotland
1:58:11 Rice spirits and drinking in China
2:01:16 Drink driving
2:04:30 Why not to chill whisky
2:07:46 Plans for 2024
2:13:02 Wrapping up

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Screenwriter Brian Rousso on breaking in by reading scripts, selling a cloning horror spec to Joel Silver at Warner Bros., what the writers' strike was about, and launching his graphic novel with Revenant Studios.

Based in Los Angeles, Brian is a seasoned creative professional with an extensive media and technology business background, equally adept at writing produced scripts for television, film and digital streaming. Brian has a deep network of creative talent, artist representatives, media and entertainment executives, financiers and technologists. We had a wide-ranging conversation about everything from graphic novels to blockbuster scripts to Steven Seagal.

Brian's next big project: https://www.revenant-studios.com
Follow Brian Rousso on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revenantrousso

Chapters
0:00 Welcome Brian Rousso
1:04 The strikes and who they hit
3:12 Food, drink and staying healthy
8:29 Whisky and wine
10:41 Skateboarding in LA
11:45 Growing up in LA
13:53 Writing plays in high school
14:55 Breaking in by reading scripts
19:19 What script coverage is
22:26 The spec market
24:34 How agencies work
28:48 The writers versus the agencies
36:15 Write what you're passionate about
41:35 Finishing a script
42:35 Baseball and a great teacher
47:52 College on the East Coast
53:06 Job hunting, on paper
56:23 Get Shorty and the 90s
58:30 Why some movies can't get made anymore
59:36 What the writers' strike won
1:04:44 Too much to watch
1:08:55 An overnight sensation takes 20 years
1:10:24 Selling a script to Joel Silver
1:11:56 How a script deal is paid
1:15:30 How credits are decided
1:17:32 What the Sony hack revealed
1:20:40 Owning the IP
1:23:56 Comedy that still holds up
1:30:14 A script picked up ten years later
1:36:42 Business can be creative too
1:39:57 Launching his graphic novel
1:47:19 How a comic book gets made
1:52:34 Building fresh IP
1:58:56 From graphic novel to screen
2:04:16 Conversations that last
2:08:30 Pitching and notes
2:13:53 Who he writes for
2:17:07 A Steven Seagal story
2:21:22 Wrapping up

The Ryan Pyle Podcast is ad-free by choice. If you enjoy these conversations, you can buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/ryanpyle

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Technologist Robin Rowe on the math test that changed his life, building what he calls the first metaverse for the US Navy in 1995, DreamWorks, defence contracting, and running for office in Beverly Hills.

Starting from the early days on his family's organic farm in Illinois, Robin's life and career have taken him all over the place: working for the U.S. Department of Defense, sailing on the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, working as a U.S. Navy research scientist, and staying busy in the startup space all the while. By 35 he was Chief Technologist and Enterprise Manager at a multi-billion-dollar engineering and defence firm. He also had stints at Lenovo, AT&T and DreamWorks Animation.

Follow Robin Rowe on X: https://x.com/robinrowe

Chapters
0:00 Welcome Robin Rowe
1:37 Growing up on an organic farm in Illinois
5:58 The math test that changed his life
10:34 College at 16
17:37 Into the performing arts
22:31 Dancing at the Kremlin
27:00 Working in TV news
30:48 Jacob's Pillow and dance film
35:03 Building the studios at NBC Chicago
37:33 Unions, hiring freezes and going freelance
41:47 Becoming a software consultant
45:39 Moving next to Microsoft in Seattle
49:55 Founding a C++ users group
53:59 An offer from the Naval Postgraduate School
1:00:22 Building the first metaverse in 1995
1:03:52 Military first, video games second
1:05:45 Training sailors to fight a submarine fire
1:10:11 Defence contracting in San Diego
1:13:16 Security clearances
1:17:26 DARPA and how the internet started
1:25:57 Life on an aircraft carrier
1:28:08 DreamWorks Animation
1:35:36 DreamWorks and Playa Vista
1:38:51 Layoffs and moving on
1:46:16 GoPro, DirecTV and the studios
1:51:04 Running for office in Beverly Hills
1:58:29 How local campaigns work
2:03:55 Wrapping up

The Ryan Pyle Podcast is ad-free by choice. If you enjoy these conversations, you can buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/ryanpyle

Ryan's TV series are streaming around the world.

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Global supply chain expert Daniel Krassenstein on learning Chinese in Taiwan, Jakarta in the 90s, Shanghai's Jewish refugee history, and how one attack in the Red Sea can add two weeks to your shipment.

With over 20 years' experience in China and more than 25 years in Asia Pacific, Dan is what is known as a global supply chain expert. Our wide-ranging conversation covers following in his family's footsteps, learning Chinese in Taiwan, and his time in Jakarta and Shanghai, where we overlapped and met. We also discuss risks like COVID and Yemen and other ongoing challenges to supply chain management.

Follow Daniel Krassenstein on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/machodan

Chapters
0:00 Welcome Daniel Krassenstein
1:01 What a global supply chain expert does
3:08 A family in shipping and trucking
6:22 From Venezuela to Taiwan
9:31 Seeing past race
13:44 Learning Mandarin in Taipei
20:03 Guanxi and networking
24:12 Into the ballpoint pen business
26:19 Taiwan, China and manufacturing
32:43 India's rise in manufacturing
38:09 Sea-Land and the expat package
43:25 Indonesia in the early 90s
53:00 Shanghai and consolidation
56:09 Puxi, Pudong and expat life
59:13 Shanghai's Jewish refugees
1:01:29 Doing business the Chinese way
1:07:57 Caught in a Japan problem
1:11:08 The cat that escaped at the airport
1:13:18 Panama and Mexico
1:16:32 Building his own company
1:22:54 Starting over
1:29:17 How Shanghai got expensive
1:31:26 Moving to LA
1:36:41 Watching COVID from outside China
1:42:02 A daughter who thinks globally
1:45:17 Writing about doing business in China
1:49:38 Cost, time and quality
1:54:57 Managing factories through COVID
2:00:27 Corporate social responsibility
2:04:45 What freight really costs
2:06:44 Yemen, the Red Sea and the long way round
2:13:19 Geopolitics and global trade
2:24:05 The Strait of Hormuz and other risks
2:32:39 Friend-shoring and regional manufacturing
2:40:58 Balance in life

The Ryan Pyle Podcast is ad-free by choice. If you enjoy these conversations, you can buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/ryanpyle

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CPA and ultramarathon runner Jeff Neumeister on running 150 miles across the Sahara in Morocco, the doubt that hits on day one, and why being comfortable being uncomfortable changes everything.

Jeff Neumeister is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) by day and an ultramarathon runner by night. Not exactly, but close. Jeff started running in high school and just kept running (save the Forrest Gump jokes). It started small, running just for fun, then some organised races, and then an ultramarathon that took him 150 miles across the Sahara Desert in Morocco.

Chapters
0:00 Welcome Jeff Neumeister
1:07 Accounting in Los Angeles
3:16 A military childhood on the move
5:30 How running found him
8:38 Obstacle races and needing more
12:54 Running for other sports
15:00 Favourite races
18:11 How many marathons?
21:19 Death Valley
23:28 Signing up for the Sahara
25:34 Packing food for the race
29:45 How running changes lives
31:06 Day one in the Sahara
32:49 Who runs an ultramarathon?
38:13 Life at base camp
40:46 Getting past the doubt
42:15 Comfortable being uncomfortable
45:33 Crossing the finish line
48:39 Kilimanjaro
50:42 Rim to rim in the Grand Canyon
53:54 Healthy addictions
55:01 Ryan's last season before COVID
1:00:23 Where were you when COVID hit?
1:04:39 A COVID baby
1:06:44 Getting outside
1:09:57 The shortage of accountants
1:12:01 The first step is the win
1:16:13 Treadmills versus trails
1:19:26 Family, clients and slowing down
1:28:03 Grit and where it comes from
1:32:16 Next up: a 160-mile hike

The Ryan Pyle Podcast is ad-free by choice. If you enjoy these conversations, you can buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/ryanpyle

Ryan's TV series are streaming around the world.

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Sean French on going from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts to running film production equipment, how a set of white papers got Hollywood back to work during COVID, film tax credits and Burning Man.

Sean French grew up in Utah and moved to Los Angeles to follow his passion for acting at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. After some twists and turns, Sean moved into production equipment, and our wide-ranging conversation covers COVID, production, tax credits, Burning Man and literally everything in between.

Chapters
0:00 Welcome Sean French
1:04 Growing up in Park City, Utah
2:05 Family theatre and first auditions
4:13 Not knowing what to do at 18
7:19 Into the walkie-talkie business
10:28 The American Academy of Dramatic Arts
14:47 How film tax credits move productions
16:56 Hollywood follows the money to Atlanta
21:14 Acting while holding down a job
25:31 Building a production services business
30:48 Opening his own company in Culver City
35:02 How acting informs producing
40:23 Buying and renting camera gear
42:31 His new short film and festivals
45:43 Where were you when COVID hit?
51:02 Shutting down in March 2020
54:06 The white papers that got Hollywood back to work
59:32 What COVID testing added to budgets
1:04:49 Production rolls on
1:06:57 The one-truck rental model
1:10:09 LA, community and solitude
1:17:24 Running a theme camp at Burning Man
1:23:41 Ayahuasca and searching for answers
1:32:07 Tony Robbins, Landmark and therapy
1:34:15 His new show
1:43:54 What psychedelics taught him
1:46:01 Travel, perspective and business
1:51:15 Ownership, land and the East
1:55:31 How should we organise ourselves?

The Ryan Pyle Podcast is ad-free by choice. If you enjoy these conversations, you can buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/ryanpyle

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Creator Kurt Tocci on going from musical theatre in Colorado to dancing as Spider-Man on Hollywood Boulevard, the cat video that went viral, and building millions of followers as the self-proclaimed happiest creator on Earth.

Kurt Tocci is the self-proclaimed "Happiest Creator on Earth". Kurt tells his life story of coming to LA from Colorado to act, falling into social media in between his filming projects, then making regular content through his partnership with Smile Squad, before going independent and building a massive following across his social media channels.

Follow Kurt Tocci on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kurttocci

Chapters
0:00 Welcome Kurt Tocci
1:36 Colorado roots and LA life
4:25 Be a good person
6:42 Why face to face still matters
9:05 The happiest creator on Earth
11:07 Smile Squad and celebrating cultures
17:11 Musical theatre in Colorado
20:33 A working actor at 17
25:53 No backup plan
30:28 Teaching himself to edit
32:30 Driving to LA in 2010
35:20 Dancing as Spider-Man on Hollywood Boulevard
39:21 Leave it in the room
43:56 Running content as a business
47:51 Disney characters on a treadmill
51:23 Mom, his biggest fan
55:26 Zeus the cat goes viral
58:52 Joining Smile Squad
1:06:58 VidCon and scaling up
1:19:41 The COVID content boom
1:32:51 How he handles brand deals
1:38:48 Making money across four platforms
1:46:51 Consistency and posting every day
1:50:40 Thanking the people who help you
1:57:18 Brand deals, ads and creative freedom
2:05:07 Pricing and the long game
2:30:35 Full circle: back to acting and music
2:44:25 Wrapping up

The Ryan Pyle Podcast is ad-free by choice. If you enjoy these conversations, you can buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/ryanpyle

Ryan's TV series are streaming around the world.

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LA sports and entertainment lawyer Jeremy Evans on how NIL, the transfer portal and collectives turned college sports into the wild west, and what it means for 18-year-old athletes.

Jeremy Evans is a sports and entertainment lawyer based in Los Angeles, California. Jeremy's journey is incredible: he has travelled the world, picked up degrees at UCLA and Pepperdine, and practises his trade in the beating heart of Los Angeles, where sports and entertainment collide. Part of the conversation discusses how the amateur sports world changed forever with NIL. The term NIL refers to the rights of college athletes to control and profit from their name, image and likeness. In the past, these rights were restricted by the NCAA, but recent policy changes now allow athletes to monetize their personal brand and endorsements while participating in college sports.

Follow Jeremy Evans on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremymevansesq

Chapters
0:00 Welcome Jeremy Evans
2:29 Growing up in LA, one of nine
4:08 Starting a sports law negotiation competition
6:10 Wanting to be a lawyer at five
8:12 Opening his own practice
10:02 Baseball and what might have been
16:07 A free-range childhood in Palmdale
20:00 Reading people
22:08 Years of school
24:29 UCLA, law school and 19 countries
28:10 First trip abroad: China
34:04 Wimbledon, Poland and Barcelona
36:12 A sole practitioner in LA
38:15 How agents and lawyers work in Hollywood
39:51 Reggie Bush and the old rules
42:22 How NIL deals and collectives work
46:18 The transfer portal
48:19 The one-and-done rule
50:03 The G League and other pathways
52:04 Baseball's shorter draft
54:08 Money at 18
56:15 Coaches and a changing roster
1:00:27 Keeping up every morning
1:02:16 Could college athletes unionise?
1:04:25 The NCAA and Charlie Baker
1:06:06 Title IX
1:08:21 Wrapping up

The Ryan Pyle Podcast is ad-free by choice. If you enjoy these conversations, you can buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/ryanpyle

Ryan's TV series are streaming around the world.

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Filmmaker and producer Patrick Briand on a Sacramento ghost-hunter documentary at 16, NYU film school, life as a Hollywood assistant, and producing Ryan's shows across Europe through Covid.

Patrick Briand is a filmmaker and creative producer living in Los Angeles. After graduating from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, he worked in scripted film and TV development at The Combine, a production company owned by actor Jeremy Renner. He went on to work in physical production, working across departments on various commercials, music videos and films. As a producer, Patrick worked with me on several of my series. Currently he produces and directs videos for agencies and brands, while spending as much of his free time as possible in the outdoors.

Follow Patrick Briand on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pb__international

Chapters
0:00 Welcome Patrick Briand
2:06 Growing up in small-town Northern California
8:17 A film education from his dad
12:02 Early influences and travel TV
16:31 A first documentary: Sacramento ghost hunters
24:36 Film festivals in high school
30:19 Choosing a film school
34:30 Rejection letters on the wall
40:00 Budgets, stars and a tough market
43:13 Patreon and paying creators directly
48:10 When everyone watched the same TV
52:10 What NYU taught him
56:40 Unpaid internships
1:00:06 The Hollywood assistant
1:03:44 Working with Ryan
1:10:40 Stuck in Istanbul
1:16:26 Filming across Europe during Covid
1:20:00 First trip outside the US
1:24:29 Montenegro and the second lockdown
1:30:06 The flight to Dubai
1:37:42 What would Bourdain have done?
1:40:02 Commercials in Covid times
1:44:15 Coupons for dog food
1:48:25 Starting again in your forties
1:52:29 Can long-form pay on YouTube?
1:54:34 Not making people dumber
1:56:28 A thousand conversations
1:58:11 Wrapping up

The Ryan Pyle Podcast is ad-free by choice. If you enjoy these conversations, you can buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/ryanpyle

Ryan's TV series are streaming around the world.

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Photojournalist David Butow on China, the Sichuan earthquake where he and Ryan first met, and photographing Trump's rise and January 6th from inside the crowd at the Capitol.

David Butow is a photographer who has spent decades travelling the world on assignment for some of the world's most influential magazines. We met in China over 15 years ago and it was great to catch up and discuss his new book "Brink", looking at the events leading up to Donald Trump becoming the President of the United States, and the breach of the Capitol Building on January 6th 2021.

Follow David Butow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidbutow

Chapters
0:00 Welcome David Butow
2:01 Texas and a first camera
4:43 Ryan's move to China after 9/11
8:00 Beijing wins the Olympics
10:02 Overland to Lhasa
12:07 Learning on every kind of assignment
20:02 The Sichuan earthquake
24:28 The school collapses
25:38 The rescue, and where Ryan and David met
38:04 San Francisco and the 2016 election
40:54 Covering Iraq
50:21 Trump at Ground Zero
52:13 The Cleveland convention and the rallies
56:20 Trump wins
1:00:14 The photos: the campaign and the media
1:07:11 Moving to Washington
1:14:13 Impeachments and hearings
1:16:31 Kavanaugh and Jeff Flake
1:20:13 Covid at the Capitol
1:21:13 George Floyd and the protests
1:26:04 Gas masks and staying safe
1:30:22 Lafayette Square
1:33:31 Inside the Oval Office
1:38:24 The night Ruth Bader Ginsburg died
1:40:17 After the election
1:48:28 Fake news and a stolen election
1:52:02 January 6th: to the Capitol
2:02:02 A medieval scene
2:06:29 Inside the Capitol
2:12:35 Documenting it as an American
2:14:21 The peaceful transfer of power
2:20:09 A message to listeners
2:24:09 Why a book still matters
2:31:26 Looking back on China

The Ryan Pyle Podcast is ad-free by choice. If you enjoy these conversations, you can buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/ryanpyle

Ryan's TV series are streaming around the world.

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