Behind The Mic: Reel Life Stories with Tammy Gross

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Hello, hello, amplify you Michelle Abraham here your house. And I got you a very special guest today Tammy Gross. And she is the Scriptpreneur. And let me just tell you a little bit about this amazing lady she has oh my gosh, it's so many stories of being a writer, being in Hollywood being at all things to help people get their scripts noticed and seen. And she's got this really cool podcast called The Reel Life Stories which we had the pleasure of launching last summer. So tell me finally you're here. Feel free to tell tell us a little bit more about how you got started in this space and why real life stories? Why was that important to you? But just want to say Hi, and thank you for being here with us today.

Well, thank you. And hello, I am happy to be here. You know, the way I decided to do a podcast and to make it real life stories. Actually, for one thing, you were very helpful and me figuring out a lot of this, you and your team. But I realized that you know, one of the things I love to see as as the screenwriter, I've done actually a lot of editing. And that's really how I that's kind of been my bread and butter for since about 2010. And, and I've had a lot of screenplays come across my desk and books as well. But mostly screenplays. And there were a couple that came across that it's like, wow, this is their actual story. And in a couple of cases when it happened, it was unimpressive. Because I didn't know I didn't know anything about the person. They didn't give me any information about who they were, how they're out in the world. And their story was kind of like, Okay, well that's, that's interesting, but you're making it like you're this famous person, but I've never heard of you. But then I got a couple of A listers from Hollywood who gave me their origin stories. And they're amazing. They're actually kind of connected, because they were both in the Transformers series, but one of them is Shyla buff. And he's he's an actor that, you know, has been around for quite a while. And he gave me his his story that now, after I edited it and gave him lots of suggestions, he took almost every suggestion. And he changed the name to honey boy turned it into a movie. And it's an incredible movie, he played his own father, it's really an incredible story. It's an incredible movie. And what I learned from that, and what I learned just while I was working at it, I love people's real stories, their actual their transformation story, the other person is somebody you probably haven't heard of. But he's the guy who's responsible for like, all the cools, you know, chase scenes and everything and the Fast and the Furious transformers. You know, Kong Skull Island, I mean, he's done all of big movies and, and he's the second unit director, which means he gets to do all the action and everything. And he was a stunt person in his origins, and his whole origin story. So that is why I wanted to tell stories is because those were resounding with me. And there are people who are making a real impact, but we don't know who they are. And this is like a way to highlight somebody who is like, maybe they have a book, maybe they have a podcast. Or maybe they are just a great coach who's putting themselves out there. You know, they're the they're not Tony Robbins, but they're, you know, they're in their field. They're, they're their best. And so those are the people that I love to interview and hear what their what their transformation was that that made them want to help others.

I love that. And I think we share that in common with helping people get their word and their stories out there in the world, my vehicles podcast team. You're so I love that this is where we No wonder we wonder we get along so well. We have the same sort of mission and to help people get those stories out. And you know, it's been really fun working with you over the last little while. So you've got these incredible people that come onto your show and just share these incredible stories. And, you know, it's been really cool to watch the show develop and we first met at Podapalooza almost two years ago Now almost and, you know, you saw podcasting and then came in join our program and it's really cool. We call you a Podapalooza, baby because you're someone that came to Podapalooza got inspired to do a podcast came back to the next part of Luiza, as a feature, podcaster got to interview other people, which is really great. So you've done your first season. So tell us what the experience being a podcaster has been like, in the first season.

It's been really eye opening for me that I do actually love just like we're doing right now. I love having just that banter, and just and just, and learning more about the person, face to face, and not just through the book, but it's like an enhancement to the book, you know, if they've written a book, or if they're writing a book. And so that that's kind of really cool. I obviously, you know, can talk a mile a minute if I'm the to it. And I love having the discussions with people to draw out from some people who are sometimes more on the shy side, because there are some coaches who it's like they only work well, if they're working either in a group situation or or just one on one, but they don't cross very well. Because in their hearts, they might be writers and writers want to go into a dark den and don't want to come out. And so this world is kind of forcing us to do that. So that's been really, really cool. I've had some really, really cool guests that have come on, who are kind of of that ilk, and then I get to see them, their personality kind of blossoms as we're talking. And it's really fun to to have that happen. But also they're doing like some pretty incredible things in the world. So I'm learning about a lot of really cool things that are happening, that it's like I wouldn't know about if I weren't doing this.

Do you have a favorite episode that you've done? Oh,

man, you know, I very purposefully when I you know, sometimes when you when you do a podcast, you record a few sometimes you do in live, but in my case, I'm recording some of them. Because your team is so awesome at helping me get them out there with editing and stuff. So I actually did like probably like five or six recordings. Maybe that was that might have been through pod Palooza or my first ones came from and, and so I had one where it was a filmmaker, a fellow filmmaker, who had a lot to talk about. And that's Eugene Mandel corn. And we had so much to talk about, we decided that I had to make my first two episodes his even though he wasn't my first person to interview, but I wanted his to be the first one, a two parter. So

he's gonna have his podcasts here.

And then now one that hasn't dropped yet. But by the time this drops, it probably will have is is also somebody who totally different from everything else. But he had a really incredible story of why he does what he does. But he also kind of had an offer, not really an offer, but he had a way for the audience to contact him in a way that they might make a lot of money. They don't have to spend any money, but they might make a lot of money with investments. So that was totally different. It was totally different from what I normally do. But I think that one will resound with a lot of people because no matter who you are, it's like yeah, if there's a way that I can make a lot of money, I'll do it.

Yeah, that's so cool. I love it. So the unique people that you meet through the podcast has been a super awesome. And now as you're heading into like season two, you and I were talking just earlier, I hope you don't mind me sharing, you know, there's some things that happens to podcasters like over the force like year. So I get really excited to go out there, get the experience of launching. First of all, before we go to this conversation, I want to go back to pre launching. Now we see a lot of things. It took me four years as audiences for us to launch my own show because I had all these like nerves and things and hearing my own voice and whatever. Now I see a lot of people go through that, as well, as I'm sure you see in the scripting and telling people stories for the writing to what was your experience like going through like pre launching?

Yeah, I was, you know, same thing where but but because I had you and your team behind me, it wasn't four years. But you know, I think it was like it was like seven or eight months. So it took me a little while to kind of get it going and to have have the guts to do it because I had to you know, I am I am a writer at heart. I do want to go and I don't want to have to come out but yeah, so it took me a little while before I did it. But I'm glad I did. And once I did, then it became very natural. And I know where you're going with your next question is also about about that, you know about that next step and everything. And and so yeah, I'm really glad that I did it. And one of the things in the pre launch era is that you hear it a lot is like Done is better than perfect. If you aren't embarrassed about your first episodes, then there's some thing wrong? Shouldn't Hello.

All right. That's my favorite quote. And I post my quotes. So good.

It's, it's true. It's taught, you know, they wouldn't be quoting, there wouldn't be cliches if they weren't all true. That's cliche, but it is it is what I experienced as well as that. It's like, yeah, I just need to do it. And, and I'm, and that way, I'm not actually embarrassed. I'm actually like, proud that I did it. You know, they're not great, you know, but they're not bad either. You know, if you go back to my, you my conversation with Eugene, it was his first time ever being on a podcast as well. And so it was it was a first for us both in a lot of ways. And it was really, I think it's really good, so good that we made it into two episodes. And, and so then now that I've done a lot of those, I realize, okay, those aligned with what I love, and who I am and everything. But I do feel like I'm ready for a shift.

Mm hmm. Yeah. And I wanted to talk about the shift, because this is where people give up, right. And this is where so many people were like, oh, shoot, and that we call it evolving out loud. And podcasting for a reason. Because you started off over here with your business and your podcast is like this, you know, together align perfect. And then over time you grow, you're sharing your voice, your business shifts, COVID habits, like whatever else is in the middle of that. And then all of a sudden, you're like, shoot, like this no longer aligns with my business no longer aligns with what I want to do going forward. So how do we do this? And one of the reasons it took me four years to launch my show is because I thought it had to stay static, and it couldn't move, and it couldn't shift. And now learning that, actually, now is the best time to reassess like after 20 episodes, I say, you usually hit this point where you're like, Okay, now I've talked about all the things I wanted to talk about. Now, it's like, is this working in my business? Am I making money from this? Is it integrated in a way that it's serving me by getting in front of my ideal is the audience my ideal clients? Or my ideal, you know, joint venture partners? And if it's not, then like, Okay, let's look at or refresh or relaunch realignment, right? Love this, like rediscover what it is that you're passionate about, where you want to go, realign your podcast, reignite it, and then relaunch it, right. So it's like all these hours, the Riri redo, and it's perfectly okay. And there's nothing wrong with that. And it's not you're not, you know, giving up, you're not wasting that first season. The first season was great for what it was now second season. And when I see oftentimes happening, second season, people get a little bit more dialed in to their topic, and more comfortable with their home voice. And, and then it just keeps on going in a great way. And in fact, someone shared with me today, a show, I think you should never ever give up on a podcast. Because even if you have 20 or 50 episodes there, there's people are still gonna be listening to them over time. I was on the call earlier today with someone who has launched a podcast like seven or eight years ago, he hasn't put a single episode out in two years. Yet every month, he gets about six, five or 6000 downloads on his show. So over the course of time, people are still listening to it. People are still consuming it, even though he's not publishing it anymore. So I thought that was interesting.

Yeah, that that is that is so true. And and that brings up an interesting point you'd ask me, you know, I do have a few favorites. But But going back to let's, since I've already mentioned them, Eugene, he's got new things that are happening now that I think people will want to go back and see well, what you know, what was that? Like when he was planning that? And you know, what's, what's the idea behind this, because there's a big idea behind everything he's putting out there. He's all about solution films, which is kind of like a new genre that He's invented. And so that is something that I'm reinventing myself right now, in figuring out that yeah, okay, I've gotten a lot of these stories out. And I think that they're going to be great for people to come back and visit. There's some really interesting people on here. But I also know that I need to evolve a little bit as somebody who's interviewing but also, I want to, I want to be more helpful to the people who come on to my podcast. So I'm, I'm kind of shifting a little bit so that so that it's a little bit more almost like a not really a workshop, but kind of like a workshop. That's, you know, for everybody to kind of figure out what is best for them as they're writing their own story. And as they're, as they're trying to get their story out to the world and everything. So I'm going to be able to, to be more helpful, I think, in their journey for doing that.

Yeah. And I think just from talking to you this morning, about like some of the things not going to give away all the good stuff that you're gonna do. But I'm going to I'm going to kind of pull a couple of things out, because I think it will be really helpful for our audience that One of the things when you're interviewing other people is I kind of lose your you lose your authority and credibility a little bit. Because you're always like, you know, looking at a person app, which is great, you're hearing their story, whatever. But sometimes we don't bring it back to our own training and our own methodology and stuff, too. So one of the things that I think is gonna be great for you is, like we talked about doing like, maybe like, doing someone's script review, like live on the show. So this is like something that people would pay a service for normally. And you get to do this for two different things. One, you're educating the audience, as you're doing a review for someone person doing the review is getting your time and a consultation, how to maybe reduce rate than normal, and you're getting a podcast episode created at the same time. So I think that's a really genius way of being able to also like, integrate, and this is what we're talking about, like how can you integrate your podcast into your business, so that it makes money and it gets you with the right people at the right time, and also allows you to never stop doing those shows? Like for me my show, it'd be like something more like a podcast on a we could do live or something like that. Right? We're also how, yeah, so start thinking for our audience out there listening to the set thinking like, how can you do something in your podcasts that makes it you know, realign in a little bit more strategic way in your business? And, you know, that only comes with having done like the first season, right? And so there's no way we could have known that at the beginning that that's where we're gonna go. And that's what we want to do. So just know that you guys are all perfectly in the right spot right now. And Tim, you've done a such a fantastic job of your first season, looking forward to seeing what's coming out for the, for the second season with some refreshing and some realignment, and I think it's gonna be a rockstar.

I agree. I agree. And with your, with your help all along the way it has, it has kind of kept me focused as I as I did the first season. And as I'm changing and everything you know, you've been, you have some fantastic ideas, and I'm gonna be watching what you're doing. Yeah, you're doing some pretty cool things. So

Well, thank you, Tammy. You're awesome. And well, I hear and let's give them another little sneak sneak peek into what I'm thinking about doing that I was sharing with you earlier sat to refresh our podcast here. So what I'm thinking about doing is that I love live events. I love doing things live. I love summits Tammy and I both love summits just like our friend Kimberly crowd love summits, we actually am on a summit today. So and I have sure you probably are too. So we are going to do the podcast kind of more like a live event once a month. And so this is a new podcast I'm rolling out called high vibe leaders. The idea is that our audience, we can invite our eyes to come listen live in our members can stay and ask q&a to these leaders and these people that we have there. So when I'm serving a purpose by recording the episode, but to our audience gets to come and live and our members, this is an extra bonus part for our members, they get to ask q&a to these people that maybe they would love to meet her, you know, the type of experts that we're bringing on are going to be really cool. Then between each of those interviews, you can run it like an event for you can bring people you can even sell tickets to it. And you can also promote your own services and your own programs and products as interview between each of the interviews as well. So it's kind of like an event. And then you walk away with like a whole month's worth of episodes. So I think that's kind of a cool way of doing it. And that's kind of that's a little insight there amplify your family. So what we're doing in the future, we're gonna check it out and see how it works. But I think it's going to be a super fun way of doing doing that. So we'll see how we'll see how it works.

I love that. I think that's great. And like I said, you've given me amazing ideas so that I can do the same thing with mine, you know, do something similar, at least with mine.

Yeah, I love it. So Tammy, if you were to rewind the clock, and you're, you're sitting sitting listening to this episode right now, what's some advice you give yourself that you know, now that maybe you hadn't thought of before you started your podcast that might be helpful for some of our some of our people that are listening to me that maybe are still sitting on the fence about whether or not they want to have a show?

You know, I think I think it's it's the overthinking part. Don't overthink it, don't get rid of the perfection. You know, I'm an editor. Perfection. It's my goal, right? But even as an editor over the years, I've realized that that it's not about perfection. It's about whatever the end goal is in what you need to accomplish with whatever you're working with, whether it's a podcast, whether it's a script that I'm I'm editing, that needs to get to the right person, you know, Steve, Steven Spielberg is gonna read it and there's a couple of mistakes in there. That's not the end of the world. If you're putting out a podcast and you're being real with people and you there's a few missteps along the way. It's just being real and it makes you more relatable. And so I'm not Not saying that yes you should put things out that have mistakes no get them proofread your podcast edit it you know, you know we just had a little glitch with tech and everything so you know, get it edited if you need to and, and but put it out the best you can but don't put it off, put it out but not put it off.

I love it. I love it. Thank you so much, Tammy. That's really great advice for our listeners at home. And so guys have a look at go check out with Tamizh podcasts real life stories, Tammy grows script printer OTR. I love that title script printer. That's very cool. And make sure you go check it out, leave her some love, give her a review. And again, go check out what she's been doing and see what she's up to in season two. Watching the next few months. So thank you so much Tammy for being here today. It's been awesome to finally have you on the show. So glad we were able to do this finally. And so good. That's so good. Such good content to give for our listeners some things to think about over the next little while. So thank you.

Thank you. It's this has been great.

All right, amplify your family go out there have a fabulous week go check out the Tamizh show and we'll see you again next week right here on amplify you.