Celebrity Guest Nicole Rozema, writer and director speaks with Adrienne Barker, MAS.

right now. It's like this hydration for my kidneys, but it's good.

It's good.

All right, so it takes a second or two.

Let me get out of this right now.

And all right. Ah, Shabim, he's so sweet. He said good luck. He is dropping off his little— his little child Adrian, which I love the name, spelled perfectly for a boy. All right, it's still— it's still not connected, so I'm gonna take a second. Oh, there we go. Good. So hi everyone. When I say no prep needed, when I say I don't send out a list of questions, this is my first time talking to Nikki Rosema, right? Yep, name right there. And we literally, we, we met through Shamim. Shout out to Shamim. We're talking, but I find this so interesting. So a minute I met Nikki on Facebook Messenger with a couple of just, hello, how are you? Here's my calendar link. I'm just like intrigued and I can't wait. But this is Adrienne Barker with no prep needed. So, you know, I think the guests that come on to the show also are fairly brave because, you know, you never know what's going to happen. And so I love the fact that you're trusting me and you trust the audience. So that's great. So you— so introduce yourself because that's how we do it, right? If we were going to meet and have a cup of coffee or Gatorade, we would— I'd say, who are you? So who are you, Nikki?

Well, I, uh, I'm from Canada, Ontario. I am a director, writer. I do casting and I shoot my own films. And I'm currently the co-producer for a major project with my friend Laura for the Kaya Saga. And I love being in front of the camera and behind the camera and just I fully love watching a story come to life.

And you know what, I've been loving the story. I think that Netflix is so, so smart and brilliant with what they did with Inspiration 4. So I was like just so enthralled with watching the first 4 series, and then I got to see the shuttle come down just a little bit, like literally a millisecond, but it was so exciting. And I was reading somewhere, someone said Well, not much is going on. Like, they haven't been really, like, giving us a lot of information. I'm thinking, well, that's because we have to watch episode 5. So literally, they created a documentary live, in essence, pretty live. So they— you got us to 4, right? So we learned what happened from March 2 to when the shuttle took off, and now their return. And then I— so, I mean, that's kind of brilliant, right? And very unique.

It is. I love what everything that goes behind shooting like certain shows, just learning how things are developed, the work that's put behind it. Because as a viewer, you're always just seeing the finished product and you get to wondering, how did you make that? How did you get to this point? Like, for me, that's how it is for me anyways, getting engaged.

It really is the— I've noticed the quality of acting right now has been tremendous. I am, um, and it's interesting, some of these fantastic artists are doing like— they're not mainstream movies anymore. For instance, Nine Perfect Strangers on Hulu. Like, I wouldn't even think that Hulu would do— like, I don't even know anything about Hulu, but Hulu's doing original. But I have a major girl crush on Nicole Kidman. She is so good. And Melissa McCartney— all the actors are really good. And it's— I don't know if you've been watching it, but I, I could watch a show that, you know what, that's why I love American Horror Story, because as much as I sometimes watch it and try to close my eyes at some of the scenes, I recognize it really is recognizing, right, a great writer, a great producer, great director, an actor. So can you share with us each of those stages? So like, what does it mean to be a producer? What does it mean to be a director, the writer, and then the acting, and how it all comes together?

That's a loaded question. Um, for me, it all stems with starting with the story, like, uh, getting a decent plot and getting all the small pieces together to make it all come together. Because you can't just have an epic fight and just little bits of dialogue. No, I need to have something that grows with it, and you need to have actors that really show like that they are really growing with the character, you know, that they're really having an investment in the character. And I love seeing that, and I love giving new people a shot because, hey, everyone starts somewhere, right? And I love giving people, hey, this is what I'm seeing. Because even when I started with my own acting, I noticed, oh my gosh, wow, I sucked with that. But, uh, over time, like, everyone deserves to get some criticism. And hey, grow with it, and you get to see how it evolves in the production. And finding locations, that can be a— right?

Why, why is that?

Oh, I've actually— with Hunted, I used just the woods and— oh, and, uh, one, uh, restaurant. But that restaurant actually, um, it got new ownership and everything, so things happen over time. But, uh, With Hunted, I shot that whole thing in one day.

One day. Wait, and then what about your editing then?

Editing? I edited it, uh, I used just a GoPro for that, and I, uh, it took me maybe a few days just to make sure everything was done right. And I went on Fiverr, uh, the website, and I found a guy who absolutely loved the trailer that I put together and the project that he helped me out with the sound and, uh It just came together beautifully, and I was just so happy to actually get recognition as a female director, to get semi-finalist. I may not become a finalist, but hey, to me it's still recognition. And, uh, oh, you do, you do run into bumps in the road while you're filming, but at the same time you have to learn that, uh, go with the flow, go with what you deal with, what you've got. Don't just go and scrap everything. You have to go with the flow, work with who you've got, because everyone is there for you.

Oh, I love that. Well, tell me, with the— so for women in the industry, what is the percentage?

I don't know, honestly. I know it's very low, but I know that there's a lot of— there's, um, I know that there's individuals in Toronto that are trying to help push for more female directors and when you go through Film Freeway, I think it's called, uh, certain, um, film festivals actually have categories just for female filmmakers. I'm like, so you have a lot more people that are trying to focus on the lesser known.

That's interesting. So tell us the premise of the, um, of Hunted, just Hunted.

Okay, with Hunted, it's about a group of young adults and they wake up in the woods with no memory whatsoever. And of course you're going to be confused, like, how did I get here? Why am I here? What's going on? And they gradually find one another, but they're apprehensive. They're apprehensive because they're wondering, okay, how do I know I can trust you? Just because you're saying this, maybe you're just trying to get me to trust you. But they have to lean on one another and they learn um, that they are not normal anymore. And like, they notice that, uh, a couple of them are noticing that they can smell more, they can hear more. And, uh, it's just, uh, uh, they, uh, also discovered they are being hunted by the person who got— who took them. And he reveals that, uh, he's tampered with their DNA, uh, so that way he can, um He can bring in, uh, rich folk who are bored and have lots of money so they can hunt them on his property so he can make more money. So these people, they want to be turned normal. They don't like what's happened with them, and they get angry. And yeah, and in the sequel, they, they're looking for answers, but they don't realize they're still being hunted. I'm currently in the casting process for Hunted 2 of getting new actors in, and I'm really, really excited with where this is going.

Yeah, it's, you know, it's kind of like— I honestly don't— so just to tell you that I, when I'm looking at a movie, it takes a lot for me to like watch something comedy. I don't know, I feel like life is comedy, so I like drama, I like intense, I, I like, you know, horror, uh, but now I like horror, like American Horror Story, where there's a plot to it. So when I was watching Hunted, I was like, ooh, because you know what I liked about it? It could be real. It could. Like, there's a sense of like, this literally could take place. This is a crazy world that we're living in. How do you protect yourself to make sure that nobody takes this idea? Or is there even protection? Because it was— I was watching, I'm thinking, oh, this is such a great idea. Will someone be like taking this? And, and how do you protect it?

I do recall that, um, a few years ago I was talking with somebody else about copyright, but it was for a different reason. And in Canada there's a certain kind of, uh, thing that's like, you've already got something that is like copywritten or copyrighted, but, um, due to the fact that there's so many different ways that someone can manipulate it to make it their own version, like there's so many concepts out there for different movies where, oh, I can take a little bit of this, a little bit of that, let's take all these little pieces and make it my own thing. Like, I totally understand that, like, sure, you could steal ideas, but at the same time, in my own eye, this is my own original thing that's going on that I put together. Someone else can do up their own thing, but at the same time, at least the original thing came from me.

Got it. So you really have to keep marketing yourself. So where do you find, where do you find the, um, the movie Hunted?

I actually got the idea from a video game app on the phone, but I did not have anywhere near the funds for what all went into the game. Um, and I told friends, hey, take a look at it, and they realized, oh yeah, this is really, really old. Like, I'm sorry, it took time to get it made and actually come up with the idea of, I want to actually see this done, I want to see the story done, because the game in the, the story in the app never got completed.

That's interesting. But, and where could someone watch it?

Uh, they can watch Hunted on YouTube.

Okay, good. That's where I found it too. Okay, so on YouTube you could watch it. And if it wasn't— it wasn't long, so can you confirm it wasn't a long movie? How long is the movie?

I think it's about 25 minutes in length.

Yeah, I like that. So, so actually, so developing something like that, almost like a short story, there's a lot of— I know here in the United States there's a lot of different, um film contests, right? Yeah, where you can, where you can create something like that, put it together, and then enter it. Have you entered, hunted in any?

I've entered into, uh, a small handful of festivals, and so far I think that I have been semi-finalist in about 3 or 4 festivals. I haven't fully won with anything, but to me, to me, that's just a reward in itself, getting to be semi-finalist, to be— because at least some people at least feel, hey, it's worth something.

So are you in a room? So are you screening it with, with everyone when you're in? Like, how does that work pre-COVID, let's say? Because I have a feeling COVID would have been different. But what happened pre-COVID?

Uh, pre-COVID, um, I just got all the actors together for one day and shot it all. But, um, after that we had a lot of issues with, uh, actors and scheduling for shooting, uh, the second part. And, um, then, uh, I felt like we were running out of time, and then, uh, COVID did happen, so I had to put on hold because one of the actors, he's a lot older, like, um, 60s or so. And I was thinking, oh crap, like, you're up in that age group that is going to be affected by COVID. Like, okay, let's hold off because I want to make sure everyone is healthy and safe and, you know, not going to be at risk. And, um, uh, now that things are finally dying down and vaccine is out there and people are taking— like, I'm gonna take all the precautions. I don't need a massive crew to be shooting this, like a camera guy, sound person. I, I don't need a whole bunch of stuff on this. I like, uh, for the lizard people, sure, get makeup done on the side. Like, I, I don't need, uh, gaffers or light people and all that stuff. I like to keep things as natural as possible.

That's, that's the premise of Adrienne Barker Speaks, actually. I, I always say I don't have the fancy intro or the fancy exit, just keeping it natural and real is what I really like. So how do you monetize with this, with, um, Hunted?

Uh, I use— oh, oh, I haven't actually started monetizing.

Okay, so that's, so that's a, that's a thought. So they really— so you have to have— so you're either getting the funding, uh, yourself or you're funding with your friends and family, or looking for investors. So similar to a business, right? I mean, we have to look at film and all the pieces behind it as a business.

Yeah.

And you're, and you're running your business. Do you do anything else? All right, I know you're a mama.

Yes, uh, yes, I'm a mother. And, uh, I, with my films, I try to do my best to keep the cursing out because my oldest, he is really into filming himself, and they love watching the projects as I'm editing on my laptop. And I don't want them to hear any bad language or anything that's just not necessary to me. And I just want to encourage— I want— I love encouraging the creativity for my kids. I really do. My son, he's, he's got like 3 notebooks filled with cartoony stories, and he's always wanting to read them every single night to me. I'm like, well, It started off with me like that, so, you know, I'm going to encourage it, right?

Nikki, so you really just said something, because when you think about it, you're really right. Like, there is a lot of creativity, and for someone who would like to— like your son— a good GoPro is really like, you know, you have to get the GoPro, then you got to learn how to use it, but that's educating yourself, which is fantastic, not only for the point right now where you're ready to shoot, but for your future to really understand. I think once you understand a GoPro, you would understand other cameras and other systems. And then just like, go, go, go outside. And instead of go outside and play, go outside and shoot. And not with a paintball gun or, or anything else, but shoot your camera. They got to come up with another name for that. But like, literally, I think that that is— how fun is that? And that, you know, I think, I think the world, how we are right now, that's why a lot of like the restaurants— I don't know what's happening where you are, and I wanna, I wanna know. So right here in Volusia County, a lot of the restaurants don't have enough staff and they have to cut down time. And, you know, a lot of like, well, people don't want to go back to work, but the reality is people are getting GoPros, they're doing different things, they're having their own podcasts, they're monetizing many different ways. And then they're finding out, oh, I could do this and make more money getting Google Ads and whatever it may be, YouTube Ads, than than, you know, actually working. But, you know, it's not so easy getting 1,000 subscribers, is it?

No, it is not. Uh, I got a small collection of people, but once I do have the second one done, I do plan on doing more advertising because my original editor from way back when, when I first started with doing YouTube episodes on Resident Evil, um, he moved away for so many years to go to the States And now he's back in Canada, he's got so much more gear, he's got more knowledge. And he said to me, you know what, I had so much fun working with you, I want to get back to work with you and I want to make stuff with you. And he goes, I, I want to put my time— like, awesome, I enjoy working with you too. Let's make this together, let's, let's go full head on.

But Nikki, so you just said it, you're dropping a lot of golden bombs. I don't know if you realize it. But because that— what you just said really is true too. It's, it's like anything else, it's relationship driven. So you could have a variety of different producers and directors and actors to work with, but if you don't necessarily enjoy their style, or if you had an actor that was dropping F-bombs and you're like, really? And there's no control, that could be a problem. But wait, go back to Resident Evil because I recognize that. So what, what was that? Is that something— can we, can we talk about that for a second?

Yeah, sure, we can talk about that for a second. Um, I did a little YouTube series called Resident Evil New Gen X Archives, and I starred in it. I got— I, I wrote it, uh, shot it. I hired a bunch of different people to try with being behind the camera because to me, hey, it was just trying to be for fun. But the, the one of the biggest challenges was finding enough zombies because once you killed off a zombie, okay, sorry, we need to find a new one because you're dead. We have to get another new one. But I think that was 9 episodes and it took us 2 or 3 years because it was always getting everyone together at the right time and, uh, schedule conflicts. Like, oh crap, that's about— that's, uh, Thanksgiving weekend. Oh, I didn't think about that because I'm just looking at the weekends.

And yeah, that is so interesting. Oh, okay, so I want to flip the wheel for a second. Why, why are zombie movies so— and I'm a zombie lover too, actually. Uh, it kind of changed my life because the It gives me like— I know I get like— but, um, so growing up, The Night of the Living Dead really got me. It— so even now I wake up in the middle of the night, I have a vivid imagination. I can hear things. I, um, I— even though it doesn't make sense, I still like, like to watch horror movies. But that was my first, The Night of the Living Dead. And my brother would come over and he'd walk by my bedroom and go, Night of the Living Dead! And I'd be up all night long. Like, I wouldn't even go to sleep because that's all I needed to like, to like make me think of that movie. So why— and then there was a point where The Night of the Living Dead, and then really zombie movies didn't come out for a little bit while afterwards, and then became so popular now. Why? What is it with zombie movies?

For me, it was actually— it started for me with cosplay because I love the character Jill Valentine from Resident Evil, but not from the movie series. Like, I, I like the actress from that, but I didn't like the direction they went with her. But I haven't played every single Resident Evil game. Sorry, but I had a hard time with the camera angle on the old PlayStation. But, um, I was playing Resident Evil Revelations, the first one. And as I was playing with it, the thing that fascinated with me that for that game was the fact that then the zombies were special mutated ones. So instead of just coming across, uh, all the regular zombies, they had been there for— I think it was a few years— so that they'd had time to actually morph into something completely unique. Like, oh, so I'm actually being thrown into a new universe right off the bat. And, um, I took some ideas from that, um, with the boss fights, and I just wanted to bring as much of the game into the show as possible.

Oh, okay, that— so that's very cool. I look forward to watching that. I have to find the link to that so that I can put that on the— I'll turn this video into a YouTube video. So I love that. I also love, love, love Vampire uh, movies. And I love American Horror Story. I love— yeah, I'm such a Ryan Murphy fan. But I love the fact that they, they weeded that— they like weaved that in, and then they weaved it into my favorite place. Have you been to Provincetown and Cape Cod? Have you?

No, I haven't. No, I, I've barely been out of Canada, sadly.

Or— oh, so beautiful. Well, yeah, Canada is absolutely beautiful. I'm sure you have something very similar, but just so, so beautiful. All right, so Shamim has asked this question: Nikki, when and where was your first autograph request?

My first autograph request, I think one of my first ones, okay, uh, for through the mail, it was Ryan Merriman, and he wrote down a very special message to me, and I have to memorize because to me it was very special. He said, uh, dream big. And I think— who's the first actor? One of the first actors I met in person was actually a voice actor. Kirby Morrow. I can picture their faces, but I can't remember their names. Darn it, Shamin, you had to nail me with that. You keep up. He's always the one going after me about my old autograph website with all the actors I met and the autographs I've had.

Wait, wait, wait, you had a website that you put together?

I did, but I don't remember anymore because it's been over 10 years and I, I went over my— I hit my limit for how many images and videos I could upload to it, so I stopped updating it.

That's really cool though. That's a cool idea to do.

Now you're gonna— that, that's gonna bug me. Thanks, Shimmy, for that.

That's it. When you get the answer, let me know. That'll be fun. We'll put that in the, uh, we'll put that on the— in the writing on the YouTube. I think that's really cool.

Was it Richard Cox? Yeah, I met Richard Cox, Kirby Morrow. Ah, there was someone else who voiced Goku. Sorry, that's—

no, I'm sure you have so many different people and, and names, and, and that's cool. And then I know that Shamim probably has your autograph. Yes, which is so cool. So what— so, so two more things I want to ask you. One is Obviously this question, even though we haven't talked, no prep needed, I think that everybody wants to know, um, what advice would you have for someone that wants to get into the business of making a film?

Short, long, just do it. Have— just make sure you're doing it for fun. Have fun with it. Don't go into it thinking, how much money can I make off of this? So how— where can I get my viewership to bring as many so I can get to— no, no, make— go— if you're one of making— if you want to be making movies, do it for the fun of it, because you'll meet like-minded people, and then your circle will really grow. The real unique special people that will come into your life will be there for you, and they will help you succeed, and they will want to make it the very best they can with you.

I love that. All right, before I begin, uh, Shamim wrote Daniel Radcliffe.

I never met Daniel Radcliffe. I got a preprint from him.

That's kind of cool though. Sean Schemmel?

Sean Schemmel sounds familiar.

Uh, I like his name. Sean Schemmel.

I don't— I don't— did I meet Sean? No, I never met him. I might have sent him a fan mail request. Oh, there's so many actors. They're really—

you know what, there really are. And I, I, I, I, I think when we look at acting and realized that at one point you're just watching TV growing up, you know, just watch movies, TV, you know, love it. But then I realized, wow, like this is, this is their life, this is their art, and I want to support their art. And you could see really, like to me, I love watching a movie where there's— you don't know the actors, but you could just see that they really are like in the, in the moment and living it. And I think that, and that again, I love, I love the fact that American Horror Story, they bring in the, the past actors that, you know, have a name. Some of those actors really are only like made famous by being in previous American Horror Stories, right?

I never watched American Horror Story. Like, I saw little clips and it really creeped me out, and I don't go for that kind of stuff anymore because I have nightmares. But, um, the actress, uh, Emma Roberts, I had read an interview or some interview with her where she was talking with her aunt. I think it was, uh, Julia Roberts, and she was trying to tell her, oh, uh, there's this episode where, uh, I was like a doll with my arms and legs coming off. He said, no, no, no, I don't want to hear anymore. That's fine and that's great, you're having fun. I'm like, I could not watch that. But to her, she loved it. I could tell that she was enjoying her role, she was enjoying what she was involved with, but Julio did not want anything to do with that.

That's so— I love that story. I didn't even put two and two together. I really— I'm not that great with, uh, looking at names. I tend to stop, you know, I like documentaries, so when I'm watching a documentary, it's so— I love like this day and age. I'm so grateful to— I mean, I'm sure like our, our future generation will enjoy like being in like The Jetsons and enjoying that, but I say to myself, you know, Adrian, this time where we're alive, I'm really happy. I love the fact that I can watch a documentary like Lulu Rich, the story about Lulu LaRobe it ran, and then I could literally stop it and then I could like find the person on Facebook. And you could nowadays, you could really look at the actors, you can look at people, you could see that they really are real and kind of get a feeling or write to them and they respond back to you. I, I just love that. So, so I love your advice.

Another thing about actors that I found was fascinating, and I've been watching this, uh, Netflix, uh, documentary series, uh, The Movies That Made Us. And I was fascinated to learn that— oh, I can't remember his name— that, you know, Doc Brown from Back to the Future, that he originally tossed the script for Back to the Future into the garbage can because he wanted to focus more on theater work. And his wife told him, no, take a look at the script, take a look at it. I'm like, wow, we could have had someone completely different because actors do originally at times say no to a script. So many times, like, you have Underworld and Kate Beckinsale said no, no, she didn't want to do anything to do with that. I don't remember what caused her to actually pick it up in the end, but I was like, how many actors are out there have done so well after but first of all said no?

Exactly, that's so interesting. And also, wasn't there a point where if you were an actor you would never like actually do a commercial or you wouldn't do TV? Like, I feel like that wasn't long ago. So when I saw Hulu And then I saw that they— like Nicole Kidman, I was like, oh, that's interesting. So she's doing, uh, you know, whatever it is, 10-episode TV show in essence. And I'm like, I wonder if we asked her 20 years ago if she would say, oh no, I'm just strictly for the, the big screen. Like, I don't know what that looks like, but I'm thinking that they've had to really pivot. And I don't know if it was COVID or before COVID or what the story is.

Yeah, I know.

And, and do you think if you were going to— like, I love some of the shows right now too where they're kind of bringing us in with with COVID wearing the mask and kind of, you know, giving us a feeling of today. So you, A, you know that it's new because, yeah, it had to be shot right after. What do you think of that?

I honestly love that because I don't watch a lot of TV anymore. I watch some things on Netflix, and with me being stuck at home, like, I don't want— I didn't want to go out to be doing shopping, so I'd be doing Instacart and like giving a nice tip because like, hey, this person's doing shopping for me. And then when I see, say, the show New Amsterdam, and then I see every— like, they actually— apparently there's supposed to be an episode labeled pandemic, but because of the pandemic they haven't aired it yet. But they showed a little clip to show how the doctors are all having the special masks and how exhausted they are and how, um, everyone in the community is being affected and how the doctors and nurses feel in the hospital setting. Like, this is making it more real. Like it's showing us what's going on. Like, yes, you can read about it in an article and be touched by a little, um, video blog from a doctor saying, hey, that I'm exhausted, I've been doing this since the start. To actually see it, to how it actually is in the workplace, to me, I was like, thank you. It's not just stories. This is like— I know that with New Amsterdam, the producers actually said that, um, with some of their stories, they've actually gone around America to get individual stories to make more things, uh, I guess people more aware of things. And I thought, hey, it's not just random stories that you're just making up on your own. This is all things that to me are very educational, and I love that.

Yeah, movies that really make a point, that really can, can change the course of someone and makes you think. I, I do. I love that too. I know, I mean, in all honesty, so I'm in Daytona Beach, so sure, like, the beach is beautiful, love that, of swimming, blah blah blah, but like, at the end of the day I really just like look forward to sitting down and what am I gonna watch tonight? Will it be a miniseries? Like, I try to like— I try not to just watch all one genre. I try to like, you know, sometimes I love the musicals. But there is a fascination. I've always wanted myself to be, um, you know, in a movie or in a film or anything. I was always told I didn't have a face for it, so— but you know what, I shouldn't have listened to anyone saying that. And then also growing up, it was So I'm 59. So, you know, you had to go to California. Like, there was never like, oh, you could literally just do— like, I took film in school, so I did create a really kind of cool film in a cemetery. I was really brave. It was crazy. But really, the reality is, years ago, I don't think this generation— like, the few, actually, the few generations that we have don't think that way. But for my generation, it was like, you want to go and you got to go to California and be a waiter, and, or, you know, you got to take classes and you've got to wait. Oh, there's actually a show with, um, Michael— I can't think of his last name. He's married to, uh, Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Michael Douglas.

Yeah, yeah. And he's— he did a Netflix— it's a Netflix series, and it's about— he plays an actor who now is teaching acting. Oh, and it was good. I mean, it didn't keep me to like watch the whole series. That's what I know. If I start watching like 6 to 8, but then I drop it off It's like a book. I maybe read half the book and then for some reason it kind of— not that it was a bad book, but just I didn't continue it. Yeah, you get what I'm saying. All right, one more. Shamim is asking, when did you first get asked for your autograph? So who asked you for their first autograph? That'd be Shamim. I love that though, because you know what, that takes courage. I, I was in front of, um, a few like I don't know, it's hard to ask for an autograph. I was in front of Robin Roth from the— Robin is with, um, I don't know, ABC, the Today Show, one of the morning shows. And I, and I, uh, a man at work asked me to get her autograph. I was at an event, I stood in front of her, she was looking at me, she was so beautiful, I, I couldn't even really concentrate. And then she really— in real life, I mean, yeah, I couldn't even ask for his autograph. He's like, he was like so excited, Adrienne, did you get her autograph? I'm like, I could barely say a word to her. Like, literally, I was tongue-tied, couldn't speak, didn't know what to say, and just told her how much I loved her and walked away. Because there is— I'm not that person to ask for an autograph. So I love that Shamim has that ability to do it, the confidence to do it, because I don't have that.

So I really feel like Shamim is a bit on the fearless side because he has so much confidence and he's so positive thinking that he just goes right into it.

That's the way to do it if you want to collect autographs.

You can't be like me. He has such a massive network, and I love his positivity. I love how brave he is and how he just goes right for every single thing. Like, it's, it's admirable.

Yeah, and the energy he has too. I wouldn't mind, uh, you know, getting a little bit of that energy. I see, Shamim, you're so funny. Oh, he just wrote that my dad is amazing. I sent him My, my dad was, um, was an amazing man, and he was very into— he started a promotional products business, and then he started his art gallery, loving Disney. So animation art sells. And then my parents love toys, so they have a museum in Connecticut, and it's 80,000 toys. But I was— I moved from one area, like the Disney area, to South Florida, like that Miami area, from 2013 2013 for a few years, and I was able to go over and interview. And so I— and you know what's so funny? I was watching this clip that I did back in 2013, and it was great. My mom was at the table, my dad, though both of them have passed. And they had all the toys, and they had the picker, the guy that like literally knows the history of the toys. And my dad— I didn't even think about it— he kept saying, we'll have a show, we're going to have a show, a show out of the gallery. But you know what's funny is that we could have done that. Like, I never— 2013 Podcasts were just that, they were podcasts. And I, if I had really, if it was this day and age, I'd be like, Dad, let's go, we could do a show, we could do it ourselves, we'll just interview people, we don't even have to worry about money right now, we'll just do it, it'll be fun and see where it goes. But you know what, 7 years or 8 years ago, that was completely not even in my mind. So I'm a little disappointed. He would have loved to have a show, but I got— so I sent Shamim the video because he would have, uh, gotten a kick out of some of the, uh, tips and the things that were going on. So do you have anything to add as far as, um, like your goal? Like, where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Um, I see myself being heavily invested with the Kaya Saga.

Oh my God, we forgot the Kaya Saga!

Um, my boss, uh, the executive producer, the creator of the Kaya Saga, she wrote 9 books, uh, focused on the character Kaya, who is an Amazon from ancient Greece, and she gets abducted, uh, forced into slavery, becomes a gladiator as a result, and she will not bend, she will not break. She constantly fights with those who are her superiors of the the heads of everything. And, uh, but because of her strength, her personality, her— I don't know, she is a pain in the ass. And because of this, she, uh, pulls others in towards her that want to be free, free of slavery, get out of it all. And in the end, she causes a civil war in space. So Kaya is a mix of Spartacus and kind of like Guardians of the Galaxy or Star Wars. And it's, it's a really unique mix. It is really different. And we are currently in the middle of casting for it. We have Steven Presley working with us, and I can't divulge the names just yet, but I can say that she talks with me every single day and about actors. We're always going back and forth, and I'm really excited for this project. This is my first major project, and I'm so excited to be involved with it and to be friends with her. I haven't even met her yet, but we've been friends through Facebook for, for a few years now. We connected through Supergirl.

I— oh, Supergirl was fun, fun, fun, fun, fun. I love shows like this. This sounds like right up my alley, but also important because we need our girls to feel exactly that way, confident and determined. And when you want what you want, you go for it and you don't let anyone stand in your way. And that sounds like a great show. I think that that makes a lot of sense. So that, so that's exciting. One more question. So, so I have my beautiful niece Haley, who I was up in Connecticut, Massachusetts, read a few pages and realized that Haley's got something. So what would be the advice to a writer that's writing? Because you have to really write before you put it on the screen. So any advice for young writers or old writers? Any writer?

When I was in high school, I was always writing short stories, small stories. I could write about anything, but I noticed that I was hitting a bit of a roadblock and that I just had so many stories that I wouldn't finish off what I was writing before. I would just go on to the next one, the next one. I took a year off of writing to focus on photography, and when I came back, I had a completely different perspective and I wrote a lot better. So for me, my, my best advice would be, uh, sometimes, like, if you've been writing for a long, long time, take a step back so you can take everything in. Like, don't just— like, uh, if all you're doing is just focusing, focusing, focusing, it's gonna just— it'll wear you down. So if you take it step back, go off, go do fishing, go ride a bike, do something for a long time, then come back to it. You can have a different perspective.

That's good advice, Nikki. That is really great. I think that's great advice for all of us because we do get lost. And then the days that— and maybe the best time to do that is there are some days where you just don't— you have the lack of motivation. You're driven to like keep going, but like, so taking a break is really We all need to do that. I think that's really smart.

And you—

did you write out all for The Hunted before you filmed?

Um, I, I actually picture a lot of it in my mind first, and I plan, and then I, I sometimes do some notes at times, but mostly it's just all done up in my head. Then I'll write it out, and sometimes I'll go out and ask others, but most of the time it's just me just feeling the flow of it happening all at once, and I, I think that the dialogue that I enjoyed the most was the villain's. I, I, uh, I really enjoyed writing the villain. When I watched him perform it, I was like, I'm a good writer.

I love that. So really, there's an expectation then that if you have an actor that says, well, I need everything written down, I need to study it the night before, I can't have you go off, you know, I'm— then they're not very flexible. You would know, okay, that's gonna be perfect for what I'm doing, or no, that's— you're a little bit too rigid for me, I need flexibility. So is that part of that interview when you're interviewing an actor?

When I am— when I go over the, uh, the tapes and everything, um, and I see how much they go off tape and how they act, if someone starts to go off script, I don't like that because to me then they're going off in a direction that was not my intention. Because like I've seen that even with, uh with other major actors like Ian McKellen and a couple of others, like saying, no, the script is there for a reason. These things have been written for a reason. Sure, like sometimes if someone delivers the line in a certain way, it doesn't sound right. It's like, oh well, it's because it could have been said this way. But sometimes like, oh yeah, that doesn't actually roll off the tongue that great. And if they improvise something else, like, yeah sure, that's great. Like if they talk to me on set or talk to me about how something feels, like, yeah sure, feel free to talk to me. I'm more than happy to bounce ideas back and forth. But What I've written is how I felt it should flow, but if I see someone just completely doing off their own thing, giving off their own character vibe, I'm sorry, but I, I don't know how much I can trust you on set with getting my stories told the way I want it told.

Oh, that's really interesting. So how unusual or, or usual would it be to do to one, one run actually be able to film 25 minutes?

Actually, everyone was great.

So that all was— but that's— is that more usual or unusual?

That was pretty usual. Like, I've, I've gotten lucky that since doing Resident Evil, I've made enough connections and met up on enough Facebook groups that I've got enough of a close-knit group of people that I can talk to, that I can consult with, saying, what do you think of this person? What do you think of this person? And like, oh yeah, I didn't think of that. Like, okay, like You want to make sure that you're surrounding yourself with people that are going to be reliable and it will be honest and not, uh, uh, people who are going to be suddenly canceling last minute. I've had that a few times and I've had people cancel because I just got a fender bender. Like, oh shoot, that's out of their control. Like, I've had a couple people get in accidents before they get to me at all. I'm like, okay, this or someone messaged me the day before I got a cold. Like, okay, right, right.

Some are— some of you feel like, okay, just like deal with your cold for a day. How bad is it on a scale of 1 to 10? The other one, you have an accident, it's not like you, you know, you know, go get AAA and then come back. We have AAA in the United States. All right, so Shamim, I, I'm just thinking to myself, I should just call my show One Last Question because I never have one last question. Um, I always say it though. Nikki wants to know— I mean, uh, Shamim wants to know when your book is coming out. Are you— so you're writing a book?

My book? I, I don't have a book coming out, Shamim.

Oh, maybe Shamim means the, the Kaya Saga. Yeah, the Kaya Saga.

Um, they are, uh, I'm pretty sure that you can get the first one on Amazon. I have to double-check with my boss. It's been a while since I looked. Sorry, but I'm, uh Yeah, the first one should be available on Amazon right now, and I just need to check with my boss about the other ones.

Very exciting. So your days are busy. I love it. Are your kids back in school?

Yes, finally. Yes, yes, yes.

Good, good, good. And how is your community with COVID Pretty good, honestly.

Everyone is usually pretty good. I have not heard of any cases directly near me, and no one within my family has received it that I'm aware of. And, but my boss, Laura, the creator of Kaya, she did get COVID last year, but she is okay. I knew she had it when she was telling me her symptoms with a rising fever, and that did scare me. So I told her sleep elevated so that way, because with everyone saying when you're lying down flat, it's not going to be helping you with your lungs. So she did exactly what I told her. It got a bit scary, but I'm happy though. Like, double vaxxed. Yeah, so far so good. Like, uh, we're pretty good here. Like, I— my kid's school has not, from what I've been told, has not had a single COVID case. It's been other schools in the area. And, uh, my nephew's school last year had a couple of cases right off the bat. I'm like, shh.

Right, I know, I know. That's— I'm glad though that you don't have it. It's, uh, we're in Florida, so it's not been a lovely picture for us. But okay, so one last thing I wanted to share with you, and I'm going to share this with a lot of people. You know what, I, I love business, so I am the, uh— we have a program called SCORE. We're nationwide volunteers of, uh, expert business mentors. But one of the things— I love business and I love supporting people, and I find that one of the Best ways to support someone— easiest way, really, not the— maybe not the best, but the easiest way is just click subscribe, right? Like, that is so easy. And so when you— when, when I put on the bottom of this the information to Nikki's page, just subscribe, because why not? Why wouldn't you subscribe? It's not like it hurts you. It's nice, you'll get notified. It's so easy. When people send me their, their pages to like, I like their page. Nothing like If that's the least I could do, I am so happy to do it. So when Jamin sends me the YouTube videos and stuff, I'm always like, subscribe, subscribe. But it is also very hard to get to 1,000, and, and that's a lot of times someone wants that. So subscribing to ask— and when you're asking people, it's not really nice to ask people to subscribe but not do it yourself. So this is like a shout out to everyone, when you know, subscribe to me, subscribe to Nikki, subscribe to all those friends that you have that are working on whether it's a podcast or a YouTube video, whatever, love Facebook, Twitter, just like them. It's the easiest thing that you could do. I mean, don't like them if you really find that their content is awful, you want—

but you know, if you want to support each other, we all need to help each other out. And if we don't, then we're all just going to be sitting in the same spot we were before.

Oh, I love that. That's so true. We're all good. That— oh, it's so nice to meet you. I love doing this, uh, this show. I don't even know what to call my— what I do. I don't even— I really don't know. Candid conversation. Because I get to meet with somebody, and sometimes all you really need is like 45 minutes. I feel connected to you now. I feel like, okay, I could say you're my new friend out of Canada. So I love that. So thank you. I love it. And, and, uh, some of the pictures with you and your kids, I— you look like a kid yourself.

I love it.

I'm like, they're so lucky to have a mom that can still be young enough to, to—

the reason why I'm so small is because of my thyroid.

Oh, I wasn't even thinking that. You're, you're just saying you just— you're, you look— but oh, I'm sorry about that. That's okay. Or if you're— as long as you're healthy.

Oh yeah, yeah, I'm working on getting healthier because of my kids. And like, uh, riding my bike a lot, working out. Like, I want to try and stay in good shape for as long as I can to keep up with them. And so far I can still run faster than them, so I'm on the up.

That is so awesome. Thank you so much for the interview and your time. Thank you, Shamim, arranging this. We really appreciate it. And did you have any last thoughts or questions?

No, no. I'll send you all the links. Thank you everybody, and thank you for your support. Let's help— let's help out. Be kind.

Be kind is so true. Be kind and then watch Hunted on YouTube. Thank you so much. Have a great rest of the day, Nikki. It was lovely meeting you and talking to you. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Bye.

This is fun too.