Create Your Best Life With Rex - Interview With Peter Foldy

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Hello, welcome everybody. I am Rex Sykes and welcome to create your best life with Rex. I'm so happy that you're here, whether you're watching live or in replay. And my co host Danny Welsh will be joining us in just a moment. But first I want to read you the biography of my guest. This is a one of the good guys who I've known for many, many years. He was first born in Budapest, Hungary. Peter Foldy spent his formative years in Sydney, Australia. After a family moved to Toronto, he enrolled at York University to study film, but took a 10 year detour into the music business as a recording artist on labels such as emi, Polydor and RCA Records. After he moved to Los Angeles, Foley once again began thinking about making films and he co wrote a script entitled Hot Moves that found world success and was a pioneer of the teen comedy genre. That success of that film helped establish Peter as a writer and before long he also began directing numerous educational short films. The first, which starred a young Paul Rudd making his film debut. A random meeting with veteran producer Man Golan of Canon Pictures led folding to direct his first feature Midnight Witness, currently on Amazon Prime. And that film starred Jan Michael Vincent, Max Caulfield and Hollywood legend Virginia Mayo. Other features followed, among them the HBO world premiere, Widow's Kiss with Beverly d', Angelo Tristram starring David Warner and Academy Award winner Louise Fletcher Seeds of Doubt with Peter Coyote and Silverman starring Eugene Levy, Joe Panteliano, Daniel Baldwin. Peter's currently producing and directing films aimed at the Lifetime and Hallmark marketplace. And in his producing partners have just completed their 12th feature project since 2020. So without any further ado, let's bring both Danny and Peter up.

Hello.

Peter, great to have you here. And Danny, you're here with Peter and I and together we're, we're reaching a worldwide audience. So Peter, how you doing today?

I'm doing great, Rex. How are you?

I'm good.

Good to see you again. I just saw you in Los Angeles.

That's right, just about a week ago yesterday, as a matter of fact. True, or, or a week ago today, I'm not sure, but I can't remember.

The dogs are getting restless. Those are your dogs?

Those are my dogs making noise. That's not my stomach grumbling. And Danny has spent the past week in Idaho from early morning till late at night and just got back to his home in London. So we both, we both arrived last night. I beat him, I raced him, I made it fast, quicker than he did. But.

Well, I hear there was Some weather in the States, because I had, my producing partners were flying to Kansas and they were delayed three hours. And then my other partner was driving to Missouri and he got into some kind of ice storm. So I'm happy I was here in Los Angeles last night.

It was nice. And. Oh, I see Mo Rock, Mo is the CEO, publisher, owner of the Los Angeles Tribune. Just did eight days online LA Leadership Week, and then did a, a live event in Temecula, California, with Dr. Joe Vitali. So good to have you here, Mo. Thank you. And, and thank you, Peter, for being here. And Danny, thank you for having me. So, you know, I, I, I've known you many years and I read, I read your bio, but for the people who don't know, I mean, and you've done so very, very much. How, how is it, you know, not only breaking into the business because a lot of people who watch Go, I would like to be doing what Peter does, whether they're a writer, a producer, director, musician, or actor. But they aren't quite, you know, sure what to do or how to do it.

Well, that's a pretty broad question. I think, first of all, you need a desire to want to be in this business. And I think as a little kid, I always wanted to be a singer or an actor. I have no idea why. Maybe because I was looking for more love than I felt from, you know, family or something, you know, although I did get love. But I guess I was looking for some kind of attention. And I was pretty ballsy as a kid. I mean, When I was 12, I heard about TV commercials and I called up an agent, like, out of the phone book and said, hey, I want to be in TV commercials. And they said, come on in. And I went in and they told me you need photos and everything. And I did that and I booked a couple of commercials and I kind of just fell in love with the film side. I was more excited about just being on set and seeing how it all worked. It was kind of like being in a magic, magic place, a studio with lights and all these camera guys. And also, it was fun to, to be the talent and be treated nicely and be in front of the camera. And then it was crazy to see those commercials on TV in Australia. But, yeah, I mean. All right, tell me your question again. How does one do it? Is that the question? I didn't want to.

How does one break in? But, you know, I want to, I want to. Actually, I want to stop you right there with the. Because you said something very important. You said One, you have to want to do it. And two, you called people up and said, hey, you know, I want to do this. So if I could encapsulate that, if you don't ask, the answer is always no. And you reached out.

Yeah, I would say tenacity. I would say if I had, you know, reduce a really long answer to a short answer, I would say tenacity. You just have to be tenacious. You have to want it. And you just like never take no as an option, even though people tell you this will never work. You know, I mean, I was like making films and had music on the radio and my mom was saying, you know, I heard this, this is great job available down at, you know, Walmart. And you could, you could be a manager because you've done, you know, and I, they just didn't get it. Some people just don't get it, you know, and so you have to sort of put earmuffs on and blinders on. If you really want this, you just honestly just have to go for it. And where there's a will, there's a way. And I think you have to find what path this business, you know, you're meant to be in. Like, I kind of started doing TV commercials as a sort of young actor. Then I, you know, went to film school. But then I fell into the music business and I did that and you know, that would, that was my path for a while, but then shifted back to film. So you kind of have to be open to the opportunities that show up, if that makes sense.

No, I, I absolutely.

Danny, it's so, so important and such an important message for people to, to take on board because you've got to ask the question, but you've also got to have that burning desire.

Right.

And I'm, I'm actually looking on your website right now, Peter at the side and I'm like, whoa, you've clearly done a lot and there's a page that I just want to show. If, if I may. I started taking Pictures as a 12 year old when I was given the old Kodak box camera as a birthday present. So you've got this music photography thing, all this stuff going on. We'll show the page in a second. But just tell me a little bit about Peter as a 12 year old with your Kodak box camera.

Yeah, I was very happy to get that camera and I just started gravitating towards taking pictures right away. I have a huge collection of not just, you know, my family photos, like my best friend and his wife and his kids. I have all their photos that I've taken over the years. So I've just always been interested in images. And when I got to York University years later, I, you know, dove right into photography, learning how to develop pictures. And I just love, I mean, another life I could focus just on doing photography if there wasn't, you know, if one could get another life, you know, because I do love it. But yeah, I just ran around with that camera and just took pictures and you know, I, I've got a bunch of them, a bunch of lost.

It kind of connects all different aspects of media though. And this is where I kind of want to go with it, right, because you've got the photos, you've got the music, you've got the film, you've clearly got this love of all things creative and this desire. And there's people out there right now who they might have a desire for one thing or all of those things. Rex talks about how do you break in? What can people really do to kickstart that, that journey, that path? You know, throwing the fears aside, what is, is some practical stuff we can do because this is amazing.

Number one practical stuff is sort of be good at what you want to do. So if you're a musician, you know, take music lessons or, you know, sing or get into a band and practice your craft. If you're an actor, classes obviously really help, you know, they, they fine tune your, your talent and your performance. Like be ready when the opportunity comes. And actually having those photos that you were just talking about was what helped get me into film school because I really didn't have any films to show when I applied to film school. But I told them about my life experience because that's a whole other story I don't think I want to bore anybody with. But I came from Hungary to Australia to Canada, blah, blah, blah, traveled around a lot, you know, with my family moving. But I didn't, I wasn't making really films myself as a director, but I showed them a lot of my photos and they saw the, the potential in my, in my, you know, vision, I guess. And that's what sort of helped get me into film school. And it was a pretty prestigious film school at the time I went there. Now there's film school on every street corner, but back then there wasn't.

So, you know, someone, someone told me many years ago, it might be somebody that we both know in common. But the gentleman said, you know, I have the opportunity to help people break in and, and there's person you know, one and person, 10,000. I know the person I'm going to help break in are the people who are active pursuing it, want it more than anybody else. There are plenty of people are sitting on the couch talking about wanting to do it, but the people who absolutely want it and are working towards it are the people I want to help the most.

Yeah, you have to be very proactive. And I also say if you want to get hit by a car, you got to go play in traffic. That's my old saying, you know. And there are people sitting in small towns across America and maybe they do need to take a visit to the big city and try and make some contacts and try and get into some industry events. And, you know, and I do a lot of that kind of networking and going to places and just reaching out. And like, a case in point, I've got a friend who's a young composer. He's very talented, very hard to get work as a composer because there's so many composers and people with lots of credit, you know. And I suggested to him, like, call the film commissions and all these different places where they are now making a lot of films. You know, places like, I've made films in Florida and in Oklahoma. Call the film commissions and say what films are coming up? Like, what. What's on the roster that's coming up? So I could contact them before they start their film to see if they need to compose composer. So there's always ways to reach beyond the obvious. You know, try and. Try and look beyond just like, well, I, you know, nobody called me and I, you know, I put my ad up and I didn't hear from anybody, so I guess I can't do this. You know, there's always a way. And meeting people is. Is a huge part of it, I think networking, you know, and if, you know, be nice. You know, if people like you, they're going to help you. Like you said, you know, I try and help people who have that, you know, interest in that, you know, feeling of like, they really want to do this. They really want to make something in this business. So those are the people I try to sort of help.

You know, I wanna. I do want to circle back to the. The, you know, be nice, be likable. But I want to say that, you know, when we earlier in Hollywood, you know, 40s, 50s, 60s, there was what was called the trades, the Hollywood Reporter variety. They're still there, but they're online. It's a different kind of beast. But every day we would go and put our money in the, in the outside, you know, the restaurant kind of thing and get our trades. Then there was a drama log, but there were professional papers that were professional, newsworthy industry paper papers that on particular days like Thursday or Friday, they would have all the TV shows that were in production and all the films that's in production, all the things that are being cast that you could find. But for people who don't currently get that wherever they're living, your recommendation, you can call your local film commission and say, what's going on? What's coming up, who's coming in?

You know, but even better than that, you know, invest, what is it, $10 a month into IMDb Pro. And then you get a list of what's, you know, in pre production, what's in development. You get, listen, and you could rear engineer, you could, if you want to make a little art film, look at some of the little art films that have been made and see how they did it and look at the producers and then see what their credits were prior to working on that picture. And maybe there's somebody, hey, I know a guy that knows that guy and you know, just find a way in. But, you know, know, I mean, that's, that's a good way. IMDb Pro is a good way to do it. But I'll tell you a story. You were talking about the trades and just. It's a crazy story and I've told it a million times, but I'd finished my first film and it was pretty successful. It was done for a low budget and it, you know, back in the days of VHS and made a bunch of money. It's called Midnight Witness, the one you talked about. And then that situation shut down for me and I was kind of sitting around, I had a good little first feature in the can and I couldn't get arrested. And I used to look through the trades. I used to look for Variety and Hollywood Recorder. And I saw the name of a person that I recognized working at a film company. His name was Shelby Gregory. So I called up, I said, hi, is Shelby there, please? And they said, no, she's out to lunch. And I went, oh, I was looking for a guy called Shelby. And they said, no, you got the wrong number. And I said, okay, sorry, but what do you guys do? She goes, we make movies. I said, oh, that's amazing. I just finished my first feature. What are you guys looking for? And she said, we only make Canadian films. I said, well, I happen to be Canadian. She said, oh, what do you Got. So I gave her a pitch on the phone. She said, come in tomorrow. A year later we made that movie. It was called Tryst. Now, only in Hollywood can you call the wrong number and get a movie set up. But it can happen, honestly, and it.

Goes back to asking. But now I want to circle back and then I want to have Danny jump back in. But the idea being is you want to, you want to know what you want. You want to be clear about it, passionate about it. Have tenacity, ask, you know, make sure that you're, you're connecting up. Like, you know, find out what's going on through IMDb. But that said, if they have the choice between a nice person and a not so nice person who's. All of the things that we just talked about, they're most likely going to pick the nice person. Unless they absolutely couldn't, I would say.

So I think that's a good safe bet.

Well, the reason I say that is a lot of people think that drive when they, when they, when they're showing tenacity and things like that, that they have to be kind of jerky about it. They have to, you know, be a powerhouse. And you don't. You just have to be a good, nice person with a pleasing personality and a team player and, and, and try and work together, I guess, in harmony and add value to the production instead of just being me, me, me, me. Would you let me ask you that before we, before I throw the ball back to Danny? You know, there are a lot of actors who think, okay, I have one scene on page 57. This is my big break, and it's all about them, as opposed to, hey, this is my opportunity to help further the story or the information or be a team player. You're a director, you're a producer, you're a writer, you're an actor, you're a musician. So you, you wear so many hats. What would you say to that? To the actor?

Well, I, I didn't make this up. Somebody like Bette Davis did. But there are no small parts, only small actors, you know, so every, every part can have a, you know, have an impact. And, and it's. Every part, every extra is important. Like, if I look at a film and I see some person over, you know, acting as an extra going, ah, you know, you can see they're like, you know, trying to get attention. It's just really takes your focus away from the film. So fit in and just realize, look at the big picture. I would, I would say, yeah, I.

Think to Jump in on that is kind of following on. There's a lot of folks like these days who. I do a lot of stuff in marketing. They come to me and they want the whole company built for them in five seconds with the money coming in.

Right.

But they won't go out there and shoot one tiny video. Does everybody want the, the blockbuster before the actually have one little role in one little thing that might move them along?

I, I wouldn't say so. I, I wouldn't say everybody's. Because most people don't even feel they can achieve the one little small thing. So I think people do put those roadblocks locks up. And I think that there's a, there's a process to it. And I, I, you know, I think, yeah, I mean, there are some people. I, I have run into people at parties and you talk to somebody and you go, you know, what are you working on? Oh, I'm working on a $30 million picture. I said, oh, great. And who's, who's directing? I'm directing.

Oh, great.

And who's in it? I'm in it. I wrote it. And what have you done? Nothing. Okay, well, that's being, you know, look, I'm not discouraging anybody's dreams, but you got to be somewhat realistic. No one is going to give a person $30 million to, to write, star, produce and direct. I mean, yes, it happened to Sylvester Stallone or. Although I think Rocky was maybe only 5 million or something, but it's very hard and it's very rare. And this is a business, you know, and people are not stupid with their money. So, you know, you have to be realistic if you're going to want to write, produce, and direct and start do something at a level that you can, you can get it accomplished and have a chance of selling it and financing it, which is even more important, because without the financing, of course, there's nothing.

Do, do you think, Peter, that people might dismiss the opportunity if they can't have something bigger than life? Especially these days with social media and you open your phone and there's all. Everyone's getting all these likes and stuff, and they might be like, well, my thing's not good enough, so I won't bother.

Well, I would, I would, I would hope not. I would hope not.

Me too.

The other thing is, you know, you can try one thing, and I mean, my advice would be to have more than one project. You know, I'm always juggling, like, five different things, five different projects. You know, somebody calls me up, hey, we're looking for a coming of age. Oh, I have one of those. You know, we're looking for something with music. I've got one of those. You know, so over the years, I've built up sort of a catalog of passion projects and I've gotten some made, but I'm still trying to get the others made. You know, it's, it's, it's hard. It's hard to get them made. But, you know, you've got to be sort of ready with what people are looking for at the time and what opportunities are coming your way.

This is kind of where I wanted to go with it. And just in the people starting out in anything, whatever industry they're in, whether it's art or film or music or just in business in general, it's sometimes easy to give up on that dream. Right. Because you think I'm not good enough. I could never possibly. And those kind of things, clearly you're just moving them out of the way. You're like, well, no, I don't agree with that. I don't agree with that. So what can we say to those folks who might have that blocker right now just to get them past it and get them rolling out?

I, I would just say don't take no for an answer. You know, part of the problem is that people also have to survive and people have wives and kids and families and dogs and, you know, they have to pay the rent and, you know, it. You have to be able to live. So that's part of the big problem. You know, if, if people didn't have to worry about that stuff, they could focus harder. But there's always a way to make time for your. What's really in your heart. I think, I think whether, whether you just do it on weekends, whether you come home at night and get on IMDb and look for producers you could approach, or whether you go to networking events, you do have to sort of go the extra mile and, you know, still pursue the dream while you're staying alive and paying the rent.

Wow. So I, I do know that we're getting some comments and maybe we can flash some of them up on the, on the screen because there may be some people who are watching who have a question for Peter and we'd be happy to flash that up to Peter.

Hi, Sandra.

Take a moment. And Sanders, a wonderful, marvelous person and she is Canadian as well, so she knows. And Paul is great and mo rock, you know, again, he's still here. I think the. And he was in the music business. He and still, still is. He's a publisher who made his start as a teenaged singing idol. And very cool, very cool. So I would, I would say this because now you're working in a variety of different states, and many of those states have incentives and they have opportunities for people, people to come in and, and work. What I found in, in going to different states or even in, in the different states that I, I, I live in California, in the Midwest, there's, there's some interesting attitudes and, and some people think, well, you know, Hollywood is the gatekeeper, won't let me in, and I'm the auteur and I'm so creative and I know what I'm doing. And you know, they just gave me a chance. Then I could, then I could prove that I'm, you know, creative and I've got stories and, But I think of it this way, and that is that Hollywood is a meritocracy. They want to know what you do, what you've done. They look at your resume, you're as good as your last picture, maybe. But if you're not active, there's no reason to include you because you're not proving anything. And to that end, it's not about show, it's about business. After all, when it all comes down to it, it's the money is how many tickets can we sell, how many products, ad placement can we have, how, what can we do so that we all profit? The bottom line is money. But it happens to be creating content. You know, it happens to be creating art as his product. It's like, you know, when you create a purse, you can create a purse or you can create a very artistic purse. But the bottom line is it still has to be. The idea has to be thought up, it has to be planned, it has to be produced, it has to be then distributed.

And so, but here's the good news. So back in the day, you know, there was only one way to make a film. You had to get a crew with a 35 millimeter camera and lots of lights and lots of trucks and make a big movie. There was only one way to make a record back in the day. You had to go into a big studio, which is two or three hundred dollars an hour, and spend thousands and you know, some people had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars making an album. I could do it now in my little computer. I can make a film on my cell phone if I wanted to. You can, you can actually do things yourself that show your talent and show your ability for very small amount of money. And you're talking about these little estates that I've been making films in. You know, there's these little, small pockets of industry. Like Atlanta, of course, is a big, is a big pocket. They make big projects there. But there's a bunch of places where you can get tax incentives, where you.

Can go five states that don't have them.

Yeah. So most of them have them. So if you live in one of those, or if you go to one of those and become a, you know, sort of a resident in some way, which. It's a long, complicated explanation, but you can, you can access some of those tax credits that help you make a project, you know, so. So the market is really open. It's become a world market. You can sort of make films or music and anywhere at any time now, as opposed to. There was only one way of doing it. You had to do it the old fashioned way.

Well, and you had to spend a lot of money to buy film, process the film, you know, but. But the point that you make too is that now you can do it really cheaply, but if you're not doing it, no one's going to see what you haven't done, you know, and so you have the opportunity for very low cost to be able to continue to produce and direct and to act and to write, you know, so that, and as you're doing that, you have the opportunity to get known. But what I wanted to come back to was the idea that you said, I have multiple projects because some people go in and they go, I have this script. It's the best script in the world. And they go, we don't, we don't do that kind of thing. And what else do you have? And they go, well, I don't have anything else. They go, okay, well, then the total answer is no. Whereas if you had other things in your back pocket like you were talking about, you could pull out. Because maybe, maybe the genre that you're pitching isn't for them or the budget or whatever, but something else is.

You have to find out what they're looking for. It's like they're the customer. You have to find out what they're looking for. So if you're going in with a western and they do, you know, Latin movies, you know, Latin musicals, you're going to the wrong guy. It's not what they're looking for. So you have to sort of have the product. And obviously you can't write 10 scripts with 10 different genres. Write the one that you love, write the One that you know, and then look for the people who are looking for that kind of material for the same kind of mindset that you have. And they are out there. You, you know, you can, you can meet people. Like, there's always a way to find someone who knows someone who knows someone who can at least get your foot through the door. And I, I think I'll tell you this. So I did all these films in the 90s. I was very, you know, I met when I did these short films and Paul Rudd was in it. And then I got to direct my first feature and that sort of. I had a really good run in the 90s. I did like five features, like one every year or every other year. And then a curtain came down. I couldn't get arrested as a filmmaker. I just. And I made like nice films. They want to like Silverman. My last picture of the was made in 2000, basically, you know, won awards and won best film at this little Toronto Independent Film Festival and best director. And I played 10 festivals, London and Portugal and all this stuff. And then a curtain came down and I just sort of stuck to it. I mean, I did other things. I had a play that ran off Broadway and I had. I was involved in a TV show. So I had a way to survive. But I did not make another film. I didn't direct a film for 18 years. Can you imagine? 18 years? That's like a generation. And I think most people would say, well, screw this, I'm done filming. Film has abandoned me. But just by putting myself out there, I just lucked into meeting somebody who hired me to direct something. And that led to what I'm doing now because I figured out that system of making films for the lifetime, Hallmark Marketplace. And I was able to put together a really great team of partners. And, you know, we've made 12 movies. We're starting our 13th in Missouri in late June. So. But I just saying 18 years, you know, most people would probably give up. So I'm not patting myself on the back, but it's kind of miraculous that it all came around for me after 18 years. The film business.

Looking at your, your website, there's so much on there. What are some of the, the other big things that stand out from your career that people might just not know? And there's so much stuff, people need to check out the website, I'll flash the website, but you give us some of the stuff that you, you're so proud of that people really need to go and watch. Check out. See, there's the website, but.

Well, you know, every film you do is kind of like your baby, you know, and you. Nobody sets out to make bad films. Everybody sets out to make the best film they possibly can. And you know, it's like no mother has an ugly child. So all my films are like, like my kids, you know, just like all my songs are like my kids. And some of them, you know, you know, don't walk as fast as the other ones. But they're all, you know, projects I'm proud of. But you know, I, I mean Silverman's a cool movie and it's sadly fell through the cracks of distribution and it's. It was available on DVD and I'm hoping it's going to be re released to streaming very soon. But that's one of the ones I'm proud of. You know, that was a really interesting, quirky kind of festival vibe with Eugene Levy and Joe Pantoliano and Louise Fletcher, Academy Award winner from One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. So, you know, my heart's into more sort of. I don't know what, how would I describe it? Just, just. I like sort of art films. Not, not art films, but just films that talk from the heart that have a really good story to tell that take you on a journey. I get, I guess everybody would say the same thing. But right now the films I'm making are more very genre specific. They're women in jeopardy films for Lifetime. And you know, you can make some good ones of those as well. You can, you know, you can come up with some great ideas. Even though most of these Lifetime movies are kind of rehash of the same old, same old story. But you can. I try and take pride in doing a really good Lifetime movie. The best Lifetime movie I can. For the fort budgets that we have now. My budgets have really shrunk like I was making in the 90s, you know, two and three million dollar movies. And that went now down to half a million dollar movies. So you're shooting them less time with smaller crews. You can't afford big stars. But it's still a great challenge to try and make one of those. And the best part of it is I really love doing it. I just have so much fun doing it. It's like I just, I'm the happiest on a film set or in the film or in the recording studio because I still do music. So I'm just very grateful to have those opportunities to do films and music.

There's an amazing message in that though. Rex right because you talked earlier, Peter, about passion projects and the desire. And obviously, if you can connect these things together with your creativity, you're not actually working. Right. This is, this is a cool thing.

100. True. Not working. Like, I don't have a day job. Like, I love what I do and I love doing it.

And that's why we can meet for coffee and Thai food. True, but you're not working. Right. But, you know, Napoleon Hill said, you know, yes, work smarter, not harder. It's think and grow rich. Because if your thinking is right, then you take the right actions and then you get the right results. But a lot of people do it the other way around. They work really, really hard. They spin their tires, like when they're stuck in the mud, and they. The. The tires aren't making any contact, but there's lots of activity and they think they're being productive. So, you know, the, the cool part about what you're sharing is that, you know, people should have hope. There's plenty of new avenues for people to make movies with low cost. They can do it wherever they're at. They can do it if they're driven and they're passionate for it and that kind of thing. And also they don't. If they love it, just do it. And then, and then, you know, make your. It's like make your own career. Don't, don't. Don't rely on others to make your career. I mean, that's something that is completely possible today.

Totally. And there's a lot more streaming services that are hungry for products. So you can make something, you know, and there's a way to get it seen. Whereas, you know, back in the day, you'd have to hope it gets into a theater, which is, you know, we all know how hard that is. Right. You know, so not. There's so many, you know, YouTube, but I mean, this stream is on television, you know, that you can. To be. And there's people looking for product, actively looking.

But there's another aspect to what we're talking about, and that is that we're talking about the film business or the music business, whether it's writing, producing, directing, acting, you know, that kind of thing. But this applies to almost every industry. You know, there are avenues and ways for whatever you want to do, you know, whether you want to go into finance and banking or investment or tech or into medicine or whatever, to just have that attitude to have the desire and to. And to. And to demonstrate your worth, you know, as, as a, a person of worth that somebody would want to hire.

Totally agree with that.

See, a big thing for me is that you're one conversation away. And you talked earlier about dialing the wrong number and literally pulling a deal out of nothing. Right. And I think there's a lot of people out there who are reluctant to have the conversation. And clearly, if you prepare to do that with energy and enthusiasm, things can just literally appear out of nowhere. Right. This is. This is a skill in itself. What's your thought about that? One conversation away.

So. So how I got back in after 18 years into the film business is I. A friend of mine called me up and said, hey, our friend George is like, he just wrote a movie. Let's go visit the set here in Burbank, you know, or I don't live in Burbank, but that was in Burbank. So we go in there we go, hi, is George here? And they said, no, George has left. And the guy said, who are you guys? Well, we're friends with George's. Oh, come in. You want to watch? We said, sure. So started talking to this young guy, and he's a smart young producer. And, you know, he's telling us how he's. He's making a bunch of these movies, and he started when he was 18 and made one, he sold it and blah, blah. He's just giving me this kind of formula for what he's doing. And I said, dude, I'd love to pick your brain and buy you some. Can we. Can we have a coffee sometime? So he gave me his number, called him up a week later, went for coffee, and I said, you know, I've got a Christmas script. Because he was doing these Lifetime Hallmark things. I said, I got a Christmas script. You know, I think this is perfect for you. Would you read it to. Absolutely. Give it to me. So I give him the script. Three months go by, nothing. Never hear back. So I call him up and I go, hey, buddy, I just checking in. Did you get a chance to read my Christmas script? Ah, you know what? I really haven't. I'm so busy. He said, but do you want to have another coffee? And I said, sure. So I go meet him for coffee, second coffee. And he says, you're a director too, aren't you? I said, yeah, I am. He said, send me a reel. I said, well, I would send it to you, but you're probably not going to watch it. But you know what? I happened to have it here on my computer. Pulled out my computer, showed him my. I have a little three or four minute Reel three days later he said, how would you like to direct a film for me in Oklahoma? So again, completely random, you know, the fact that he went to the set, that I got to talk to this young guy who's a producer, you know, and then I, you know, bugged him a second time three months later, I don't know.

But you were also, you were also prepared. You had your computer with a real on. You could pull out and say, hey, look, look, I know you're not going to watch it, so watch it now.

I mean, that's exactly. And three minutes of his time was great. You know, I bought him a latte and he watched my thing and I got a movie out of it and I had a great time making that movie and, you know, sort of led to my setting up my own little structure of making those films.

So you're two coffees away, right? That's, that's coffees.

I love that. Coffees away from a deal.

I just want to point out again, we have some comments here and if anyone has a question for Peter, you know, feel free to ask a question and maybe we can flash some of these comments up there too, because I.

Will say this, I mean, you're probably, you know, sitting in a small town in Iowa. You're not going to run into a producer, you know, so, so maybe like I said earlier, if you want to get hit by a car, you got to go play in traffic. So, you know, maybe if this is what you really want, if the entertainment business is really what you want, maybe a trip to New York once in a while, a trip to LA once in a while. You know, there's a lot of networking opportunities that there were these meetups for film professionals, meetups for young writers. It's a good way to meet people or even other like minded people that you could collab with, you know, so you get, you got to get yourself out there, is my point.

That's a, that's a great point. And I, and I would submit that probably every state that has film incentives has the film group or the writers group or, you know, somebody trying to get a movie done that you could, you might have to search, but you could, you could find them if you tried.

All the film commissions probably have events and you could probably register as a, as an intern with a film commission that gets you on set, that gets you in the mix. So there's always a way this keeps coming back, right?

There is always a way. And being determined and seeking that way out. I know folks who have literally Borrowed a bicycle and they've rolled to the other side of the town to go to an event and they've not had any money. And they've gone in there and they've had that one conversation and fast forward five, six, seven, ten years. They're crushing it in whatever industry. Right. Is oozing out of you, Peter. And, and in the early days, you talked about, you know, we've seen you had the, the Kodak camera when you were 12. You're running around taking pictures, you being as active as possible. Times would have been tough at some points in the career, right. And I think maybe reflect on some of those tough times and how your resilience got you through that. That I think could be. Be interested.

Well, you know, I mean, it's, it's always, it's tough now. You know, even though I'm working, it's still tough. You know, you go from one thing to another and there's, there's always issues. There's always this budget fell out, this, this actor is not available. There's always something, you know, So, I mean, the Toughest was the 18 years I didn't work. You know, I mean, I was making some money to live, but I wasn't living my dream. I wasn't making films. You know, I was kind of very, I felt very much on the, on the outside of the business for quite a long time. And I honestly sometimes think, like, how did I get through that? I just honestly don't know. But I just, I just think hanging in and having the good luck to live in Los Angeles where there are a lot of events that one can go to and, and just keep pushing forward and not really, like, like I said before, no is not an option. You just keep going, just keep pushing. And then something random could change your life as it has mine, you know?

Well, I've known you for part of those 18 years, but you were always writing. You always had something you were writing or working on or attempting to produce, and with the faith that something could come through.

I met you in the. How long have I known you, Rex? I don't know.

At least about 15 years. At least.

I wasn't doing anything when I met you. I was writing scripts myself. And I actually enjoy that. I actually enjoy writing stories and diving into another world, into other characters and creating characters. And, you know, I, I like, that's kind of therapy for me when I do it. But music is also therapy for me as well. Just like writing music and recording music, that's. It's a Whole other thing. But, yeah, you know, just. I think just hanging in. Hanging in is important. I have a friend called Stephen Kipner, and his dad is a guy called Nat Kipner, who has sadly passed away. And the guy. So he's got an interesting back, had an interesting background. They're also from Australia, and Nat worked with the Bee Gees way back in the day. But Nat was always trying to be a songwriter. For years and years and years, he just kept writing songs. And at the age of about 70, he wrote a song that was covered by Johnny Mathis. It was called Too Much, too little, too Late. Too much, too little, too late to start again with you. And it became a huge hit. So here's a man that waited all his life to be a songwriter and had a ginormous hit at the age of 70. Like, imagine that. Like, the guy, you know, now, his kid is very successful. His. His son Steve, who's my friend, he wrote Physical for Olivia Newton John, let's Get Physical, and he wrote some other. He's a really big, prolific songwriter. But that story was so inspiring, you know, like, wow, you waited 70 years or 65 years to have this huge hit. And there's a classic example of never giving up.

Well, you know, they say what. Colonel Sanders began, you know, his work at 65 or 69 or something like that. So, you know, I mean, that, you know, it's. You're never too young, and you're never too old, you know, but you. You brought up something else earlier, and that was, you know, Napoleon Hill also wrote. He said opportunities are all around you. You may not see them, so you have to be ready for when they appear. And if you're not ready, you know, you'll miss them. And if you can't see opportunity, if you can't find opportunity because you're concentrating on the problems or your woes or the suffering, then you'll miss them as well. So, you know, you talk about, you know, making a phone call here and something. The door opens or having a coffee here, but having your computer there. There's a certain amount of preparation, even if you're not seemingly actively preparing. You know, with actors, they go, well, have a headshot. Have a real. Have a, you know, resume, be knocking on doors, get in place, do whatever you can, you know, but. But you.

You.

You demonstrate and also find inspiration. I mean, if you're an actor or filmmaker, go see movies, or you can just rent them on TV now, but, you know, go see. See other people's projects and See what inspires you, or listen to lots of different kind of music, go out and see live music. You know, you never know where the inspiration for something great will come from.

Can I ask you about that? Because there's a, there seems to be. And I, I think the younger generation is in, is remarkable and they're wonderful in all sorts of. But there does seem to be among a lot of young filmmakers, they have no idea of the history of filmmaking because they could do it on their phone. They have a technology that allows them to do it, so they never had to study it. Whereas people who came before, who had to buy film or whatever, usually, you know, they saw a movie, they said, I want to do this, or they read a book, and then they read or saw everything they could. And nowadays there's a lot of, a lot of people go, yeah, I don't know who that is.

Film, Film is only, what, like 120 years old or something, if that. It's, it's a, it's a new medium, so it's not hard to study up on the history of the cinema, the history of like acting in films, you know, or scoring or composing for movies. So, you know, I mean, we have Los Angeles, we have the Academy Museum, you know, they just put in a brand new exhibit which I really want to see about the early pioneers of the film business, the Eastern Europeans who came here and started the entire business, you know, basically. So it's, it's a fascinating story.

So we've asked you some questions and talked about kind of what we wanted to ask you. But what would you like to share that we haven't thought to ask you yet?

What would I like to share about my journey?

Your journey, or about the projects you've done or are doing or what's coming up, but, and again, you know, they can find you on IMDb.

Yeah. And look, I'm, I'm open to people reaching out, honestly, you know, like I'm happy to, you know, have a chat with somebody or you know, exchange emails and stuff. You know, I, I do get sent some pitches and stuff, and a lot of the times they're not what we're looking for at the moment. And it doesn't mean, if I say it's not right for us right now, it doesn't mean you should ever give up because, you know, it's right for somebody else or it's right for you to, to set up the, set up the, the project yourself. But I'm not really sure. I mean, you know, it's it's been a fun ride, really, and I'm hoping it's not over, hoping it keeps going, you know, But I mean, you know, I had this whole music side that we didn't talk about, which.

But, well.

Well, there's another. This. God, people are going to think I got a horseshoe up my ass because, you know, I think I get all these lucky, lucky things happening to me. But I was in film school and I'd been playing in some rock and roll bands just to sort of, you know, make some extra money while I was in film school. And I wrote some songs and demoed them and I got one of them published. And when I finished my new set of demos, I called up the lady who published my first song and I said, hey, I got this new demos. I'd love to play you. She said, I. I can't talk right now. I got this guy, Bill Kearns in my office, and he just started a new label. You should probably call him. I went, really? So she gave me his number and I called, called the guy a couple of days later, and I went in and played these demos and they, you know, kind of liked the song. This was in the days when music executives wore suits and ties and smoked pipes, you know, and they looked like sort of executives. And I went in there and he listened to the song. He said, yeah, I think, you know, we can do something with these songs. And then I went away for the weekend and I came back. My mom said, this guy called. Bill has been calling about five times, and he said he wants to talk to you. So I called him the next day. He said, come on in. And I went in there and he said, we've been listening to stuff and you've got a really unique voice and we want to sign you to a record contract. And that was like somebody telling you you've won the lottery, you know, I mean, literally, like, it. It was a secret dream. I never dared to dream, you know, because, like, that was like, beyond anyone's expectations to get a record deal, which, you know, anyway, I did and the record got made and it came out in Canada. And the. This is in the 70s and it went to number one in Canada. It was played all the time on every station because there was only one kind of radio was AM radio. So if you had a hit, they just played it all the time. So that led to, you know, that was a very successful record. I went out on tour to support that record, and then I got signed by emi and then I get signed by Polidor. In the States and then RCA in the States. So that's what brought me down to Los Angeles. And as soon as I stepped off the plane in la, I thought, wow, I love this. I mean, I just. From the smell of the air, I said, I'm going to live here. I just knew I was home because I had grown up in Australia. Because before I went to Canada, there was a real similarity in sort of the vibes, the palm trees, the relaxed atmosphere. So I felt very comfortable here. So something just kind of brought me here, you know, it's crazy. I mean, coming from behind the Iron Curtain to Australia, to Canada, ending up in la. It's been a trip.

Well, I agree with you. I mean, I think LA is my power place. It's magical. It's a wonderful, wonderful place. But I gotta ask you this. You know, there are people who are lucky enough to have a film show, you know, it opens up and they may see themselves, if they're lucky enough, on a billboard for time being, you know, or the movie plays down the street. You know, it's at the, you know, a theater for a couple weeks, maybe a couple months. But you get in your car or anywhere you go and the radio is playing, you might hear your song.

Yes.

What's it like to, like, get in the car, turn on the radio. Oh, my God, that's my song.

Well, you know, it's two things. One is like, you know, it's you, like, you go, holy. I'm that guy that's on, that's on the radio right now. It's this kind of a separation between me and that person that's on the radio. And the DJ said, that's Peter Foley with Bondi Junction, you know, Toronto Weather, you know, like. Like he's talking about somebody else. Except that's me. One time I was pulled over by a copy and the song song was playing. You know, I think I ran the red light because I was so excited to hear myself. And he pulled me over. I said, sir, that's me. He goes, yeah, I don't care. Insurance and driver's license, please. But, you know, it was. It was trippy. It was very trippy. I still get a kick out of, you know, even hearing it on Spotify. I'm working out at the gym and one of my things come comes on. Spotify is kind of like the new radio now. So, you know. You know, it's very hard to get on radio these days unless you're. I don't even know how the music business works anymore. That's a whole other conversation. Sadly, there's no money in the music business except for the top 1%. But that's not to say you shouldn't do it, because you can still. Okay, I'll tell you, this didn't happen to me, but I'll try to put this in a nutshell. I have all these crazy stories. My neighbor just down across the way there, he was a musician. I'm gonna make this, like, try and make this really quick. Anyway, he and I talked about music. A young guy doing music, and then he moved away. And then I saw on Facebook that he had a manager and he was doing. Doing, you know, music stuff. And then, you know, I still. I kind of lost touch with him. And then a few years ago, I think it was in 2019, he wrote me an email. Hey, we're playing the El Rey Theater, which is just down the street from where I live. You should come out. I'll put your name on the guest list. And I thought, well, I'll go there. It'll be like 10 people. I'll go, you know, have a drink and catch his act. I walk in there, there's 1500 people all going crazy for this guy and his. And his band and his singing partner. I was just blown away because it was so good. And, you know, he said, there's an after party. But it was, like, getting really late. It was one o'. Clock. I thought, well, I'll just call him tomorrow. So we set up a coffee, and we finally had the coffee, like, just before Christmas in 2019. And I had put out this new track, kind of a new direction for me as a singer. It's called Toxic World, which you guys should check out. It's on Spotify. It's a really good song, if I do say so myself. Toxic World. So I put out Toxic World. He said, hey, man, thanks for coming last night. I said, you guys were amazing. I can't believe it. And he says, I've heard Toxic World. I really like it. How's it doing? And I said, you know, it's doing good. I got 5,000 streams on it on Spotify. And I said, how's your single doing? He said, yeah, it's doing good. We have 500 million streams on it. I went, what? You know, and then he told me the story. This is the good part. And we're all, you know, he couldn't get arrested. Him and his singing partner couldn't get arrested. Every label in America turned them down. They decided to put the thing on Spotify themselves. And they were playing in a bar and some human walked in from Spotify and said, hey, I work for this new company called Spotify and we like, I like your stuff. I'd like to promote you. So suddenly they went from 10 plays a day to a million plays a day. And through some connection they had at Spotify, they. And the song was great. I'm not saying it was a fix, it was a great song. It's called Capsize and the band is called Friendship. F R E N Ship. Like there's no D. It's a great song. So anyway, that song now has like 700 million streams and they got signed to Columbia. So there you go. Just another random story of he did it himself, you know, and it happened.

And he didn't quit. Right?

He didn't quit. And they've got some other great stuff on Spotify. So, you know, I'm a fan of this.

Well, that is, you know, again, you know, it is. Be prepared, be ready. Anything can happen, you know, expect something good to happen. And it, it might, you know, I mean, it, it's, it's amazing how often it happens. And then there's 8 billion people who, who may say, well, it's not happening to me, but it does, it does happen.

It does happen. And it can happen. And in the meantime, make good product, write a good script, write a good song, you know, you know, take nice photos, go out and network, you know, because at the worst case scenario, you've had a glass of wine, you've talked to three people and you've had some friends fun, you know, you just never know, you know, so it'll make your day and your night just a little bit brighter.

Well, be willing to be surprised too. I think some people get so dire and so down or I, I've spent time with so many people who go, oh, I can't stand this town, or I hate this industry or that because I don't get a break, as opposed to, you know, I'm doing what I'm meant to be doing. And the doors just don't seem to be opening yet. But I'm doing what I love. I make this very high Produced, you know, 15 years ago, one of the worst experiences of my life. I wanted to flee every single day.

Okay, Just, just because life wasn't working out or.

No, I was fine, but the, the project was so, so. And it wasn't. I mean, I came on as a producer and so anyway, the point being, every day I got up, I went, I'm living The dream. This is what I do. I'm making a movie. I'm actually producing a movie. I'm doing it so the ride isn't what I wanted. I'm still doing what I want to be doing. And sometimes it's tough and sometimes it's easy, you know, and if I had my way, it would be a whole lot easier and a whole lot more fun. But I'm still living the dream.

Yeah. So another cliche and I didn't make it up. But you know, enjoy the journey and don't worry about the destination. Like, and I actually have to say I love the journey. The journey's fun, you know, and the destination, if you get there and something great happens, that's fun too. But enjoy the journey because it's cool. You meet some nice people along the way and you commiserate and you share some, you know, good times and bad times and, you know, take the ride.

So cool. I want to just bring this up and I want to put this from your website up on the screen, Peter, but with the question, what would the 12 year old with the Kodak box camera say to you now? Knowing what journey you've been on.

What.

Would the 12 year old with the camera say to me now? I would say, keep carrying a camera with you. As I used to do it back in the day. I always had a camera and I was always raising take pictures. Of course, now we have the phone, but some of these shots are like, look at the guy sleeping. I mean, I was just in Paris randomly walking through Luxembourg Gardens and I just saw this guy sleeping. It's one of my favorite pictures. It just feels timeless. It feels like it could be out of the 30s. Just has a vibe to it. But a lot of the pictures I took were just, just like everything in my life were just lucky shots, you know, and, you know, just, just be ready for that lucky shot. Boy, is this sounding corny and cliche. I don't know, but you know, it's. It's what I think, you know, I'll just show you some other pictures. Have a look at the wild mild. I love this one. I was on the Toronto subway. Look at this lady. Just a trip and she's like giving me the nastiest look. But look at that picture. Wild, mild.

I love her.

She probably has no idea that she's, you know, immortalized. Well, at least on my website.

And we urge people to go and check it out. We don't want to spoil the gallery. All right, this is amazing, but.

Well, I have A large catalog of photos, you know, and I, that's something I haven't accomplished and I don't know how to do it. Like, it's hard to, you know, hard to be a, like, sort of a respected, well known photographer. But I have a lot of really cool negatives like, like on film. And I'm thinking now I might just invest the money and just do a book of like my best 50 shots. You know, it's just something that people could, you know, buy or see or I could leave to my family. You know, they get to see that I do have a creative bone in my body.

So, you know, and Walmart side of the question at this point. Say that again and Walmart is out of the question.

Walmart is out of the question. No, I won't be getting a job as a manager at Walmart. No. Or Starbucks.

Peter, I love you and I can't wait until I get to see you again here, there or anywhere. But we're going to close out the show. Before we do, I would love for you just to have any concluding thoughts for today. We'd love to have you back another time. Certainly.

Yeah, just thank you so much for having me, Danny, a real pleasure to meet you. Where are you? And so Scotland or England?

Northwest. England.

Okay.

Spent a bunch of time in the States this year though, and I passed through Los Angeles.

Call me. We'll go, we'll go for coffee, you know, we'll go for Thai food. But yeah, man, this is great what you guys do. And you know, thanks so much for having me on and, you know, I really appreciate it. It's nice to chat and hopefully somebody gets inspired to just keep pushing on from all this.

Oh, it's beautiful. Yeah. Oh, Danny just landed in LA for the next leg of his journey when I had left la.

Okay.

Are you here now, Danny?

No, I was in and out literally 12, 18 hours ago. I've lost the track of time. Right. I've not slept for a day, but I was in Idaho and then LA layover back to London and then back to the Northwest. But I'll be, I'll be back in the U.S. no doubt.

Well, I'm sure we'll meet up. I'm sure we'll meet up. Thanks again, guys. My pleasure, Peter.

Thank you so much. Hang out, hang out in our green room for a little bit. We'll be right back after the, after we conclude the show. So if you can stick around, we'd love to say see you before you go.

Thank you.

Thanks so much. And thanks so much, everybody who's tuned in. Until next time, it's been a pleasure.

And before, can, can we put Peter in the green room? And then.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, 100%.

We don't want to close it out, but Peter, thank you.

Thank you, Peter. Ah, Rex, what a show.

Well, that's what I was gonna say. I was gonna say marvelous. And, and I, I'm blessed to know Peter and to have him as a friend and to all of these years and then the many times we've been together or even when we haven't been together, you know, we, we catch up and find out what's going on. So I, I appreciate that. I'm glad that he was able to be here and be with us. I also wanted to say for those who, people who are watching, please like the show. Wherever you're watching, subscribe, wherever you can. Leave comments. You can still always ask questions, but interact, engage and share it, Share it for others. We're reaching out now. We're, we're, we're in the beginning process of this new show. Create your, I mean, I've had, Create your best life with Rex before, but it's now new with Danny and we're now, you know, we're getting our legs in terms of where we're going to be and how we're going to stream and, and there's still some tech stuff that we're working out. So please do help us share the show.

Yes.

And because I, I, I love this guy. I mean, he's incredible to be with. And, and, and one other thing. You know, the next show, which is, I believe may, I don't want to date it, but it's May 29th is our next show, whether the date is important or not. And it'll stream live, will be Douglas Day Stewart. Now, I've known Doug 50 years. He's the, the author, writer of Officer and a Gentleman. In the movie that was. Taylor Hackford directed the Boy in a Plastic Bubble. John Travolta starred in Blue Lagoon and numerous other movies. And he's going to be here next time talking about Officer and a Gentleman. He has a new book coming out, the novelized version of Officer and Gentleman. So we're going to talk about that, among other things. But Doug was very instrumental in helping me. He actually introduced me to Taylor Packford, who directed Officer and Gentleman, and Richard Gere and Deborah Winger. I didn't get the part, just so you know, but he, but he, no, I mean, Doug is a wonderful guy. And so I'm blessed to know people like Doug and Peter and so many others who are making things happen. And I'm excited about having him. And just so the audience knows, we also have other thought leaders and other people who are people about the law of attraction, Napoleon Hill and manifesting and all the kinds of things that you know us for. And so stay tuned, watch the show, share the show and and we'll try and get you all the important information before the show happens.

So just want to give quick shout outs to Pam Lacy and Alyssa Martin, Bentley Gibbons all the way over in Australia. Matthew King is on there. Alison Pickering's on there in LA right now as well. You guys are awesome. Also over in another group, James Heal is in there. Lorna Macbeth is in there as well. So we've got viewers that are not popping up in the the system that we use over Earx, but we are in lots of different places. And again, big thanks to Peter, to Rex. Super excited for what we've got to come. Make sure you guys subscribe and like and all of the stuff. And I guess we'll be back again very, very soon.

Remember, if you think of something's the problem, it's a problem. If you think it's a blessing, it's a blessing. So that's why we say celebrate everything. We'll see you next time on Create your best life with Rex with Danny Walsh and me and our guest.

Let's go. Bye bye, everybody.