From TV To Social Media Content With Max Price

Max: The Daily Talk Show.

Josh: It's The Daily Talk Show, episode 560.

Tommy: For the big 560, we've got Max Price.

Max: What a luck. I'm so lucky on episode 560.

Tommy: What an honor.

Max: Thanks, guys.

Tommy: It's a good number.

Josh: It's a good— yeah. What's something consistent that you've done for the most amount of time in your life?

Max: Oh, Jesus. Gone in the deep end there.

Tommy: You can't say watch porn.

Max: And I've gone through 30 things that I feel I can't say. Most consistent. I can do everything I've done, at least consistency. Actually, that's what I'm envious about you guys. I was driving in going, 560 episodes. Like, I've actually started a podcast, did 10 episodes, and went, no, I've got to do another one, and just didn't do it.

Josh: But the thing is, but you do heaps of stuff, so there must be something within all of that that, like, what is the, what is the thread if you were to pull?

Max: I've always written, I've always written stuff, comedy. Things. I just, I love writing. I love having my head— I don't like my head scrambled. And then I write things down and I'm like, ah, there we go.

Josh: Because I think Tommy and I love the idea of writing, but we've never been good at it.

Tommy: Too busy doing this.

Josh: Yeah. But how do you, how do you actually, uh, how do you format your writing? Like, how does it actually look?

Max: Um, well, with like comedy, and so I guess sketch comedy is what I've been doing for like almost a decade now. It's all Evernote, that app. Evernote is just like, I'll be having beers with mates and then something like, well, something will land on something. I go, oh, there's something there. And I used to just go, I'll remember that. And everyone knows you don't remember that. 10 minutes later you're like, ah, fuck, I forgot that thing. So then I was just like, so now my mates even know, I'll just be, I'll just withdraw myself from the conversation, make a note, and it would just be like a little insight. That's it. And then I will go away. Then I'll go to a cafe with a laptop. Yes, I'm one of those wankers.

Josh: And then Final Draft.

Max: Final Draft.

Josh: Oh, great.

Max: I'll, I'll write out the sketch spine in like in Evernote, just as, you know, just so messy. And then I try and make it all right there. And then I just like, then Final Draft is just data entry at the end.

Josh: Yeah.

Max: And then that's, yeah, that's kind of the process. But yeah, I just, I love it. That's probably the only thing I do consistently.

Tommy: And I mean, you've been creating though consistently for many years. Like I remember Elliot Loney I went to primary school with. I remember when you shot that video.

Josh: Yeah.

Tommy: Man vs Metro.

Max: That's, that's a long time ago.

Tommy: A long time ago. But like you've still been chipping away and that's when I think you and I, I probably added you on Facebook as you just add anyone.

Josh: Yeah. What is it? What are you saying?

Tommy: Didn't know him.

Josh: Yeah.

Tommy: Didn't know you. Hadn't like, wasn't like— And you accepted.

Max: Yeah.

Josh: Silly enough to accept.

Tommy: Dirty little—

Max: But I accepted like 3 Russian girls with 3 friends and then you. Yeah.

Josh: Thank you. Thank you.

Max: I get more out of them than you as well.

Tommy: But then I've seen you just having a crack. You said 10 years of sketch comedy. You've been pushing this out into the world and you found a sweet spot. From my perspective, it looks like that where you've been able to convert creating sketch comedy into something where you're working with brands who are wanting to— wanting that product?

Max: Yes, I mean, that's— that kind of stems from, uh, Sportsbet. So I took a gap year after school, and then I was going to do film and TV at Swinburne and all that kind of stuff. And, uh, I, I got a bit of— just got lucky with a job, um, as like a marketing assistant at Sportsbet, and legit getting coffees and all that stuff. Anyway, um, Slowly worked my way up and it got, you know, within like 6 months and I worked my way up just, yeah, not getting coffees anymore. And, um, and then I was gonna leave and go to film and uni and then I realised actually I would end up applying for this job after 4 years. So I was like, I'm not, I'm just gonna stay here. So I'm so glad I did that. Um, and then, uh, yeah, and then I started to see them spend so much money on TV, uh, and nothing on social And then, uh, over the course of like 6 or 7, 8 years, I saw it start to swing where they would be withdrawing money from big TV commercials and investing into social media. And they spent so much money flying heads of marketing around the world to see trends and where it was all going. So I was getting like this incredible information about where it's all heading, um, and I was like— and I'm, I'm kind of writing this all, like I'm writing and directing a lot of it with some really cool people at Sportsbet. Um, and then I realized, okay, yeah, I quit there about 2 or 3 years ago, and I went, uh, it's gonna be tough for a little bit because I'm still convincing marketing managers to, um, not, not fund the big, you know, half-million-dollar productions on 30-second TV ads they've done for 20 years and invest in this, in social, in social content where the first comment can be, this is fucking shit, which makes a lot of people, which makes a lot of people nervous. So anyway, yeah, you're right. I was, I was kind of—

Tommy: I love that they don't like the feedback of something like that, but then they don't get any feedback from television.

Josh: Yeah, no feedback is good feedback.

Tommy: No feedback, good feedback. Yeah, exactly.

Max: That's kind of the thing with some of the old, some of the traditional advertising. You just kind of put it out and go, well, we didn't get many complaints, so I guess that's, that's good. That's a win.

Josh: I feel like you're pretty meta when you— I think like 2016, you made the big leap and did Priceless. Productions.

Max: How—

Josh: because you then like having a kid, that like, that was timing-wise, I feel like that was—

Max: it was, uh, it was definitely rough because we, we, um, moved to Sydney, um, and, uh, as I was— as we were signed a lease in Sydney and, and we were literally moved into this place, fitted sheet on the bed and just like moving shit in, and my girlfriend goes and vomits in the bathroom. I'm like, hey, we're just in Sydney, you're already homesick? Don't worry about this.

Josh: And then you've got her pregnant just by putting on the show.

Max: Yeah, you're quite skilled. Uh, so, and then, so we were like, uh, we had no, we had no one in Sydney family-wise and found out pregnant. And then, uh, yeah, it was just like, well, we got to move back to Melbourne because we've got support in Melbourne and nothing in Sydney. And, uh, yeah, so we, it was going to be Sydney and then possibly America, and then it just kind of went Sydney, oh, come back to Melbourne, let's just, uh let's just reassess here with it, with a child. And then, um, but, but in that time it was also trying to like work out a business, you know. You guys are running one, um, and I was always part of a big corporation, so I was just in the marketing team, never having to deal with anything else. And then, yeah, then you got to learn how to, you know, accounting software and this and that. And then obviously we underquoted a job a couple times where we we were in the red big time. And, you know, you're editing this job, you're editing like this funny content knowing that you're losing money.

Tommy: But at that point, it's a freebie.

Max: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Josh: That's—

Max: and that's brutal. So yeah, and what I mean by that is I made a lot of mistakes from like, you know, which you're meant to do, which is great.

Tommy: And he's not talking about the, the pregnancy.

Max: Yeah, no, that was one too.

Josh: But great, a great mistake if you're watching in 20 years over.

Tommy: Yeah, it's No, it's exactly what happened to me. It was the first year, I think, that I'd started my business and Amy fell pregnant.

Josh: The fitted sheet thing. Was it the fitted sheet?

Tommy: It was Daleston. To be honest, it was actually the fire at the end of our bed that made it all happen.

Josh: What's the fire?

Tommy: Oh, we were in Daleston. Okay.

Max: Is where it happened. Mine was at our going away party. Legit.

Tommy: But I think like it's all hard. So having the kid thing is forced upon you.

Max: Yeah.

Tommy: Environment. That is just a lot of stress.

Max: That like 6 months of first 6 months. I've been telling everyone for 6 months is awful and then it's heaps of fun. But the first 6 months is where your life just gets turned upside down and, you know, the no sleep, the sleep deprivation, and you just then you got to try and meet people and be normal and like walk out the front door like nothing. Like, you know, I haven't had the shittest night's sleep ever.

Tommy: Yeah. And so when you go to a comedy Combine that with work. I left a small HD monitor, $1,500 monitor, in the park. And it was—

Max: I get it.

Tommy: It was when I had no— it was, I was so tired and I just was like, oh, literally, I'll put this down for one second, I'll pick it up, and then just walk off the other way. I don't do that shit. Like, that's rare. That's the first time I've ever lost anything.

Josh: Yeah.

Tommy: And it was in the midst of just being fucking sleep deprived.

Josh: What about the stress of trying to convince your partner that what you're doing is the right thing?

Max: Oh, I've got a good partner. Like, she backs me to the hills. And she's actually helped after, like, you know, doing the mothering thing, which she's doing amazing on. She's come on and started to produce stuff for the business. But no, she was like, obviously there's stressful days and all that, but she just backed us in. And yeah, and I think like she's starting to see the the benefits of it now, which, you know, we're still a long way to go of being like— I'd love to scale and get better and bigger and all that. But, um, but yeah, it's, uh, she backed me. So it wasn't, it wasn't—

Josh: Did you feel that though? Was there ever like— because obviously, yeah, people can be super supportive, but the internal pressure—

Max: I actually think that if it wasn't because of the pregnancy and the— and having a, having a daughter, uh, the I'd be working half, half the intensity that I was working. Yeah, because I was just like, fuck, this has to work. Yeah, I've got a dependent now and all that.

Tommy: Well, I think it's like this show, the consistency of it, you would think would take away severely from any other productivity, which it does in terms of a bit of time. But I think like for us over the last year, being able to achieve any, you know, make any money Like, I think if we didn't have the podcast there, something that's forcing us to sort of show up each day— a kid does the same thing, it's a forced pressure, it can't just go away.

Max: Yeah.

Tommy: And so you do find the best version, or you try and sort of dig deep to see how much capacity you do have. So you expand, right? It's like when you take on a first role with the young marketing assistant, your capacity's here because you can't comprehend a whole heap of shit at that point. If you don't know, you don't— what you don't know, you don't know. And so it sort of like elevates your ceiling, your brain, and it's like an expansion.

Max: Oh, absolutely. It's a good way of putting it. You, you know your limitations and you understand, you start, you just start breaking them and you're like, oh, actually I can do that. And that's, and that's like the power of big thinking, I guess, which I think just making cash versus doing creating sort of fulfilling work.

Josh: That's how do you—

Max: that's big. That's a great question because I, I'm I see a lot of people who are, you know, the houses and the cars, and then you have a drink with them and you're like, they're like, I fucking hate what I do. I just go, holy shit. Like, that's the opposite of the opposite of what my— what I want to do. Like, I, I, I just try and yeah, I've tried to create my own work over the last 2 years and continue to still have heaps of fun and make sure it's comedy and You know, like even some of the acting stuff is not because I want to act. It's because budgets are small. Someone's got to do it.

Tommy: And now you're on TV.

Josh: And but it's—

Max: but yeah, I can safely say at the moment I'm loving like what I'm doing and, and hopefully and like the financial side will, I believe, will catch up.

Josh: Was it a hard pitch? So I guess 2016 the idea what you were doing. So I had a production, uh, business doing sort of corporate video stuff. There's an extra layer of what you're doing, which is you're providing unique creative. They're almost originals that you're selling in, right? It's like, yes, it's for brands. Did you find that harder at the start or easier in regards to finding clients?

Max: Uh, I actually thought it was, uh, our point of difference, which therefore meant that it was easier because you know, I, I did think at one point that, you know, what corporate— like the videos and like, like there's, there's a lot of people that say we do it all and we can do that and this. And I was like, ah yeah, why don't we? And it was one of those, um, you know, Gary Vee-esque kind of people that were like, oh, you know, if you just stick to your, you know, if you sell— what is it that there's like, if there's two restaurants on each side of the road, one has a menu with 150 things on it and the other one just sells ravioli, like you're more likely to go I reckon they'd do that, that pretty good.

Josh: Yeah.

Max: And that 150 things, pretty average. So I was like, that's for me, that was the comedy. I was like, let's do comedy and just bar everything else, say no to everything else.

Josh: What about people that don't like ravioli, using that analogy? So if you're going in, I guess like say there's a bunch of companies that are like, they're just getting into the business of doing video.

Max: Yeah.

Josh: The marketing manager is like, like, how do you sell in the comedy thing or do you need primed people that are ready to invest in that?

Max: It's a mixture of two, I reckon. There's, there's brands that just have, uh, that fit comedy. Um, hence Sportsbet have like, that's their, that's their brand position to be like entertaining and funny and whatnot. And the other side for brands that aren't traditionally funny is, uh, to say that for social content you're more likely to have some success with comedy content. Um, not, you know, just the CEO on a, you know, in the background just saying, this is a good company, you know, like, you— no one's gonna watch that shit. But if you can somehow— and it's still got to have like some kind of brand awareness. That's what we try and— that's what we write in scripts and trying to make it not too in your face so people actually watch it. But, um, but yeah, I, I just think, um, some brands suit it and then some brands you just have to say, yeah, do you want your content to be seen organically, or is it just going to fall through? And, um, I reckon either it's comedy, something incredibly informative, your cats— obviously cats videos, um, and, uh, yeah, or something in like epic slow-mo.

Josh: In the early days, did you ever actually just do a straight corporate video?

Max: Yes.

Josh: Yeah, yeah.

Max: Uh, I hated it. I hated it because just because you you're miking up boring people.

Tommy: It's funny.

Max: You're in a set or you're in a room where no one's having fun. It's like the person on camera just hates it. The cameraman, the sound, and even the client, you're all just going, let's get this shit done. It really did. It felt like that. So I was like, okay, let's bar this stuff.

Josh: Was it a bit of a pivotal moment? Like, or did it feel that clear?

Max: I actually don't think it was. That clear until, um, yeah, no, I actually don't think it was. I just think it progressed into— we, we started to get approached, um, saying, yeah, it turned into, hey, these guys do comedy. So we attracted people that wanted comedy quite quickly. Um, so yeah, I wasn't able to like weigh up the boring videos and the fun stuff, um, as much as I, um, thankfully didn't need to.

Tommy: Yeah, it's like, it's such a— I love the time because it's— if you were doing something like this 20 years ago, 30 years ago, it becomes a comedy company or serving the networks where that's the only real avenue for the content. But nowadays it's like brands, you know, this glass company could be willing to drop $10,000 on some kind of piece of content that now can cater. So it's like it's forever opening up these new doors. Like this probably wasn't accessible 15, 10 years ago even.

Max: No, even like it's still becoming accessible. Like, you know, that's, that's the half, half the battle for me is like I never wanted to be a salesman, but it is a lot of that when you walk in, you walk into a marketing meeting with a new client who's, you know, a bit older and done, done traditional media forever. And then they're skeptical. They're just skeptical. And then you've got to try and sell the Daewoo car. I mean, it's not a Daewoo car. It's kind of— it's a great car, the social world. But it's also, you know, selling it to someone who, who has never seen one before. So, yes, that's been— that's— I mean, I'm never going to be a fan of doing that, but, but it's necessary because then it gets to work.

Josh: If we were hired by you, Priceless Productions, and you, you were creating a sales team, Tommy and I had to go out and sell what you offer. What would you be saying to us? Empower us to, you know, connect with clients?

Max: Oh, that's good. Um, maybe, you know, pose the question to everyone in the room: how many TVs are plugged into the wall with the antenna? Because a lot of them aren't anymore. Like, you know, there's a lot of people that just—

Tommy: mine isn't.

Josh: Yeah, so the, so the problem there— so are you identifying that the first, the biggest barrier is selling in even the distribution.

Max: Exactly. So when I reckon a lot of brands get their budgets for the year, their marketing budget, they'll have people knocking on the door who have knocked on that door every year for whenever they started it.

Tommy: Oh, they just walk in now. Yeah, they don't even knock.

Josh: Just, hey Jeff, I'm here.

Max: Yeah, Jeff, we're doing that same thing again. And I'm just trying to break that barrier a bit and going like, hey, why don't we take some of that? You know, you can still advertise on this and then, you know, still put a bit of— put an ad in a newspaper or whatever. But why don't you actually play with— in this space now? Because I know you're getting told you have to and you should. And I know it's a nervous time for, you know, to make a bit of a switch. And, and yeah, so that's, you know, that's the convincing. That's all it is. It's just trying to convince them of that.

Josh: And so if it's— they've got like a $2 million budget from a marketing spend perspective.

Max: Yeah.

Josh: How do you communicate what they should be spending from a content? Because obviously there's also the nuance of like, uh, okay, we want to do some paid stuff around this, so there's going to be cash that they spend on it that isn't even going to see you, it's going to go straight to Facebook.

Max: Zuckerberg. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Um, well, it's, it's, uh, it depends on, it depends on each and every one of them whether or not they They want to match the budget with the spend behind it, match the production budget with the spend behind it, or go smaller. Or at least with Facebook, you can target— like the incredible ability of targeting the person you want as opposed to just like, you know, radio where it's just, you know, throwing in the, you know, like you just put it out and hope the person who the demographic you're selling that product to is listening at the right time. Whereas Facebook, you can put some money behind it and find out like, hey, like drinking out of short water glasses and on tables. Whoa, hey, this turns up in your feed. So it's a, it's, it's, it's a power. Like, I'm, I'm quite behind it and I very much believe in it. So that helps. And yeah, so I just, I just think that if you were ever selling a product and I'm sorry, I digress for a second. The other thing would be when you do your big TV campaigns, I actually do think there's a solid, you know, it legitimises brands. When you've seen on TV, you go, ah, they're a real thing. And what they sometimes do is they get that big, that 30-second hero piece, and then they just put it online and they wonder why it sucks.

Tommy: Yeah.

Max: And all I'm trying to say is, well, you know, give them a little bit less, give us a bit. And that same brief that you're giving them to do the 30-second creative, give us a minute and a half to do something that will work more on social because it's designed for social. And that's, and that's starting to be received a bit more. But yeah, you still, still battle daily with Sportsbet.

Josh: You obviously working internal, it seems like you do a good job of direct-to-client sort of stuff. How does agencies and middlemen fit into what you do?

Max: Hasn't it? Hasn't. Not, not for any other reason than I just, yeah, we've just been going because I know, I know they'll just take a chunk. Yeah, that's it. I know, I know they'll Oh, we've done one thing before and it didn't work, and we bypassed them and went straight to a client and they loved it. And it was the same pitch.

Josh: Yeah.

Max: So what they did is they said, hey, can you send us some ideas for these guys? And we sent it to the agency and they said, don't think they'll like them. And we're like— and then it all fell through. 6 months later, I hit up the guy who owns the business and I was, you know, went and pitch the same ideas and he loved every one of them. We've made two and we're going to make the third.

Josh: So it was like, what's the learning there? Agencies are getting in the way.

Tommy: Well, what are the—

Josh: what are— what's their roles? Why do you think it's not succeeding?

Max: Well, the, the agencies— well, we're an agency really. Like, if you break it down where we are an agency just designed for social at the moment.

Josh: But what's the difference? Because it feels like there is a difference potentially. So you've got production companies.

Max: Yeah.

Josh: And then you've got agencies. Was it a specific have you made a specific choice of where going after? We want to be the agency.

Max: I, I don't know why. I guess when I were at Sportsbet, we worked with a very big agency and I really just didn't, I didn't like it and I didn't like the people in there. I didn't like the culture, the vibe. It felt very wanky. So I was always been like very anti-agency.

Tommy: Yeah, but there's definitely, you're not, I think you hit the nail on the head. There is a vibe to agency. Big agency models.

Josh: It feels a bit disconnected potentially, especially on the end of being a creator. You can see how little they're actually putting into creative or thinking. Yeah, getting shit across the line. And then how much of the shit is based on our ability to execute. But you think about how many things that they don't actually know that you're processing.

Max: That's very true. And I also think the creative is damaged because of the, the amount of hands it goes through, and it you know, a good idea just gets diluted down to no one now likes it because everyone's put their fingers on it and like modelled it and the whole creative has become blurred and shit. And, and then the— no one likes the final product. And so I guess that's just the benefit of being small. But, you know, is that going to be damaged if you go big? I don't know. I just haven't, haven't given that too much thought just yet.

Tommy: Well, think about Gary Vaynerchuk. His agency, a huge— VaynerMedia. I don't know any content that that's done. Like, you think I only know his content stuff? Yeah, I've seen a Super Bowl thing that I was like, I just watched, I was like, that's just made by a production company that looks kind of cool.

Josh: They're different business models, aren't they?

Tommy: Like, definitely.

Josh: Where does— where do you see what you're doing? Like, if you look at, say, traditional older businesses So like you see Radio Karate, what Hamish and Andy, yeah, you know, have done. Then you've got the corporate style production, which is sort of your Visual Domains of the world that have 50 employees and pumping out heaps of content. Then where do you fit in the original versus the corporate?

Max: It's a, it's a, it's a great question because the other thing is I, you know, we are doing we are— I'm co-writing with Troy Kinney and co-directing with him a, um, a sketch show on Channel 10, which is traditional media. And they've been great. I really, really enjoy that, doing everything with that network and the production company we're working with. And, um, yet I'm kind of like being a hypocrite on both sides. But I just— I would love to grow, um, to do bigger and bigger and better things. I just know those budgets are going to swing more But I think that the ability to, um, to do some, uh, do some original content for streaming platforms is just going to be ever-growing as well. And, uh, you know, the great thing with these little sketches and that smaller content is it's really good testing ground for, for the bigger idea. Like, you can kind of go, oh, that was— that worked and that was cool, and people— it was really well received. You get like to test content on audiences which are Facebook, and if it goes quite, you know, viral, or, you know, there's a lot of engagement, you go, well, we should maybe build on that. And then, you know, so I'd like to do the second season of, uh, Kinney, and then I don't know, maybe work on just something longer form. Or, um, yeah, I'd love to be able to do a large project and then like fill it with these kind of the smaller stuff that I've been doing. But, um, at the moment it's just working my ass off and seeing what happens and making sure it just remains fun, which it is at the moment.

Tommy: When you're writing a sketch, like, when do you know that you've landed on an idea that's funny or that will work?

Max: I think, well, we, uh, it's— there's nothing worse than having it, yeah, like a client that just goes, just, just go for it, right? You know, because it just— we, we have no boundaries at all. It just— when it becomes too open, what happens in those moments?

Josh: Um, when you go open, what do you do?

Max: We actually go, do you have any, um, do you have any decks or PDFs or stuff with just like, you know, customer, just stats. Just give us something, give us demographic, give us age groups, give us all that. Then we can start piecing together what, what will be the content that will resonate with that person. Um, and then we can now, now, now we can play in a, play in a space. Um, and then yeah, whether or not they're creative sessions with, uh, like at the moment me and Luke Goodall. I don't know if you know him from Goodall and Gallagher. He just has a little separate comedy group, but me and him are both creatives on Priceless. And then with Kinney, it's Kinney, myself. But yeah, it's with, with Kinney, The Kinney Show, we're all about being relatable and playing in that relatable space. And we've seen other sketch shows do pilots or a season and they don't really have— they don't really have the thing that they want to convey to people or a perspective or point of view, whereas we're very clear with Kinney that it's like, you know, we want to be just so really, really relatable and resonate in relationships and mates and at home and at work. And, uh, once we, once we put that in concrete, um, ideas are kind of easy, uh, because yeah, you can only shoot so far and you will get something.

Josh: Do you find that brands are okay with being self-deprecating?

Max: I think they're getting better and better.

Josh: Yeah.

Max: I mean, I know a lot of people because I think, I think it actually went way the other way a few years ago that they've, they've come back like everyone got really soft and went, oh no, you know, and everyone straight bat everything for like 3 or 4 years. And then I've seen we're getting people going, you know, we want to have some fun with it. And yeah, I think it's coming back, which is, which is great.

Josh: How much are you thinking about like key messages? So like, say you did the, the KO content where it's like the, the joke is you're asking about numbers or whatever and people are saying 6 and 4 and doing all that sort of thing. What's the, the first thought on a joke like that? Is it we want people to be watching this everywhere, including at work?

Max: I, I wish I thought about it as much. No, I, um, for something like, something like that, you know, there was a few things they wanted. They wanted to convey that you can watch it on multiple devices, um, and then you can, you can just scroll back and you can, um, yeah, you can watch it anywhere and make sure. And so, so straight away we're like, okay, cool, how can we, how can we show multiple devices, uh, with a few people, uh, you know, we can watch it anywhere. Work meeting and then the comedy bit of the, the boss not understanding that he's not a part of the conversation they're a part of. And this is all kind of like, yeah, it's hard to really like go step by step on how that all, how that, how our brains thought of all that. But it just kind of, yeah, that's why a good brief helps, helps a lot because we can, yeah, we can really break it down. And then by the end it's actually just more like a jigsaw puzzle than being really creative.

Tommy: Well, yeah, having constraints and understanding where you can push it to.

Josh: Yeah.

Tommy: Well, then being creative with the constraints for sure.

Max: For sure.

Josh: What about clients being on set with this type of thing?

Max: Don't mind it. Don't mind it at all. They— I guess the, the good thing at the moment, which is not like as in the budgets are quite small. So, so they haven't got their, you know, video village where they sit under a tent and get fed berries all day and then watch a monitor and go, you know, oh, do that again. Hey, the shirt is a bit crinkled, get the crease out. It's like they have to stand over our shoulders and look at the monitors we're looking at and they don't get seats and stuff. So, so, you know, we obviously we, we look after them, we'll take their direction, we'll take their notes, we'll, we'll do what we can. But, but because the budgets are quite small and, you know, usually we can only do a day shoot, that's, you know, only 8 or 10 hours. We've got to get it done. So, uh, we have— we kind of make sure that the scripts are quite in their spot before we get on set, um, because they can't— they kind of have to be. We can't really sit there and ad-lib for 2 hours. And yeah, yeah.

Tommy: What's a— what's a brand that you think is, uh, what brand do you think— it's more so you go the obvious brands that are spending money on this kind of stuff, versus the, the outer left field brands? Is there any that you're speaking with that are like, it's an odd, it's an odd coupling, but it probably will work for them to get comedy?

Max: Oh, um, there was— we did have a client who was, um, who was— who did money, uh, they did small business loans, um, and, uh, and that, like, when we first saw everything, we were like, oh, this is— everything is so straight. And, um, and yeah, it was, it was more just like— and it's a global company as well, so they were, they were, um, everything had to go through this New York office and make sure it was all— so I was, I was really confused by why we were approached, and I'm still confused whether or not we were just right place, right time, um, or, or they actually wanted to do comedy stuff. But it's— but for what I realised is the, the marketing manager, I think, was just looking for an outlet because I think everything that, everything that they'd done had been so like, you know, I just imagine a marketing manager for a straight down the line brand would just see like approved just boring thing after boring thing and just almost was like, just let's do something fun for a little, you know, even though it's a small part of our strategy. So that, that's, that's kind of been cool. Yeah. But, but usually when we've gone to approach brands, it's, it's, uh, we've seen something before or we've, we've got a feel that they, they would be inclined to, um, be receptive to humor. Uh, so we've, so we've targeted them. So, which is also, which is also great because it doesn't mean we're targeting everyone, we're targeting specific brands.

Tommy: Yeah, I mean, a lot of people start out doing sketches or copying sketches you did, uh, yeah, or Aussie Adventures.

Josh: I would always do parodies of that, or the panel. Amazing.

Tommy: That was my first One, I think with cameras so accessible now, there's probably more younger kids doing sketches.

Josh: We're doing TikToks now.

Tommy: I guess it's TikTok.

Josh: Yeah, you like TikTok?

Max: No, I'm— that's on LinkedIn.

Josh: TikTok.

Max: Now I just— I now understand I'm old now. I saw the TikTok thing come along and I, and I just went, I don't feel like learning that one. I'm sure I'll get around it at some point.

Josh: I'll have to. But, uh, well, Gary Vee, I Because I feel like sometimes we create these connections around like, ah, Instagram's big, and there was a bunch of people that said that Instagram wasn't big. I feel like that's the reason everyone's going on TikTok. Yeah, I don't know if it's the same fucking thing, right? It's almost like, ah, the, you know, this meal that turned out to be a good one, so do you want to eat this bag of shit?

Tommy: Could be good.

Max: Because you can literally say, uh, TikTok's going to be the biggest thing ever, and then a second later go, TikTok's going to be shit, no one's going to use it. And then 10 years just grab— I'll just grab one of those clippings. Yeah, exactly, from this video, and just be like, I told you.

Josh: But I did. Yeah, it's— yeah, I mean, Gary loves getting in into that. But no, I think the TikTok one's interesting because I never think— if you look at the core of what the product was, Instagram was never about like dumb shit, like doing dumb videos and all that sort of thing. Like, what would— what would the adult— if they— if they say that TikTok is going to, um, age up? You know, they say like, oh, it's going to get—

Tommy: they want it to age up. If it ages up, it'll spread like Instagram.

Josh: Is it like Fleetwood Mac, like songs instead? What does that look— what does it actually look like? How would you age up TikTok?

Max: I don't think I—

Josh: what's that? Just rants?

Max: Yeah, angry people maybe.

Tommy: I mean, there's some random shit, like something I've become— yeah, I spent a lot of time on TikTok, 30 minutes, no, watching, um, tattoo removal laser videos. Oh dude, is it good? It's so satisfying because he— yeah, I saw one guy with like, he put like a, um, what do you call it, like an eye lens or a contact lens, but it's like a, it's solid so it like shields it. And then he puts goggles on and then he was doing like, um, right near the eye line tattoo removal on the lip. But it was like, this is the shit. So businesses like that who can tap into something where there's, you know, you're watching something happen, a process, or pool being filled, it's like a pool changing color. I've watched that shit.

Max: No, I'm just watching— I think just to just go down a conversation wormhole, like a, like a rabbit hole on YouTube, I love watching, um, uh, people that are colorblind putting colorblind glasses on for the first time. I fucking cry hardcore.

Tommy: We can make one of those. Mr. 97's colorblind.

Max: Are you really?

Josh: But not enough.

Max: I think it would make a difference. Yeah, get the glasses. Yeah, let's do it on camera. Yeah, yeah, I'll come in and cry.

Tommy: What about baby hearing for first time? That's always sweet.

Max: I love that shit.

Josh: What about brands that come to you and say, hey Max, we want to, uh, we love everything that you do, want to do that, uh, the colorblind thing, but we want it to be on TikTok. So how, how much are you, uh, do you need to use your own filters versus being like, fuck it, they're paying, let's just go with it?

Max: Um, well, I, I have already understood the, the vote, like, because I do look at stats and of the, of like the growth of that, um, of that platform. And it's, it is kind of scary how quick it's growing. I did go on a family, uh, family holiday with a couple other families, and one of them good family friends has an 11-year-old girl and with an iPad. And it was just the whole time I was like filming TikToks for her. She's like, she just throw me the iPad and go, I'm going to come around the corner and do this. And then so I just had to. So and I just know that that's, that's one 11-year-old girl and there would be like just hundreds and hundreds of millions of the same kind of girl and guy and boy just making, making all these TikToks. So it's, you know, and she loved it. She was like so, so passionate about it. And I was like, okay, okay, this is the thing. This isn't— Yeah, this— So I know I need to keep up to speed with all this stuff. I have got it on my phone and I've left the notifications on and they send you one every day.

Tommy: Oh my God.

Josh: Because they actually— On the Apple Watch, they actually show you like a thumbnail. Oh, and they're always fucking weird TikToks. So you end up just with sort of pre-teens or whatever, like your girlfriend, who's that?

Max: Yeah, it's a bit weird.

Tommy: It's how many people are on TikTok.

Max: Sorry, even things seem like— I don't know if I have one now, but it's, you know, my boyfriend told me something this, and it's just like, it looks, it looks just dodgy from— yeah, Mrs. is looking over the corner, so it's just TikTok, babe.

Josh: Yeah.

Tommy: Oh, what a weird time. Mr. 97, how many people are on?

Max: 500 million monthly active users.

Josh: That seems like a lot of people.

Tommy: It's a lot.

Max: Oh wow. And what's, um, what's like Instagram monthly user? So 500 million.

Tommy: Well, I think they're probably at a billion.

Max: Yeah, a billion monthly active users.

Josh: Yeah.

Tommy: So they're halfway, halfway there and they're much newer and they're on the rise.

Josh: Yeah.

Max: So, um, yeah, I mean, I can like— this will almost sound controversial, but if I, if I wasn't in this game, um, I'd probably deactivate all my accounts.

Josh: Sure, I think I would do the same too. Yeah, have you got off before?

Max: I've deactivated a few times, you know, just like 6-month stints and just, um, what were you doing in the 6 months?

Tommy: Where were you?

Josh: No one knows.

Max: Yeah, I was in hiding for reasons I can't disclose. No, I, um, I just, you know, like, I, I like to be on the creative side, not the consuming side. So I, um, sometimes I just, I'll just have like a bit of a brain snap where I'm just like, what am I fucking doing? And I just, I just like close everything down and get back into like, yeah, what I want to do rather than just sitting there, you know, scrolling for the 800th time.

Josh: Yeah. I mean, I struggle with that. I retired from social media.

Tommy: That was a good stint.

Josh: Yeah, that was over 6 months.

Max: Yeah, great.

Josh: But, and it was, the plan was forever. Yeah.

Max: But then it, so it was my first time.

Tommy: All right, this is a recovery.

Josh: Yeah, it's hard, isn't it? I go the other way though, like now My thing at the moment is I'm like, when I came back on, I'm like, not really posting anything. I need to post some more stuff, but I feel like I'm just entering into the same cycle.

Max: For sure. For sure. Yeah, it's, it's, that's like, I'd almost love, um, just someone like, if I could do a virtual assistant. Yeah, I heard about you. I've listened to your virtual assistant stuff.

Tommy: We need one.

Max: I did like that. I, I agreed with you where you hear people go on about it and then and then they, you know, when you get communication from them, you're like, that's not you.

Tommy: It's a myth.

Max: That's someone from Philippines.

Tommy: No, I don't know anyone. Ghosts. Who do you know personally? You've seen one? It's always a friend of a friend. A ghost.

Josh: Yeah, sure. There's a friend of a friend thing last year where there was that fake thing about a terrorist, a terrorist attack in Chadstone, and someone had told me, I was like, oh yeah, a friend was picking up her wallet and said, don't go to Chadstone. 'Oh, this time.' And then someone else said the exact same thing. And then so it turns out that this fucking rumour had just started in like a massive way. You're kidding.

Tommy: So no one knew the person? The person never existed? It was fake? And so it all spread.

Josh: And so, but then you have to speak to the person who, like, because there's always the person who it's their friend. So it's like, who the fuck is— like, what? And it always turns out it's like, 'Oh no, I was just like Like, they just— you just exaggerate a tiny bit and it gives you enough confidence. So I was texting people going, don't go to Chadstone.

Max: Oh Jesus.

Josh: Yeah, anyway, you did. You fucking— I said, I am part of the problem. I was like, he's a friend of mine, so you can't get in on it.

Tommy: So yeah, the virtual assistant thing. So, but do you think having— we got the terrorism from a virtual assistant. Yeah, that was quick too. Um, So you, you have to think that it— there's a strong enough case against around staying on social media. Yeah, this is getting off it.

Max: Yeah, I just think that, um, you know, just because a lot of the social content's pop culture and things that are happening, you know, like, if you, if you can create really good content that's really reactive and relevant to trends, um, that can be powerful for brands. Uh, and so, so yeah, so I kind of You are. I reluctantly just, yeah, yeah, yep, cool, that's a thing now. And then we've been— then we build off that and try and turn it into something good. But at the same time, I, uh, I just think I could, you know, everyone would get a lot more done.

Josh: But I, I'm always surprised that, like, I think about, like, I knew about all of, like, your transition into, you know, doing Priceless full-time, and that never would have happened if social media wasn't around. Even like, um You just, you mentioned your mate, the Galligan.

Max: I feel like, yeah, yeah, the, the podcast, like the orange logo.

Josh: I remember I listened to all of those. Yeah, I remember. What was your Get Shit Done or something?

Max: That's how I get shit done.

Josh: I listen to all, like, it's funny how people are like consuming content from the outside and you never hear from them, but it's still headlines, it's headline media.

Tommy: So you know what's, if you just sort of But not even headlines.

Josh: If you're doing a fucking podcast, if someone's listening for 40— like, I reckon there's probably a bunch of shit that I heard then, which is sort of then educated me about the questions around like the transition and how hard it was and all that sort of thing. I don't know how the fuck I know that.

Max: I do. I think I'd love to— if you could like have a setting on Facebook where you could just be the creator and then not— and not consume anything, then I would just totally just press the button and upload things and put things out there. I just, um, I just don't— I just don't like consuming a lot, which, yeah, which means I'm probably just gonna get real grumpy and right-wing when I'm like 80 and just be full of conspiracy theories.

Josh: What do you enjoy consuming, um, and what platform, where is it on?

Max: I, I love, um, yeah, I just love Netflix. I love Netflix. I think this stuff that they're putting out is, um is really great. They understand what gets people and they've, you know, they would do a lot of analytics on like, you know, crime and like Making a Murderer. And then, you know, 6 months later, like 4 of them come out and, you know, so I love watching that stuff.

Josh: They're doing stuff on YouTube now too. Netflix is not a joke or whatever. Oh yeah, yeah. Whatever that is.

Tommy: There's an Instagram account too.

Josh: Yeah, but the YouTube stuff's really interesting because they've got, um, Tom Papper and Fortune or whatever, like they've—

Max: all right, they're making originals on there on YouTube, which is really cool. That's cool. Yeah, I don't, um, yeah, I, I'll just Spotify, listen to a lot of music. Um, I love listening to sleep playlists. I sleep with that shit. Yeah, great sleep.

Tommy: What is it, just music?

Max: There's a whole category of just sleep music, like thunderstorms, thunderstorms, and then there's like peaceful piano and stuff.

Josh: Fuck, what piano?

Max: I'm soft on that shit. Peaceful Piano.

Josh: No, I don't know. Peaceful Piano.

Max: Just out of tune. I just love it.

Tommy: I just got sent my, um, like wrap-up for 2019, your top songs. The first one is I Like to Move It, Move It, the Madagascar Escape to Africa soundtrack. The second song, Hans Zimmer. Don't think it's for me, it's from the Madagascar soundtrack.

Max: That's great.

Tommy: Uh, the third song is Post Malone.

Josh: Good.

Tommy: Are you about—

Max: you made number 3?

Tommy: Yeah, yeah, because my son first watches, then me.

Max: I mind, like, my— if I go whatever, you know, I've been listening to recently, I put on shuffle, it would be like Black Keys into this like really slow thing on like a, on a violin. And I was just like, this algorithm is fucked on my Spotify, I need to reset. Um, but yeah, and I read, I read books. I like, I'd never used to read, I used to hate it. Um, and then I And now I love it.

Josh: How did you fall in love with reading?

Max: Um, just listening to people that I like and respect saying it was cool. Yeah, and then I tried, and then, uh, and then I was like, okay, I might give this a go. And then I—

Josh: Do your eyes get tired?

Max: Yeah, so I reckon it's perfect before bed. So I read for like half an hour and then I, then I'll just— yeah, it's like—

Josh: and then you listen to sleep—

Max: the sleep— then I'll have my sleep music started already.

Josh: Really?

Max: I get half an hour of that in, that And then I'm—

Josh: how bright is it? Are you reading in your bedroom?

Max: Uh, well, this is getting quite personal. It's a nice little, little cheeky lamp next to my bed. Yeah, yeah, Mrs. hates it.

Tommy: What about the music? What does she think?

Max: Oh no, she gets around that. Yeah, yeah, we do.

Josh: You read out loud?

Max: Yeah, uh, I just hear director's commentary on, on as I, as I read.

Josh: What are you reading at the moment?

Max: Uh, actually, so I've got there's the— I'm reading the Mike Tyson biography, autobiography. It is epic. I actually didn't think I'd like it at all. And I cannot stop reading it. He lived the craziest— well, he's living the craziest life. And yeah, he's a, he's a, he's a beast of a man. So I don't know, because sometimes I read like comedy, you know, books on becoming better at writing and business books and all that kind of stuff. And then sometimes you're like, shit, I just need to escape. Yeah, into something else. And then this is great to read because he's fucked up a lot.

Josh: Really? Yeah.

Max: So I feel better.

Josh: Do you ever use him as an excuse? Like if something happens, you could say at least I'm not Mike Tyson.

Tommy: Hard to relate when you have a tiger or when you leave a nightclub with a few girls and go buy them a few cars.

Josh: Yeah. And then he's describing Mr. 97's Los Angeles habits.

Max: So yeah, no, that's, and that's all I really think I consume. And The Wiggles. Oh yeah, fucking shitloads of Wiggles now with a 1.5-year-old.

Josh: It's amazing how much they've sort of—

Max: it's actually, it's, it's a lot, a lot less than I used to watch before a child.

Tommy: It's full-on how kids are just so obsessed with screens.

Max: Yeah, it's crazy, but it's, um, it's hard to, it's hard to, it's hard to fight it unless you have like I don't know, you have like a magic, like a ranch with just like things for them to do.

Tommy: Exactly.

Max: We live in the modern day of like a house or an apartment, you're like, in a ranch, like what's—

Josh: describe the ranch. What do you want? I was like, horses.

Max: Neverland Ranch, but without the pedo element.

Tommy: Yeah, you're right.

Max: So it's like, you, is it like lots of rides, you know, things to do, lots of like, uh, run around and get like, if they live Exactly. If you had something big where they could just go off and entertain themselves. But when you're living in this day and age, it's kind of this— there's so much you can do before it's like, okay, Wiggles and Netflix.

Josh: Are you in a house or an apartment?

Max: A house in Camberwell at the moment.

Tommy: I mean, more space for a child. They love it. Camberwell.

Josh: That's where my favourite cafe is, isn't it? Heritage Wall.

Max: Oh, I don't know it.

Josh: Really? I go there every Sunday. Yeah. Yeah.

Tommy: It's just his favorite. Doesn't mean it's the best.

Josh: Yeah, it's really good. They do like smoked eggplant.

Tommy: Yeah, I have seen it.

Josh: Look good. Yeah. Really good smashed avo as well with some pomegranates and that sort of thing.

Max: I might get around it.

Tommy: 2020, what are you sort of looking forward to?

Max: I love, I love the Skinny Show. I love working with Troy and the, and the, and the little family we've kind of put together of talented humans and I think we're doing—

Josh: Oh, you were talking about your actual family then, the way you just put it together.

Max: Yeah, not that.

Josh: Little collab.

Max: No, the acting, the acting and the crew and all that. That's, it's, you know, I think we're doing 15 days shooting or something like that. And that's all we end up— we always end up around like St Kilda.

Tommy: And I saw you shooting last season in St Kilda. I was just walking past and you were all across the road like just the Ackland Street, Barkley Street.

Josh: A lot of Port Melbourne. I feel like I've always seen like in Kenny does, you sort of like point, like look over there or whatever. It's near the sort of Spirit of Tassie, maybe.

Max: Yeah, we're down that way. Our production offices are in Port Melbourne. So that's so much fun and it just feels like, you know, you get thrown in together for 15 days and it's 6 AM till, you know, 6 at night and you're shoulder to shoulder. And then it, you know, just feels so good when you've wrapped shooting. So I'm looking forward to that, which is kind of— I have to like pause on the priceless stuff for 2 months, which is a little bit, um, painful. And it's— I'm trying to work out how to make sure that still runs smoothly while I'm away. And then, um, and then yeah, I would love to just do more longer form stuff, so longer form TV. Um, and then yeah, it's— I do enjoy cracking briefs for brands. And if we can move into bigger space, um, as well, I do think yeah, we're in the right direction. And, um, just make sure we're still having a lot of fun. What about you guys? What's 2020? What are we doing?

Tommy: We're closing out the table. We're done.

Josh: No, no, liquidation.

Max: We're ending on 5:16.

Josh: Does Priceless want to buy us?

Tommy: This is absolutely not. No, 2020, yeah, I think it's, um, I haven't even stopped to think about this year, to be honest. I think we're just getting through the year. Yeah, taking a little bit of time off while the show goes out, pre-recording in, so, a week. But yeah, I haven't, I mean, it's just, we've hit some milestones, but it's hard when you're sort of flying to really, because this space is amazing.

Max: And yeah, it's like you could, you could get, you can do a lot of stuff here, which would be awesome.

Josh: Yeah, I think we're trying to, um, like, we're working on over the break, I'm working on the website and trying to work out, because our big media company website does a horrendous job. It was literally, we, uh, Tommy and I did it, uh, a year ago when we were in Los Angeles at a Starbucks, just pumping out just whatever we could, just so it looked like we had a business.

Max: Oh, amazing.

Josh: And that's great. So, but we did that, but then it hasn't actually like It's one of those things where it's like, now this shit's not going to last, we'll get back to it. And then you forget. Yeah.

Tommy: And then the hard thing is that you can make quite a bit of money not having that dialled in. And so that's where it does lose the attention based on it, like not being the make or break.

Max: That's a— well, this, this is an interesting question. Like, do you reckon you businesses need websites now to, to get new business? Um, so excluding, excluding like e-commerce stuff.

Josh: Well, I think that you need to be, you need to be good at externalising what you do. And so, uh, where we have struggled this year, especially the second half of the year, is the Daily Talk Show has done so well in regards to taking over our brand and what we're about that the companies that would normally come to us for more that sort of traditional online like our bread and butter has been the short-form docos for brands. So it's like, oh, we want to do a hero video explaining our origin storey or who we are. That's the stuff that we do. A slight misalignment at the moment with the Daily Talk Show and that. And so I think that it is definitely important to make it very clear and obvious as to what it is that you can help people with. I think that what makes what you do so great is like what works so well is that your original content is an extension of the client stuff. So all the client stuff is the extension of the original stuff. So the— if I watch a KO, uh, integrated piece that you make, um, or, you know, an original piece for them, it's not too dissimilar to something that you would see on Kinney or anything else that you've done.

Max: Yes.

Josh: And so you're able to and a lot of video professionals can use the product that they have as the communicator, and that negates the need for a website.

Tommy: But I think we always— so we always look to the niche or someone who, you know, so the advice is getting into business or wanting to create an audience, find the thing that everybody else wants. Fishing, talk about fishing. There's already a bunch of people who like fishing. But so you could, I could look over to there from here, or even our style of business looking to yours and thinking, ah, it would be much easier if I just had the ravioli. If we're taking it back to the original metaphor, if we, if we only could sell ravioli, it would be so much simpler. Is it?

Josh: You would have to get comfortable with saying the word.

Tommy: I know it's clearly not there. Are you okay selling ravioli? Is it easier? Do you know what I'm saying for it? No, no, not over—

Josh: no, we're not saying that's good stuff.

Tommy: See if we've had a struggle communicating what we do because we've got a few things happening, we're trying to find our footing. We think maybe it would be easier if you just had one thing to offer as the exclusive thing. You do ravioli well!

Josh: But you do it well, you do what you do but you do KO brand behind the door, behind the door.

Max: Is it?

Tommy: Do you hate white label? White label ravioli. That's his business.

Josh: White label ravioli.

Tommy: Selling only ravioli. Is it all it's cracked up to be? Like, do you still have the struggles of going like, oh, but those people over there are, you know, selling a few things, so maybe we could do that.

Max: It's kind of—

Josh: we got there.

Max: It's— trust me, like most, like, especially when when I first started, it would be so much easier to do. Like, I could own 2 houses if I did a wedding video as well. But fuck that.

Josh: From ravioli.

Max: Yeah, from serving ravioli. I could just, yeah, I could, I could do.

Josh: That's the reason that I feel like that's a very common— I feel like that's a slight cliché that we all use, which is like, man, if I was happy doing work that fucking— hey, yeah, I'd be so rich.

Max: It's so true. I know. I'm sure Troy's would be fine. When we say this, his brother's an accountant. He's got a great, um, little family. They're, they're great humans. And he's, he's loves— he's happy. He's a happy accountant with a happy family and everything's good. And Troy and myself, like, fucking asshole, that would be great. It was just— if that was it, you know, accountant job, got my family, got the house, that's it. But we just— it's— we're built to want, like, you know, there's individuals that are built that need more.

Josh: But if you look at like, I mean, we're just looking from the external, right? That's exactly right. From the external, from what we see each other. Exactly, yeah. I'm sure shit—

Tommy: he's been cooking the books, he's about to go to jail for many years.

Josh: Yeah, um, no, the, uh, if you're watching, shout out.

Max: Sorry if this caused anything.

Tommy: I'm gonna name my tax return.

Josh: Yeah, from— yeah, I guess that external— so from like, uh, my perspective anyway, it's like, uh, 2016, very hard year for you. You have the— this is a completely external viewpoint— the Channel 10 thing, really good, uh, win, gives you a bit of financial stability, an injection of cash every year or however long it's happening.

Tommy: Yeah.

Josh: Then you can freeze up a little bit of time that you can then reprioritize the types of Priceless productions you're taking on.

Max: Correct.

Josh: So you can go to those types of things. Yeah, I mean, the—

Max: yeah, I guess it's just interesting, the external perspective, for sure, that, um, you know, the, like, the Kinney stuff was— has been just incredible. Yeah, from like, uh, the— just to financially keep myself able to not make an irrational decision like doing wedding videos or corporate videos or starting a pasta shop. But, uh, so yeah, so I'm able to kind of like have a bit of insurance, um, just to, yeah, just to keep, keep fighting what I'm, what I'm trying to do and what I'm fighting for. And then, uh, yeah, so I, I'm very thankful, thankful for that. But I'm never gonna— I don't think I'm ever gonna, um, get bored of doing comedy regardless of what platform it's on. Um, so if I just stick to my guns on that front, um, like we had a shoot yesterday and day before, and, you know, we're just laughing all day. People at the end of the day saying, I had so much fun. And it's just, it's nice to be able to create that environment and with, with good people around you. And yeah, if I can do that all the time out of like, you know, 365 days, I can do that like 100 days a year, it would be awesome. That's, that's it at this stage.

Josh: Do you have the internal stresses? Like, say for instance, like if you look at the contrast between where you were and where you are now, I feel like there'd be a significant difference. But do the stresses remain similar?

Max: They're, they're, they're getting like, I'm stressed, I'm stressing less. I think that's maybe partly maturity and then also partly experience and knowing that like, yeah, it's not the end of the world. We had a actually the shoot we had yesterday for it was for a brand called Knobby Underwear. Happy to say it because they're legends.

Josh: Um, and you have a coupon code that people can use?

Max: No, I don't. I need to set that up.

Josh: Um, just max price.

Max: Yeah, just see what happens. Invalid. Um, I, uh, yeah, they, they had product from Sunshine— so brand new product that no, they haven't even seen yet, that, um, for Australia Day in February next year. Um, they had samples come from China, uh, land in Sunshine Coast, and we had a shoot Yesterday, and they had a courier taken from Sunshine Coast overnight and they had to be on our door by 8 a.m. in the morning. And they said someone will arrive throughout the night and you have to sign for it. So me and my partner asleep, like going, was that the door? Was that the door? And they didn't turn up in the morning. And then we got in the car to go to set with no product to shoot. So we had 15 people and we were just going to be like, Okay, we're going to have to— me and Luke, we're going to look good. We're going to go into another room and rewrite the whole script to just how can we do it without the product. And as we were driving halfway, we get a call from the courier saying it's here. We booked an Uber to— and then we called up the Uber driver and say, hey mate, you're not actually going to take anyone. You know, we're just going to put— this guy's going to put a box in your car. So I had the courier waited. Uber driver came, he put it in the and then it turned up. Now, if I was doing that 2 years ago, I would be pulling hair out and just like in— I don't get hives, but probably have hives just from how stressed.

Josh: What's the difference?

Max: I just started, I think, problem solving and being able to like go, okay, you know, it's not the end of the world. You know, you're not going to die. You're not going to— nothing bad is going to happen. You're going to get home and you're going to, you know, you're going to piss some people off. But fuck, it's not the end of the world. But also the ability to, with some experience, in writing and filmmaking and filmmaking is, you know, as you know, it's all just about problem solving. It's like, okay, well, you know, I just thought more rational and yeah, we were going to be fine as opposed to 2 years ago where it was just like, well, what's the point? And I would have probably, yeah, got another job.

Josh: How do people know that you're stressed on set? Say you're 13 days into a 15-day shoot.

Max: Oh, they'll feel it. No, we, um, because I'm kind of directing most things or co-directing, like, I understand the importance of a good vibe on set, especially for comedy, and especially to allow crew and cast to feel comfortable. And, and so I, I'll make sure I, um, I'm never too, never too stressed. I'm pretty happy for, um, for you guys to ask actors that I've worked with.

Josh: Do you overcompensate potentially? Like, sometimes If I'm having a shit day, I'll say to 97, bring it, let's bring a vine, let's fucking get into it, get excited. I actually asked for it. I texted him a few weeks ago and asked if he could play the song. What is it? What is it called? It's the one. I feel the earth move under my feet. I wanted to arrive to the office with that song playing, which is slightly obnoxious, but I messaged him and I came in and there was some fucking like Passenger was playing. I was like, what the fuck's going on? He hadn't looked at his phone. Oh, it ruined my day. So he doesn't work with us anymore. So how do you bring the vibe? What do you— do you have any tricks? Smile?

Max: I think it's just making sure— yeah, it's like, yeah, just instilling confidence in crew and cast that like, that was a great— that's a great idea to shoot from here, and that's a great take, that's a great way you're doing that. Even if it's not, even, even if it's like, you know, you just do some sandwich stuff of like, oh, that was good. Yeah, I could do less of that on the next one, but otherwise it was bloody great. But yeah, you know, and obviously you get the idiots that you work with and you work with once and then—

Tommy: and why is everyone looking that way?

Max: Yeah, you work with them once and then you don't, you just don't give them another call. You just get the— you get the—

Josh: not that he would answer. He doesn't cheque his phone.

Max: Um, no, I don't know. I, I don't— I definitely don't try and think of it like with it like mathematically or just like a with a system. I just kind of very observant on set, and if I, if I, if I start to understand that that person doesn't like that person, I kind of make sure immediate— it's just mediating relationships, um, especially when you're doing like a 15 or 20-day shoot or something. You just have to— you make sure morale's high. But you keep morale high by nipping things in the bud when they first start and keeping it all relatively good. Not, you know, not to say that there's still times where multiple things go wrong and you're running an hour behind and something hasn't been set up right or this, that it's— that it just does become stressful because there's so many people in the, you know, working on their job at the same time.

Tommy: And it's hard to train for high-pressure situations. Yeah, because it's it's high pressure, and to sort of manufacture that is a very hard thing.

Max: Absolutely. And I think that's what has been really great with doing these, um, these really small shoots for a while, that it's not overwhelming to go into a, like, a shoot with, um, 20 to 30 people crew and cast. Um, yeah, you've done like the— just, you know, like with Elliot Lowney, it was just me and him, and then me, him, and Troy, and then, and then it's just kind of expanded now. So it wasn't like I went out of film school and went into like a 30-people crew and cast shoot. I would have just shit myself. It would have been too much.

Josh: Um, I've mentioned KO a couple of times. Yeah, I actually, um, I had a, an idea, uh, for a segment that I wanted to do on this show. I never actually told Tommy about it.

Max: Oh, this is—

Josh: but I—

Max: for the big 5-6-0 episode, this is a new segment.

Josh: This could be the last one. So I, um, So I don't know much about sport. Yep. And I would like to get better at sport, like knowing sport, how it works, all that sort of thing. Yep. So this was, this was a pitch.

Max: Have we got a little sting, music sting?

Josh: No, we don't yet, but we will. So I'll read you the email. So I went on LinkedIn and I found someone named Asher who works at KO. Asher, do you deal with Asher?

Max: No.

Josh: Marketing manager, I think.

Tommy: Anyway, this sounds like the wrong contact if this is annoying.

Josh: Hi Asha. You've written this? I wrote an email. I sent a couple because I, you know how I think we heard from someone where they're like, you have to send 3 emails before you get a response, just, just in a row within a minute. So this is why I said this is on a Sunday, this is the 17th of November at 1:57 PM.

Tommy: Sorry, I thought you just—

Josh: No, no, no, I sent this because I was trying to make it happen. I was producing segments in the show.

Max: Yeah.

Josh: Hi Asha, I'm the co-host and producer of the The Daily Talk Show, thedailytalkshow.com. We're a Melbourne-based 7-day-a-week podcast and video show. Recently we celebrated 500 episodes of the show. I'm looking at doing a storey arc on the show where I surprise my co-host Tommy with a sports segment on the show hosted by me. We've spoken a bunch on the show about my desire to get into sport, so I think it would be a bit of fun. Talked about it on our chat with Andy Lee recently. Just a little bit of leverage. Uh, would you be up for providing an ongoing subscription of KO? For me to use. In return, I'll mention KO in my segment, which will be fun. We're currently getting around 55,000 audio downloads a month, and over 70% of our audience are Aussies. Hope you're doing ace. Play on, and let's get ready to rumble. #SportsTalk.

Max: That's where you lost her.

Tommy: What is that bullshit? If that's not their catchcry, it was a sports—

Max: I felt the moment that she was delayed. And it's so low level.

Josh: All it is is subscription. That's why I thought— because I did the— it was value, value, value.

Max: Yeah, I was, I was like, she's, she's giving you that subscription now. I was thinking she's an idiot.

Josh: Really?

Tommy: I was thinking she's an idiot if she doesn't give it to you.

Josh: And so I followed up, obviously. Hi Asha, happy Friday. I wanted to create some urgency. So I know we haven't done the segment.

Tommy: Oh no, you haven't mentioned that we got Max Price.

Josh: No, no, no, ruining relationships.

Max: No, no, so I'm like Sorry, I want to— so I just said— excited for this follow-up.

Josh: So I just said, no, I just wanted to, um, yeah, I wanted to keep it short, but I was like, I need to create level of urgency. Hi Asher, happy Friday. Just following up to see if you're interested in partnering with this segment, looking at launching it on Monday. It's a 2-minute show highlights package to give you a better sense of the show. I just require a 1-year subscription of KO in exchange for a KO mention every time I do my sports segment. Cheers.

Tommy: Nothing.

Josh: But I didn't even— I was going to write 'play on,' but I didn't.

Max: Oh, I like you didn't.

Josh: And so what am I— what's wrong?

Max: The puns at the end. Yeah.

Josh: So you reckon it's clear to see? So do you think maybe I— because I thought that could have, um, someone else was saying— I was speaking to— I was being— I don't know if you know Leon Shergrim, but I was speaking to Leon Shergrim, executive producer. Um, I was said it to him. He's like, I think that potentially they're into— they're, they're wanting to get people who like sport, and potentially someone who likes sport doesn't like me, potentially, because I'm not a sports, sports— like, I'm not a sports kind of guy.

Tommy: He actually said that? That's fucking some truth bombs right there.

Josh: Because he liked the idea. But I'm trying— do you think there's a way for— I know, like, because we would provide—

Tommy: you just pay for the subscription.

Max: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Josh: Brought to you by Priceless.

Max: I'll give you my login details.

Josh: I mean, share one.

Max: By the sounds of it, you're never going to really watch anything.

Josh: No, I actually like, I got right into the college basketball for whatever reason. That's what was on KO.

Max: On KO instead of Ready Steady Cook as daytime TV.

Josh: Yeah, the red pepper.

Tommy: You know, let's get ready to rumble. Yeah.

Josh: Oh my God.

Tommy: And so, um, what is that, a wrestling reference?

Josh: Yeah, just like a sports reference in general.

Max: No, it's not.

Tommy: No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Josh: That's a let's get ready to rumble.

Max: Yeah, but that's It was a song and everything.

Josh: Yeah, Space Jam. Yeah, yeah, because I actually, I used to court announce the basketball, uh, Blackburn Vikings and Daniel Island.

Max: I thought I recognised that voice.

Tommy: What is that? Michael Buffer came out with that.

Max: Oh yeah, he's a boxing, uh, announcer.

Tommy: It's from boxing.

Josh: He's already giving me another contact.

Tommy: I'm pretty sure he's trademarked that.

Josh: Can you look it up?

Tommy: Let's get ready to rumble.

Max: Yeah, he's known for his trademarked catchphrase, let's get ready to rumble.

Josh: Oh my God, they've avoided that at all costs.

Max: This might be the last episode.

Josh: Of this. And so, um, you trademark, whatever. Um, whatever.

Max: Yeah, your honor, whatever.

Josh: So do you think, is there anything in all seriousness, like, um, do you want to contact the— yeah, maybe Sportsbet could, uh, yeah, that's what he's going to finish it.

Max: But just don't do less puns.

Josh: But yeah, I think that there's something something in that. I think that a weekly thing— because I reckon I've probably got an hour a week that I could spend, especially like sport— uh, I was gonna say sports season, footy season. Um, sports season, sports season. I could, um, I could get into that and just, um, do— because I think it'd be cool. We've got, uh, Callum Sinclair, uh, coming on the show who plays for the Swans. Do you really?

Max: Yeah, really good friend of mine.

Josh: Oh great, to school then. Oh perfect. Yeah, yeah.

Tommy: Callum and I went to primary school together.

Max: Yeah, right.

Tommy: So where else do we—

Max: Brighton Boy, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, no, he's, he's a ripper. Yeah, yeah, he's so much.

Josh: Do you reckon I could potentially leverage his image to KO? Would that impress him?

Max: Yeah, do a photo at the end and, um, maybe with the—

Josh: maybe me holding out the KO app. Yeah, just on my free trial. Yeah, and just start logging in.

Max: Get a, get a little megaphone, then, and then put in "Let's Get Ready to Rumble" in Photoshop after trademark buffer, whatever his name is, um, well, yeah, I mean, because I—

Josh: we're not much of a— we're trying to do something different to radio, but I guess there is a potential. I would like to have one consistent segment next year.

Max: So what would it be? So can we do one now?

Josh: Yeah, so it would be like, um, oh, uh, 97 would have like a sting. Can you just make one up on the spot, Sebs? Like a voiceover? Yeah, but get some— put some something into it.

Max: Just, just care about it.

Josh: Yeah, for once.

Max: For once. Welcome to Josh Jansen's KO Sports Weekly Wrap-Up. Let's get ready to rumble.

Josh: Yeah, the rumble bit, we're gonna lose. I also don't fucking say KO's name again until we're, until we're saying cash or a subscription. It's all about Sportsbet. Yeah. Or like, that's what that was. This is my other problem. I couldn't even— I was, I was trying to Google like a competitor so I could be like, hey, I'm also talking to— yeah, Foxtel.

Max: Yeah, who own them? Yeah, they're in the same building in Sydney.

Tommy: And so I think where we're going to fall flat is the actual content of this segment.

Max: I think it would be great.

Josh: I'd be like, um, I think that I would have the ability to talk talk a bit meta about it. So I'd be like, I was really— it was interesting. What I noticed was like— I think like hockey would be a good example. I'm watching hockey, it's like, wow, for people who haven't watched ice hockey before, extremely aggressive. What I thought was interesting is that the way—

Max: who are you speaking to? But extremely aggressive ice hockey, that's— I think you know that after your first few words, like, that's— yeah.

Josh: But so yeah, I think that razor blade on their feet.

Tommy: Yeah, at the moment, flying.

Max: This is quite general knowledge of this sport.

Josh: Yeah, it's a bit of a general knowledge slash—

Max: okay, cool—

Josh: sports talk. But yeah, I just think that there's probably something in— at the end of the episode, everyone knows something about some form of sport that they could potentially use as a piece of trivia at a party that weekend.

Tommy: I mean, that's— yeah, that takes a bit of effort. The other thing, which I don't know if you're that into, is Disney+ being a laughing at you segment based on the lack of general knowledge, because I think that'd be quite funny of like pointing out things that are blatantly obvious that you actually genuinely had no fucking idea about.

Josh: Yeah, well, I think that this is sports related.

Tommy: Sports related. So the hockey thing.

Josh: Yeah, we'll see. That's—

Max: I probably would say hockey mildly aggressive or quite aggressive.

Josh: It's which is more the more aggressive, mildly or quite, quite, quite is more than mildly, mildly.

Max: What did I say?

Josh: Mildly and then quite, quite, quite, quite, quite.

Max: Oh, because they're about the same thing.

Josh: Yeah, yeah.

Max: I mean, this segment needs some work.

Josh: Maybe. Oh, you know what? Maybe I do it. Fuck, this is what we do. Fuck off KO, fuck off Sportsbet, fuck off Foxtel. I think what we do— unless it's like, I can't share this content.

Max: No comment.

Josh: No, I think we get Nando's on board. They're a client of ours already. They've— we're as a supplier, surely we can send them an invoice and they might pay randomly. Yeah, but what we could do is, um, I could do it based on peri bastings. So I could say based on that mild thing, lemon and herb, mild, extra hot, and I bring the sort of sport to the visual element. I'm just imagining the cricket. I know cricket, like KFC, get really big onto the cricket. Yeah, so I'm just like, hey Nando's, do you want fucking KFC to be doing all the sports stuff? Oh, I don't know, it's just a sponsor deal.

Tommy: KFC, just give the Big Bash cash to be their main sponsor.

Josh: So the barrier to entry for Nando's is very low, isn't it? Or maybe Grilled. Oh no, yeah, well, Grilled's got some things happening. I don't know, maybe some free vouchers or something. Do you remember they did the whole Movember deal where it's like I just knew someone's like, yeah, I'm growing a mo because I get a free grilled burger every week.

Max: That's right. They did do that. Yeah.

Tommy: I wish we had known. Just fake it up.

Josh: No, but then they did DD. Then DD was the main one anyway. But inside baseball, also a sports reference.

Tommy: Anyway, you see, we're a work in progress, Max.

Max: This segment was— yeah, I'm glad to be a part of the first and last segment of whatever that was.

Tommy: Most outstanding thing was his intro.

Josh: Yeah, you always bring He never did theatre or drama in school. He got a 97 NTER score. Wow. I hate him. Max Price. When does Kinneys— when does that come out?

Max: I don't know. I think like June or something.

Tommy: Yeah.

Josh: Winter.

Max: Good time. Winter. Yeah. Snuggle up. And I think it'll be same time slot, which is Monday nights after Have You Been Paying Attention? So 9:00, I think something like that.

Josh: And where do you have a one spot where everyone goes to see your stuff?

Max: Yeah, I got my, um, still got those, uh, Instagram Max Price 3 and Facebook Max Price Comedy. And I've got off, um, Chat Roulette recently. It's true, that was the best. Yeah, that was a lot of banter, a few beers, and then see heaps of dicks. Yeah, occasionally not a dick, but I just swipe for the dicks.

Josh: Should we do, uh, when we finish and we just do a few minutes of chat? Okay, great.

Max: In between, I've got to get back to Sports season.

Josh: Uh, it's The Daily Talk Show. Hi@thedailytalkshow.com. Will you come back too, Max? It would be great to— I feel like maybe even sports, like, if I can't hold up all sports knowledge, you can come in and do a bit of it too. Also, that sort of— happy to build in that KO relation if you go to that email.

Max: I'll give you an email.

Josh: That's all clearly all that you want. You're great.

Tommy: Thank you.

Josh: All right, see you tomorrow, guys.

Tommy: See you guys.

Max: Let's get ready to rumble.