The Exchanges

Q moments in our culture that we're sort of are like Rorschach tests. Like, you know, there's Michael Lewis's Liars Poker. There's the social network, which we've talked about, where maybe written or created intending one thing and then get received. Joe, you know, the responding to confidence in your thought that like people will like Travis more than you might think. How much was that in your minds making this?

A Brian, you can Speak to this, but it was one of the, one of the first things I think I brought up with you guys is like, how can we make sure that we don't inspire a new generation of young entrepreneurs to be assholes? And I do think it is a concern. And, you know, does Scarface inspire people to be criminals? Does the Wolf of Wall Street inspire people in the financial sector to be crooks? You know, maybe some, like when you're talking about large audiences, all sorts of people are going to take any given movie or show all different ways. But I think because this show is so Unflinching in shining light on the protagonist's shortcomings and dark moments. I would hope at least that the majority of the audience will come away understanding this as a cautionary tale, as opposed to a glorification of bad behavior.

AI assessment note: “it was one of the, one of the first things I think I brought up”

Q And Joe, how does that manifest for you as the sort of lead actor? Do you also interface with Mike or does Mike sort of work through, you know, David and Brian and how does that work?

A I had a couple of conversations with Mike, but no, mostly I just read his book and beyond that, I wanted to talk to a bunch of people that worked closely with Travis, uh, because I wanted to know not just what happened, but How it felt to have a conversation with him, or be in the room with him, what it was actually like personally, because that's my job. I'm not a journalist. I'm the actor, so it's my job to, like, make it feel human. So I talked with quite a number of people that worked closely with him, and did learn a lot of different things that were different from what you might read in the press about him personally, about his personality. Uh, cause a lot of what you read is, and justifiably so, is questionable decisions he made, arguably unethical behavior, and I think this show does not at all shy away from showing those things. But I also wanted to show not just those things. I can't reduce this person to these headlines. I want to show a whole human. That's what makes, I think, a gripping performance. And hearing from people about A lot of positive things, actually. A lot of people said how much they liked, how inspiring he was, how compelling he was, how much energy he would bring to a room. And that was really fascinating because that's not always evident when you read articles about him or even when you read Mike's book. And so finding that balance of like, I want…

AI assessment note: “I had a couple of conversations with Mike, but no, mostly I just read his book”

Q talk with folks of your talent and doing what you do on this show, and I think listeners don't live in your world, so this is probably the first time that someone would get to hear, like, what is it like to act in a green screened, you know, white tape laptop? Like, how do you invoke the level of imagination that you need to? Do you have any tactics?

A You know, I never studied acting in an academic setting. I don't have names for all the things that I probably do do, but when you're in a green screen setting and you don't have any reality to play against, it's just like playing pretend. You know, I have a four-year-old and a six-year-old. They're somewhere else half the day, just, you know, playing pretend, just imagining what's going on, and, and, uh, I remember doing that when I was their age, and now I still do that. I do it on command. At five in the morning when I have to, and the challenge of acting isn't, for me, is not making things up or playing pretend. It's actually having to do that while straddling a hornet's nest of logistical nightmares all day long, because a movie set is just a mess. Even the most well-run sets, and this was a well-run set, But even the most well run, by nature, there's a million things all going on all at once. It's noisy. It's cluttered. There's someone close to you. The hard part is kind of keeping your focus and your concentration and maintaining that more childlike spirit of imagination while having to contend with all this morass of logistical crap. That's the hard part.

AI assessment note: “when you're in a green screen setting... it's just like playing pretend”

Q It's a little much. Joe, the first question we have that our audience has been asking is, how has your life changed since being on Acquired? Are you, like, getting recognized in cafes now?

A Yeah, by Web Three Nerds. I'm huge, and I was at, what's it, ETHCon or something, and everyone was super stoked. I was joking just there, but it's true, and I'll earn some instant credibility, perhaps, By saying when I listened to your Ethereum episode, it really did change my mind about what Web three is. And I really wasn't aware of any of its merits. I was kind of only aware of the hype and the scams and I'm coming quite strongly around to seeing how important it is for the future. And I'm, I'm still really just early and learning about it, but you really inspired me and it makes me excited for, for what it's going to become.

AI assessment note: “Yeah, by Web Three Nerds. I'm huge, and I was at, what's it, ETHCon”