Toluca Lake with Derek Waters (2)
Speaker 1
We're talking about Drug History Christmas. Yeah, I mean it was... But no, there's also...Oh, that's right, yeah. No, you're right. I guess I just...It was kind of like a... It's only occurring to me now. It's kind of an early precursor, early foreshadowing of what it's like to do a self-tape with me.
Speaker 2
Oh, man. I... Yeah.I mean... I don't know who else does that. I just went on my first in-person audition in, like, ten years.Oh, yeah? Yeah, brag.
But I'm just saying the difference, I'm like, man, maybe this was God's way of going, like, imagine if auditioning was fun.And it's like, after all those... After all these years of... Hi, I'm Derek Waters, and I'm...Like, recording that is suicidal. And then to go in person and interact with a human that you hadn't seen in ten years, like, I got emotional. It was really, really cool.Like, I was so excited to be... That's why we want to do this, is, like, to play and, like, interact and have a cast member give you notes and you go, oh, I didn't see it like that. And they see you take the note.Then they feel endorphins because they just gave someone a note and they took it.
Speaker 1
It's true, yeah. Like, there's so many things that I know would have been better had I had any sort of, like, immediate feedback or... You know, because you have a couple days to, like, look over something.You're not necessarily a party to all the ins and outs of the character or what's going on, you know? You do your best to kind of analyze the script, but you can only figure out so much before you put it on tape. So to have a casting director going, like, how about this way?It's so helpful. You just don't get that anymore.
Speaker 2
Did you... How many auditions have you got on self-tape?
Speaker 1
Pluribus? I can safely... How many auditions?Oh, have I gotten off of a self-tape?
Speaker 2
Yeah.
Speaker 1
Oh, OK. Oh, I see what you're saying. Well, sure, Pluribus is one.That was, like, I guess 2024. There was another, I mean, I don't know, like, five maybe? Five or six?
Speaker 4
That's amazing.
Speaker 1
Like, I don't know. But, I mean, you know, I'm like, it's still pretty low batting average. I can safely say I probably make, on average, like 100 tapes a year.Yeah. And that's not including just going in for, like, the occasional commercial audition, you know, where you...
Speaker 4
Yeah.
Speaker 1
Which is kind of like if you're a commercial actor in L.A., it's kind of the only in-person experience you get, which I'm... Shout out to the commercial casting directors for providing that.
Speaker 2
For providing that?
Speaker 1
Hell yeah, dude.
Speaker 2
They will tell. Don't park in that parking lot.
Speaker 1
But, yeah, no, I mean, shout out, because that's the only experience where we're getting in front of people. But, yeah, no, you know, I have 100, like...
Speaker 2
That's a very good average.
Speaker 1
I mean, this is over the past couple of years, though. I mean, it's not great, you know?
Speaker 2
Well, I've booked this many.
Speaker 1
What?
Speaker 2
Zero.
Speaker 1
Growing up the... That's a zero.
Speaker 2
I'm not in a gang.
Speaker 1
I'm gonna throw it on my little hand signal.
Speaker 2
It looks like it's A-okay, but it's actually a zero. But I just, yeah, I've only gotten things from friends and, like, or in person. Like, there's, um...I'm not good at test.
Speaker 1
Oh, gosh, I mean...
Speaker 2
That's what I related to, is, like, self-tapes being test. But... Yeah.They didn't go with you, but you made a big fan. When are these fans gonna start paying me?
Speaker 1
That's right. They're a big fan of you.
Speaker 2
They love me. I got into a disagreement once with an old agent that was like, okay, so, good news, they put a pin in you. A pin?This is back before I knew it. I don't know. I never heard the term, they're gonna put a pin in you.
Speaker 4
Right.
Speaker 2
And then the next, it's a big deal. Like, hey, it's between you and someone else.
Speaker 1
They're gonna put a pin in you.
Speaker 2
Yeah, and then they're gonna put a pin in you.
Speaker 1
Now, they put a pin in you, which means you're, like, right there. You're just about to, you're just about, that means you're just about to book it unless the next guy with a pin in him books it.
Speaker 2
Well, see, that's the thing, is the next day, they called me and said, sorry, Derek, they're gonna actually put a pin in you. And I'm like, wait, you can't use that word in double meaning.
Speaker 1
Wait, what? They're gonna actually put a pin?
Speaker 2
So it was a negative thing. Now I'm getting pinned, like, in my heart.
Speaker 1
Like a voodoo doll?
Speaker 2
Yeah, like, I'm done. But I was like, well, then, you gotta pick different words. Like, it's between you and someone else.Great. Next day, they went with someone else.
Great.We don't need these fucking pins. We don't need these phrases, these new fucking phrases of, like, I don't know if I have the bandwidth. You're not a fucking internet dial-up.What the fuck are you talking about? You don't have enough bandwidth.
We're running out of words.Like, we're just making up shit because we don't know what to say. Am I wrong? There's so many words like that that I'm getting pissed off about.
Speaker 1
Well, it's constantly changing, you know? We don't have, we can't keep up. The climate is changing.Because we only get so many, we only get so many pins in us these days. And only so few people get the pins in them.
Speaker 4
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1
And then when you, so when they change the pin to something else or maybe it turns into a negative, how do we even know until it happens?
Speaker 2
I don't know, Alan. I really don't.
Speaker 1
Because it's just such a select few.
Speaker 2
Yeah. But we've survived.
Speaker 1
That experience the pin.
Speaker 2
We've survived the pin. We've been pinned. And we'll be pinned again.Yeah.
Speaker 1
You know, like the way that wrestlers are pinned or whatever.
Speaker 2
Oh, yeah. Did you like wrestling growing up?
Speaker 1
Oh, my gosh. I loved wrestling growing up. And then I had a more like late-in-life kind of interest once I kind of discovered like indie wrestling.
Speaker 2
You got into that?
Speaker 1
Very casually. Very, very casually. Bought a couple t-shirts, you know?Like had some, went to some live wrestling matches downtown. It's like PWG or something like that.
Speaker 2
I've never gone to those. Those scare me. I grew up in WWF.Right.
Speaker 1
They're very fun. They're very fun.
Speaker 2
Yeah, I'm sure. It's community. It's a gathering of people that are all cheering for what changed.
Speaker 1
Yeah. It might be a different. Hello.It might be a different organization title now. But, yeah. No, what about you?Were you a big Check the Snake guys?
Speaker 2
Oh, yeah, man. I had all the wrestling buddies. Well, Mr. Perfect was my favorite. Ultimate Warrior, for sure.
Macho Man. But I had all the wrestling buddies.Yeah, I loved wrestling. I remember when at first, I was probably six or seven. It was early WWF.And my mom made my dad take me and my brother to the Maryland State Fairground.
And I'm not kidding. There were maybe 50 people in the crowd.We were in the front row. And it was like Check the Snake, Brutus the Barber Beefcake, British Bulldog. Anyway, it was so cool.But it was also neat to see the wrestlers whispering in their ear.
Like, I could see it happening. But I was also just, like, so captivated by it.Like, it was. My grandfather always called it human cartoons.
Speaker 1
That's great.
Speaker 2
Yeah. But King Harley. Why am I blanking on his name?King Harley. Oh, my gosh.
I want to say King Harley Slate.I can't think of his last name. There was a King Harley. I can't think of his last name.And he hocked a loogie and it landed next to my dad's chair. Oh, wow.
My dad's, like, the most pro-manner guy you'll ever meet.He was disgusted for the rest of his still living life.
Speaker 1
I don't love that.
Speaker 2
Seeing a loogie next to you, like, taking your kids to a wrestling match.
Speaker 1
Oh, my gosh.
Speaker 2
King Harley Race. That was his name. That was that guy's name.Anyway. Enough about wrestling. More about politics.What is keeping you active? What's your political hot take?
Speaker 1
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2
Let's get into that.
Speaker 1
I'm trying to turn this into, like, a Subway Takes type of situation. Will Derek and I 100% agree? More sidewalk takes when we come back.
Speaker 3
Hey, romance readers. What are you looking for? Brother's best friend.Alien boyfriend. Mothman. Vampires.We got your cowboys.
Your dukes. Your hot professors.Your rock stars. We got your shifters. We got demons.We got sexy fairies.
You want a morally gray? No problem.Can't pick? Don't worry, sweetheart. We've got white cheeses up the wazoo.Reading Smut.
The show where we read spicy books and figure out why people love them. Join us on Reading Smut every other Friday on Maximum Fun.Oh, that's a spicy book.
Speaker 1
Hey, welcome back to Walking About. If you like the show, please walk on over to the Apple Podcast app and give the show a little review. That'd help us out a lot.Thanks. Thanks. Now back to Derek Waters and I as we continue our stroll around Toluca Lake.
Speaker 2
Morning. Hello. Morning.What's keeping you distracted? And I don't mean that in a mean way. But like, are you doing anything else?Like, yeah, we got to pay attention to what's going on.
But then we also have to, like, fulfill, like, do our lives and not be depressed. Or do our best to be informed.And then also, like, a creative outlet. Maybe it's pencil drawing. Maybe it's crayons.Have you used any outlets that are new to you, Alan?
Not to play interviewer on you.
Speaker 1
I don't mind. You know what? Honestly, there's been – I hadn't been doing, like, a ton of writing lately outside of research and writing this year's podcast.And I don't know. I just did – I just kind of spent about three weeks and busted out an outline for a feature.
And it was just a really exhilarating and fun experience.There was all the classic writing things that happened along the way. Discoveries made. New, fun scenes unfolding.And just the ideas were flowing. And I was incorporating, you know, strategies based off of just my walking practice.
You know, using walking to facilitate writing was incredibly helpful.Dictating, just kind of writing into my voice memo.
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. And then going home and writing.
Speaker 1
And then kind of transcribing that later. Great.
Speaker 2
Yeah, because there's something about, like, not being in front of a computer where there's, like, pressure. Where it's, like, just walk and talk.
Speaker 1
Yeah, the walking and talking really helped. It really helped to figure out a pacing and a flow and what would be fun to happen next.
Speaker 4
Beautiful.
Speaker 1
And, yeah, I don't know. It was really great. I'm really proud of it.And I'm going to, I'm taking a moment to let it sit. And then doing, getting some notes back and going to do another little pass on it.
But I was really, really pleased with the experience.And that was, honestly, that was a huge kind of distraction from my worries. Was to just kind of dive into that. Otherwise, I'm doing what folks normally do.I'm watching some Spider Noir with my son. And we're messing around with some.
Speaker 2
There's some bass happening. What? Bass.Oh. Sounds like hitting. This is.
Speaker 1
Oh, yeah. There's a sort of a, I don't know if that's a bass drum. Oh, it's like a.
Speaker 2
Let's make sure.
Speaker 1
I don't know if my mics are picking up that. But there's some stomping happening inside this house that we're passing.
Speaker 2
I think we might have to do a circle around to make sure no one's hurt.
Speaker 1
This might turn into sort of a true crime episode.
Speaker 2
Yeah, it's a jinx vibe. Yeah. That sounds like a hammer.But. Golly. It's pretty aggressive.
Speaker 1
Or a mallet or something. Yeah. Hmm.I think the hammer would have a bit more of a sort of maybe dense, isolated kind of tap kind of sound. That's why I feel like that was a mallet.
Speaker 4
Yeah.
Speaker 1
Or a stomping boot. Like a kick drum. Like maybe they were using a.Yeah, maybe they were banging a boot on a kick drum or something.
Speaker 2
Okay. All right. I guess that's the hill we'll die on.Morning.
Speaker 1
Good morning. Hi.
Speaker 2
Oh, hello. Morning. Excuse us.Thank you. But that's great that you were writing that and.
Speaker 1
Yeah.
Speaker 2
Fulfilling that.
Speaker 1
Yeah, I. Because I'm kind of the king of kind of starting a little something and then not quite following through all the way. Not that I've completed a screenplay from this, but it is just.
Speaker 2
But that's what you're doing now.
Speaker 1
That's. Yeah, that's. I'm in the.The first step is just that that kind of early vomit draft, you know.
Speaker 2
Great.
Speaker 1
And yeah, feeling good about it. The the head is is often heavy when I'm waking up trying to like kind of process the things going on in the day. And I often.
Speaker 2
It's a nice outlet that you get to see people that you're friends with and make. I know. I don't think we should discuss it.It's too specific. I know.
