It's it's really we're launching an
app and it's and it's it's it's to
engage the the the production community
and and it's sort of heightened their
ability to communicate and we're
we're we're launching in Atlanta
because it's such a hub and it's
turned out that that you know in a
kind of in our beta run got a lot
of activity out of Atlanta already.
Yeah. It's it's amazing how Atlanta
and Georgia has become this,
this great Center for the movie industry,
man. It it has just gone crazy
here the last decade or so.
It's been tremendous.
It's you know it it kind of it kind of
starts with inner you know infrastructure
intersecting with tax advantages
and and and you know and and and and
kind of local weather seeing weather
patterns that are very functional.
For felt for filming but you know
you you got to say a lot of hats off
to Tyler Perry for you know creating
a bunch of facilities and sort of
proving that it could be a hub.
But it's grown so much from there in
a in a really important way which is
which is why you know our our impact
team really wanted to make this
launch this app on a broader it's
been out there but but now it's you
know they're they're they're making.
The big push, you know,
they already have 18,000 people
who've who've joined and and a lot of
people getting work already last year.
I mean, it's it's, it's, it's,
it's it's taking off really quickly.
Why don't you tell me more about
the specifics of that app right now?
So I make sure that we're covered on
this and and this is available for
everyone right now, is that correct?
Yeah. Right, right now, there's no,
no fee, no cost whatsoever.
You go to impact.net and
you can learn all about it.
And how to sign on,
it's a little bit like LinkedIn is,
but it's very, very focused on on
the entertainment industry and and
below the line people you know,
especially crew members.
You know, department heads and
and and that sort of thing.
And it's a way to to to interact.
It's a way to expedite people
who are putting together crews
just knowing who's available
and and and and and what their,
what their experience work experience is.
And you know,
Atlanta is such a hotbed and it's also,
you know, it reached such a
point where you know they need,
they need to look outside of it,
outside of Atlanta.
To to, you know,
to to continue to, to,
to build the the production team
in a in a really effective way.
You know, I've been anchoring
local news here and I was the
voice of the Atlanta Falcons for a
number of years on radio as well.
And I'll tell you what,
this place is unrecognizable
in terms of its growth and in
terms of its evolution here.
I mean, when I got here 40 years ago,
you know, it was still kind of The
Allman Brothers and Burt Reynolds
and and Sharky's machine and
deliverance and and all of that.
Stop and and BBQ and sweet tea and kudzu.
And it's not that way anymore.
It's it's it's really an
unrecognizable city in many ways.
It it really no longer has any sort
of southern feel about it whatsoever.
Well it's, you know it's certainly
emerged as as as one of the hubs
in the world and and you know and
this is starting to broaden out.
But what's interesting is there is so
much demand that you know productions are
being mounted elsewhere last where we had
last year we had a production in Calgary.
Canada, they had a hard time
crewing up because, you know,
they have a good talent base there,
but there were other productions
there as well. And, you know,
something like impact is is meant to
be able to help solve those problems
in a really expedient way and look
to democratize the process because,
you know, it's always been a kind of a,
you know, technology has affected
so many aspects of the business
but not so much hiring practices.
It's sort of this word of mouth kind of.
Kind of thing which which leads to
you know sustaining a lot of patterns,
hiring patterns that have always been
there before when in fact you know
there are so many talented people who
are really ready to do the do the work,
do the job and do it really, really well.
You know beyond the you know the
contact sheet of the of anyone you know
production manager or line producer.
So I do hope that we hope it really
makes a lot of sense to production.
Because it's more efficient and you
find great people and and also,
you know, just opens up the field,
you know, around the country.
One of the amazing things about you and
your life as as I look at it from the
outside is you've been immersed in this
from the time that you were a little boy.
You've never lost your edge,
you've never lost your focus or
your desire to do remarkable work.
Thank you. How do you figure that?
You
know, it's pretty simple. I truly love it.
I I knew I recognized that early on as a
boy that I that I really loved the process.
I love the people who were
attracted to the process I like.
I like the the the wide variety of
sensibilities and and backgrounds that
are attracted to the to the process.
And yet, you know,
it's hard, demanding work,
but you get great feedback every so often.
Something really.
Many clicks and it's very exciting,
and even when it doesn't.
If you if if all of these people,
passionate people have come together
to try to make something work,
to try to tell a story,
well it it's going to still,
it's going to have an impact on on people.
It's going to find its audience that
it's and it's given time and I love how
it's broadened out beyond Hollywood.
And again a part of what we're
doing is we're recognizing that
and helping to facilitate that
because it only benefits audiences,
it only benefits our business.
And the process both as an art
as in an and an industry and you
know and I I think it's you know
it's it's just an exciting.
It's an exciting process to be a part of.
We wanted many people to be
able to engage as possible.
Do
you worry about the movie business,
about where it's going,
where technology,
dwarf stories, I mean you.
Your stories are always remarkable.
They are unforgettable.
And yet we see a lot of Movies
Now I'm sounding like an old guy,
you know, get out, get off my grass.
But sometimes the technology and
the fast edits and all of that,
I don't want to see that.
I I want stories of of the human experience.
It's always shifting.
It's always shifting and it's always
going to shift and and you know,
and and and yet. Some things.
Even silent movie comedy styles,
they don't vanish altogether.
They show up in unusual ways.
You know this,
there's a movie that was very kind of cool
and cutting edge and everywhere all at once.
So I'm getting the title wrong actually.
But it was a really great.
It was a big success.
I saw it the other day and I said,
wow, there's some great Buster
Keaton stuff in there.
I'm seeing a little,
I'm seeing a little Jackie Chan in there.
You know,
if that's Jackie Chan is in a funny way,
did for martial arts.
You know what Fred Astaire did for dance?
You know,
one thing just builds upon the other.
And I suppose that while you know my.
You know, I have my,
my taste and sensibility,
but I'm always interested in is,
you know,
sort of what is the story demand,
what's possible,
what are the tools available to tell
that story for this audience today?
And because of the wide,
wide range of outlets and and yeah,
we probably have too many,
you know, 500 channels or whatever,
you know, we have probably too
many shows and and whatnot.
It's it does allow.
You know, most of us to find something
we love might take a little searching,
but the storytellers are
out there speaking to.
Audiences in very precise
and particular ways.
If if you're,
if you're interested enough to to,
you know to do a little exploring.
You know,
I think it's a time when you can find really,
you know stories that will resonate
with with you where wherever you are,
whatever your sensibility or
or or or whatever kind of
entertainment you're looking for.
When when I knew I was going
to be talking to you today, I,
I flashback to maybe five or
six years ago I found myself
anchoring the new news here in
Atlanta at this NBC affiliate.
And immediately following
the news was Andy Griffith.
And I remember looking at the overnight
Nielsen ratings and the moment Andy
Griffith came on with you guys,
it went crazy. No kidding.
The numbers absolutely through
that through the proverbial
roof and and that that mythical
Mayberry allure has never lost
anything and it's remarkable grows.
Workable and I and I I think it,
I think it meant a lot to to people
and even found new audiences.
I'm hearing anecdotally during
COVID where because it's of its
kind of soothing quality but again.
I say a lot of that has to do with.
Time when the network supported
a very unique voice.
Now, Andy Griffith didn't write those
shows and technically he didn't
even produce them or, you know, any.
And he never never directed
them or wanted to direct,
but it definitely reflected his sensibility.
And and it's very unique it,
you know, in its own way.
It wasn't a formula at all.
It was unlike anything else.
In fact, reviewers didn't like it because
it was just seemed weird to them,
you know, and kind of like,
who wants to see this show?
But audiences wanted to see it and they
we when the show went off the air in 1968,
it was the number one show
in the in the nation.
And Andy wanted to move on and
do other things which he did,
including Matlock and a lot of great movie.
So as an artist, you know,
he he had his Mayberry experience,
but it echoes on,
it resonates and it's it's amazing to me.
What I take away from it more
than anything is a kind of a.
An ethos, a belief,
a kind of understanding of how that
kind of creative problem solving feels,
how satisfying you can to be a part
of it and how much hard work it is
because that show looks easy and
like everybody was just showing up.
But I I, I, I, I could.
I remember the sweat and the difficult
long conversations and the rewrite that,
you know,
the writers in there working,
working on those,
those things that that that Don Knotts
and Andy Griffith made look so effortless.
You know, it's also interesting to
those of us in the South of how
this show is tied to the Atlanta
Braves and the Superstation WTBS.
I mean, for Ted Turner,
it really launched the Superstation
along with the Braves and the the
Braves and the Andy Griffith Show.
For me, are always linked together,
almost as Atlanta Fulton
County Stadium was with it,
and I know you must hear that.
I have heard that and and
and in its own odd way.
That show endured forever.
I haven't checked in recent years in
in Chicago, and it was the lunchtime
show in Chicago, of all places.
And so there is something
very universal about it now.
Look, as a Los Angeles Dodgers fan,
even though I live in the East,
I still maintain my my allegiance
to the Dodgers and with,
admittedly the Mets has my #2 team.
So we're in a heated,
we're in a heated thing right now.
But you know it it's,
it's been, it's been an,
you know, just just amazing.
The the people who connect with the
show and why they connect with it.
And, you know, look,
my wife Cheryl watches it and then and,
you know,
late at night when she's trying to get to
sleep and I and because it soothes her,
I said, she said, it's not you, honey.
I'd like to say it is little Opie's cute,
but it's Mayberry.
It's Mayberry.
And it and and there was just
something about the tone of the show,
the honesty of those characters,
the brand of humor and the themes
and ideas that they focused on.
That, you know,
yielded something enduring and I'm,
you know,
forever grateful to have been a part of it.
You
know, living in the South,
I've met all these people.
I just have, you know,
the characters are are so much
the way this life has been
in this part of the world,
which obviously with population changes
and demographic changes and all of that but.
I mean, I've known all those
people and and I, I,
I think that's another part of
the authenticity of the program
that's enduring generationally.
Well, you know, Andy Andy knew them and and,
you know, and it's again not
that he was dictating or writing,
but there was something kind
of universal about it.
I mean, you know, we had this.
And he used to talk about it, you know,
this sort of Aaron Rubin is this New York
Jewish comedy writer and Andy Griffith,
this this, you know, this Southern boy,
very well educated by the way,
you know, college graduate teacher,
a teacher himself before he ever,
you know, really cracked show business.
But they really bonded over these characters
and they just understood the heartbeat of of
of of of what those characters could be and.
And Andy you know,
he used to say Mayberry,
Mayberry is is is is not of this moment.
It's it's it's really you know it's it's
it's it's the town of my childhood.
So in a funny way it was nostalgia
for the South in a way even when
it was even when it was produced.
But you know, every time you
wonder about his greatness,
just watch a face in the crowd and he'll
just it's a staggering performance.
He's a great he was a great talent
and you know and a loss and.
Yeah. And I missed him.
And he was, you know, very,
very meaningful to me and supportive,
you know, over the years,
long after the long after the show ended.
Love that I love, that I'd become a director.
Thought that was just great.
And and it was, you know, always,
always great to to connect with Andy.
All right. I've only got one minute with you,
one minute left sometimes wake
up and think about your life,
how extraordinary it has been.
I mean, are you brooding and reflective
and sometimes do you shake your head about
this extraordinary journey that you've
been on from the time you were? Yeah,
I, I try not to focus on it too much
because I, you know, then it becomes,
it becomes a pinch me moment and I'm,
you know, I'm trying to stay busy
and forward thinking. And, you know,
I've had so many great opportunities.
Sometimes I think I've made the most of them.
Sometimes I think I could have done better.
But again, what I learned?
You know, back on on on that show
was you put your best foot forward.
You know, you give it everything
you've got and, you know,
the audience is going to speak to you.
You may like what you hear or you may not,
but it's a kind of a way of life, you know.
And so I, I, I,
my brother and I published a
book last year called the Boys,
a memoir of Hollywood and Family,
which was really just about our childhood.
My brother Clint was a child.
Actor also.
In fact,
he worked on the Andy Griffith
show someone and it was all we
focused on was our childhood,
either as the either as the kids
of Rance and Jean Howard or as the
the young moppets on the various
shows that we were acting in.
Of course,
there's a lot about the Andy Griffith
Show and it was really interesting
to look back and reflect and and
and and frankly be grateful for
what a remarkable opportunity.
That was I don't recommend child
acting for very many people,
but I, you know, I, I, I, I got,
I was very, very, very blessed,
very fortunate in terms of.
You know,
the where I landed,
who I got to work with and who
I got to learn from.
It's
been a great pleasure and a
great honor talking with you.
Thank you. And I, I grew up with
a Volkswagen Beetle as well,
like the the one that you have.
That that was my first automobile.
Enjoy seeing that picture of you with
that. Ohh thank you.
Thank you. I still got it.
I still take it out and put around
and puts a smile on people's faces.
Absolutely. Alright, thank you.
Thank you. Be well. Bye.