Advertise on podcast: HARD OUT

Host Jay Thornton—himself a survivor of Stage 3 colon cancer—and multi-hyphenate artist Joe Wilson (who has been battling Stage 4 pancreatic cancer for well over a year, and has valiantly outlived his docs’ estimates) chop it up over their experiences fighting the good fight both artistically and in the cancer ward, and how vital humor is to both.

Horror film aficionado Al Lucard is a friend of the show, an a fan of our sicko mockumentary CACTUS JACK (can find it on Vudu and Amazon)—he stopped by back in June (I know, I know, been busy as hell lately) to talk horror films, filmmaking, movie nostalgia, the tragic and touching story of why he started his youtube movie review channel, and his all-time favorite flick, the original 1990 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES. Check it out!

Title of this one kinda says it all. Ben Lustig and Jake Thornton (no relation—unfortunately, given the power of nepotism in Hollywood)!) broke in with a million dollar spec sale of their epic Santa origin story Winter's Knight to Sony and have since written such high profile projects as TV adapts of Old Man's War and Final Fantasy, but their first produced feature—Hulu/Disney+'s THE PRINCESS—was tragically part of the Mouse House' recent avaricious and unceremonious 50+ project dump to catch a tax break.PS - Going audio-only for the foreseeable future and most of our previous viewership was on youtube, so do us a solid and like/follow/review on your favorite podcast apps (and please share), if you appreciate the conversation, helps tremendously!

We're baaaaa-aaaack. Well, Jay is (though Chris or even R. Michael Gull may pop in from time to time to co-host), after a six-month hiatus.The title of this one says it all. For hellcat Larissa's previous appearance, check out the animated discussion Jay & Chris had with her and The Mutual Aberration Society's Ryan Jackson on Sam Levinson's MALCOLM & MARIE.Meant to discuss the film more, to include the amazing story of director Stacy Title's interactions with Bob Weinstein and her tragic battle with ALS and attempts to make one final film while enduring the fatal disease before it took her life, but as Larissa and Jay are prone to do this one pretty much went off the rails and the film was hardly discussed! Enjoy! 🤣 

Screenwriter and filmmaker Rob Hagans, aka "The Bespectacled Mofo," drops by to talk making movies on a true nano (or even "pico") budget. We're talkin' $1k films, people!! Give a listen and hell—grab your smartphones and join the movement! Gull and Jay are already noodling ideas in the $1k space.To hear our swapcast where we were guests on his show to discuss making CACTUS JACK go toApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-microbudget-series-episode-three/id1588864867?i=1000580779853Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Wj7IhI60S4hVYwoaGLYF2?si=4BAulfQEQmiVy0x4KbA9PgOr find it on any platform you use to get podcasts.Follow Rob onTwitter: @BspectacledMofoIG: @bspectacledmofo YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT_RHkfWrgQ63R_-HiXG_dgYou can even watch his $1k feature films BARBARA and AROUND THE WORLD (over 1.4 million views) we discuss in this episode on his channel:BARBARA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uXG9sczPPgAROUND THE WORLD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2oSMwrCZv0Speaking of films, go to www.cactusjackfilm.com to rent or purchase our own CACTUS JACK on Prime Video or Hulu, or to buy it on Blu Ray through Amazon and other vendors.

This week Jay and R. Michael Gull sit down to chop it up with writer-director Chris Rucinski and actor Jesse Gavin, the star of Chris' super solid, character-driven directorial debut indie thriller NORTHERN SHADE.

Whew! This one is *WILD*, folks!Full disclosure: we were trying to use R. Michael Gull's relationship with friend Jeanne Marie Spicuzza (writer, star, and co-director of The Scarapist) to help book Tommy Wiseau on the show. That was a no-go, as Tommy understandably doesn't like doing podcasts. So it was then supposed to be his partner-in-crime and co-author of The Disaster Artist Greg Sestero and Jeanne Marie. What it ended up being was just multi-hyphenate Jeanne Marie... which was more than enough! What ensued was a whirlwind of chanting with monks, nonchalant accusations of creative theft by Hollywood hotshots, anecdotes of Harvey Weinstein f*****y, the abject surreality of finding herself a part of Tommy Wiseau's inner circle, and more! This one is truly a fantastic voyage, so to quote the recently and dearly departed Coolio: "Come on y'all let's take a ride, don't say shit just get inside."

Don't call it a comeback! After two-timing it on another podcast, Jay is back home where he belongs at Hard Out—with none other than his muse R. Michael Gull as co-host moving forward (fans of Chris, don't fret, he'll pop in once in a while).Don't expect book reports on movies, we're here to just engage in the art of conversation on random topics. And we do mean random, as we're incorporating the Wheel of Random Topics to keep it poppin'!

Weeeeee're Baaaaaaaack. No movie reviews this time, just Jay sitting down for a good ole fashioned shit-shooting with Cactus Jack himself, R. Michael Gull. We're coming back hard! Toss us a buck (or more!) on Patreon for all Overtime content and more!Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/themthorntons Twitter: @themthorntons  

After a long hiatus, we're back with an episode we recorded on July 24, 2021 with none other than Alvaro Rodriguez—screenwriter of MACHETE, FROM DUSK 'TIL DAWN 3: The Hangman's Daughter, Netflix "Mexanime" SEIS MANOS, indie film THE LAST RAMPAGE, El Rey's FROM DUSK TIL DAWN TV adapt, Showtime's upcoming AMERICAN RUST and more! He also talks Sam Fuller's amazing noir classic PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET, his uber-talented family (Robert Rodriguez is his cousin), and running for the Board of Directors of the WGAw (Writers Guild of America, West).Dude's a great storyteller and more importantly a *great* guy... Alvaro, you've got our vote (once we pay those dues in arrears 🤣)!

Our love of Mel Gibson and Braveheart has finally been matched!! Writers of the Superman-starring, Tarsem Singh-directed IMMORTALS, creators of the Netflix/Powerhouse original anime Greek mythology bloodbath BLOOD OF ZEUS, adapters of cherished anime DEATH NOTE.... Vlas and Charley Parlapanides are two of the nicest, hardworking f*****g guys you'll ever meet. Seriously. Just watch and see for yourself! The best!

Dalan Musson! A true mensch of a man, he's a talented-as-hell writer, a former amateur wrestler, a staff writer on showrunner/creator Malcolm Spellman's *incredible* Marvel miniseries THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDER (currently streaming on Disney+, in case you live under a rock), rumored to be Malc's co-writer on CAP 4* and a true superhero in his own right as a compulsive rescuer of dogs in peril... it's an honor to have him on the show as he talks all things nostalgic Bronze Age Marvel, old school vs modern pro wrestling, the importance and game of networking in Hollywood, and his love of not only his all-time favorite film THE KARATE KID but the show it spawned decades later, COBRA KAI.*Disney has not and will not confirm future phase news... but they did have a rep silently listening in on this episode to make sure our amazing guest Dalan Musson didn't spill any Marvel beans! Make of that what you will!