Rob McElhenney | Behind The Lens

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00:00Was your first film, The Devil's Own, and you were cut out of it?
00:09That is correct.
00:10I have been cut out.
00:11That's got to be devastating.
00:12Oh, devastating.
00:13Now, I can look back on it now and it's funny, but it was not funny at the time.
00:17Subsequent to that, once I got on the other side of the camera and in the editing room,
00:23you realize how often things need to be cut out that have nothing to do with performance.
00:27So that made me feel a lot better.
00:28And it just happened again.
00:30It happened?
00:31It just happened again.
00:32Now?
00:33Last weekend.
00:34Now that you are like Mr. Show Business and in control of everything, you got cut out
00:38again?
00:39Last weekend, I was cut out of a small little independent movie, maybe it was, is it a Swedish
00:44film or like a French film, Deadpool.
00:49Deadpool.
00:50Deadpool and Wolverine?
00:52Yes.
00:53You're in that movie?
00:54No!
00:55I was until Ryan cut me out.
01:02Oh, here's a sign.
01:04Yeah.
01:05Coming soon.
01:07Ryan Rodney Reynolds Memorial Park.
01:09Soon is relative, but yes, coming.
01:11And the more people that come here, the more people that are going to start coming here.
01:15That's the idea.
01:16We want to revitalize this whole area here.
01:19And as you can see, even with some of the construction that's happening, there are already
01:23stores that are popping up.
01:24And I mean, there was no signage on these, you know, when we first started the process.
01:30Next week, there's a town hall where I will interact with, you know, the town's folks,
01:36local businesses, get their feedback.
01:38You're the face of the operation.
01:40I'll dress up.
01:41You know.
01:42Can we send Kelsey?
01:43Welcome to Behind the Lens.
01:45Today, I have what Wikipedia refers to as actor, writer, producer, podcaster, businessman
01:50and director.
01:52Wow.
01:54You are all of those things.
01:56This is Rob McElhinney.
01:57Hi.
01:58How are you?
01:59I'm excellent.
02:00How are you?
02:01What do you think when you get all those?
02:02You are an entrepreneur.
02:03I think I could add that, too.
02:05And all those things.
02:06Do you see yourself that way?
02:08I think my mom does.
02:09And I think she was probably the person that went into Wikipedia and added all that.
02:14It's pretty remarkable.
02:16But did you set out that way when you, you know, started out in acting and moved to L.A.?
02:21Did you say, I'm going to do it all?
02:23No.
02:24No.
02:25It was just purely out of desperation.
02:26And I wasn't working.
02:27I wasn't getting any jobs.
02:28Right.
02:29And I was challenged by my manager at the time, who's still my manager, Nick Frankel
02:32at 3 Arts, to write something, to learn how to write.
02:36So I bought all the requisite screenwriting books and watched as much television and as
02:41many movies as I could.
02:42And I just studied it until I could take a pass at something.
02:46That's good advice for anybody, you know.
02:48That's what I did.
02:49I said, I'm going to be in show business.
02:51But I decided at one point, the only real way in is writing because they can't stop
02:56you.
02:57Yeah.
02:58Yeah.
02:59I mean, and that's the advice that I give anybody that that asks about what's the best
03:02way into the business.
03:03And everybody who's watching this knows that there are a million different ways to get
03:06into the business.
03:07But one surefire way to make sure you have material is to generate it yourself.
03:11Welcome to Rexim.
03:12You have six Emmy nominations right now.
03:16You won, the show won five Emmys in its first season and now it's in its second season.
03:22You've got six nominations.
03:24How does that feel?
03:25It's incredible.
03:26It's incredible.
03:27Just to be recognized by our community feels so good.
03:30And I'm really mostly happy for the town of Rexim, the football club, certainly, but just
03:35the people in the town to be celebrated like they are.
03:39That was always the dream, not just to be celebrated by audiences, but also our creative
03:44community who can recognize all of the effort and work that went into it from from our crew
03:49that's on the ground in Rexim all the way to our post facility here in Los Angeles.
03:56I have to say to come here today to do this interview, I had to leave this guy who's replacing
04:01our floor in our kitchen and I had to leave him there in the house.
04:04And I said, I'm leaving now.
04:05He said, where are you going?
04:06I'm going to do an interview with who?
04:08And I said, Rob McElhenney and welcome to Rexim.
04:11And he goes, oh, I haven't missed an episode.
04:14This is my floor guy.
04:16And he said, oh, my God, you've got to ask.
04:18You know what that shows about?
04:20It's about community.
04:21It's about that town.
04:23And and he says he's totally hooked on it.
04:26He says he hasn't missed an episode.
04:27That's great to hear.
04:29The thing that I hear more than anything about the show is people come up to me and they
04:33say, I didn't even know that I liked sports, let alone football.
04:37And now I follow every game of Rexim.
04:40And that's such a great feeling because that that is what we set out to do.
04:43That was the in the original conception.
04:45I wanted to make a show that was a love letter to the work to working class and working class
04:49people you can find in every continent on the planet.
04:52But it's a roll of the dice because you guys went out and bought this team.
04:56I mean, you put your money in there and then smartly, I think, created the documentary
05:02around it, which has made them such a hit in sports.
05:06In the sports world.
05:07Yeah, that was that was that was always the plan.
05:09You knew that was a way in to get attention for them.
05:13Yes.
05:14And in fact, it was baked into the original the entire endeavor from the very beginning.
05:19This is an industry interview.
05:21So people can understand this process of how difficult it is to to sell a show, regardless
05:27of what your track record is, just because there's just so much competition out there.
05:31So I had this idea one night and I in a flurry wrote an email to a few people and then I
05:39Googled how do you buy a football team for real?
05:43And this gentleman's name came up who worked for this agency in in New York City.
05:47And I called him.
05:49And then from there, I once once he said, OK, I think this is a possibility.
05:54The next call I made was to John Landgraf.
05:56Wow.
05:57And FX, who you obviously, for those who don't know, it's always sunny in Philadelphia.
06:01The longest running sitcom in television history.
06:05And that has been on FX all these 17, 16, 17 seasons.
06:10Yes.
06:11And that's the head of FX.
06:12John.
06:13Yes.
06:14He's the head of FX and has been for a very long time.
06:15He's also one of my really great friends.
06:17And believe me, he's passed on things that I brought him.
06:20He's he's very clear with what he likes and what he doesn't like.
06:25And so I knew if I went for a walk with him on a walk with him and I pitched out how I
06:30saw this going over the next three years ago, how I saw it going over the next five to 10
06:35years.
06:36And I said, I think it can only happen if if I can underwrite a tremendous amount of
06:42the cost, but also of the opportunity by having a docuseries.
06:47Wow.
06:48And now look at it.
06:49As I mentioned, all the Emmys, it's in its third season now.
06:53I don't know how long can it go on because we're the town is there and we're seeing all
06:59these great stories.
07:00And I suppose it's an endless well of humanity.
07:03That's exactly right.
07:05That's exactly right.
07:06I mean, I, I, I have always, I mean, sort of the foundation of my career, Sonny is a
07:11great example.
07:12It's a show that's been on for so long.
07:13And people ask, well, how can you continue to come up with fresh ideas?
07:16And the truth is that the world and humanity and our culture just continues to create opportunities
07:23to tell great stories.
07:24Yeah.
07:25And, you know, and that can go on forever.
07:27Clearly it's going to, I think, but that takes a lot of time to turn out a show like that,
07:32which you've co-created.
07:33You're a writer on.
07:34You're the star of, I mean, it's a great ensemble and it's always fresh.
07:39But you know, what's interesting about Sonny is the Emmys regularly ignore it.
07:44Now here you are, you know, and up for more Emmys and things for another show.
07:50That one so deserves it.
07:51And it's so been overlooked except for, I think, three years where it got stunt coordinator
07:56nominations.
07:57Yeah.
07:58And well, I don't, I didn't know that Sonny was known for its stunts, but yeah, here we
08:03are.
08:04Yeah.
08:05Look, there's just so many, there's so much competition out there.
08:06And I think, you know, I stopped lamenting it after season five or six, because I realized
08:12that, you know, you either get on, you get on those lists and on that train very early
08:16on in the run, or you don't.
08:19Sonny was just not a very popular show when it first came out.
08:21That's the nature of satire too.
08:22Sometimes it takes some time to gain traction.
08:25What they call a basic cable show when it came on too.
08:28That's right.
08:29And we were on at 1030 at night in the middle of the week because a lot of the subject matter
08:32was dicey.
08:33And so thankfully, John Landgraf and everybody over at FX really supported the show and kept
08:39it on the air.
08:41And so again, for as many times as maybe we have conversations about it or I want to feel
08:47sorry for us, believe me, there's no reason to feel sorry for us.
08:51And there are so many great shows that get overlooked year after year.
08:56And it's not even that they're necessarily being overlooked.
08:58There's just only so many slots and there's so much great content.
09:01Yeah.
09:02And on top of all that, Mythic Quest is coming back for a fourth season.
09:07Yes.
09:08And have you shot the fourth?
09:09We have.
09:10We've shot the entire fourth season and we've edited 75 percent of it and we're almost finished.
09:15And that's a great show too.
09:18I mean, it's really caught on with an audience.
09:19I remember one show during the pandemic of that that was just beyond brilliant that was
09:24all done virtually, basically.
09:26And it was stunning the level of creativity and skill that went into doing a show on that
09:31level when you're faced with a pandemic where you couldn't do it any other way.
09:36Yeah.
09:37It's been it's a great show and an incredible ensemble, really, really well written.
09:42Interestingly enough, it's probably my my best reviewed show.
09:46It just has a great story around the story and it's got a really fierce, loyal fan base.
09:54I'll say my wife said to say to you, she's never played a game in her life or anything
09:59and discovered that show and loves it and particularly loves it because it brings in
10:04key women characters in a field where they're not known.
10:08And that's something you're doing with Wrexham, too.
10:11Now, too.
10:12Is that key for you?
10:13Oh, yes.
10:14I mean, what what we try to do, what I certainly try to do with with any of my shows or anything
10:20that I work on is to take a different path in or a different look at what's been traditionally
10:25done and try to look at a story through a different lens.
10:30So you can only do that by surrounding yourself with other great storytellers who can provide
10:35that for you, because I can't always I can look through the lens of of of humanity and
10:41recognize that we all share so many commonalities.
10:45And then there are things that are very specific to to people and their experiences that I
10:49can't necessarily bring.
10:50And the only way you you get to work with that material is by asking people and letting
10:56them tell their story.
10:58How do you have time to do all this stuff?
11:01I mean, with a one one situation comedy or comedy series, I don't like called sitcom
11:06actually tell you the truth, because that was an old term where they invent a situation
11:10and they do it.
11:11This is a real funny comedy series.
11:14But to do that, to do Mythic Quest, to do Wrexham and to do all your other stuff.
11:20I mean, you become an entree, you've got a whiskey and you've got all this business stuff
11:24going on.
11:25Where do you find the time?
11:26I have an incredible support system and I partner with with really talented, ambitious,
11:31driven, kind people.
11:35I have a wonderful family and Caitlin and I have made.
11:39This is Caitlin Olson, who, by the way, is nominated for an Emmy.
11:43It's all in the family this year for Emmys.
11:45She's in Hacks.
11:46Yes.
11:47So I believe that this is going to be the year of Caitlin Olson.
11:50She's nominated for Hacks.
11:51She did just an absolutely incredible job on that show.
11:54And in fact, the episode specifically that she's that she's nominated for halfway through
11:59the episode, I realized that this was the best thing she's ever done.
12:03And I found that both I was so happy for her and devastated for me because I've tried desperately
12:10to to to make sure that people, you know, shine a light on her and make sure that people
12:14saw her brilliance.
12:15And it took HBO to do it.
12:17Wow.
12:18And she's got other stuff she's doing.
12:19She does.
12:20She has a new show coming out in the fall called High Potential on ABC and Hulu and Disney.
12:24Yeah, she's having a great she's having a great year.
12:27And you have two kids.
12:28We have two boys.
12:29Yeah.
12:30Thirteen and twelve.
12:31And we've now found ourselves in a really great position because we still we want to
12:35spend as much time with them as possible, but they want to spend increasingly with each
12:38year that goes by.
12:39They want to spend less time with us.
12:42Sometimes I come home and I've rushed home as everybody probably has a version of the
12:46story.
12:47Anybody with kids, you know, you're sitting on the 405 and you can't wait to get home
12:50and you're finally you get home and you walk in the door and you expect, you know, your
12:54kids to come rushing up to you with a hug and they're not even there.
12:58They're out doing some, you know, out with their friends.
13:01Yeah.
13:02So we we really have made a concerted effort over the last 13 years with them to make sure
13:06that we're we're there in the morning and we're there at night for dinner.
13:10Before we go, I have to ask you on Wrexham, I'm curious as to the timing of the actual
13:17season for them and the actual season for you in putting on the documentary series to
13:21make sure that it's fresh.
13:23You know, the Olympics have been going on and they keep saying, if you don't want to
13:27know who just won all these things, close your ears and things.
13:30But you want to keep this lively as a sports event to to the viewers here.
13:35How do you do it?
13:36So season one, it didn't matter because no one was following along.
13:40And then season two, we went with that similar schedule and turned out that a lot of people
13:44were following along with the season.
13:46And so we felt the show didn't air for four months after the season had ended.
13:51And it felt stale to me, even though I felt like the season was fantastic.
13:55It didn't feel like it was fresh or current.
13:57And so in season three, we really pushed.
14:00I called John and asked him, is it OK if we really push and see if we can air to coincide
14:06with the end of the season?
14:07So the final episode being around the end of the football season.
14:11So it'll feel current.
14:12He was game for that.
14:14And so we really energized the crew, most specifically the post team, to accelerate.
14:20And that's what we did.
14:21And we wound up being able to come out only a few weeks after the end of the season.
14:25So perfect.
14:26And that gives it a lot of kind of freshness.
14:28Definitely.
14:29Yeah.
14:30And I mean, all this stuff and then more, because now you're a team owner and you've
14:35got them traveling the country here and you've got a women's team and you've got all this
14:40going on to another hat in that world.
14:44Yeah.
14:45Once again, it's just about partnerships and who you align yourself with.
14:47And we've just been so fortunate.
14:48I mean, for me, having a partner like Ryan, who is just everything that you want him to
14:55be and and is is such a great role model for me because he's been doing this at the highest
15:02level for for such a long period of time.
15:04How did you meet him?
15:06He slid into my DMs on Instagram.
15:10He just he texted me via Messenger on Instagram and said, hey, I'm a fan of yours.
15:15I just wanted to let you know.
15:16And so I responded.
15:17I'm obviously a massive fan of his.
15:19And then we became text buddies.
15:21That's wow.
15:22Yeah.
15:23And now look, now you're co-owners.
15:25Amazing.
15:26Well, welcome to Rexham on FX and nominated for all those Emmys.
15:32And it's always sunny in Philadelphia.
15:34It'll never end.
15:36This is Rob McElhaney.
15:38Thank you for joining us on Behind the Lens.
15:41Thank you for having me.
15:42Thanks, man.