Scott Galloway · 1:01:52
Care reference to leftovers. You've been prospering, not surviving, prospering in a creative industry for several decades. I have two questions. One, what are your creative hacks for trying to put yourself in a a moment of flow so that you can feel like, okay. I'm... I have a better chance of doing something well here versus something, quote, unquote, an anodyne? And then my follow-up question is, if you could... If you were adopted by Larry Ellison tomorrow and he said, Justin Ellison, you can do anything. You can make any film. You can star in any movie. You can... What? Anything you wanna do creatively, you want... You can redo, make the sequel to any film ever. What would that be?
Guest · 1:02:36
Well, the list of credits you just read out to me speaks to my first point, which is training. Because every single one of those parts required a different part of my training to employ, whether that's comedy drama, farce surrealism, you know, I mean, doing, Mulholland Drive was like doing, you know, Brecht to a certain extent. So I had a good background. I could play varied characters. You know? We... That is, like it or not, the job. We have to play multiple, multiple characters. And and, you know, if anything, I I I attribute whatever sort of character success I've had is to be able to play other characters and sort of go unnoticed but but try and be good in them. You know? Because it, you know, that IMDb listing reads like a cardiograph. It's up and down. It doesn't really, it doesn't make any sense. Know, it's not like, well, he got this part and he did that show for ten years, and then he went and did a couple movies. So... And that was also... I I credit my gut to just going, what is the next interesting thing? The word no is a powerful, powerful word in anyone's career, and being able to say, no. I'm not gonna dedicate my time to that. There's a couple times where I've said yes to things because it's been the smart thing to do or it's the right director to do it with, and I've been miserable. My gut was telling me no, but my bank account was telling me yes or something. I've just been, I think my gut has been good on that. To find flow, I don't know. You know when you... Occasionally, you're doing a scene and you just... You find yourself in that bliss state where you're going. I don't know what the equivalent for you guys would be either in writing or in... Or even in podcasting where you just I feel like I've heard it a couple times when you guys have been podcasting where you guys are just in flow. And that's just tuning in, listening in luck, you have a beautiful experience, you know, and you just go, wow. And you drive home at the end of the day, and you go, that was special. And I don't know what accounts for that. It just happens sometimes.
Scott Galloway · 1:04:59
What would you most wanna do? Unlimited funds. What would you do?
Guest · 1:05:02
Oh, unlimited funds. Larry, Elson. I'd like to open a production company and take the seven scripts that I have on my shelf that I've... Some of which I've written, and I'd like to delegate. I'd like to hire a a team, and I'd like to delegate and get us... And dusting them all off and working on them and and and start producing them. You know? I mean, it is the worst thing about being a writer, director, actor. Actors in particular have it hard because it's the one profession where you need someone's permission to do it. You have to join a basketball team every single time, and you have to get... There has to be a draft pick that happens for every job that you have. And it's, you know, even if you're a violinist, can go to Washington Square Park and play violin and put a hat out. You can't do that with acting. It's terrible thing, which is why I think so many people are sort of just putting out their iPhones and looking silly on street corners. But you know what? They're making content.
Kara Swisher · 1:06:01
So Right. TV show or movie do you love right now?
Guest · 1:06:06
You know, I'm gonna be disappointing. I'm gonna be disappointing in this answer. I I love... I I I scour the Internet every, every... At the beginning of every month going, what? And the prompt I put into my Google is this, like, best new documentaries, coming out in, say, September 2024. And I I really like documentaries, like, almost more... I I I watch things that friends of mine are in, and I love certain things. But, I I, you know, I I really do... This is gonna sound so sort of hard school and dumb, but I really like watching people behaving real, in a real setting. And when you can see a good documentary, like Fog of War, is an incredible character study of McNamara. Or when you can watch someone reacting in real time, that's the most nutritious food for me. So I really like watching people. You know? I mean, I guess that's sort of the job as a writer and an actor. You know, when you know how the sausage is made
Scott Galloway · 1:07:13
Oh god. Don't be so fucking mature. What big movies have you seen that you've enjoyed? What original script... What can we stream right now?
Guest · 1:07:20
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is is is a... What can you stream? I don't know. I mean, I... There's a great documentary coming out that I wanna see.
Scott Galloway · 1:07:29
You're sexy enough without the whole I like the documentary wrap. If you wanna
Guest · 1:07:33
come see my etching Scott
Kara Swisher · 1:07:35
He's a substantive man unlike you. God is like Styrofoam. He keeps I really He comes... Keeps surfacing to the top.
Guest · 1:07:42
Well, sometimes I won't say which thing, but sometimes I listen to I listen to the things that you guys are listening to. I'm like, what are they doing watching that when they could be watching this?
Kara Swisher · 1:07:50
Oh, see. You know what, Scott? He's better than us. He is. He's handsomer. He's fitter. He's smarter. He's got better hair than you, for sure.
Scott Galloway · 1:07:58
What did you think of baby reindeer? Like, lightning round.
Guest · 1:08:01
What did think baby reindeer? Okay. Alright. Lightning round. Baby reindeer. I I was so excited for this sort of, like, light jaunt about a stalker, and I was just gut punched and almost borderline nauseous by the middle of it. Okay. Next. Salt wonderful performance.
Scott Galloway · 1:08:16
Salt
Guest · 1:08:16
burn. Salt burn. Haven't seen.
Scott Galloway · 1:08:18
Saltburn. Haven't seen. You're gonna get a
Guest · 1:08:20
lot of haven't seen. Probably.
Scott Galloway · 1:08:21
Dune two. Dune two.
Guest · 1:08:23
Dune two. Know it has sandworms, but sadly haven't seen it. Although, I love Rebecca Ferguson.
Kara Swisher · 1:08:28
Emily in Paris.
Guest · 1:08:30
I'm telling you. Emily in Paris, I I think I've I don't know. I saw the first couple episodes of the first season. I don't know. I'm I'm telling you. I'm I'm... A white wall has just gone up, and you're just bouncing a ball off it.
Kara Swisher · 1:08:42
Anyway, Justin Theroux, you are... We are your biggest fan, actually, and you can catch him if you wanna see him.
Scott Galloway · 1:08:48
Nice man.
Kara Swisher · 1:08:49
In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and he's he's terrific in it. It's really great. Thank you so much.
Guest · 1:08:54
Thanks, Justin. I wanna come back, Scott. I don't wanna talk about my feelings later. Thanks, Gay.
Kara Swisher · 1:09:00
Alright. We appreciate it.
Guest · 1:09:02
Sounds good. Anytime. Alright. Bye.
Kara Swisher · 1:09:06
Alright, Scott. Isn't he the best? So he is dreamy even as Cara the lesbian says.
Scott Galloway · 1:09:10
Just for a moment, my second Internet friend, my first was George Hahn. My second is Justin. He reached out to me, and I thought it was a fake account because I said, I know who Justin Theroux is. This can't be the real Justin Theroux. And I wrote back, and it seemed like him. He is the nicest man.
Kara Swisher · 1:09:25
Nicest man. He is an astonishing writer and and thinker whenever I talk to him. Just a really substantive man. And that's why he likes documentaries, Scott.
Scott Galloway · 1:09:35
There you go. You go. Nice man.
Kara Swisher · 1:09:38
Alright, Scott. One more quick break. We'll be back for predictions.
[Ad break]
— Predictions segment begins —
Kara Swisher · 1:11:48
Okay, Scott. Let's hear a prediction.
Scott Galloway · 1:11:51
So we try to call balls and strikes here. And as as you may have may have ascertained, if you're really thoughtful or perceptive, Kara and I are not enormous fans of Elon Musk, but I do think that Starlink is just an incredible product. And Starlink has 2,500 airplanes now under contract after United's mega deal. And essentially, now two thirds of active lower satellites are controlled by SpaceX and their subsidiary Starlink. And I don't if you've ever used this. It's got somewhere between two and three times the speed of your residential broadband, but you're on a plane. And, you know, you... I don't know. I've had a few of these moments where technology just absolutely blew me away. Where the first time I took a picture of a check, the first time I bought something when I was outside of my BlackBerry because I was headed to the theater and didn't have checks, the first time... I don't know. I I I got my car tuned up wirelessly. There's certain moments where you go, Jesus Christ. That is just awe inspiring. Kinda like the time I got that declawed frozen hamster and stuck it up my ass. Is that technology, Kara? Is that technology?
Kara Swisher · 1:13:01
I knew you couldn't do it. I knew you couldn't do it. But go ahead. Move along.
Scott Galloway · 1:13:04
And when you talk about maritime and you talk about the fact that this thing... I mean, when you're on a plane eating bad meatloaf and you you... For the eighth time, your go go wireless goes out of, you know, goes out
Kara Swisher · 1:13:16
of range. And you have to pay for it. And you have to pay it. Sign up
Scott Galloway · 1:13:19
and like, did I just pay another $25 for this thing? This thing is literally a 10 x better product. And right now, it's trading in the private markets at 210,000,000,000, which is double Tesla's price to sales ratio. We predicted a long time ago it was gonna be worth more than Tesla. And so that's not my prediction because this thing is already at a $250,000,000,000. The prediction is all similar to how all of these people who aren't Netflix have gotten taken to the woodshed. The Warner Brothers and the Disney and the Paramount Globals of the world over the next year are gonna be Gogo, publicly traded, Viasat, MRSAT, KVH Industries, Iridium Communications, SES, all of these... Intelsat, Telestat, all of these companies have put out shitty technology for maritime and transportation, trying to give you some semblance of broadband. This is the Netflix of that industry. It is... You're gonna see tremendous disruption here.
Kara Swisher · 1:14:17
Abs... Which is what makes it so sad because he's... Can do things like this, and that's what's that's what's sad about him. I have to say, like, he's he's lost interest in Tesla, it looks like, you know, in terms of creating new fresh cars. And... But, you know, this is a great product. This is a period great product, which makes the... His decline, his his amplification of Russian propaganda, his his heinous behavior, all the more tragic in so many ways. Anyway, I agree with you. I think you're right. I'm excited about it. I was just on a United flight, and I was like, what the fuck am I paying $24? It doesn't work. I can't get it on. And then the store is just like, it must be your fault. I'm like, it is absolutely not my fucking fault. It's that you have a shitty system you're... That you foisted upon your consumer, and people work on things.
Scott Galloway · 1:15:00
And they're brilliant. They've just signed a multiyear spokesperson agreement with a naked Melania Trump.
— Predictions segment ends —
Kara Swisher · 1:15:06
Yes. Alright. Alright. We wanna hear from you. Send us your questions about business tech or whatever's on your mind. Go to nymag.compivot. Submit a question for the show or call 85551 Okay, Scott. That's the show. We'll be back on Tuesday with more pivot. Can you read us out?
Scott Galloway · 1:15:22
Today's show is produced by Lara Nayman, Zoe Marcus, and Taylor Griffin. Ernie and Retard engineered this episode. Thanks also to Drew Burrows and Mils Severio. Yashak Kurwa is Vox Media's executive producer of audio. Make sure you subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. You can subscribe to the magazine at nymag.com/pod. We'll be back next week for another breakdown of all things tech and business.
[Ad break]
