The Hollywood Director Who Lives Life on His Terms Matt Earl Beesley – EP 246

Justin Donald: What's up, Matt Earl? So good to have you on the show.

Matt Earl Beesley: Well, thank you so much, Justin Donald. I'm glad to be here.

Justin Donald: Well, this is great. You and I, the last time we met up was at Soho House, I think, having a little coffee together and just talking about life and film and the arts. I've been having this idea that we've got to talk about your story because it's so fun. And then you're working on a really cool project that I want to talk about too but I love film. I love TV shows. I love books. I love poetry, I love most, if not all of the arts. I know you do too. And I would love to hear about how you got in. I mean, your resume's incredible, right? I mean, you've worked on amazing television shows and movies. You've gotten to work side by side with people like Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg.

And you got to be one of the assistant directors of Braveheart and you're on whatever number of seasons, Season 9 or 10 of Chicago Fire. And so, the laundry list of your accomplishments is incredible. And we can talk about all that, but I'd love to know how you got into the arts. Like, how did you become like this huge director?

Matt Earl Beesley: Huge director. I love that. I feel like I need to put on some platform shoes to make that really work. I got to build up my platform.

Justin Donald: I love it. Well, it's not every day you get to hang out with a Hollywood director, you know? I mean, I feel lucky because I get to.

Matt Earl Beesley: A Hollywood director now planted in Austin, which I love.

Justin Donald: That's right. That's right.

Matt Earl Beesley: Justin, I feel very fortunate because a lot of people go through phases of trying to figure out what their calling is, what they want to do. I was lucky. I grew up in Dallas, Texas. My father was a school teacher and he just loved movies. And I remember very specifically, there's a movie called The Great Escape. It's a big war movie with Steve McQueen and James Coburn, all these great actors, and they always used to play it in Dallas over two nights, like a Wednesday and Thursday night. And my parents knew I was a big fan of the show. So, they actually let me push my homework back a little bit that night at 10 years old. Hopefully, I didn't have a whole lot back then.

And I'm watching this movie and it just hits me. It's like, "Well, how does this happen?” And I asked my dad, "Well, how does that happen?” And my parents were the right parents because they always said, "Look, get something you're passionate about and then don't be outworked. Work harder than anybody else,” which is a strong work ethic. And tomorrow, my wife and I have done a really good job, I think, of instilling that in our badass kids. I mean, they're very focused. They have a great work ethic. So, I figured out this is a path I want to take. I want to be a movie director. And the chances of that happening and having the career I enjoy being a school teacher's kid from Dallas, Texas was pretty like that window was pretty slim, you know.

But I also like to say if you believe in something hard enough and you have your goal set, that success is the only option. I’m paraphrasing Eminem, "Success is the only option.” That's my mantra. And I'm just so grateful for the career I had and for the opportunities I have and still, I enjoy it every time I step on the set. I was telling somebody the other day, even after directing 150 episodes of television, every time I step on the set, I get butterflies because I'm a homework nut. I'm the guy on a Chicago Fire. We shoot in Chicago. They put me up in a nice apartment and then I do the work during the week and this is when we're in prep. And then on the weekends, I'm the guy that goes to the set by myself, walking around like an idiot with my script, trying to figure out where all the characters are.

And on that show, Chicago Fire, sometimes there's 15 or 16 actors in the room and you got to kind of devise how it all works out. And then it's just the storytelling aspect of it. But I do all that homework because that gives me the confidence that once I step on the set, even though I got the butterflies clicking, that I try not to tell too many people about. Now, everybody out there knows it, but when I step on the set, I have the confidence to know that my game plan will tell the story. And then I just approach it very humbly and say, "Okay. Here's my idea, guys. See if it works for everybody.”

Because I used to like say I used to be an assistant director for Clint Eastwood, and just the way I ran the set, he kind of like came up to me one day, I mean, Clint's like 6’4, 6’5, and he says, "So, you want to direct, huh?” I was just trying to be the guy's best assistant director he ever had and, trust me, a couple of my assistant director mentors were his ADs before I jumped in. So, I had big shoes to fill just trying to do that job. But once again, this is one of my heroes. The fourth film I was doing with him and he asked me, "So, you want to direct?” I said, "Yes, sir.” And so, from that point on during that movie, he would give me little tidbits like, "Okay. Come in with a game plan. Know the story. Know your game plan will tell the story. But it's a collaborative art form. So, if you get there in the morning and the guy handing you a cup of coffee has a better idea, say, ‘Thank you. I'll take that idea.’”

Because any director that steps on the set thinking he has all the answers is kind of shooting themselves in the foot because you've got all these people. That guy handing you a cup of coffee, he probably got up at four o'clock that morning to make coffee for the crew and make sure that everybody was fed. He wants to be in the film business. There's easier ways to make a living. Sometimes we do some crazy hours. So, yeah.

Justin Donald: And you got all these creatives that are there. It's like, why not tap into their brain? I mean, these are people that are very accomplished, that have a different way of thinking. Why not hear out what everyone has to say?

Matt Earl Beesley: Exactly right. It's a different perspective and you like, say, you come in knowing your plan will work and you can always fall back on that, but it opens it up to be even more a creative process.

Justin Donald: Well, it's more collaborative. You're giving people permission to weigh in and I think that creates like culturally just a better environment to film in. That would be my like, obviously, no expert. I have zero expertise in this space, but in the world that I'm in, in business and building teams, it's like those have been the best cultures. Those have been the best teams where you open it up and you let people have open dialogue and share feedback and take ideas and put them into play that people have.

Matt Earl Beesley: Absolutely. It's interesting. I got to jump in with a little story here. Okay. I met Justin Donald. I would say about four years ago or so, I met Justin and I met him. My wife is an entrepreneur. She has a company called Women Building (Growing) Wealth, and that's to teach women how to invest and engage in real estate and all that. She's doing great. And I met Justin through one of his masterminds. It's really interesting after we got to know each other because everybody at these different events that I go to, I'm just letting Tamar be out there and shine, do her thing. She's a real people person. And people come up to me and they say, "Well, what do you do?” And I tell you what, Justin, I always lead with, "Well, I'm a husband and a father,” and let it sit there.

And then some of them will go, "Oh, okay, that's cool,” and someone will go, "Oh, that's great.” And then the next step is, "So, what do you do for a career?” And I have friends say, "Why don't you put yourself out there like that?” I said, "Well, because when I say I'm a film and television director, it kind of changes the dynamic of the situation.” But long story short, when I met Justin and we started hanging out a little bit together, he told me that two of his childhood dreams was to be a fireman and an actor.

Justin Donald: That's right.

Matt Earl Beesley: So, here we go. I'm doing this show. I'm going back in a few weeks to do my 17th episode of Chicago Fire. I love working with those guys. So invested there. And wait, there's actors and it's a fire show. So, I said, “Justin, let's go.” So, I got him up there on set. I almost pulled off getting him a line. It didn't quite work, not that…

Justin Donald: We were close.

Matt Earl Beesley: But I got him suited up as a fireman as a background artist, and I put him in as many scenes as I could and walking through and everything. And Justin, of course, being Justin, hit it off marvelously with the group. I mean, it's like I'm sitting there on the set and everybody's off and we're lighting everything. And then the DP says we're ready, and the AD goes to get the cast. And it's like, “Where are these guys?” “Well, they're hanging out in the next room, having a chat with Justin.” So, they appreciate it. And, of course, I rolled out the carpet. I said, "Here's my buddy. He's a badass entrepreneur, lifestyle investor. You guys have got to get to know this guy. And by the way, he wants to be a fireman and an actor, so have at it.” And so, they just embraced you, got all these pictures with you, which will pop up on my feed once in a while. And I always get a kick out of sending it to you old school.

Justin Donald: I love it. Well, I mean, you helped me cross off two dreams and the funniest thing about it is people. I'll be in just a random conversation and someone's talking about being a fireman or we got to call the fire station or whatever. And anytime I have the opportunity, I'm like, "Well, I know everything there is to know about being a fireman because I was an extra in one episode of Chicago Fire.” And it just always gets a big kick. But I can't wait to use it because whenever I hang, I've got a bunch of firemen buddies, and so I always use it when I'm around them. I'm like, “Hey, guys. Hold off. I can answer this one. I'll take it from here. I was an extra in Chicago Fire, so I've got this figured out.”

Matt Earl Beesley: I love that. I tell you what, those guys, and I learned when I was a little kid, I mean, the firemen are the heroes, you know? I mean, literally, the thing is they run into the fire when everybody else is trying to get out. And it's really interesting. When I was back there doing an episode a few months ago, my phone alarm went off in the middle of the night and I thought, "Well, I thought I'd shut that thing down.” It turned out that my wife was in Costa Rica at an event. And I was there and it was like three o'clock in the morning, and it turns out that my house alarm went off. Okay. So, I contacted my wife and she goes, "Well, that's probably just a malfunction.” So, I didn't think anything about it.

And then the next morning I get a call from the district fire chief here in Westlake area that we live in, and they go, "Is this Mr. Beesley? You live at this address?” And I said, "Yes.” And he said, "Well, your alarm went off last night and we went out to check it out, and we didn't see any smoke or smell anything so we left and then secured the area and then left.” And I said, "Great.” And then he says, "About an hour and a half later it went off again. We went back.” And I thought, "Oh, no,” because I know enough about firefighting, they're going to break into my house to make sure that everything's okay. Well, fortunately, I had made a mistake. When I was setting the alarm, something in the backyard got my attention. So, I went out and tweaked that. And when I came back in, I forgot to lock the sliding glass door on the way in from outside.

Justin Donald: Oh, perfect. That's actually great.

Matt Earl Beesley: So, I said, "How did you guys get…?” He said, "We went in but when we went in, we set off the burglar alarm.” I went, “Ugh, it's a double whammy.” Now, I'm thinking, "Okay. Is the police department off? I'm going to be all over the radar here with the municipal help here.” And he said, "Let me check out how we got in. I'll talk to the people that actually went.” And so, then he calls back and he says, "Look, he says you had left a sliding glass door open.” I think, “Thank goodness.”

Justin Donald: Yeah, no kidding.

Matt Earl Beesley: So, I was kind of like, "Okay. So, what kind of food do you guys like? You didn’t destroy my house. You're trying to keep me safe. Pizza, burgers, what can I bring you guys when I get back to town?”

Justin Donald: That's awesome. And thank you to all of our firefighters and police officers doing great work. I mean, you guys and gals do such a great job on so many levels, so super thankful. We've had a few situations and they've come in handy in emergencies. So, for our family, we've had two specific situations and I'm very thankful.

Matt Earl Beesley: I tell you what, like I say, those men and women are the heroes. And when we shoot Chicago Fire, part of the episode, we actually shoot in a live firehouse. We set up a big tent on the outside of the firehouse for them to put the real trucks. But being in that environment, it really hits you because you're in a real firehouse and you hear those alarms go off. And you hear, I mean, sometimes those guys that go to work, they have no idea what they're going to do that day. They show up. It could be a cat in a tree or a multi-car crash on the freeway or a high rise on fire. They don't know. But you hear that thing and you go, “God, these guys are jumping in these vehicles, heading out, and they're not really sure.” Sometimes they get more information on the way, but a lot of times they just get up and go and figure it out when we get there. It's pretty crazy.

Justin Donald: Yeah, for sure. And I want to give a shout-out to my friend, Mark Domitrovich, who owns the bar, Lottie's, where you guys have done filming in and you've built your own Lottie’s in Chicago that I've gotten a chance to hang out at. I mean, it's identical. It's so cool.

Matt Earl Beesley: It's so funny. I couldn't believe that you actually knew the guy that owned the bar that we utilized.

Justin Donald: It's so cool and it's a great bar. It's such a cool spot.

Matt Earl Beesley: It's really cool. It's a neighborhood bar. Really nice. So, getting back to continuing my journey, like I say, once I figured out when I was really young what I wanted to do and I knew I had to just really grind down to get that done and focus and like read, I mean, I was a movie nut. My dad, one of the things that he did, we'd go to the drive-in movie. And I remember going to a drive-in movie one time and seeing A Fistful of Dollars, A Few Dollars More, and Good, Bad, and Ugly. I don't know if I was able to stay awake through all three of them.

Justin Donald: That was a three-peat? You did a marathon run?

Matt Earl Beesley: It was a Clint Eastwood Western Marathon.

Justin Donald: Wow.

Matt Earl Beesley: But what was really interesting is I still remember driving out because they used to have gravel in Dallas. They used to have gravel at the drive-in movie. So, I remember kind of being asleep or dozing off. And my dad, of course, stayed until the end, driving off, and kind of hearing the tires against the gravel. And that's a great memory of that thing.

Justin Donald: I love that.

Matt Earl Beesley: But also, as a tribute to my dad, what happened was I got to work with Clint Eastwood, who I can probably say is one of my mentors because I did a few movies with him and he taught me a lot. You can't be an assistant director standing next to a Clint Eastwood and not learn a hell of a lot about filmmaking.

Justin Donald: I am sure.

Matt Earl Beesley: He's something special.

Justin Donald: He’s something special because he is not only an amazing actor, he is an amazing director. So, I mean, it's hard to bridge that from what I've learned.

Matt Earl Beesley: Right. And 94 years old and just directed another movie. It's like, dude, that's a target.

Justin Donald: Unreal.

Matt Earl Beesley: I don't know if I'll make it that far, but that's a target. But the tribute I got to do with my dad, my dad was a scratch golfer. And he tried and tried and tried to get me involved in golf and I thought it was kind of boring because I didn't have the focus to concentrate in order to get good at it. So, I'd smack the ball around it but then had no idea that I really wanted to go chase it down the fairway. But because he's a scratch golfer and Clint plays golf, when I did, I was a second AD, second assistant director on a movie called Pale Rider, which was a Western. And I got my dad. I flew him up to Sun Valley, Idaho, and he got to play a round of golf with Clint. He kicked Clint's butt.

Justin Donald: That's awesome.

Matt Earl Beesley: And because Clint's such a competitor, my dad was happy but Clint didn't talk to me for three days after that.

Justin Donald: I love it. You can see that he's competitive. You can totally see that.

Matt Earl Beesley: Absolutely. So, getting back to my journey, what happened was I went to SMU, went to film school at SMU, and there was one film company in town at the time. And this is tricky because it’s called Mulberry Square. The gentleman that ran the company, this guy named Joe Camp. And they made Benji movies. There was a little dog. They made this movie. I think the first movie they made I was still like in high school and it was like they made it for $350,000 and I think it grossed like $20 million, something crazy. But that was the only game in town. So, I basically went over and, “I'll work for free,” and they go, "We like the sound of that.”

So, they paid me minimum wage. I was going to school during the day and in between classes I'd run over and literally fill up the Coke machine, deliver the mail, go run the errand, pick up the groceries. I would do whatever I had to do the day job and still go to school. And then at night, the bonus was I got to go in and work in editing, which is one of my love. I mean, some of my cinematic heroes when I was in film school were the director, sure, but I loved the editors. There was a lady named Verna Fields who was Spielberg's editor, edited Jaws, and then another editor named Dede Allen, who was like one of my heroes.

And later on, a second unit called John Q for Nick Cassavetes that I was directing, I got to work with Dede Allen. And it was like she has no idea still what this meant to me. But on movies back then, you'd go and you'd shoot the day's work and then that next night you would look at the dailies from the night before. They'd screen them for the crew. And I'd always sit behind Nick Cassavetes, who was the first unit director. I'd sit behind him and Verna, I mean, sorry, him and Dede Allen because I want to hear their thoughts. And then at the end, because I was directing the second unit, all this great stuff with Denzel Washington and Ray Liotta and Robert Duvall. It's a really great cast.

They would come up first and then my SWAT team guys running around on the roof would be up next. And I still remember Dede Allen turned to me and she goes, "This is great. I can really use this.” And I just said to myself, wow, that's one of my heroes. And she's actually complimenting my work. I love that.

Justin Donald: That's so cool.

Matt Earl Beesley: It’s the same thing when I worked with Steven Spielberg, who's another one I consider a mentor. I worked with him several times and he would come down to the set. I did a show called Extant for him, and he would come down to the set and compliment my work. And it's like that classic. You got a legend standing there that I have so much respect for and like he's telling me about my work meshing with the first, I was doing the second episode, so he said it's like almost like the first and second episode are seamless. And so, we're telling the same story and it's all falling into place. And this kind of the bubble comes up above your head goes, "That's Steven Spielberg complimenting my style.” I'm going, "Wow, I've made it!”

Justin Donald: That's so cool. And sometimes in order to break in, you got to be willing to do the hard work, not take any pay or take minimum wage, which by the way, I can now say because I am a paid actor. I received my very first paycheck for my work on Chicago Fire, so.

Matt Earl Beesley: I hope so. I love it. And hopefully, it's like a copy of it is pinned to your wall. It's funny because being in the Director's Guild, it's a great guild and they treat us very well and they have a really great residual situation. And I always recognize the envelopes in the mail. I know that's a residual, right? So, you don't know if it's going to be literally residual for a penny on a show that you did 15 years ago or is it going to be a big residual for a show that just re-aired. And you never know. But on my desk over here, I have several checks that literally are $0.01. And so, it's so funny because some of those shows, like this one show, Masters of Sex, was one of my favorite shows but I get the smallest residuals from that show and I'm just so happy when I still get them because I love that show.

Justin Donald: That's great. That's awesome. Well, something I was thinking when you said you went with your dad to see three movies, when I was in college, I went to the University of Illinois and there were a bunch of buddies that also appreciated film. And so, we did Movie Fridays. And so, for me, for I mean most of my years, I actually didn't take class on Friday. I was very intentional to keep my Fridays open as I do today, by the way. I don't schedule stuff on Fridays. It's for family and friends and we do a date day and I just love it. And so, my wife and I just did a staycation and got into 1923, so we're really enjoying that.

But back in college, so Movie Friday started and actually it probably started in high school, but we coined the name Movie Friday and we would go see two-for-one and three-for-one all the time in the theaters. And if there was nothing good in the theater, we would get cheese and crackers and we would watch them in our dorm or in the fraternity I was in.

Matt Earl Beesley: I love that.

Justin Donald: And so, yeah, so a film has just been an important part for me of my life really since I was a child. So, this episode is really fun for me. And the time that I spend with you, learning about your craft and getting a chance to be on set and watch you in action and see how meticulous you are and how creative you are, it's really a joy.

Matt Earl Beesley: Well, I thank you for saying that. And I think it shows that I just love it. I mean, I've got this whole thing about gratitude, Justin. I mean, I wake up every day. Tamar and I have a cold plunge in the backyard. It's not a lot of fun to get in that cold plunge. You freeze for like four and a half minutes and then you get out and you feel great. And then I come in and I do my Qigong, right, and then I do my meditation. But the first part of the meditation is always just kind of leaning into gratitude and just saying, "Look, how fortunate am I to be able to have a beautiful family, live in a great environment, have beautiful friends, and be able to do what I love doing for a career?” Because I’ve seen when I was growing up, some of my dad's friends, I saw them so much just looking at, you know, they're living for the weekend. And I mean, some people, look…

Justin Donald: That's the majority. I really think it's the majority of people.

Matt Earl Beesley: And that's sad, you know? And like, look, it's a privilege to be in a position like you and I and so many of our friends to do what we love.

Justin Donald: That's right.

Matt Earl Beesley: I mean, my goal I think is seeing friends of mine’s dads back when I was a kid, it's like I just said, "Man, I want to wake up. It might not happen every day, but I want to wake up heading to the set and going, ‘Man, God, I get to do this today. This is great.’” And I always approach it, Justin, it's like this may be the last time I get to do it, so I better make it count.

Justin Donald: That's wise. I think that's wise because we don't really ever know, but I love that you have that childlike enthusiasm each time. And by the way, Tamar has that as well. Like, you both have such great energy and I've loved having you guys as members of the Lifestyle Investor Mastermind and getting to know you over the years. I mean, yeah, I think four to five years or so, it's been wonderful.

Matt Earl Beesley: It’s great. And I tell you what, one of the great things about your mastermind, Justin, is the people. You know what I'm saying? You've obviously curated a great business, but it's the people that are important. I mean, that's the thing. I mean, it's really interesting. In Los Angeles, I mean, it's a gypsy lifestyle. I think we've talked about this. You put together, whether it be a movie or a TV show, you put together a big group of people and you work really hard for an intense period and then boom. And then you may not see some of those crew members for two or three or four years. You may never see them again. Or you may see them on the next job. And Los Angeles is not the easiest place to get around.

I mean, people think that Austin has traffic. No. Austin has rush hours. In LA, my oldest daughter is a musician. She lives in LA and I was out there a few weeks ago, literally sitting on the 405, which is six lanes and it’s stopped and it's 10 o'clock in the morning. And I'm looking around going, “I don't miss this.”

Justin Donald: Not at all. I get the biggest kick anytime people say, "Oh, Austin has so much traffic,” because you're giving your LA example. I lived in Chicago and I'm always like, "You don't understand traffic. This is wonderful. There is no issue here.”

Matt Earl Beesley: Exactly. Talking about that company, that little company I used to work with in Dallas. When I was still in school, I started working there. And I'd say I took so much grief from my film friends that were in the film program with me. They'd say, “Matt Earl, you're making dog movies, man.” And I said, "Yeah.” First of all, I say, "Only game in town,” because I wasn't really that interested in doing commercials, which there was a big influence there in Dallas, big market. But as far as feature films, that was the only game in town. And I said, and I'm working in editing, and I tell you, you try to make that dog look like it's doing something, I mean, that's skill. That's an art form, just editing that thing.

Justin Donald: Lot of takes there. I'm sure.

Matt Earl Beesley: Well, everybody thought they were going to come out of school and be in the next Steven Spielberg, and I've been lucky enough to work with the guy a few times. So, there you have it.

Justin Donald: Yeah. It's hard to get your foot in the door so it's funny hearing people being critical. You're taking your shots to get your foot in the door, and those shots have given you the opportunity for the next door to open.

Matt Earl Beesley: 100%.

Justin Donald: And so, it's good that it's like however you start, you got to get started so start. Start building relationships. Start doing the work.

Matt Earl Beesley: How do you get started? You start.

Justin Donald: That's right.

Matt Earl Beesley: That’s a good one.

Justin Donald: And now, there’s a really big movement. You and I have chatted about this a little bit, but to bring filming, film production back to Texas and there’s a bunch of actors, famous actors that have kind of like a commercial, Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, and a ton of other people. But I’d love to hear you talk about that a little bit before we get into your newest project.

Matt Earl Beesley: Well, I love that. I mean, there is a tax break here now, but they’re really pushing, I think it’s actually on the governor’s desk to like expand that and I think they’re going to maybe double the amount of tax incentives. And part of the thing is if you have a Texas-based story and if you have a majority of your crew based in Texas, that helps check the boxes to get those tax breaks. And so, it’s like, when I used to do shows in Atlanta, they had huge tax breaks. I mean, a producer would literally step off the plane and they get a third of their budget back just because they were filming in Atlanta.

Justin Donald: That’s right.

Matt Earl Beesley: And there’s a lot of competition there, but if Texas gets to that level, that’s going to help out tremendously.

Justin Donald: Well, it’s going to be incredible. I mean, think about all the business that the state of Georgia has scooped out of Hollywood. Hollywood’s so expensive to produce. You got a lot of hurdles to jump through. You’ve got Georgia, Atlanta, and by the way, I’ve been to Tyler Perry’s studio. It’s incredible. It’s actually really hard to get on his sets because he doesn’t really let anyone in. So, you have to have some special favors, but he’s got like a White House, like a replica of the White House there and all this cool stuff. It’s a monster facility. And it was really cool to be there. And I’m excited to see Texas doing this so that as investors like me, you and I, we’ve invested in films before. Like, I love the idea of being able to invest in more and have more tax-advantaged opportunities there, like what Georgia has done inside of Atlanta. But statewide, they’ve changed the game and they’ve opened up the playbook to be able to film in other locales. Like, you don’t just have to film in Hollywood now.

Matt Earl Beesley: Absolutely, yeah.

Justin Donald: Yeah. So, you have made a career of doing movies, doing shows, and by the way, we haven’t even talked about a bunch of the big name shows you’ve done, I mean, CSI: Miami, you talked about Masters of Sex, Bosch, Falling Skies, the Closer Criminal Minds. Of course, you’re doing Chicago Fire right now, and I know you’ve got a love and a passion for that. But I’d love to have you talk a little bit about the film you wrote.

Matt Earl Beesley: Got it.

Justin Donald: You co-wrote a film and I read the script, you sent it to me. Thank you for doing that. It’s the first film script that I’ve read through, that I’ve had the privilege of reading through start to finish.

Matt Earl Beesley: Oh, wow.

Justin Donald: And it was really a fun read.

Matt Earl Beesley: Cool. I appreciate that. Yeah, it’s a Texas-based story. It’s basically a family drama set against the backdrop of the immigration situation. Now, not to get into politics, it doesn’t touch on what’s going on currently, which is interesting. But my thing was that, I say, I’ve been a director for hire for years. I say, I’ve directed 150 episodes of television. I started as an assistant director, moved into second unit directing on those movies. My big credit there was I got to direct the second unit on Braveheart, which was a big deal. It was a great one.

Justin Donald: Huge. One of the greatest movies of all time. I’ve watched it probably 50 times.

Matt Earl Beesley: What’s classic about it is like, it’s a love story. It’s a man and his wife and a man and his country. If you take out all the battle stuff, it’s still a love story at heart. And so, no, that was a real privilege to be able to do that movie. And I have so many stories about the making of that movie, but…

Justin Donald: I used to show that scene where he was pumping up all the fighters, his countrymen. And when I was in Cutco, I did that for a long time. I would play that clip at one of our most pivotal times in the summer to get our team fired up about the most important, basically push period or event or week to two weeks. At one point, it was like a 10-day push period. Then it was a 14-day push period where everyone goes all out, and I had all these clips and I would always do this huge production around this. I dressed up as Braveheart.

Matt Earl Beesley: I love it. You wore a kilt?

Justin Donald: I did not wear a kilt, but I had other renderings that made me look very Braveheart-esque.

Matt Earl Beesley: Okay, good.

Justin Donald: Actually, that one year, I may have actually worn a kilt, believe it or not.

Matt Earl Beesley: I have to scour around, trying to find pictures of that.

Justin Donald: Yeah, that’s a killer movie.

Matt Earl Beesley: It’s interesting that I moved into second unit directing because of my relationships with different directors, like, I worked with Penelope Spheeris as an AD on several projects and I worked with Andrew Davis on several projects and different directors that gave me the opportunity to direct their second unit. Toward the end of my career as an assistant director, the studios would always put me with the kind of inexperienced directors. Maybe they were great writers but had never really directed anything. So, they kind of put me in there and literally, I could help them along. I wasn’t going to take the job over for them, but I could help them along. But once in a while, there’d be a scene that, God, I just don’t know how to schedule this boss. And they’d go, “Well, why don’t you take the camera and crew and go around the corner and shoot that?” I said, “Okay, I can do that.”

And a lot of times the second units are the action stuff, whereas on Braveheart, where I got lucky is we shot in Scotland and Ireland and London. And the weather was so bad in Scotland that they fell behind schedule pretty quick on the first unit. So, they at a certain point weren’t able to finish scenes. They’d have to move on to another scene, and I got to come around behind and then clean it up.

Justin Donald: That’s cool.

Matt Earl Beesley: I remember one time, we were shooting, one of my favorite scenes that I got to clean up was the scene right after– spoiler alert, right after they kill what William is Mel Gibson’s character’s wife. Then he comes back into town and it looks like he’s going to come back into this English fort area in the village and just kind of give himself up. Well, it turns out to be anything but that. But what was cool is that Mel and the company were across the river on our set and they were shooting the wedding scene or what was going to be the wedding scene. And I was over there cleaning up the second unit of that scene of he comes back into town.

Now, the issue is that Mel would come over during lunch break and his stunt double, I’d have him on the horse and he was doing this thing, would kind of throw it out of focus, and Mel would get all excited. He goes, “That’s a cool shot.” And I said, “Yeah, it’s a cool shot, Mel.” But I said, “If you get on the horse, it’ll be in your movie, so I can make this shot be part of your movie. Right now, it’s a good shot. It’ll be a great shot in part of your cut movie if you get your ass on the horse.” So, he did on the horse. And we do the shots with him and then the assistant director, David Tomlin, big-time English assistant director was the AD on that movie, he’d be across the river on the walkie-talkie going, “Beesley, I need my actor back. I need my actor back.” And I said, “Just one more shot. One more shot.” So, we were able to do that.

Justin Donald: That’s awesome. It’s so cool to have that piece of history and that piece of art that you can tell this story about because it’s a powerfully moving film.

Matt Earl Beesley: It really is.

Justin Donald: It’s just great that you got to, like your legacy, part of your legacy is that you were part of that and created part of that.

Matt Earl Beesley: Wow. I hadn’t thought of it like that. It’s really interesting. When I was in film school, I remember we studied a movie called Reds and it was a movie with Warren Beatty and I actually wound up– earlier, my boss at Mulberry Square had this real thing for shooting in Europe. So, I remember I was actually able to be on that set. They were shooting in London. I was on that set for just a few minutes watching Warren Beatty direct himself in this scene. And when the movie came out, you study it, and it’s this guy John Reed, American journalist, for better or for worse, his writing during the Russian Revolution changed the world. Okay? And I’m sitting there as a film student going, “Well, that guy changed the world. What do I want to do? Oh, I want to make movies.” What kind of a life is that? That doesn’t do anything.

And then so, as a student, you get depressed for about a month, and then you snap at it and you go, wait a minute. Maybe just one day, I can do a TV show or a movie, and a guy comes home from a hard day at the office and he is about to yell at his wife about some ridiculous stuff and plus down, cracks open a beer or whatever, and is watching the TV show and it puts a smile on his face or it makes him think about looking at some subject a different way. And I go, okay, well, maybe what we do is important as filmmakers because I think to me, art is life. Music is life. Art is life. I mean, I’m a pretty emotional guy. You can see I’m kind of out there and I can listen to a soundtrack for a movie and start crying. I’m going, why am I crying? Because it brings up such feeling of like hope and emotion and humans trying to navigate just being humans. I think what we do is important.

Justin Donald: I shared on a podcast with Roy Williams who I want to connect you with and it was just such an awesome episode. I love that guy. I’ve spent some time with him and he’s just this great storyteller and he writes ads, telling these incredible stories and he has this character development. And he’ll do that for a company based on the founder of that company, but he’ll literally create a character. But he’s just talking about the beauty of film and the beauty of the arts and that it’s an escape. And people want that escape and they have all these receptors. And it’s so much easier for people to imagine what isn’t real than what is real.

And I told him, for me, film, TV, books, that is my escape. I’ve got a brain that works on autopilot that is hard to turn off, and I would never change anything because of this brain I’ve been very blessed. But the flip side of it is, sometimes it’s hard to go to sleep, sometimes it’s hard to stop problem solving, sometimes it just wants to run and fix things and optimize things. And I always have a new idea, I mean, like this incessant ping of new ideas, new things. And so, my way to actually get it to turn off is to get into a great film, get into a great TV series, get into a great book, and that– I don’t know if this is a healthy coping mechanism or not, but it’s the thing that has worked for me. And the funny thing is I get these great ideas then when my mind is kind of like calm and elsewhere that I can then translate back into my business or into another business or into a connection that I want to connect a couple people, and so, in this creative place where my brain can wander, it allows me this creativity than when I’m inside my business or inside networking or whatever.

Matt Earl Beesley: I love that. I mean, it’s funny, I mean, you’re talking about the whole creative process. I was at– it was probably one of your events recently. And I remember walking by a friend of mine who’s an entrepreneur, and I overheard him say, “Well, you know, I’m not very creative.” And it just stopped me in my tracks. And I turned back and I said, “What did you just say?” And he said, “I’m not very creative.” And I said, “Dude, you’re an entrepreneur. All you guys do is create.” It’s crazy.

Justin Donald: Right. So true.

Matt Earl Beesley: I’ve such respect for that.

Justin Donald: So true.

Matt Earl Beesley: So, no, I mean, my movie, like I say, as a director for hire, Paramount will call up my agents, say, we won’t matter to do this series, or Warner Bros, we won’t matter to take a crack at this script to work on this movie, that I’m your guy. And I say, I’ve built a really good career in this. But then I came up with this idea by doing a lot of research. I mean, I grew up in Texas, so I know there’s some issues at the border and once again, not to get into politics, but there’s people caught in the crossfire there that are good people and they’re just– I mean, you think about with some of the issues that we have in this country, okay, that is what it is. But there’s people in other countries who have it really a lot worse, and all they’re trying to do is to make a better life for their family. And so many stories you hear about the sacrifice of men and women just trying to give their kids a better life.

The other day I was watching all these college graduates giving their valedictorian speeches. And I got to tell you, almost everyone I watched was talking about the sacrifice of their parents giving it all up at another country just to make their way up here. And I say, as my project that’s going to start Gabriel Luna, who you guys probably know from The Last of Us, and he’s a very busy actor. He actually…

Justin Donald: And he has taken off. He’s in everything these days.

Matt Earl Beesley: Right. And he’s actually from Austin.

Justin Donald: Okay. That’s super cool.

Matt Earl Beesley: I did a series with him called Matador. It was actually Robert Rodriguez, who’s another local filmmaker.

Justin Donald: Yeah, I love his stuff.

Matt Earl Beesley: We did a series together called Matador. It’s where I met Gabriel six or seven years ago, at least. And we just remained friends. So, I had this idea about this character who is a– he’s an immigration attorney. Carlos is a guy I called him, and he used to work on the border. And because of a series of events, he was trying to help this little girl who was alone and he lost the case and she wound up being put in detention before she was shipped back to Mexico and she died of exposure. So, that kind of tore Carlos’s up. So, he said, “I can’t deal with this anymore.” So, he moves the family to Austin. And I want to shoot this thing right here in my backyard, basically. He moves the family to Austin and he still works as an immigration attorney, but what he does is he helps the Saudi Arabia prince that wants a green card. So, he’s entered that kind of high-profile stuff, leaving behind that kind of the tragedy of these people just trying to get a better life.

Meanwhile, he’s got a cousin, a young cousin who’s 17, who’s in Mexico, and because of some circumstances, is forced to join a gang. And it literally is one of those things like, you join the gang or we’ll take out your family. It’s like, that’s not much of a choice. So, he joined a gang and because of that, his father gets killed. So, his mom says, “We are out of here.” And they start heading north and she gets held up at the border, actually gets injured at the border, and then Mateo, the young kid, winds up working his way to Austin and literally, through a couple of circumstances, winds up landing on this guy’s front step. It’s like, okay, this is blood. What are you going to do about it? I know you don’t do that life anymore, but what are you going to do about this situation?

So, you can see how that conflict brings him back in to just try to do the right thing. And because I’m a white guy living in Austin, I didn’t want to be the white guy trying to get the script. So, I wrote it out and then I went to my friends at University of Texas, which I do some guest lecturing there once in a while, and said, “Look, I need a Latino writer that’s going to help me, that’s going to make sure that this thing is authentic.” Because first of all, I want to make sure I have a chance of getting it made. And then second of all, I want to make sure it sounds real, it feels real.

So, they introduced me to one of the guys that actually helped me. Miguel Alvarez is actually a film professor at UT. So, he helped me for a while and then he got a big hike in his job there. He was kind of wound up being one of the heads of the department. So, he said, “I’m going to pass you off. Here’s some other people to meet.” So, I met a graduate student, Tom Santos, and he helped me with the script. And now, we’re doing something that I’ve never done before because as I said, I’m a director for hire and I’m out there shaking the trees to say, “Who wants to jump on board and tell the story?”

And it’s not like a preachy story. Like I say, it’s a family drama against this backdrop. But what it is, it’s just hopefully getting people to look at a subject and just move the needle. That’s all I want to do. Just want to get them to take a look and say, “Maybe this kid does deserve a break.” What if that was your kid? I mean, look, Justin, I mean, we all have privileged lives. We have beautiful families. By chance, we were born here. I mean, they don’t have a chance where they’re born. Here it is, and here’s the circumstances that you’re in. So, always think about that and it’s like, just to tweak it. And so, yeah, getting the money, it’s a challenge. I’m getting some interests from companies in LA from individuals. There’s a lot of people that want to help, but they don’t quite know how to do that.

I mean, film investing is not something you do every day, but it’s kind of interesting. You got people out there that you think about, okay, we have a privileged life. What are you going to do this weekend? Well, I’m going to go play round of golf. Well, that’s great. What’d you do this weekend? Well, I invested in a movie.

Justin Donald: Right.

Matt Earl Beesley: And I’m going to be an executive producer on that movie. Well, that’s kind of cool. That kind of takes people back. That’s kind of cool. You’re out there making it happen. And like I say, just to get people to look at something a different way, it’s a little independent film. It’s the budget by Hollywood standards, very small, it’s between $5 and $6 million. And like I say, I’ve got people involved and interested, but I’m always looking for more because it feels like that no one wants to be the first one to pull the trigger. I have a pitch deck, which I think I’ve gotten a lot of great response. It really maps out the story for people that don’t want to take the time to sit and read the whole script, right? So, they’ll get the idea and it kind of maps out some of the architecture of the film business and investing and the different tax things that you can do and stuff like that.

But basically, it just, here it is. Here’s the story you want to jump on. But getting somebody to say, because when you look at indie movies now, and it’s crazy, you look at an indie movie and there’s maybe six or seven different entities that are part of the production team. It’s not like the old days where Paramount will say, here’s $50 million to go to this movie. It’s like, okay, a little bit from here, a little bit from there. I mean, eventually, it grows and you got like a team behind you.

Justin Donald: Yeah. And you have all these different studios that are doing it these days. It used to be just a few, and now you have a lot smaller productions that are pumping out some incredible shows. And a lot of these are going straight to the streaming platforms, right? They’re not even going to the movie theater. So, it’s kind of the Wild West in filmmaking and film producing today, which is cool because it gives more people an opportunity to play in that space.

Matt Earl Beesley: Absolutely. And like I say, I think indie films are really important because they’re not– I mean, look, no disrespect to studios. That’s been my bread and butter and I love them for that. I have a career because, like I say, I have a career because of those guys, but they’re always, they’re kind of held to having to do the big movies to make a lot of money because they have to pump so much money into the advertising. I mean, the movie is twice as expensive as it was to actually make because of all the costs and promoting it. Whereas in any movie, an independent movie sometimes you can get a different perspective because you don’t have to hit a huge audience. You just have to tell this little story and hope it picks up. And I love that. I think you can have a little more freedom in the indie world because, like I say, the studios are kind of hit with having to make this huge overhead. And trust me, they’re very successful at it and I’m loving them for it because that’s been my career and it still is part of my career. But this is something that I want to kind of go out and tell the story, and I’m looking for the right people to help me out with that.

Justin Donald: That’s right. Well, and pay attention to the films that win most of the awards, they’re the indie films, and it’s because they don’t have– it’s like, I mean, I could say this in my industry where it’s like the reason the people and the Lifestyle Investor Mastermind thrive is because we are doing things a different way. We’re not doing the conventional system the way that it’s always been with money managers and Wall Street and all that. We’re actually following a different model, the model of the wealthy, right? Well, you could look at film the same way, where it’s like, yeah, here’s the playbook if you want to create a big action thriller or a big kids movie, right? But the playbook for the highest level of artistic creativity and what wins the awards are the ones where there aren’t parameters that have to be hit or met or thresholds or have to spend so much and it has to have this type of box office appeal or return or you tell the story and then it does the rest.

Matt Earl Beesley: Exactly. Now, and I think you have to really stumble to have a movie that is not a billion-dollar movie, that’s a $6 or $5 million movie, yet it’s a struggle to get that to not make money because the goal is to get it in the theaters, get a little theatrical release, and then there’s so many streaming entities that that movie is going to make their money back and then some, just based on the revenue that you can gain just by all the different entities to watch it. And look, kids watch on their phone these days.

Justin Donald: Well, I love it. I love what you’re up to. What you didn’t dive into is this wonderful character development and I know there’s only so much time, but like, Carlos and his wife and just their relationship and the intricacies there and the family element. And I love that the kids’ names in the movie are named after your kids. I think that’s beautiful. That’s such a cool way to do it.

And then you’ve got the gang aspect and kind of like the violent part of it. You’ve got the government agency that’s trying to do their part and then you get to like, well, this is the way that we’re told, but this is right and wrong, and what do you perceive is right and wrong? And so, it’s just really well done. And where can people reach out to you to learn more about the film and if they want to be part of it?

Matt Earl Beesley: Sure. I think the best way to just hit my email, which is, okay, my name is Matt Earl Beesley, and it’s B-E-E-S-L-E-Y. So, my email address is beesleyman, B-E-E-S-L-E-Y-M-A-N, one word, @gmail.com.

Justin Donald: I love it.

Matt Earl Beesley: Yeah. I love the fact you touched on the different characters because like I say, what I’m trying to do, I’m not preaching by doing this movie. I’m just saying this is happening. This is an aspect. Let’s move the needle by thinking it this way. And like I say, Carlos has got a wife who looks at him as like maybe someone who’s lost his passion. He’s got kids that are still involved and they know he’s a good dad, but he still is distracted by his work and not really passionate like he used to be.

And then I’ve got a trying to look at the other side of the coin. There’s a character named Jackie who is a border patrol person and I have Kara Killmer, who is one of my alumni from Chicago Fire to play that part, who’s also a Texan. She’s a Texan. She just moved to Fort Worth, because that side of Fort Worth is where she grew up. So, another, I’m trying to stack the Texans with us. So, she plays a border patrol person and her dad is on leave. He’s a retired police officer and he’s got a certain perspective. Jackie’s husband was killed in Afghanistan. So, you got that whole military background with her, and she’s got a little daughter and she’s just out there trying to make a living.

And through this event that happens with Mateo’s mom, she starts to see that there’s other sides of this. I mean, the thing is in movies like this, you want to have the character development. There’s no point in having a character start out at one point and be the same character to the end. That’s not journey. You want to see their weaknesses, you want to see that they’re real humans, you want to see them take the ride. And I believe we’ve done a good job of developing the characters. And I’ve got brilliant actors. I mean, Gabriel is a rockstar just to help us tell the story and to bring people in and say, hey, I can relate to this guy. I can relate to that person, I can relate to the dad, I can relate to the conversation he’s having with his daughter telling her that she’s doing the right thing, even though she’s going, well, maybe there’s more to this than just picking somebody up off the street and putting them in detention. So, I think all that’s important.

I think, Justin, it’s really interesting. I think, about storytelling, what we do as filmmakers is no different than 2,000 years ago, a bunch of people sitting around the campfire going “once upon a time.” What is cool about it is we just have these really interesting tools. We have beautiful actors that play the parts. We have cameras. We have great lighting. You can tell it in an imaginative way, but it’s basically just storytelling.

Justin Donald: Yeah. It’s a beautiful thing and I’m so just happy you were able to join us today and share your story, share your new project that you’re working on. Tell everyone the name of it, as well.

Matt Earl Beesley: It’s called Fronteras: Borders and Boundaries.

Justin Donald: Love it. Well, anyone that’s interested, please reach out to Matt Earl. I think this is going to be a really beautiful production and it’s something that is close to my heart as well. So, I’m excited to be around and be helpful and try and connect some dots and I’m just excited to see the finished product, man. So, thanks for joining us today.

Matt Earl Beesley: Well, as we say with Eminem in mind, success is my only option.

Justin Donald: I love it. That’s so great. Well, I love ending every episode with a question to our audience and that question is this, what is one step you can take today to move towards financial freedom and really move towards living a life that you truly desire on your terms, so again, not by default, but a life by design? We’ll catch you next week.

Matt Earl Beesley: Love it. Thank you, sir.