Welcome And Meet Jackie Dallas

Greg Staffa 0:00

You're listening to the Staffa Corner Podcast, a Staffatarian look at entertainment and life with your host, Greg Staffa. Guest this episode is actress Jackie Dallas. She is the female Ken Jung of acting. We'll explore her journey into acting, the experience that shaped her career, and what it takes to bring a character to life. Jackie, welcome to the Staffic Corner.

Speaker 0:43

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Greg Staffa 0:45

Well, the reason I referred to you as the female Ken Jung is because you were not always destined to be an actress. Tell us a little bit about your upbringing and what that was like.

Speaker 0:57

Yeah,

Leaving Medicine For Acting

Speaker 0:58

of course. So for anyone who isn't familiar with me, I actually had a pretty late turn into acting. I started off as a doctor. My parents, let's see, my whole family is uh we're a family of doctors. And so my parents kind of, I want to say, uh, nudged me in that direction growing up as an Asian American, you know, being a good daughter, going to medical school. So I did that. I did a year of clinical research. I tried out two different types of residency specialties and ultimately decided that I wanted to pursue something a little more creative. So at the age of just about 30, right before my 30th birthday, I resigned from my residency program and packed my car up. I drove Route 66 from Chicago to California and started on this adventure of acting.

Family Pushback And Real Support

Greg Staffa 1:53

I'm not a parent, but I have to imagine your parents had to have a few red flags going on on something like that. What was that like? And I mean, there's stability, there's a future, there's, you know, finances that that come with being a doctor. There's, you know, you don't hear many doctors that have to wait tables because they're struggling doctors. What was that like to make that kind of change? I mean, this wasn't changing career fields of you know, medicine to medicine. This was a total start over at, you know, uh an interesting age. I mean, you're not old, but you're you're at that point where you were set. You had everything going for you.

Speaker 2:36

Yeah, I was established at that point. I think I was one year out of uh, you know, taking all the exams to get my board certifications or if I wanted to go into into any specialties. Yeah, I was I was pretty much right at the end there when I decided to just cut and run. I would say that, you know, when it comes to having that conversation, it's when it comes to having that conversation, I think unless you're speaking with another creative, it's really hard to understand that impulse, that there is something so subjective and uh, you know, like not afraid to take this leap of um, I don't know, this leap of faith to do something that there's no guarantee, there's no stability really. And I think when it came to my parents having that conversation with them, they recognized that if I was going to leave medicine, I was leaving on my own terms. And I think that means a lot. You know, I wasn't flunking out of medicine. It's not because I couldn't, you know, get into school or, you know, any of that. It was I tried this path. I tried clinical research. That wasn't for me. I tried being a surgeon. I went into general surgery residency at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. It's a great, great program. And I decided I didn't want to do that. And then I switched over to pathology because I thought, you know, forensics is kind of cool, you know, maybe I can figure out a life path that way. And three years later, I didn't see longevity for me in that either. So fortunately, I would say life kind of gave me a path out, I would say. I met my husband, um fiance at the time, in New York when I was doing surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital. And over the course of many, many years, um, he saw how, you know, I was trying this path and it just wasn't making me happy. And he had, he was so supportive. He had, I had my I had his full blessing to move to California and try something new. It also helped that he had gotten into a residency in California. So we had been doing long distance for a while, and this would allow us to kind of be back together again, also. Regarding my parents, sorry, I got a little sidetracked there. Regarding my parents, I think most parents, as much as they want you to be successful, whether it be a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer or, you know, any of these definitions of success, at the end of the day, I think all your parents want you to be is happy. And they saw that what I was doing wasn't making me happy. They always knew that I had this creative streak about me and that I loved acting. I was doing theater as a child, I was doing drama club. And for me to come to terms with like picking my passions and prioritizing that, I think, sure, they had their hesitations, but they were supportive because they saw how much it meant to me and they said, you know what, give it a try. An MD is not a bad backup plan, you know? Like I'll at least have that degree.

Survival Jobs And Small Milestones

Greg Staffa 6:02

So you go to Hollywood, you had a little bit of a safety net as far as the the relationship went. You had a place and you, you know, he had a job. Was there what was the certain point that you realized that this was the right move? Was there a role that you eventually got that you were finally able to look back, or was it just you never doubted yourself?

Speaker 6:25

Oh gosh, that's a hard question to answer. On one hand, I want to say that I never doubted myself. I want to say that I had that confidence and borderline delusion about it, which I think every artist really does need to have to an extent. But that first few years, I mean, they were rough. They were, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. It took years for me to, you know, really make acting a profitable venture. There were years where I was, you know, hustling and waitressing again and bartending again and dog walking and driving for Uber and Lyft. And I mean, you want to talk about a humbling experience going from, you know, telling your colleagues that you're gonna be a surgeon to doing that. That's uh that's a tough pill. And also, like, I did have a bit of a safety net, sure. My husband was going to be a doctor, is going to be a surgeon, but he was in residency, he had a good six, seven years ahead of him. And for anyone who's not familiar with um the residency training, it doesn't pay very much. It you you make between 50 to 80,000 a year, depending on what program you go into. And we're over here living in California and one of the most expensive cities in the world. Plus, we're sitting on probably close to half a million dollars in student debt between the two of us. So that safety net, sure. He had, you know, the Monday through Friday or doctor terms Sunday through Saturday paycheck, but we were far from being stable and we were far from being out of the woods. So it did get very challenging at times, and I really had to create small, approachable, meaningful milestones for myself in order to keep going and staying motivated and recognize that, you know, one day I'm further ahead than I was a month ago, than I was six months ago, than I was a year ago. And I think just having that sort of outlook on it has allowed me to continue going even during really, really challenging times, even after the fact, like COVID, COVID was extremely challenging. And then we had the strikes for a couple of years after that. Here in California, we had the wildfires that really threw everything in a wrench. So, yeah, there's there's challenges along the way. Right now, the industry is in a very strange space. I had a good momentum going before all of this, but even now, you know, I'm kind of reflecting on how can I continue to grow? How can I continue to expand? How can I keep my own momentum going? So that's that's the ongoing challenge, I'd say.

Greg Staffa 9:13

Now

Using Medical Training In Acting

Greg Staffa 9:14

you went through years of medical school, which I would assume involved a lot of research, a lot of understanding, a lot of memorization. Did that help you become a better actress as far as you know, getting a role, breaking down a character, learning the lines? Was there the approach to studying to be in medicine was a similar approach for you to studying a character and a role?

Speaker 9:36

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I think being a doctor, it didn't, it didn't take away anything from what I'm doing now. If anything, I'm really grateful for those years because it really helped me in so many ways. Uh, memorization, I mean, medicine is uh so much memorization. So for me, my short-term memorization skills is excellent. You know, learning my lines is is probably easier for me than for others. And then as far as like the acting skill set goes, I mean, that's a learning curve, of course. But when when I was working in medicine, I mean, you see, especially going through training where you kind of explore all the different specialties for a while, you get to see people, you get to see humans in their most like happiest times, their most devastated times, their most you know, the best and worst of times, right? And so you get to see how different people react to situations. It's it's such a study of humanity, it really is. And then you have to learn to both empathize with that, but also detach from that just as a doctor so that you can continue functioning throughout the day. And I think those skills and that sort of reflection into human nature really, really did help me with my skills as an actor. Because if I read a role, regardless of, you know, the backstory of that character or where that person's coming from or what's happening in that scene, or you know, their socioeconomical status of it, I can recall a situation of a person that is, you know, somehow, somewhere applicable to that. And that that helps me a lot. It really does.

The Smart Business Move Was Atlanta

Greg Staffa 11:24

In previous interviews, you've described acting as a business. And I'm just curious, what was your first smart business decision as an actress when you went to Hollywood?

Speaker 11:35

I think my first smart business decision was to get away from Hollywood. Let me explain. So when I first moved to California, I was living up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and what's great about that area for filmmakers is there is this robust community of indie actors, of uh commercial work, industrial work. It's a much more accessible market to get your foot in the door as an actor with no experience. Remember, I didn't come from a film school. I never took acting classes before. I just didn't have that background for it. So for me to start there was so great for so many reasons. After a couple of years, I of course wanted to make that transition to Los Angeles. And so I would, you know, drive down, I would try and take meetings, I would try to find an agent, I would try and find auditions. But because the nature of Hollywood here, it's so saturated and it's such a business, right? It's a multi-billion dollar business. If you're not bringing anything to the table at a recognizable credit or like a substantial in a substantial way, it's hard to get doors to open for you. And the biggest obstacle in my eyes at the time was trying to find an agent to submit me for work as a non-union actor because California is a union state and the actors union SAG Aftra makes it so that, you know, if you want to be on television on any of these hit shows on primetime or Netflix, a lot of the times you have to be union eligible in order to even audition for that. So seeing that was like the big door that I couldn't open, I decided to explore Atlanta, which is in Georgia, which is a right-to-work state. So the SAG after requirement of being union eligible wasn't so much of a thing. This was uh gosh, like 10, 12, 14 years ago. And so back then, Atlanta was an up-and-coming Hollywood of the East. It wasn't, you know, the hub of Marvel quite yet. So going out there, I bought a one-way ticket. I rented an Airbnb for a month. And mind you, I just moved to California. I was like, hey, honey, let's get married and then I'm gonna leave for a month. Um but I went there and explored that market because I recognized that it wasn't as saturated. And being an Asian American, there wasn't a lot of Asians in the acting, you know, in the acting industry out there. So I guess I found I found a gap that I could fill. And it that bet paid off. I was able to get an agent out there soon thereafter. He was starting to uh submit me for castings, and I booked Stranger Things right after that.

Greg Staffa 14:38

Wow. And Atlanta, it really has. I mean, it if you've gone down there, the the studios, the stuff that they've built, and then Tyler Perry has also built uh a studio down there, I believe. It's very impressive.

Speaker 14:52

Mm-hmm. Yeah, they're they're a well-oiled machine now. I mean they're having their changes. I was gonna say they're having their uh transition period right now, too, just like Hollywood over here. But yeah, at the time, Atlanta was really booming.

Greg Staffa 15:07

Now,

Working On Medical Sets Correctly

Greg Staffa 15:08

you've done roles uh of various you know characters and stuff like that, but one of the ones that stand out is your role in The Resident where you played Nurse Jill. What was that like? And were there times where you were like, uh, excuse me, that's not how they do that, or was it just something that where you kind of kept your mouth shut and and did whatever they tell you to, or did the kind of doctor in you speak up and and give it any advice?

Speaker 15:37

The resina was one of my earlier roles, and I was so excited because I was like, Oh, I get to you know be back on a medical set. This is so cool. I, you know, one of the things I've learned along the way is definitely stay in your lane. Um, I mean, these these multi-million dollar productions have so many people on them, so many casting crew, and everyone has such a specific role and specific, you know, job to play. When I got on that set, I was so excited and I was asking questions and I was I was probably just speaking a little more than I should have. And you know, making like my thoughts known out loud. And you know, in hindsight, I know better now. Now I know, just keep your mouth shut. But one thing that I am a little proud of myself for in this scene that I one of the scenes that I was in, uh, one of the main characters, she has to do a tracheotomy, tracheostomy. And so she was going to make the incision on the neck. And in actual medicine, you you cut vertically as opposed to horizontally. But when you're standing next to the patient, your hand naturally wants to just kind of slice across horizontally. And I was like, hey, you want to really impress the medical community. You should you should hold it and cut it like this, you know? And I don't know if she had any, I don't know if the medical consultant had already spoken to her about that or anything, but she just looked at me, she nodded, and she was like, Okay. And then she did it. And that was a little moment where I felt a little proud of myself. But you know, honestly, that set was so impressive because I think these medical shows really do understand that you can't just wing it. You do have to hire these consultants and these professionals who really know how to bring that magic to life. I know one of the women that I spoke to on that set, she was an emergency room nurse for like 20 years and she decided to retire and become a medical consultant. And so, you know, they're in good hands. I I didn't need to say anything.

Greg Staffa 17:42

Is there any part of you at some point that might want to do that someday, be a medical consultant, or is acting now the the big thing that that's your focus and medicine is up, you know, in the rearview mirror?

Speaker 17:57

I would say acting is definitely my main focus. I honestly don't know how much use I would be as a medical consultant now. It's been so many years. You know, I I I wouldn't mind like offering my opinions. I've reviewed some scripts before. I've helped out some indie filmmakers who aren't in the position to hire, like, you know, a full-time medical consultant. I've done a little bit of work that way. I've done some work in horror movies where I kind of show them anatomy and uh assess like the body part props. But I do think that acting is going to be like first and foremost my priority as a career.

Launching HerHealth101 For Women

Speaker 18:34

I have brought medicine back into my life. Um, I've recently started a women's health website called herhealth101.com. And so that has been something that has been um taking up a lot of my time when I'm not on set and auditioning. And that's something I'm really proud of.

Greg Staffa 18:54

What made you decide to do that?

Speaker 18:58

I think when I was when I was doing medical school and I was getting involved with uh clinical research, one of the things that stood out to me was the disparities in healthcare between genders, between ethnicities, between different communities. And this is when I was living up in New York City. And so I had access to data from, you know, not just Manhattan, but also Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, um, and limited resources like globally or I'm sorry, nation nationally. So I just noticed that there were a lot of disparities and how I just remember thinking how unfair that was. There's no reason why someone going to the same hospital with the same condition, having access to the same doctors and the same tests should get better care over another. And, you know, when I was still going through the medical path, that was something that I had resolved that I wanted to focus on was women's health later on. And, you know, somehow find a way to like give back to the community doing that. When I left medicine, obviously that that drifted away from me. But now, you know, my husband, he's a doctor, he's a urologist who specializes in female pelvic health. And because of him, as well as my you know, connections to the medical community, we've we've got this great circle of women's health doctors who specialize in pelvic health, who specialize in menopause, who specialize in pregnancy and fertility and so many, you know, other aspects of being a woman, that I kind of felt maybe this is my time to do what I always wanted to do in medicine, which is give back to the community and help educate and advocate and empower women to take control of their health. I feel as a society and politically speaking, that right now a lot of the resources and the research that we did used to have regarding women's health has been, you know, dismantled. And so now this is kind of my way of uh pushing back against that a little bit. So yeah, pretty proud of it.

Why Women Win Shorts Yet Stall

Greg Staffa 21:16

One of the things that I've done over the last several years is I've gone to about eight or nine of the last maybe 11 South by Southwest uh film festivals in Austin, Texas. And I've seen that you've done a lot of shorts, and I I didn't have time to see you know who directed them. But one of the things I noticed is there's a lot of women directing shorts. And on the the film festival circuit, they're winning awards, they're doing very well, they're being very well received, but there seems to be a disconnect in going from an award winning short director to a more feature role or even television. Do you I mean you've done a fair amount of shorts? Do you see a disconnect as well? Or is that just something that I notice?

Speaker 22:05

Yeah, no, absolutely, of course. And, you know, I guess my theory on that would be there's there's just as many talented and skillful and visionary women as there are men in the creative space. When you when it comes to making a short, you know, the budget is less, the time commitment is less. Um, the market is smaller, of course, significantly, but you can you can effectively you can create a short with friends, families, and favors, you know, especially when you're starting out. Obviously, you want to grow with that and you don't want to take advantage of, you know, your friends and family there. But I think that explains why so many women, you know, starting out who aren't having the doors opened for them, they're able to be extremely resourceful and extremely clever about being able to put together these excellent productions for very little. And the disconnect happens is once you get to the Hollywood arena, I'll say, when you're talking about bigger budgets and bigger crews and you know, longer time commitments, whether that's a week on an episodic or three months on a season or, you know, longer on a film, I think a lot of the studios or the people in charge of green lighting those projects become a lot more hesitant and they become a lot more, I guess, restrictive about who and how much that they want to support. And part of that comes not from skill, but comes from experience because historically speaking, our male counterparts have had more opportunities. They have had more years to be able to prove themselves. So, of course, they have a robust um portfolio of work where a lot of women are not necessarily just getting started in their careers, but don't have that same kind of resume. You know what I mean? So a lot of women are in a position where we have to create our own content. One of the things I'm noticing is these TV shows that are female-led ensemble shows, they're they're being executive produced by women. And a lot of them are the actresses that are starring in the shows. So they're literally creating the roles for themselves because a lot of times Hollywood isn't doing that for them. So we've recently become a little more empowered by the women who made it, you know, the years before us. They're pulling us up with them, they're paving the way. And it's not being this gate-kept, you know, party of one. There can only be one. So I think that's something that is helping. But, you know, we we have a lot of time to make up for.

Representation Without Getting Boxed In

Greg Staffa 25:05

So this next question might get me in a little hot water, but I'm gonna carefully phrase it how I best I can. But as an older white male, there's a lot of things that I I can't see or understand about your you know struggles and stuff that you've faced. And one of the things that I've always been torn about is you know, how do we approach race in in Hollywood? You know, you're a Korean-American actress, you want to feel like you're being seen. But at the same time, I wonder how much we paint ourselves in a box. You know, we we talk about, you know, you know, we mentioned Ken Jung, and he had Dr. Ken, and that was an Asian, you know, family comedy. When the Wayne's brothers do something, it's a black comedy. If you know so-and-so does something, it's a black comedy, or uh, you know, Hispanic comedy. We we put these things in boxes versus saying, you know, this is a comedy, you know. And so I get the struggle to be the Korean American actress and be seen as a Korean American actress, but also I think it's important just to be, you know, Sue, the next door neighbor who just happens to be Korean. How do we find that balance of representation, but also having it just not be put in a box where we say, because I think it turns people off to some extent, whether it's you know racism or just thinking, well, a Korean family show isn't for me, instead of saying, well, this is a comedy, this is a good comedy that just happens to be with a Korean cast, or this is a good comedy that happens to be with a black cast. Instead, we say, you know, we put in that box and and say, This is a black comedy for you know black families to enjoy. We we kind of hinder ourselves in doing that. How do we find that balance of having you know people be viewed and having it be seen, but also having it be more natural, if that makes sense?

Speaker 27:10

Yeah. Oh, I think both stories matter. Meaning in my career, I've been very fortunate to have not been pigeonholed into an Asian stereotype ever. None of my roles started out as like, for example, a nail technician or a masseuse or a ninja, or you know, like I was able to start my acting career just being Jen, you know, the science teacher's girlfriend on Stranger Things, where her ethnicity had absolutely nothing to do with her character or her role. And majority of my projects are that way. Uh, the majority of my projects could have gone any which way to any type of actress. And I was the one who was cast. So I'm very fortunate for that. Because, in my eyes, having grown up in the United States, I was born in New York, I grew up in Florida, I've since lived in a lot of different cities. For me, the American experience is my experience. And so that Asian American representation is authentic to me. With that said, there are so many, so many, so many levels in between of someone who is, let's say, still living in Korea, or someone who has just moved to America from Korea. Um, there's there's, or, or even beyond me, like I'm first generation. There are Asians that I know that are fifth, sixth generation. I mean, they their parents don't even speak the language. So I think having that whole spectrum of representation is meaningful to someone out there. I do think we are getting to a place where we are being a little more welcomed into telling the ethnic stories, however, stories like with a full ethnic class, like you said, uh like Crazy Rich Asians or like Abbott Elementary, I think is a show that has transcended race, in my opinion. Um, it's a pretty entirely black, well, it's a majority black cast, but it, I mean, I've spoken to people of all ethnicities, of all backgrounds, and everyone loves that show. So I think that's a great example. Even um fresh off the boat, I mean, it's undeniably an Asian immigrant uh, but I think a lot of people who do give it the time to watch it are very entertained by it and they can find parallels, whether they are also uh maybe their parents immigrated from another country, whether it be Asia or Europe or wherever. I think the solution lies in the marketing of it. If you have a story that has universal appeal and relatability and great thought-out characters that you want to root and rally behind, it's just you just find ways to market it that's not limiting to just the obvious audience. But you know, if your experience is a little bit more of if if you want to characterize your experience as a comedy and you want to lean into that, then you know your audience as well. So there's also nothing wrong with catering to your audience either.

Greg Staffa 30:34

Sure. No, I just it's it's interesting how many boxes we seem to put things in. Say what you will about the Cosby show, but I grew up in the Cosby show, and as a child, I never thought of it as white black actors. I just thought it was a fun family show. And I know a lot of people say, you know, it's whitewashed a little bit or or whatnot, and forget you know all the controversy that came afterwards. But to be able to grow up and have a show like that where you didn't think about it being, you know, an ethnic show. And I think today we we've tried too hard to put them in boxes, and I think there's a reason for it because you want to show, you know, that this is for a certain audience, but I think we also eliminate intentionally or not an audience by putting it too much in a box. And so I've always found that fine line interesting.

Speaker 31:24

Yeah. I used to grow up watching Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and I never thought of that as a black show either, you know.

Greg Staffa 31:32

And now now everything is, you know, uh it's it's in that box, and I just I wonder if that's a good thing, but also detrimental in in having people go out, just doesn't seem like for me because I'm not, you know, I can't I can't understand or relate to that versus giving something a chance and going, you know, comedy is comedy or drama is drama, and so you were a doctor, you went to California, then you went to Atlanta. You know,

Redefining Success And Chasing Fulfillment

Greg Staffa 32:01

these are for someone with an education that you have, someone might say, These are crazy decisions. You know, what was it about yourself that I mean, because these aren't just simple, these are life-altering decisions. You know, at what point do you say to yourself, I made the right decision? And what's your definition of success?

Speaker 32:30

Anything worth pursuing is worth the effort it takes to get there. And sometimes you have to take big swings because otherwise you can fall into this complacency. And that's that's just what I I don't know. That's that's how I kind of feel about certain things. So if I'm not happy and I don't foresee that happiness coming to me, I'm not the type of person to just kind of stay the course. I want to disrupt it a little bit. I want to be, I want to find a way, okay, well, what can I do to find that high happiness that I see, that sort of life satisfaction? To me, success changes on a year-to-year basis. It used to be, oh, I'm, I don't know anything about the acting world. My goal is to just be on TV. If I if I can make it on TV, that means I've made it, you know? And so I I booked my first role and I was like, wow, this is pretty cool. You know, maybe what if I could keep doing this? I just keep moving the bar, right? I just keep moving the goalposts. And then my happiness or then my definition of success was, okay, well, now I want to be a recurring character on a show, on a popular primetime show. And then that happened. Now I'm like, oh, well, I want to, I want to win an award, you know, I want to be on an award-winning show. My shows have won Emmys, they've won ensemble casts, they've done well at like independent spirit awards, they've, you know, I've I've participated in projects that have been highly accolated. And now I wonder, like, what's what's my next goalpost here? So success can be defined by accomplishments, sure. But at the end of the day, I think success also comes from personal fulfillment and satisfaction. And as long as you are continuing your happiness in doing something outweighs the fear and stress and anxiety that comes about with that, I think you are succeeding. And you kind of have to take an average of it because you're gonna have your bad days too. But as of right now, I look back and I feel so immensely grateful for everything that I've been able to accomplish as an actor. Now, you know, we can escape from hearing how much Hollywood has slowed down and how much is changing. So I'm starting to kind of modify my outlook and definition of success beyond something I can't control, such as, oh, I want to, you know, keep getting cast this often on these big projects. I'm starting to gear a little bit more towards producing and executive producing and you know, being a part of productions behind the camera and putting them together and creating stories that I feel deserve to be told. So I haven't succeeded in that yet because I just started, but I plan to succeed in it. And that'll happen when I'm watching one of my films on the big screen. That'll happen when I see one of my investments profit. That'll happen when I hear reviews of people telling me that their film, that my film has influenced them and shown them, uh, made them feel seen and represented. So I think uh my metric of success always changes. But um, at the end of the day, it's if it makes me happy, then I'm proud to have done

Hollywood Changes Money AI Streaming Jobs

Speaker 35:59

it.

Greg Staffa 35:59

Now you mentioned the word control, and you had started acting at you know a later stage. You had a full career, you had everything lined up, you didn't go to acting school, but you entered Hollywood with a different perspective, I would assume. You know, if we were to name you Queen of Hollywood for the day or even a week, what would be some big changes that you would make that you kind of as an outsider coming in have seen?

Speaker 36:28

Hmm. Big changes. Oof, that's uh well, I think big changes, mm, it's hard. Hollywood is so set in its ways. And because these recent changes that are happening are big changes, and we're not sure yet if collectively is for the better or for worse, right? From the LA perspective, we can all say, well, our industry is hurting, we're seeing less work, people are losing their jobs. So we could say it's collectively worse, and then with the technology that we're getting, like AI and deep fakes, and we're just very uncertain about how the future is going to be. So when it comes to big changes, I think there's big changes happening now. And I would want to see it, I'd want to see the dust kind of settle a little bit. However, I think the biggest change that still needs to be done is just the mental perception, the mental prioritization of capitalism, where we're starting to compromise creativity and storytelling and nurturing those passions in exchange for box office numbers and money. I think that is something that a lot of artists maybe don't care as much about, which I'm not saying is right or wrong either. It is a business, but I know a lot of filmmakers, especially when you're starting out, they have this burning story in their heart that needs to be told. And if you ask a hundred of them, like 99 of them are gonna say, you know what, if it doesn't make a million bucks, that's okay. I think at some point we need to nurture that so that those individuals are given the opportunity to hone those skills, to learn the business of it, and then to be able to tell stories that resonate to a larger audience and also, you know, sustain the industry in a in a manner that can be put back into that business to create more stories moving forward. Does that make sense?

Greg Staffa 38:50

Yeah, and it is interesting because we're at a time where it used to be that you could make the Marvel films, and the Marvel films would be able to support a lot of the industry, but then someone like Matt Damon could make, you know, we bought a zoo, which isn't you know as financially successful, but it would go on DVD and make up a lot of money that way. And so we were able to fund these smaller, more independent films through DVD sales and VHS sales and whatnot, but those have now been eliminated. And so that financial you know profit that we would find in in DVD sales of smaller, lesser known. I mean, Shawshake Redemption was uh viewed as a failure in the box office, but it made a bunch of money on DVDs and it became a cult classic. And we're not seeing that avenue anymore of these films making up some of the money or becoming you know popular by way of DVD sales, instead of going to streaming, which is a harder metric to follow. And so there's not really that place anymore for that extra financial income to support some of these smaller independent type films.

Speaker 40:03

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, a lot of these independent films now, if they get picked up, they're straight to streaming. And a lot of times there's so much content out there. A lot of times these films are buried under, you know, hundreds of other films ahead of it. So they really have to rely on either exorbitant marketing costs or just really heavily relying on word of mouth and hope that it resonates and you know, for it to be successful and recoup. But the other, the other issue about, you know, not putting back into the community is, you know, like your Marvel film that you had mentioned, it creates so many jobs and it creates so much money. But because the studios are, like I said, looking at this from a capitalist perspective, they're not creating that money and putting it back into the communities that built it. They're moving and they're relocating. And now Marvel is filming in the UK. It's not even in the United States anymore. So not only are you focused on, you know, cutting the cost of production so that the studio heads and you know CEOs, the C-suite can make more money themselves, but the people who built it are losing their jobs and their opportunities and not being able to sustain themselves and thus not be able to like continue working on these passion projects because a lot of filmmakers I know, they have their day-to-day that tides them over, right? They have the series regular on a show or the recurring guest star on a show, or the DP of a project is like, okay, I've got like four months of consistent work on this one series. And then they have the flexibility to be able to go out and do these passion projects and tell these untold stories at an indie level because they feel like they want to be a part of something that's creative and from the heart. And then you could do the festival circuit and you can do all of that. But because those don't have a guarantee of financial success, if you're not able to kind of back up that passion project and pay your bills with another project, you know, that pays your bills, that's not something that you can sustain. So by losing the big jobs here, I think we're effectively also losing the small jobs. We're seeing a lot less of that sort of storytelling that comes from the underrepresented and the underprivileged, because now when it comes to making indie movies, a big bulk of it is by people who already have the resources to do so. Interpret that as you may.

Spielberg Dream And Upcoming Projects

Greg Staffa 42:42

So and wrapping things up, I just have a couple of quick questions that I want to shoot right through. If Steven Spielberg came to you and says, I love your work, what's a project that we can work on together? I know you've expressed interest in producing and acting. What's a story that you would love to tell with my backing?

Speaker 43:01

Oh my gosh, um put on the spot. Steven Spielberg has such a wide berth of like types of shows, but I love all of the sci-fi stuff that he is able to do. I love just, I mean, his roots, even with ET, like Amblin films. I'd want to do something that's fun, you know, maybe sci-fi related, but still has a a uh a parallel storytelling of like humanity and I don't know, everyone getting along. He makes he makes very good, feel-good movies. And I I would love to be a part of something like that.

Greg Staffa 43:39

Then I wonder something, if you're able to talk about it at all, what are some things that you're working on that fans of yours can look forward to?

Speaker 43:46

Yeah, so I have uh, as mentioned, I recently started getting into producing. We are starting a uh Chinese American film called Gui. It's being produced with a dear friend of mine, uh Olivia, who runs Owong Productions, and we are very much an indie production. However, we are setting our sights high. It's two Chinese American stepsisters who are navigating the grief of their mother and uh you know fit trying to figure out how they fit in. But this is a horror movie, so it's gonna be fun and it's gonna be exciting. Horror movies, my horror movies are my jam. I love horror movies. The other thing that's coming up is oh, oh yeah, Hunting Wives season two. Hunting Wives Season Two on Netflix is gonna be coming out in November 26th on Thanksgiving Day, and that I'm super excited for. Season one was a big hit, so season two is gonna be even bigger and crazier, and I can't wait for everyone to see it.

Greg Staffa 44:46

And finally, the last question I ask of all my guests: so much of what you do is associated to to the roles that you've played. You know, it's hard not to mention your name and and find, you know, stranger things and stuff like that. But when you get up in the morning, you go into the bathroom, splash a little water in your face, and look in the mirror, who is it that you see?

Speaker 45:08

Oh, who is it that I see? I see I see every version of myself. Um I see someone who is driven and uh irresponsibly optimistic, hopeful, and at the end of the day, just trying to stay grounded so that I can be effective in you know continuing to work this crazy industry.

Who She Sees In The Mirror

Greg Staffa 45:40

Well, Jackie Dallas, thank you so much for coming on. It's a fascinating story. I think you have courage that you don't even realize that you had. I don't think a lot of us we get complacent, and it's easy to be complacent and to take your life not only once but twice. I'm sure there's a lot of other little times that you did it too, but to to see a path that most other people might not have seen and to have the courage to take it, that uh that's something and to be happy doing it is something to be very commendable. And uh, I think more of us wish we had that spirit that you have to be able to to make changes in our life to for the better, even though it's it might be a little scary. So thank you so much for coming on.

Speaker 46:26

Yeah, thank you so much, Greg. This is great. I appreciate it.