New Year, New Q&A Episode

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Bask in the calm and charm of Bista Village. Join us for the summer event and refresh your wardrobe with an extra 30% off the village price. From the 22nd to the 31st of May, select lines and brands, T's and C's apply, see BistaVillage.com. Bista Village. The thrill of discovery. What? You didn't know you could get Club Card prices on Tesco Travel Insurance? Get away. Save 15% on your travel insurance in our summer sale and join over one million customers who've already trusted us with their cover. Buy direct using your Club Card to get 15% off, but only until the 8th of July. Don't miss our summer sale. Search Tesco Travel Insurance and get a quote direct today. Underwritten by AWP, PNC, SA. Offer exclusive add-ons, T's and C's apply. On the Bechtel cast, the questions asked if movies have women in them. Are all their discussions just boyfriends and husbands or do they have individualism? The patriarchy's effin' vast. Start changing it with the Bechtel cast. Happy New Year, listeners of the Bechtel cast. It's me, Caitlin. It's me, Jamie, and we are entering, if you can believe it, the 10th of July. If you can believe it, the 10th year of the Bechtel cast. And as you can tell, the show started in November 2016. Coincidence, but telling. And yeah, things are better for women than ever. Yeah, gender issues have been resolved. Look, we solved them. Look, we're here to do a Q&A episode. I don't know what to say. We didn't fix it. We didn't fix it. We're doing our best. But yeah, we're just two people. So we have done this a number of times over the years. We haven't done it in at least three years. Is that right, Caitlin? The last time we did it. It's been a while. In which we sort of put the call out for questions to our matriarch community. If you're not aware. Hot plug. For many years now, we've had a Patreon, aka Matriarch, where for five dollars a month, you can get two bonus episodes of the podcast, as well as access to our well over 200 episodes of back catalog that goes back many, many years. And so we asked the matriarch community for questions around the show as we head into our 10th year, lots of changes, lots of reflect on. And as is common in the incredible matriarch community, they showed up and they showed up in a big way. Yes, we received many, many questions. Unfortunately, we won't have time to get to all of them. But we've selected a few questions that we will answer on this little Q&A episode. And I'm excited to dive in. But yeah, it's been 84 years of the podcast. And there's a lot to reflect on. So I mean, I think, yeah, maybe in dog years. No, it's been 70 dog years. Oh, God, let's not think about that. Yeah, that week we don't have to. But why don't we start with a question from Sophia? OK, this is one we, I believe, have answered before. But not for a while. I feel like we don't visit it. Yeah, I would like to hear our respective versions of the story all 84 years later. Right. So the question is, how did you guys meet? Wow. Meek cute. We had a meek cute. I don't remember a ton of the details. I know that it was at a comedy show in Boston, probably like 13 or more years ago. Wow. Maybe. Yeah, I guess like because I, yeah, I'm guessing like 20 between 2012 and 2014 would have been when this was happening. Yeah. Yes. And we were at a stand up show and I met you and I thought you were super funny and then I saw you at various other shows, either stand up or sketch. And I was like, wow, Jamie's so funny. I want to be her friend. I felt the same way. And then we moved to LA within a year of each other. Then years passed. And then we, and then we didn't become friends really, or at least we didn't hang out until we were both living in LA a few years later. Then I asked if you wanted to do a podcast with me. Yeah. And the rest is history. This very podcast. I remember seeing you. I don't remember specifically when we met. I remember doing shows together. But I remember, I don't know why my specific memory of you when before we were friends was because I used to work at the box office of now defunct comedy theater in Prov Boston in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And I have a strong memory of like, I think you were going into a show. You were hanging out in the lobby with people and I was working at the box office. And I was like, wow, she's cool. And that was the whole, that's that's the whole story. And you were so true to think that I was right. I was my instincts were spot on. And then years passed and then we became friends. But it was nice. I mean, I really feel like, I mean, in the now that we've both been in LA for over a decade, it like really was a life changing link up. Truly life altering in the best possible way. Yes. Yeah. OK, next question from Kira asks, how would you describe the Bechtel casts different eras since it started? This could pertain to the show's overall vibe or what it meant to you in the moment? I love a Taylor Swiftian question. I mean, I guess for me, I feel like the show has both grown with the times. I feel like especially because we talk about from time to time, like, older episodes of the Bechtel cast are like embarrassing. We don't like them and that can be very true. I think objectively, if I was listening to the show and it was not us, I do feel like a lot of our growth is reflective of ourselves as individuals and, you know, putting in the work and all that stuff and also so much of what we've learned from our guests over the years. But I think it also is kind of reflective of the times of like part of why listening to a 2018 Bechtel cast episode doesn't feel great is because it's a past version of ourselves that knew less than we do now. Absolutely. Yeah. I was thinking about it in terms of like, like first we were in our hobby era where we were just doing the show as a hobby. Actively losing money. We were, I think I remember when we started the show, we each paid, is this right? We're each paying like $125 a month to host the show and pay Aristotle for like stuff because we had free. So lower drop listeners, we had and correct me if I'm wrong, Caitlin, we had free recording space at your employer, which is now condos. Yes. The Nerdist showroom is where I was the program director. That was a comedy venue. And then also in that space was a podcast studio upstairs, which was really cool. I mean, I missed that space a lot. Oh, RIP nerd. So many good memories. But luckily the community has endured and we're all still. Even though I wasn't actually, but I felt like it was there. Anyways, you were a part of the community. I was in the building frequently. But that was when Aristotle Acevedo was both, he was kind of doing, he was helping produce the show. And he was also our sound engineer. Yeah. For years. And so we were working with him. And also at the time, this feels so ancient history now. We were like paying to host the podcast on Libsyn. Do you remember that? Yeah, because we just pay a monthly fee or something. And then a website fee and like just random small hosting fees. We had to pay like during the first year. Yeah. And after that, we started up our Patreon, aka Matrion. That was like a full year later, though. That was late 2017. For sure. And then it was maybe a year-ish, maybe a little less than a year after that, that we got picked up by a network, How Stuff Works. So that, I think, transitioned us into our next era almost. Yeah, I guess, yeah. I guess from like indie podcast to network show, which is interesting. Like, again, it's so particular because I guess I was thinking about it in our like in our personal place with like progressive issues and feminism, which has also very aligned with, you know, when you're listening to a back to the cast episode, please show us grace and look at the date it was released. Yeah. Because we have taken many L's over the years and rightfully so. And, you know, and we appreciate your patience with us and all that. And then also like, I guess I wasn't even thinking about like literally the growth in the podcast industry, because I remember for a while, I want to say until like 2018, the first couple of years we had the podcast, I was having the time of my life. I was always having so much fun. We were meeting all these really cool people. You were drinking a lot of Mike's hard lemonade at the time. That was its own era. Well, I was the Mike's hard lemonade era was like, Jamie was 24 and going through something, but but but also like, did you ever feel like I was like kind of like, I felt a little ashamed to be like, I have a podcast and everyone was like, OK, what the fuck is that? Like, it's just so weird to think about because I think in the early years of our podcast, it was just not a mainstream thing. It was still very niche. I mean, the fact that our show to my knowledge was really the only show of its kind, and it was two white women talking about movies. Like that didn't exist. That's absurd. I don't know. It's just like so weird to think about. Yeah, I I guess because so many people I knew and by that, I mean, so many comedians I knew had a podcast. I was like, yeah, podcasters are huge right now. But you know, you're right. Like the comedy community I was in at the time, like I have a specific memory and obviously they shall remain nameless. And I certainly am the only person in this conversation that remembers us. But I felt it in my like I was talking about having a podcast. I was like, I enjoy podcasting. But like my mom doesn't know what it is. And like, I feel like I don't know. Like I love our listeners, but I don't really know who's listening. And they're like, I don't know how to like explain the job. And they said to me, well, how do you a podcast isn't that embarrassing? And I was like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Which is first of all, untrue. Having a podcast is embarrassing. And and second of all, that same person two years later, had one of the most boring podcasts I've ever heard that lasts less than a year. So, you know, it's just weird. And then with the network stuff. Yeah. Like, I guess we are on iHeart podcast now. But it was because a much smaller network we originally signed with got consumed by a larger network. And that's happened. We've seen that happen many, many, many times to like our peers of like, I mean, this is like probably boring. If you don't care about the inside podcast stuff. But like, but how like Ear Wolf was like this independent network that was sold to Sirius XM and like there were so many examples of that. And our show was sort of, you know, taken on that journey. Take it taken on that journey. Shout out to the movie taken. Question mark. Just kidding. Yes, we're going to a YouTube concert in Paris and then something wild happened. I forgot we signed with House of Words. Oh, I forgot that's what it was. Yeah. But yeah. And then like, I feel like the pandemic era was its own thing too. Where we went from recording every single episode true in a studio to having to pretty quickly, you know, adjust. And I think it was a pretty easy transition for us. But, you know, we were recording from home and that made like editing a little different and recording was obviously different. But then it also opened up doors to remote guests that were international. And yeah, like, which is why I mean, not all podcasts have actually not all podcasts have done. I mean, like every, I don't know, like the industry is so podcast could be anything now, but, you know, a lot of podcasts have returned to recording in person. We have stayed remote in part because it's like cool to have international guests. It's cool to have guests that don't live in the exact same city. And I feel like it's enabled us to have like a wider range of perspectives because we love LA, but, you know, that really kind of limits the types of perspectives that we're getting. And yeah, we're super, we're super lucky. It's yeah, that was another big shift. And I think like going back to the earlier days, like I think there was, I don't know, I feel like it was maybe two years. Around the time we switched to a network that we were not a research for. We were like primarily a comedy podcast to start. We were not doing a ton of research. It was a lot of off the top of the head kind of stuff. And, you know, it's like we're still not we're not writing a dissertation for every episode and we do occasionally get things wrong. And, you know, we're not saying that the research is above reproach, but, but research being a priority in the show was not an original part. And also, do you remember? I sometimes forget this, how part of the original thing was that, like, Caitlin's seen a lot of movies, Jamie's seen no movies. It's like, but that kind of went away pretty early. We were like playing games for a while. Yeah. I mean, I think that made sense for our initial yeah, launch almost as a premise almost because like for me, my podcast for more like that too, then like with like segments, you know, segments. And then yeah, and also the we're coming at it from different perspectives. Like I've seen a bunch of movies. You hadn't seen that many. I mean, that was kind of part of the conceit of the show for me, where I was like, I, I grew up with so many movies that I know are full of harmful, reductive tropes and are sexist and racist and all this stuff. And I wanted this podcast as a way to sort of like reconcile that. Yeah. And be like, OK, well, is it OK if I still like these movies if I'm acknowledging why they're maybe not so great? And so which is like, I think a lot of podcasts, like, I mean, not that we like invented that, but I think it is like a dynamic that to this day is like used. I think it just I didn't mind it. But just after after the show ran for a couple of years, I could no longer say I hadn't seen many movies, I had seen many movies. And so I mean, it never like we never decided for it to go away. I feel like it just kind of naturally same with the games where we're just like, oh, I think we're having enough fun just talking about this. Or especially movies that, oh, here's a change. We've always done live shows. I think our live show model has changed over the years a little bit. It's remained relatively similar. The biggest thing that we've changed is that we used to cover movies that were really depressing at live shows or like really dense. And then it would be like a fight club. Yes. Yes. Which is we stand by the episode, you know, like it was and we had a wonderful guest. The audience was great. But you could feel a moment in the show where it was like either you or I were like reading like three paragraphs of like theory and we're like, oh, we actually have to mostly choose fun movies, which feels so obvious. But we learned it the hard way and and more than once, I think. I think a couple of those times being like, oh, people like this episode, but they maybe don't want to like be like drinking a beer and hanging out with their friends while they're listening to us talk about fight club, I don't know. And that's why we did a Shrek Tannock tour. Yeah. And like a Barbie movie tour. And actually, this kind of gets to a question coming up later. Movies that are also like fun to like dress up with and like make merch for. And like, I really want to do a wicked tour. And like, like there are certain movies that we save because they would be really fun live shows. Yeah, for sure. Star Wars. We just did our Star Wars prequels tour. So yeah, we didn't know that you shouldn't talk about a really depressing movie for two hours in front of a kind of hostage situation. Live and learn. Yeah, so true. Next question comes from Kelly asks, how do you find your guests? Do they come to you or do you go to them? I know a fair amount of them are fellow podcasters themselves that you're friends with, but what about the others? Well, Kelly, it's a mix. It's a mix. It depends. Sometimes the guests reach out to us or their reps contact us. And if they seem like a good fit for the show, then we invite them on. Sometimes we will reach out to someone who we would like to have as a guest. Because we're like fans or because I mean, sometimes we'll. So I guess a question that I've seen presented by listeners over the years is do guests pick their own movies? And the answer is for at least the last five years, yes. We like that model has changed over time. There was a time where we would approach specific guests about specific movies. I think the only exception to that now is if there is a movie that we would really like to cover and there is a writer who has written about that movie and like is someone that we know has a really strong opinion on that movie that we would like to explore with them, we'll invite them on the show. There's definitely a handful of examples like that. But by and large, any time you hear a guest on the show, especially this deep end, like a returning guest, it's almost always like in the last two minutes of recording, we're like, all right, come back anytime you want. And then it will be, I'm thinking of like Shelley and Nicole about how I feel like at the end of recording with Shelley, she's always like, OK, well, next time I want to do this, this or this. And then we'll hit her up or she'll hit us up and then we'll do this, this or this. Like, you know, with repeating guests, it's we always want to make sure that guests are covering movies that they are excited to talk about. Yeah, we don't want to like project a particular movie onto a guest unless they've specifically written about it or posted about it or but otherwise, yeah, it's like it is almost entirely guests picking the movie that they cover with us. Right. And then because the show has been on for so long, there are now podcast publicists who reach out to us when someone has a new show launching or is promoting something and if it's someone who we're interested in having on the show or like someone we're a fan of or someone who's been on the show before, we'll say yes and we'll find a thing. So the answer is kind of all of the above. We still very often reach out to people who we just are fans of and would like to have on the show to have we have, you know, our like kind of common stable of returning guests and yeah, we're trying to keep a mix of like familiar voices and new voices on the show. For sure. Next question comes from Sammy. What Hollywood trends of the 2020s do you like or dislike? What is what's your what's your what comes immediately to mind for you? I'm like, I need to pray on this. I appreciate. Uh huh. I appreciate a couple of things. The resurgence of lower budget indie comedies, which feel like they kind of went away in like the 2010s, maybe even earlier, at least ones that like got theatrical releases and are also funny, not to be bitchy, but no, I mean, there was a lot of like, I think, kind of focus grouped comedies in the 2010s. Definitely the back half of the 2010s. Yeah. Yeah, like studio notes, like high budget, but like bad premise. Yeah. Comedies, but in the past few years, movies that have come out that I've really loved and I've thought were hilarious, such as Dix the Musical, Twinless, Sorry Baby, Theater Camp, a handful of others. So I appreciate that. I also appreciate that more movies are addressing class in a way that felt like class was also kind of ignored in the better part of the early 20th century. 21st. 21st century. Is that so true? It is. Look, you're slaying. You're slaying. Keep going. Thank you so much. And we've talked about a few of these movies recently and, you know, their execution happens at rates of varying success. But I appreciate that like filmmakers are being like, hey, maybe the billionaire class, maybe they're really bad. I have mixed feelings on that subgenre. Yeah. But I mean, I totally agree with you. I think that the circumstances that have led to lower budget movies, getting theatrical releases is interesting. I mean, the positive thing for the 20s is the collapse of franchises. I think we were really in the trenches with the aimless franchises in the 2010s. And in the 20s, they stopped making money, so they stopped making them. And, you know, there's plenty to be worried about in the 20s. I think the trend I dislike is labor issues for for those that are like, I guess the strikes of 2023 were extremely important, the WGA and SAG strikes, however, they have not really the ways that studios and the industry has responded to the strikes has been to double down in AI and not to, you know, find ways to circumvent the wins made by those respective strikes into just like, fine, we don't need you. And what that's resulted in is a tremendous amount of dog shit. Yeah, I feel like it's kind of, I mean, a little less relevant to our show because I'm thinking a lot about TV. But like how so much TV, like the quality of TV, I think is like really declined because of how poorly the industry responded to crucial workers asking for basic protections. I think that also applies to the podcasting industry. But I do think that one of the like you're saying, Caitlin, like one of the positive cast offs of that is that it's like, I don't know, I feel like people blame consumer like or the industry blames consumers so consistently in a way that just like doesn't scan because people always want to see good stories and like good movies and like all of the movies you listed are great examples of that that are like, it's amazing they're getting theatrically released, but they're not being properly promoted in all situations. And like, I don't know, I'm very glad that there are still places for people to go for like original stories because I think people seem really burnt out on franchise stories and that original stories are like being actively asked for by everybody now, like people get it. And it's cool to see directors and storytellers like hit their stride and be able to like make cool stuff that people are able to see. It frustrates me that it seems like unless it's profitable, it's always going to try to be thwarted. But like people are finding ways. And I think that's really cool. And I feel like in response to a lot of how shitty the last couple of years have felt in the industry, whether it's like the how horribly people were treated after necessarily striking after like black lists around speaking out about Gaza, like there's just been a lot of hits. But I like that people are responding by like, fuck you, let's make something. And and and that people want to see those stories. So yeah, the industry is still fucking suck shit. Yes. But but people are making really cool stuff anyways. And movie lovers are finding it. And that's cool. Let's take a quick break and then we will be back with more questions. Next question comes from L. Is it more fun to cover actually good movies or really bad movies? Listening to the two of you shredding a horrendous movie is always fun. But I wonder if it's also fun for you. The answer is I fucking love it. I have a blast. Oh, yeah. Covering horrible movies, even though we might so fun, groan and grumble and say, oh, I can't believe you've requested B movie or we love the here because of B. We just wrapped our episode on Shark Tale and we were like, man, man, man. It's a part of the performance, everyone. We love watching dog shit. Oh, yeah. That's the end of the sentence. It's fun. I mean, I think they're they're equally fun. Like it is also amazing. We recently recorded an episode with returning guest Angelica Jade Bastion, who is like just the coolest person in the world. It's coming out in the near future. It's about whatever happened to Baby Jane, which is a great movie. And I leave recording those episodes feeling like, yes, let's make art. Art is amazing. Yes, I love talking to people about cool art. And and then I also leave with a very different kind of high when we talk about Shark Tale for three hours. So it's like you kind of can't lose. It's honestly the harder part is when we're we're not the tougher episodes. I think that the episodes where you leave with less of a natural high is like, it was fine. Yeah, you know, yeah, those those mid mid movies. Yeah, but talking about shitty movies, it's the best. I truly love it. The worst, the movie, the funner I have. For in most cases, yeah, like, I mean, I'm still riding high on that Shark Tale on that Shark Tale fume from earlier, baby. Martin Scorsese puffer fish. The Titanic is a main character almost. Yeah, the sunken Titanic. If that's a prime location in the movie. If that's not an ad for the matriarch, I don't know what is. Exactly. OK, next question comes from Amy. Have there been any moments in your podcast discussions that have changed your perspective on a movie or genre? If so, could you please share more about this? I think through talking to you and other guests, I have an incredible. I went into I think I have like I had at the beginning of the back of the cast, a kind of like more traditionally feminine taste in movies, which I think it was like a lot of our early dynamic because I love musicals and rom-coms and you tended to love action adventure and I have a lot more appreciation for genres like action, like horror, which I feel like it's just like gotten really, you know, mainstreamified in the last 10 years and I've like been unable to deny it and even sci-fi because I mean, since this podcast started right, started running, I became a Star Trek writer briefly, so I think that the podcast has broadened my perspective and like made me sit with movies I would not normally make myself watch. And it's like in a good way. Like I feel like it is like expanded my understanding of movies and what I like. So I think it's been great for me in that way. Yeah, honestly, same because I I mean, to your point, we had different tastes in genres and I was consistently poo pooing. Rom-coms especially, I feel like. Sure, yeah. I did not really engage with. And, you know, it's not my favorite genre still, but I see them for the merit that they have. Yeah. I'm trying to think of specific movies that have that I like kind of came in with a preconceived notion and then like had my mind kind of blown by our discussion. I'm sure there are hard examples of this, but unfortunately, I no longer have a functioning memory. Well, I think that there's just been a lot of examples over the years of like me going in being like, I'm not going to be into this based on genre. And then I've left very surprised and like excited. Yeah. Next question comes from Rory. How do you feel about separating the artist and the art, i.e. the movie and the individuals who made it, have your views on this changed over time? This is a great question that I have very complicated feelings about still. Sure. Where, you know, there are movies that I, especially ones that I have nostalgia for and nostalgia can be a pesky emotion. But there are movies that were made by bad people or that star bad people that I grew up with. And I have a hard time letting those go. And I don't want to necessarily give those movies up. But I mean, the whole kind of premise of this podcast is, you know, acknowledging the things that are problematic about a movie. And that might include who is behind the camera or in front of the camera. And acknowledging that and talking about it and talking through it. So that's something at least that we do, because a lot of people don't even get to that step of acknowledging. Well, and I think a lot of people too. And again, this isn't like I'm not thinking of anything in particular, but like, I think that there is a common sort of conflation that I've been guilty of myself. So I'm not saying that we've never done this on this show, because I think we definitely have. But like conflating acknowledgement with throat in the trash, it's completely culturally useless. And I've I mean, there's like creators that I really enjoy who really tense up at the acknowledgement, even if it's like, well, no, I like this movie. But like we can't not acknowledge, right? Like, I don't know. Well, to your point, like people's mileage varies on this significantly. Yeah, where some people, if anyone has been, you know, outed as a predator and they made a movie or they started a movie, people will completely disengage with those movies and refuse to watch them. And that's fair. Totally. I mean, and there are certain I think it's so tricky because there are. I mean, like this is the most obvious example. But like, I don't want to cover Woody Allen movies on this show. Like, I don't want to think about him. I don't want to engage with his work because he is so completely repugnant. But I do think a part of it, for me, at least, is that you can feel that in the art. To me. Totally. You can feel why I don't want to engage with his work in the stories he tells. Yeah. When that's not true, I think is when it gets again, I'm not thinking of anyone in particular besides fucking Woody Allen, but like, I think that when it where it feels harder is like if it is specifically if it's like an actor who did not write or direct the movie, right, that can feel very tricky. And I mean, there's no wrong way to approach this. It really it's like a very personal thing. And I think that it certainly when I was younger, I was a lot more like, I don't know, I guess, unnuanced in how I thought about it. And and I'm not even like mad that I felt that way. I was like, yeah, good for her. Like, fuck that guy, fuck that movie. But it I don't know. Yeah, it's just like a very individual thing. And it's like it's it's hard for me to like, especially if it's like whatever, someone that you volunteer with, someone who gives back to their community, someone who really considers other people. And they're like, but I really enjoy X movie. You're like, well, I'm not going to say like you're a bad person. You know what I mean? Like, yeah. Yeah, for sure. I think a hard and fast line for me is I will not spend money on movies that bad people are involved with. You have to steal it. You have to dot are you? Luckily, I already own on DVD. Many movies made by problematic people that I like. Right. I won't spend money. I won't like go to like if there's a screening of that movie. I won't spend money on a ticket. I won't rent a movie or buy digitally. Like I won't spend money. I think that's I think like an excellent sort of like standard bearer for it. Because it's like you cannot help the movies that affect you and you can't help how people in your life feel about you feeling that way. Like I think that over time, even in like our friend group, it's like there's just like disagreement on certain movies, certain cultural figures. I've gotten into it with partners too of like, well, I don't really like watching this person's work because of this. And they're like, well, I, you know, like they don't feel the same way. It doesn't make either of us bad people. You know, like I feel like especially especially around the mean to movement. I feel like I felt fear. I mean, I felt very, very strongly about a lot. But it was it's so hard because I we were obviously like we were a show as that movement was kind of unfolding and we were very much in conversation with it. And it was very, I don't know, for me, at least it was like a very cathartic time to be recording because it felt like, you know, we've been working on the show for over a year at that point and we'd been, you know, in the world for much longer. And it was very cathartic to feel like people are finally taking the kind of issues that we have seriously. And I think that that energy and that catharsis was so like, wow, things have changed that when they didn't actually change and then when they actually started to actively regress, it's like, OK, well, what do we do now? You know, like, I don't know. It's so tricky because it's like in a world where it's like you want to remain consistent and and steady in your personal convictions and also not prevent conversations from starting from people who do not feel one to one exactly as you do. And I know that that's a tricky thing because I'm not saying like we should all hang out with our Republican blah, blah, blah, like, that's not what I'm saying. This is like part of what I love about this podcast is that it is a place to actually talk about this stickier stuff in a way that isn't like, I don't know, in a way that feels safe and good and I don't know, separating the art from the artist, the answer is, I fucking know. I mean, there's I think it's different for everybody. And I think, Caitlin, your rule is this, like, if you have an issue with an artist, don't give them money. Yeah, don't give them money because in a capitalist society, money is the language that speaks the loudest. So if you withhold your money, if you spend it somewhere else, like, these are the things that end up, unfortunately, mattering at the end of the day, and as long as we live in a capitalist hellscape. And also just like prioritize, I think a lot of like, it's important what you say, it's more important what you do. So I think that there's whatever, like, I'm thinking more at like peak Twitter before everyone, you know, before a fascist bought it and everyone fucked off. But stating your like, it's important to state your personal convictions is just as important to act those out in the real world. And so is it a more productive use of your time to go volunteer in your community than to get into it with a stranger online about separating the art from the artist in a very specific case? Like, frankly, yes, like go outside and do something and like I and make your own art too, like, you know, it, I don't know. Sometimes it just feels like I don't want to I don't want to think about Woody Allen anymore. You know, I want to debate. Oh, could we watch any hall? I ain't watching that shit. No, we love Diane Keaton. So we covered the family stone. It's honestly that fucking simple. Five. Nope. OK, next question comes from Donna Iman. What's been your favorite movie you two covered this year? What's been your favorite movie you saw this year? These are definitely different answers. Same answer for me. Oh, wait, what's your answers? Favorite movie I saw this year. I have a few. OK. And I'm going to I'm going to stick to ones that came out this year as well. So I was like, and I'm going to sing them in a rap. No, I'm going to stick to the ones that came out this year. OK. I loved, like I mentioned, Sorry, Baby and Twinless. I loved Sinners. I really enjoyed weapons. Hell, yeah, I really enjoyed one battle after another. I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but. Oh, and I just saw Marty Supreme. And by the way, I came out this year, I mean came out in 2025. Favorite movies we've covered on the podcast this year. And I will clarify that these are not necessarily my favorite from a Bechtel cast lens. These aren't movies that I'm like, wow, they fared so well on the nipple scale, but these are just personal favorites of mine. Dracula, the Francis Ford Coppola one, Shawshank Redemption, Holes, Oh, Brother, Where Are They? Those were three movies from my birthday month. So stands to reason that there's some of my favorites. We covered the before trilogy this year. Yes, that was a big one for me. And then also Banshee's of Vinichirin. Yay. How about you, Jamie? So reason I think you've prepared for this episode more thoroughly than I. So I do not have a prepared list locked and loaded. I think for me, it is off the top of the head. The same answer for both questions. Favorite movie I saw for the first time this year, favorite movie we covered this year, both Amadeus. Oh, yes. Kind of no contest. Amadeus fucked my shit up this year. I, I really enjoyed getting into men being bitches. Cannon this year to the point where I wrote my own. And we're making it. I really, yeah, Amadeus was really stuck with B movies that we covered this year. Or I saw for the first time. I also really liked Sorry, Baby. I really liked if I had legs like kick you, that that movie fucking ripped. Although it is a stressful watch. I really enjoyed covering whatever happened to Baby Jane recently. Seeing Rhylane for the first time, seeing the before trilogy for the first time. Those are really good. I'm just like scrolling through my letter box. I'm like, what else did I really love this year? No other land was terrific. What else? Oh, and a great documentary that if you ever get the chance to see it, you should. It hasn't been widely released yet, but I hosted a screening is so good called American Theater was really, really good. I saw Mikey and Nikki for the first time this year. That was really fun. I really, really I feel like, yeah, I saw Sinners and Shin Godzilla the same week. That was awesome. Yes, Shin Godzilla. I saw that this year too. Really, really enjoyed it. Yeah, I don't know. I had a fun I had a fun movie year. Yeah, but I think I think for me, all time movie that we covered and I saw for the first time, it's got to be Amadeus from fucking 1980 or whatever. That's 45 year old movie. It fucked my shit up this year. I loved those two bitches facing off. I loved it. So bitchy. Yeah. Awesome. Next question comes from Marin. What's a movie that you would like to recover from earlier in the podcast? To speak back to our like first or second question on this episode, you know, things from the first couple years, kind of anything from that era. And to be clear, that's nothing against our guests. We just didn't know what we were doing yet. We were little babies. I would love to recover the Wizard of Oz. Same. Yeah, especially in light of Wicked. So true. Yeah, a couple others that come to mind would be Clueless. Yeah, that'd be fun to cover again. I think Mean Girls. I think Dirty Dancing deserves a recover. Dirty Dancing, yes, our first live show. Yes. Maybe Thelma and Louise. American Psycho, we covered pretty early in our matriarch. I would love to recover that. Yeah, I think that there's just like a lot of movies from our first two or three years that we would be able to speak to more intelligently now. Yeah. That would hopefully be fun. And also, of course, Titanic again. Well, well, again, again. Among the questions that Matrons submitted, people also threw in a few different movie requests. So if people listening right now, if you have any specific movies, you're desperate to hear us talk about any specific guests, please always give us your recommendations. But at least one person was like, what happened to your annual Titanic episode? You didn't do one in 2025. Look, times were hard. It was bad. No, we we we fucked up. Frankly, we fucked up. 2026, it won't happen again. Never again. It won't happen again. And we are sorry we failed you. Yeah. But yeah, I think really like you name it from the first couple of years, we would probably do it again. If it was a movie we felt strongly enough about because we're just different people. We don't know those people. Those bitches. Those bitches couldn't even read. We got to do it again. We do. OK, next question. There's only a few left. This comes from Dora. Are there any specific movies you would not cover on the cast? Oh, and if so, why? I'm going to separate. Well, double separation incoming. I'm going to separate this from separating the art from the artist. There are certain like specifically like directors and writers whose work we are just completely disinterested in. But I'm going to more focus on I think that there are occasionally there are movies that one of us will pitch the other that the other will say no to because it's too annoying. There are some movies that like you have reviews. There have been movies I refuse. I'm trying to think of what they are, though. OK, I think you always say no to the Polar Express. You're like anything else. Anything but the Polar Express. You just rejected it last month, even though I'm pretty sure it won. Our matriarch. Oh, we should have covered it next. I promise. Look, I promise. No, I know. We'll do it. Is we don't have to do it. Here's the thing. To me, anything is fair game. And even if I again, grown and grumble about a specific movie, there's very little that's off the table for me. But yeah, I know there have been times where I'm like, hey, Jamie. And it's not even movies that I like. Well, first of all, I was like, we should cover Anaconda to line up with the reboot that's coming out and you do not seem interested in that, even though I'd never even seen them. Well, I also I think I also don't because we used to cover a lot of like movies that were being rebooted, but I feel like reboots don't even do well at the box office. So I'm like, I don't want to watch a movie I don't like for a movie no one's going to see. Well, let me tell you something. I took it upon myself to watch the original Anaconda. For what? Well, for fun. And it was very fun. It rocked. I'm sure I would actually like it. Well, something I recently rejected was you were like to celebrate the release of what is it? I'm dying up here. That was a TV show. What was it called? Is this thing on? Is this thing on the Will Arnett stand up comedy movie? I said a hard no to any movies about stand up comedians because they make my skin crawl. Yeah, I can't do it. And that's fair. I can't do it. Even though there's that one with Sally Field that I think would give us a lot to talk about, but I respect I would be open to a Sally Field jewelry because I feel like we've actually like Sally Field has been it. Because she was also in fucking. No, is it Norma? Norma Jean, right? Like the big, the big labor movie. Like she she has such a great filmography. Maybe that's a good matriarch theme. OK, Sally Field March. Sally Field March because Natalie Portman has been discontinued on our show. Yeah, it's I kind of like movies that one of us is just like life's too short. Yeah, life's too short to watch movies about stand ups and or the polar express. You're not wrong. OK, that brings us to the next question that Michelle asks as a certifiable wicked stand, when are y'all going to cover the movies? Jamie, tour, tour, tour, tour, tour, tour. Tour, tour, tour, tour, tour. I mean, well, I guess this takes us back to the previous question. Yeah, I would be so much fun. Our outfits would be so fun. I yeah, I mean, we've got to cover Wicked, Womay or another. I love it to be in a live show. But if we disagree, then then then name a more fun movie about two women. Then Wicked that we haven't covered already because what is it? Any other billion dollar movies about two women right now? Not thinking of any. Oh, I wonder if. Interesting. I just want to dress up like Glinda. And so that is and I also love Wicked one. And I will not be sharing my opinions on Wicked for Good unless I'm being paid to do it. But Wicked one, I think is amazing. Cynthia Arrivo, Ariana Grande, come on. It's just like the first musical movie in like a decade where they cast people who can sing without computer assistance. Yes. Jonathan Bailey. Hot. Are you joking? One of the hottest men on the face of the planet. I don't like Jeff Goldblum's performance. No, I'm just doing the episode. Jeff Goldblum, I find very grating in most settings. Michelle Yeo frankly does a bad job. Cynthia, Ariana, Jonathan Bailey, Boniang, Boniang, John Chu, forever and ever and ever. Like it's Wicked. It's Wicked. Even Spongebob. Why not? Even Spongebob. What do you mean? You'll have to wait for the Wicked episode for me to tell you about SpongeBob's connection to Wicked. Whoa. I can't wait to tell you about it. OK, we'll see. This brings us to the next segment. It's called the Shrek section or the Shrekshin. Shrekshin. Because we got several questions pertaining to Shrek. And I think it's probably because of course, the image that I included with this post on our matriarch asking for questions was an image of Shrek and Donkey. Well, that's on you. I have to imagine that's what influenced many of these questions. That's on you. But I'm not mad about it. First question from Will. OK. When will you two be writing the screenplay for a female reboot of Shrek? I'm pretty sure that was Shrek too. But Will, we will, we will, we've it's it's it's already it's in the works. It's in the works. Yeah, we've got a question from Kate. Would you do a commentary for Shrek and Shrek too? I think that would be super fun. The way that we did that Titanic commentary that one time. Years ago. Yeah, we used to like I mean, we we we were kind of set in our ways on the matriarch right now where we do two original episodes, which people liked. But it was like I kind of miss that period of time where we would occasionally kind of mix it up, do a commentary, do something. I would be I would be down, especially Shrek too. Shrek April. Shrek April. Shrek April. Shrek Shrek September. Shrek. OK, now we're talking. Now we're talking. Now we're talking. OK, next question from Joe of the two of you. Who is Shrek and who is donkey? I mean, wow. I don't know. All my answers are evasive. It depends on the day. I think we both are both. We contain multitudes. I'm trying to think of who in the Shrek franchise would be my ideal. Like who would I want people to be like, you remind me of this person from Shrek? Probably no one, honestly. I'd be disappointed to be like, you remind me of a character from Shrek. I couldn't want to be Genji. Oh, I don't even know. I mean, I kind of am like, I love Farquaad. I don't want people to think of me as a Farquaad type, but I I love Farquaad. He's pretty cool. He's pretty cool. And I love Farquaad's mom. I don't know. Wait, do we meet Farquaad's mom? Do we not meet Farquaad's mom? This is why we had to do that. We have to do this. Maybe I just totally made that up. We got we got a fast track. Shrek September. Shrek September. I want to be one of the scary Shrek babies. I want to be the Shrek baby. Oh, God, I think I want Shrek to be my dad. Oh, wait, what is that character from Shrek 4 that says something funny? Do you remember what I'm talking about? Do the roar. That one. Yes. I love that you say you knew what I was saying. Yes. Yes. The kid in Shrek 4 that says, do the roar. That's me. OK, yeah. Yeah. So hopefully that answers your question, Joe. Next and final question of the Shrek. Do the roar. The Shrek Shin. Mary fuck kill Shrek Titanic Christmas Prince franchise. Oh, kill Christmas Prince. Easy. I think so. Yeah. Yeah. Fuck Shrek, Mary Titanic for me, I think. See, I would fuck Titanic, Mary Shrek. Well, yeah, because I guess you marry Titanic. It's like, well, what are you guys going to do together? With Shrek, it's an endless adventure. With Shrek and you know, he's a he's a good partner. He has been married for 25 years. Well, yeah, true. He's been he's yeah. I mean, like he as we saw on Shrek 4, you know, like he has his issues. But well, and in Shrek 3 and in Shrek 2 and in Shrek 1, he has his issues. But I mean, as a husband, I guess it's Shrek's 2, 3 and 4. Where we learned about Shrek's ability to be a husband. Yeah, I guess that that does make sense. Marrying Titanic feels kind of like a lost cause in a way. But although, although, although going off with the fact that we discovered Sharktail, if I married the Titanic, I would just end up living with the Italian sharks in Sharktail because they move into the shipwreck of the Titanic. Or even better, what is what is that? Atal, speaking of Italy, the Italian animated rip off of an American tale, Anastasia and Titanic that came out in 1998. The legend of Titanic, the legend of Titanic. And then I could marry that big octopus. You mean tentacles? Tentacles. Yes, tentacles, the octopus who famously saved all the passengers of the Titanic from dying. Yeah, by holding the broken in half Titanic, holding it back together. Everyone evacuated with the plenty of boats that they had. The exact right number of boats. And then tragically was pulled to the bottom when tentacles died. It was so funny when tentacles died. Great fun. What was the question? Yeah, I'm with you. Kill Christmas Prince, fuck Titanic, marry Shrek. Yeah. And then the last question, curtails, is that the right word? Dovetails, maybe, into a plug for something that we don't know all the details of yet. But we're announcing intent. Exactly. The question comes from Nancy, asks, are y'all doing another tour again soon? Slash, will you be coming to the New York City, New Jersey area? And then several other people asked, will we come back to the UK at any point? Will we come to Australia? Those questions we're not too sure about. But because we're entering our 10 years of doing the podcast, we are planning a 10 year anniversary tour that is not going to be about wicked. No, I don't know. I mean, I'm just saying a couple of them can be about wicked. They don't have to be about wicked. We'll see, we'll see. But we will go on a 10 year tour. We will announce the details when we have them. It'll probably be later in the year because that's when our 10 year anniversary is. It is later in the year. But we're very excited. We've done, I think in the last couple of years, we've done a number of shorter tours, but this would be kind of a beefier, a beefier 10 year celebration tour that I'm very excited for. So am I. Yeah, we have to hammer out all the details still. But we will keep listeners abreast. Oh, yeah. I we've and with that, that concludes our Q&A episode. Our first in a couple of years. Thank you so much to all of our matrons who submitted questions. Sorry that we weren't able to get to everybody's. And if you were like, hey, why could I submit a question? It's because you're not a member of the matron. And ultimately, you have to get on that. It's patreon.com slash Bechtelcast. It is $5 a month. It is the best way to directly support the show and its continuation and our ability to pay our guests, all this other good stuff. There are plenty of benefits to becoming a matron, including not just access to the episodes themselves. There's over 200 and there's two new ones every month, but you also have access to our community and to vote and polls and to submit questions and to get exclusive merch at shows and to sometimes get early ticket links if you're interested in going to the 10 year tour. We will make tickets available to Matrons first. So if you've been wondering, oh, I don't know, this $5. What do I do with it? A price that has never increased, by the way. No, we look around, we see inflation and we say, no, not us. And Patreon keeps getting us to change the policy. But frankly, it's always been $5. And yeah, it's been $5 for eight years. Honey, please join us over there. We really love our community. And yeah, we're very grateful to have that community and to have all of our listeners. We love all of our listeners equally. That's true. But we do love the Matrons. It's a little bit more. It's OK. Do you have anything you want to plug, Jamie? Not in the short term. Yeah, no, this year I am. I think when this episode releases, I will be shooting my first feature, which I'm very excited about. So I guess stay tuned for me to tell you what happens with that and that I will have a new book, my first novel coming out in the summer of 2027. It is currently titled The Tower. But I am told that that title will change. So I will let you. So I have just like, hey, here are things that I've made, but I don't know what they're called and I don't know when you'll be able to have them. Follow me on Instagram, I guess, Jimmy Christ Superstar. That's what I got. That's what I got. Kate Lu would have about you. You can also follow me on Instagram at Caitlyn Durante. And the main thing I want to plug is I have another round of my screenwriting classes coming up. I have several new sections. Some of them are sold out already. Bragg. But my intro to screenwriting class at the time of this recording still has a few spots left and it starts on, oh, what's the date? January 17th. So there's still some time if those spots are still available by the time you're listening to this, you can find information about all of my classes on my website, CaitlynDurante.com. But yeah, I teach basically two screenwriting classes. One is an introductory class and then one is a workshop in class. And that's for people who have taken my intro class or who already have some prior knowledge of screenwriting and have a project that they're wanting to start or that they're currently working on that you would bring into the group and do table reads and then get feedback from myself and your classmates. So those are my screenwriting classes that people should take all the time. Huh. Hell yeah. But yeah, that's pretty much it from me. Thank you so much, listeners. Thanks again to the Matrons who submitted questions. Thanks to the Matrons in general. Thank you to the entire Bechtelkast community. Yes, we love you. And we'll be back next week with your regularly scheduled programming. Love you. Bye. Bye. The Bechtelkast is a production of I Heart Media, hosted and produced by me, Jamie Loftus and me, Caitlyn Durante. The podcast is also produced by Sophie Lichterman and edited by Caitlyn Durante. Ever heard of them? That's me and our logo and merch and all of our artwork in fact are designed by Jamie Loftus, ever heard of her? Oh my God. And our theme song, by the way, was composed by Mike Kaplan. With vocals by Katherine Voskrasinski. Iconic and a special thanks to the one and only, Aristotle Acevedo. For more information about the podcast, please visit linktree slash Bechtelkast. This is an I Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.