IFH 809: No Budget, All Hustle: The Filmmaking Grind of Staci Layne Wilson

Alex Ferrari 0:00
Enjoy today's episode with guest host Dave Bullis.

Dave Bullis 0:08
On this week's edition of the podcast, I have a really cool guest and award winning filmmaker TV host and Amazon number one best seller for her book. So LA, a Hollywood memoir. We're going to talk about all the good stuff, dead central hosting shows the BBC, how she got all these really cool gigs growing up in LA, surrounded by celebrities, with two celebrity parents, all that much, much more. And with guest Staci Layne Wilson, who have a very interesting background, and you have a very interesting sort of way you've got into the film industry. You were basically, you know, you were born into the into this industry, because you have, you wrote a book, so LA, a Hollywood memoir, uncensored Tales by the rock star and pin up model. And you talk about, obviously, and like you say in your bio, you are a unicorn, because not only were you born and raised in LA, you're still in LA. So, so you know being, you know being born in LA, do you feel that you were just, basically, you had, you felt compelled, or maybe even sort of, sort of like, driven to go into the film industry.

Staci Layne Wilson 3:03
You know, not necessarily, and it didn't happen until fairly late in my life. But I feel like there is a lot to the argument of nature versus nurture, but I got on both counts, nature and nurture in the creative world. So I'm just a creative person, and that's how my mind works. So I do feel I was predisposed to doing something in, not necessarily the industry, quote, unquote, but just doing things that are more creative than technical, say, or mathematical. That's just not my thing. And my parents are both the same, so I feel like that. I just inherited sort of that predisposition to be a storyteller. My dad is a storyteller through his music, my mother through her writing. So I feel like that's just why I am what I am.

Dave Bullis 3:56
So when you were sort of growing up, you know, and I imagine you know, obviously, growing up in that area, did you see like, a lot? Did you go to school? Or maybe even, know, like, famous people, like, did you go, like, hang around famous people? Or maybe, were they coming by the house? The reason I bring that up Stacy is I actually had a guest on the show, and he actually, when he was younger, he celebrities were calling the house, and they used to call him on the landline phone, and he he would answer, and he'd go, why is Mo from the Three Stooges calling me or calling my dad? I mean, you know why? You know. So did you have anything like that?

Staci Layne Wilson 4:31
Well, apparently I don't remember it, because I was quite young, but my mother actually had an illicit affair with Bobby Kennedy, and so he would call and come over, and, you know, apparently we had conversations, but I was only, I was like two when he died, so I don't remember much about that, but apparently I could hold my own in a conversation with Bobby Kennedy. And then my mom was also friends with Alan Sherman, who was he. A singer songwriter, kind of the novelty, comedic songs. He put out albums, you know, when that kind of thing was popular. One of his songs was, hello Bada, hello Fauci. You know, some kind of thing about the camp. I don't know the whole thing, but so he and I were apparently friends, and I don't remember that either. But as I got a little bit older, I did talk to some of my dad's friends like I do remember that Glen Campbell was his neighbor up the street in Sherman Oaks, California. So my father, being a musician, knew a lot of the really great singer songwriters of the era, so I remember talking to them to some degree. But when I was a little kid, I was really, really interested in horses and horseback riding. So that was kind of horses were my best friends, really.

Dave Bullis 5:51
So, so did you when, when you were a little kid and we were around horses, did you actually want to like, maybe go into the inquest drawing, or maybe become like a actual like, something to do with horses, more than anything else

Staci Layne Wilson 6:03
I did to some degree. But then I looked at my bank account, I was like, oh, wait a minute, this isn't a good idea. But no, when I was a little kid, I was definitely really, really into it. I showed horses, and in fact, one of my main competitors when I was showing ponies was Herve village as who was tattoo on the Fantasy Island TV show. He had ponies being of diminutive stature, I suppose that's why, but so so I used to show and really was into training horses for a long time in my life. And I actually did start out with that sort of as business goal, and I did it for quite a few years, but it just really is a drain on the old bank account. And as much as I love horses, I eventually had to say goodbye to them, and I still love horses, but I just don't own them anymore. And but it was a really great sort of a juxtaposition for me as as a young girl growing up in Los Angeles, with my parents being who they are, that I was able to have that outdoor life and to really be brought down to earth, so to speak, working with horses, because they don't care who your parents are, who you are. They just care that you're going to treat them well, and that you're going to, you know, be a good person, and that's really important when it comes to working with animals and training courses, and I feel like that has filtered out into my everyday life, and talking to people and being in business and being a writer and all those things really gave me a great foundation as a kid.

Dave Bullis 7:38
So when you mentioned they don't care who your parents are. Did did any did you ever find out, like when growing up, or even when you're in your teenage years, you know? Did anyone ever, you know, it's almost like, hey, could I ever, you know, get to do something with your dad, or, Hey, could I ever get to do something with your mom? Did you ever experience that growing up?

Staci Layne Wilson 7:55
To a degree. I mean, my mom is not, you know, what you'd say is famous, but she was a pin up model back in the day, and it was kind of funny. You know, when you're growing up and you're especially those awkward early teenage years where you really don't want to stand out or be different. So, you know, people looking at my mom's center folds or whatever, my friends, it was kind of funny and awkward, but, but it was also cool. And as far as my father goes, he is Don Wilson, the guitarist for the ventures, and that is the number one selling instrumental band of all time. They did songs like Hawaii, 5o and pipeline and wipe out and whatnot. So, you know, back in the early 80s, late 70s, early 80s. As I was teenage girl growing up, a lot of the guys in school knew who the ventures were, because they were learning how to play guitar and whatnot. But personally, I was very much into harder rock like Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones and groups like that. So to me, like the ventures were not exactly uncool, but not exactly, you know, my cup of tea as far as music went. So it was kind of funny to hear my friends say how much, you know, they really loved the ventures. I was like, Really, my dad's famous. I didn't really see that.

Dave Bullis 9:14
Yeah, it's one of those things. Like I was saying that the guy I had on the podcast, who, whose father was, was, that was an entertainment lawyer, and he would say, you know, why are all these people calling the house? And he was kept saying, Dad, you know, what is going on here? And just stuff like that. It's just so interesting, you know. And growing up, and your your parent, your parents are, you know, in demands or or people want to meet them, and it's, you know, when you're younger, you're like, Why? Why do all these people want to come meet my parents? What is going on here?

Staci Layne Wilson 9:45
Right! Yeah, I mean, it's hard to have perspective on your parents when you're that young. Of course, now I do, and especially having written my book, it's given me a lot of great, you know, like, I say perspective of years and to really appreciate their talents. But you know, to me, they still are just my parents.

Dave Bullis 10:15
So Stacy, when you were growing up, you know, you mentioned that you got bit by the sort of filmmaking bug a little later in life, so we don't around you know, what age were you when you finally decided that you wanted to sort of go into the to the film industry?

Staci Layne Wilson 10:31
Well, I actually started off as an entertainment reporter, and I fell into that more or less through writing horror novels. I was approached by a couple of horror websites like horror.com and cine fantastique magazine had also approached me to see if I wanted to be an LA correspondent, to write movie reviews. And it really wasn't anything that I had endeavored to do, although I always liked movies, and I found out that I really had an aptitude for it, and so here we are, like, you know, 16 years later, I got it started in 2001 and so I'm still doing that, still reviewing films and still interviewing actors, while also pursuing my own career as a filmmaker. And that actually started just through being inspired by an Edgar Allan Poe poem in 2010 I believe that was the first, yeah, that's my first foray into filmmaking. Was in 2010 with a short film, a triptych of three short films based on Annabel Lee. And I just knew actors through my other career as a as a film journalist, and so that's how that all just kind of came together pretty organically. It wasn't something that one day I woke up and said, I'm going to be a filmmaker. So it just seemed like a natural evolution from what I had been doing, and the fact that I did write fiction before in the 90s, those two things, the the marrying of storytelling and technology and then a basis of knowledge in film, is really what I feel led to, led to it. And so since then, I've made several short films and also wrote and directed to feature films. And it's still a part time thing for me, although I do enjoy it, writing is still my number one love.

Dave Bullis 12:31
So do you write your, you know, your own scripts that you go on to direct and maybe even produce?

Staci Layne Wilson 12:38
Yes, I do. I actually though my two feature films which were produced by blanc bean productions, which is Michael Bean, the actor and his wife, Jennifer Blanc, and they're both actors, but they both got in, started a production company, and the two films that I wrote were based on ideas from one of their partners who gave me sort of the skeleton of an idea, and I was predisposed already to liking the subject matter of both films. So it worked out really well, because it almost feels like they're my creations, but really they are based on stories by lonely room and who's one of their producing partners, and then, so I wrote the scripts to, you know, specific locations in a specific budget, and then was given the wonderful opportunity to direct them. And it was really, you know, a great experience. They are super, you know, run and gun, Roger Corman style, grind healthy sort of movie. So we actually shot both features at five days each. So you know, basically 512 hour days, shooting about 17 pages a day. And I think it was really a great sort of introduction into directing features for me, because it was really challenging, but in a fun way. So I think now that I've done this, I can do just about anything. So it's really a great confidence builder, too.

Dave Bullis 14:11
It's funny, you actually bring them up. I actually helped. I actually helped them with a Kickstarter they were doing. I think it was the night visitor. I think, yeah,

Staci Layne Wilson 14:21
Yeah, yeah, I know that. Yeah. They've actually done a couple of sequels to that now, since,

Dave Bullis 14:26
Really, because I actually, yeah, that's, it's a small world, I tell you, Stacy doing this podcast. It's a smaller, smaller world. That's good. So, so when you first started, you know, you know, wanting to do movies, I am, you mentioned you didn't just wake up one day. Want to become a filmmaker. You know, it's, it's kind of, I feel that most people who want to make a movie, or, you know, even go into this industry, they usually have almost like this, almost like a predisposition in. To it. It's almost like they have, like, this itch that they just need to scratch. And you know, when they go to make a movie, it's always one of two things that I that I found it's either that they do the running gun style, it's where it's like, no, no, I'm sorry. Let me take that back. They either do one of two things. They do the they do, like, no planning at all, or they plan this thing so much that becomes analysis through paralysis, and they don't do anyway, and they never get to film it. So it's one of those two things. So, but we once you start getting into it more and more, you start building a team. You start building a whole like network. Now I think your story is different, because I think you had a better network going into it because, again, you're in LA, you're doing, you making all these connections. You're you're reviewing movies as you're a movie reporter. So when you went to Make Your First Movie, you know, do you feel that you already had a better footing or a better understanding than than maybe the average filmmaker?

Staci Layne Wilson 15:59
Well, that is probably on a you know, case by case basis, like you say, everyone brings their own measure of talent and their own sort of life experience into creating something as ephemeral, really, as a film. Even though a film, you know, does last forever, it's still when it's coming together. It's kind of an alchemy. So each person brings their own thing into it. So we're all unique, but I do feel really fortunate that I know the great, talented people that I do know. And in Los Angeles there is, you know, obviously a greater concentration of choices you know, people that you know, and also just through being an entertainment reporter and knowing these people on a different level, I really kind of already knew what their work ethic would be and what their sensibilities are. And so when bringing together, say, you know my first cast for my short film, the star of that who's sort of our Edgar Allan Poe character is ogre from skinny puppy, and I had met him through being an entertainment reporter when I covered his feature musical film called repo, the genetic opera, which is directed by Darren Bausman. So we already had sort of a connection and a rapport, and I knew the things that he liked, and he knew the things that I liked. So there is a good shorthand there, which you really need when you're working on a low budget or a no budget film, because you don't really have time to get acquainted with someone. You kind of have to dive in and and already know what you're dealing with. So having a pool of people like that already and just being friends, I think really helps. So I would say yes, that's the long answer to your short question.

Dave Bullis 17:46
No, no, I completely understand. Stacey. I tend to ask very open ended questions, you know, just to sort of get a good response, you know, a longer response. And I always think that's a good thing. And I just want to follow it up by asking, when you made your first film, what were some of the biggest takeaways for you that you put into your next film?

Staci Layne Wilson 18:10
Well, I actually, although I'm known in the horror and genre world, and Edgar Allan Poe certainly is horror, but I also feel like it's an arty sensibility where you can really stretch the imagination and interpret the subject matter as you like. So my next film after that was also very experimental and having the basis of shooting the key to annabelli, which is my first short film, I really felt freed up to be even more artistic and experimental. My next film was called the night plays tricks, which is based on a Bob Dylan song called visions of Johanna, and it's almost Maya Darren esque. If you've seen meshes of the afternoon. You know, it's kind of like that. So I really felt confident that I could express myself in a sort of slightly opaque artistic way and yet still get a story across. And having a good editor really helps with that. And my editor and DP on that second film is Justin Cruz, and so it's really nice having a DP who can also edit, which is also the case with my very latest, most recent short film. So I feel like the DP is kind of editing in his mind as he's shooting. And having that artistic sensibility like I have is really makes for a great collaboration. So that is what sort of spurred me on to continue making films, was to know that I could still be artistic. Because to me, style in cinema speaks volumes, and that is really what I wanted to be able to do. So that really gave me the confidence. To move forward.

Dave Bullis 20:01
So you mentioned your latest film. I mean, could you talk a little bit about that?

Staci Layne Wilson 20:16
Absolutely. It is called psychotherapy, and it stars Brooke Lewis and Ricky Dean Logan, and it's sort of a two hander. It's a very short film. It's just under 10 minutes, and Brooke had brought me on to write and direct it as sort of a showcase for her, because she is known for doing sci fi and comedies and things that are pretty light, and this is more of psychological thriller. So she wanted me to write something to her strengths as a dramatic actor and and then she brought on Ricky, who is also a very good actor, but I haven't actually met him before we started shooting. So that's another fun challenge that I enjoy, too. On the flip side of working with people that I know is also just sort of diving in and having fun with people that that I don't have experience with. So that's the part of the excitement of making a film. And so this short film is sort of Brooke and my we both love Brian De Palma film. So it's kind of our homage to dress to kill a little bit with the psychiatrist and the patient having a verbal te a Tete. And so far, the film has won several awards, both for acting, directing and writing, and it's only been on the festival circuit for a few months. So very encouraging. And our DP slash editor, Stefan Coulson, is really, really super talented, and so all those elements together, that's the fun thing, as opposed to say, writing a novel where it's very much just with you and it's your you know, sort of everything is is contained within the writer, to see how a script that I wrote evolves and sort of flowers with the different talents of the other people. So it's just a different kind of satisfaction, but it's they're both really interesting ways of expressing yourself artistically. And so, yeah, this latest short film is probably the one of the least artistic shorts that I've done. It's more linear and more like I said, it's a thriller, but I was able to add some visual flourishes that I wanted to. So it's been really great.

Dave Bullis 22:40
And in that that's amazing, because, you know, it goes on with what I was with, I was trying to get at before was, you know, always bringing something new from your old project to your new project. And what I mean by that is, you're bringing experience. You bring confidence. And I think, I think a lot of filmmakers, or even when I see a lot of read a lot of books or, or what have you, about filmmaking, they don't really talk about confidence. And if you don't really have any confidence, you know, in yourself or the project or the script or anything else, you know, I think that shows it almost becomes like, you're like, Okay, can you know what I mean? It kind of you end up getting maybe even a very passive sort of feel for the whole thing. You know what I mean. And I think confidence is something that a lot of people don't talk about and and one of the ways that I feel that that filmmakers can build confidence is is by small victories. And what I mean by that is, you make a project, maybe even going out, like Mark Duplass says, going out with your friends on a weekend and making a movie for 100 bucks or or doing something else, or maybe winning a local contest or something like that, and then sort of being able to sort of parlay that into something else, if you know what I mean, Staci?

Staci Layne Wilson 23:48
Oh, absolutely. I mean, it's like when you're learning how to swim. You don't dive into the deep end. You kind of stand on the steps for a little while, and then you wade into the shallow end and and then as you see, that you're not going to drown you you go a little bit further and a little bit further. So, yeah, I think that's definitely true. Sometimes, you know, I see, as an entertainment reporter, I don't really know what kind of connections these people have, but sometimes you see a film director who's given his very first project, and it's a blockbuster with, say, you know, Warner Brothers or Sony. I'm like, Wow, that must be really intimidating. You know,

Dave Bullis 24:28
You know Staci, you and I have the same mentality with that. I have seen other people who've gotten projects, maybe not even blockbusters, but it's like their first time film, and they walk out and they and they have, like, $100,000 or 500,000 or a million. And I search and yeah, and I sit there and I go, how did they get that money? Like, where did they get that from? You know, I once knew a person who, who basically his first time out, he got a bunch of grants and stuff like that. And I said, you know, you know, how do you how do. You do that. And he basically said he had a girlfriend who, at the time, her mother, was very big into she did a lot of charity fundraising, and she knew a ton of people, and that's how he got these grants. And basically they're just, they're not even grants that you like apply to, so to speak. They're grants that, you know, if you pitch to them at a, you know, at certain intervals, they'll be like, Okay, you could have this money. You could have that money. Well, that's how we raise some of the money, but, but just to go back to where we're talking about, you know, yeah, some people are out of left field, and suddenly they're directing the next Godzilla film for like, $200 million you know,

Staci Layne Wilson 25:36
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think for me personally, just knowing my very autonomous Freelancer personality, I would be not as happy working with a huge budget like that, where so much hinges on the success of the film, as opposed to the joy of making the film and creating something that you like. I don't know that I would really, you know, I definitely know I wouldn't feel comfortable having, you know, producers breathing down my neck every day about, you know, how much money is being spent. And, you know, look at all their writing on this. That's a lot of pressure to me for my part filmmaking, of course, I want to be able to make enough money to pay my rent, and so far so good, but I don't really aspire to be a huge, you know, Director making a blockbuster. However, having said that, I am really proud of Patty Jenkins, who's directed Wonder Woman, and she's done a great job with a huge blockbuster like that. I had interviewed her several years ago when she did monster, and that was sort of like a very, you know, personal film that she was able to put her own stamp on. And she's weathered the storms and look at her now. So I think it's great. It's really a good time, actually, to be a female creator in the film world, and hopefully I'll be able to glean a little bit of that good fortune myself as I move head ahead in my career.

Dave Bullis 27:10
You know, I was just talking about patty with her cinematographer from Monster, Steven Bernstein, and he and I were talking about patty and and we were just talking about, you know, Wonder Woman and everything like that. So it's just again. You brought that up. It's just a small again. I know I keep repeating this, Stacey, but it's a very small world.

Staci Layne Wilson 27:29
It's good. I like it,

Dave Bullis 27:31
Yeah. But it is, yeah. It is a good time, you know, for female directors and, you know, female producers too. Because even, like somebody like Gail heard on The Walking Dead, you know, I think she kind of, sort of, I don't know how many interviews she does, I don't know me. She's one of those people that sort of gets in the background, but, you know, it's, it's just, you know, it is, I can see more opportunities coming down the pike, and it's also great things too, like, I have to mention Carol Dean, who runs the grants from the hearth productions. She's phenomenal. And there's also great people out there, like Jennifer grissan, Lee, Jessup, Clara, Alexandra, all these great people out there working, you know, went out in your neck of the woods, Stacey in LA.

Staci Layne Wilson 28:16
Oh, absolutely. I just attended the etherea Film Festival last weekend, which has been going on for about five years now. Previous to that, it was called viscera, where it was more focused on horror, and now it's more genre, you know, based with different elements of that. And that is Heidi Honeycutt and Stacey Hammond, who run that Festival, which is pretty much, you know, focused on the female. In fact, they each film has to either be written, directed or produced by a woman. And this past weekend, Roger Corman came out and presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Stephanie Rothman, who was his protege and she actually directed the first three new World Pictures, I think, and this is back in the early 70s. So Roger has always given people, regardless of gender or race, their big breaks. And early on, you know, before it was quote, unquote trendy. So it's really nice to see a woman like Stephanie Rothman being recognized today for the work that she did, which is really pretty pioneering in the early 1970s but I mean, you could even go back on this subject to the early era of talkies and silent films, when women like Mary Pickford were producing and it was a lot less gender biased. Then for a short period of time, until real money started coming in, and then it was, you know, taken over by by males. But I feel like, you know, we're definitely experiencing a bit of a renaissance here. So it's a good time to be a filmmaker, period, but even better to be a female filmmaker right now. So I'm feeling pretty good about where I am.

Dave Bullis 30:12
Yeah, and you know, it's interesting to see where all this is going to I'm always interested to see, too Stacy, where, you know, Netflix is going, where Hulu's going, where all these avenues are going? I mean, I've heard so many different things are rumbling down the pike, and it's just also interesting right now, how everything's sort of coming together.

Dave Bullis 30:49
Oh very true, very true. Yeah. And you know that that'd be interesting to sort of discuss. You know why that? Why that is but, but I we, because I don't have, I don't know the answer, but it's a good thing. I don't even have a theory, but, but I did want to talk about your book, so I'll lay a Hollywood memoir. I didn't want to talk about this, you know, before, you know. And I want to ask, you know, sort of, you know, what inspired you to actually write the book. I know you were working as a movie reporter. You know, you started doing, you know, all this film work. You released the book in March of this year, 2017 so what was sort of the impetus to write this book?

Staci Layne Wilson 31:34
Well, I started writing it last year just a couple of weeks before my birthday. It was a milestone birthday, and so that is really what made me think. You know, I've, I've lived a long enough life to be able to have an interesting story, but I hold on just a second here. Thank you. Sorry about that. That is something you can edit out.

Dave Bullis 32:01
I'm going to leave it in Staci. I think it's funny.

Staci Layne Wilson 32:05
Yeah, just got a special delivery. It's my stack of cash for the next movie I'm directing. Oh, nice. Okay, so, yeah. So the impetus to write the book was last year, and my birthday month, and it was a milestone birthday, so I felt like it was time for me to tell my story, because I had an interesting enough story with enough perspective to talk about it, but I'm still young enough and, quote, unquote, with it, to be able to tell the story to, you know, in an interesting manner. So that was part of it. And then another part of is that with the, you know, advent of social media, that people are know who I am, but they express a lot of interest in my parents, my dad and my mom, and I'll post pictures, and I'll get so many great responses, but their stories really haven't been told on a personal level. So for me, that was one of the reasons that I wanted to write, too, was to kind of give my mom and dad stories and in a candid way, but definitely not, you know, a Mommy Dearest kind of thing at all. But my mother, when I was growing up, she was an alcoholic, and she went through some really tough times, and my parents divorced when I was very young. So there's things to talk about in that regard where it wasn't just, you know, whipped cream and fluffy clouds childhood. So there's, you know, things that I want to talk about in that regard. And my parents did read the book after it was published, and they both approved, so that's good. So that's really what the impetus was, because I feel like I have some pretty interesting stories to tell and a different perspective than probably most people.

Dave Bullis 33:52
Yeah, and that sort of goes back to what I was mentioning too. Was, you know, just growing up in LA and still living there is an interesting perspective. And I just want to ask Stacey, what is maybe just one, just one story from the book? Maybe your most favorite or or the most you know, interesting from you, from your perspective, just something from the book. Me, is there any, any just one story you could tell from the book?

Staci Layne Wilson 34:16
Well, there are so many stories, because it covers many different facets of my life. So, I mean, we could talk about the very irate alcoholic monkey that my mom brought home one day when I was about seven years old. It was as my new pet, which was kind of fun. Or we could talk about, you know, why Malcolm McDowell told me I could call him my boyfriend later in life. When I was interviewing him just about every week for the Sci Fi Channel, we had sort of this fun little relationship, and he's a great guy. Or we could talk about the days of 1980s hair metal on the Sunset Strip. Oh, that was an odious time. So. Mean, so, I mean, there's really a lot to talk about, so I couldn't really pick one story, but there's a lot of little, little kernels. And you know, part of my wanting to do this was to be able to tell these stories in a humorous way. So a lot of feedback that I'm getting is really gratifying, and that people are finding, even in the more difficult times in my life, that there's always a temper of humor to it.

Dave Bullis 35:23
You know, one, one story that I saw from from you, from the Amazon homepage for your book, was a party at the Playboy Mansion. And I know this is I just every time I hear about the Playboy Mansion, the first thing I think of, and this just goes to show you where my head's at. Stacy is Pauly Shore, because there's a story that somebody once told about Pauly where he every year, every year he would, he'd be at a Playboy Mansion party, and he would go up, and he would just tell everyone he was 30 years old. Well, finally, someone said, you know, Paulie, you've been 30 years old for the past 20 years. So and it's just, and they actually made light of it in the TV show entourage. They actually brought that joke back, which I actually, I thought was pretty cool. But, yeah, no, no, just, I just thought was funny. But, I mean, pointing at the Playboy Mansion and it's heyday. I mean, yeah, exactly that. That takes stuff like that

Staci Layne Wilson 36:18
Back when it was exciting. Yeah, it was really neat to be able to go to that part. I believe that was 19 years old, 18 or 19 years old at the time, and perhaps girlfriend Carrie Lee, who I believe she sued him for palimony later on. But anyway, she was kind of out scouting the clubs for girls to invite to the parties. And so we went, and my friend peg and I, she was sort of my bad influence, which every kid needs to have her growing up, the bad influence friend. So we went, and it was really interesting to see it back then, especially since there was still a mystique to it, whereas now I did return for another party about three years ago, and things had really changed quite a bit, and also just the public perspective of the Playboy Mansion now that it's been demystified, it's just not as exciting. It's actually kind of cheesy. So it's kind of neat for me to have that experience from the perspective of of decades apart, to see, you know, how it was in the in the 80s to how it is now. And so I do talk about that in the book. Yes. And another thing about my book that maybe historians will find interesting is that I am an architecture buff, so I do go into all the places that I've visited and then talk a little bit about who built them and what their history is and what they look like. So those kind of things, you know, adding those details was really a lot of fun for me when I was writing the book too, to be able to do research on the things that I really enjoy and to be able to tell stories about them from a different perspective, not just the salacious, you know, Playboy Mansion grotto perspective.

Dave Bullis 37:59
So let me ask you, Staci, it was, is the rainbow Bar and Grill as legendary as they say?

Staci Layne Wilson 38:06
Yes, it is. There's been so much going on there throughout the years. Yeah, in fact, I did an interesting interview with the guys from LA meekly. We actually did our interview there at the rainbow so we could talk about its history and and it's really has not changed its decor in in many decades. And I don't know if you know, but motorheads front man Lemmy, he used to hang out there. In fact, he practically lived there. He had rented an apartment just within stumbling distance so he could hang out there all the time. And when he passed away a couple of years ago, he was such a fixture at the rainbow that they had actually commissioned a bronze statue of him, and so he's still there at the bar.

Dave Bullis 38:52
You know, I had a friend of mine out there who went out there, and he actually, you know, knew a few people who used to talk about the Rhema Bar and Grill, and they call it the bow and, you know, and I know he, and I always, and one of the guys are telling stories. Would always, he was one of those guys that, if he would always tell, embellish stories. So I wanted to ask, you know, to be like, I wanted to ask you straight, you know, straight from you Stacy, about, just about, if it's actually as legendary as they say,

Staci Layne Wilson 39:20
Yes. And I actually got to meet Jimmy Page there, who's my my hero growing up. I mean, I love Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin. That was my jam when I was a kid and a teenager. So I actually had gotten a fake ID out of the back of like, hit parade or cream magazine so I could go to the rainbow when I was underage. And I saw quite a few really cool rock stars there, but my favorite sighting was definitely Jimmy Page. And then it sort of came full circle when as an entertainment reporter, I got to actually interview him for the documentary called It Might Get Loud.

Staci Layne Wilson 40:05
So it was really fantastic to be able to have my Jimmy Page moment on two totally different levels. One is the fan girl, and one as a entertainment reporter,

Dave Bullis 40:17
And see that. That's why, you know, I'm glad we got to talk Stacy, because you have those, those sort of dual perspectives of things, seeing them as fans and then seeing them as an interviewer. I think that's really cool.

Staci Layne Wilson 40:28
Yeah, yeah, I do too, and I really appreciate it, so I definitely talk about that in the book, and what it feels like to actually have those experiences. So hopefully people will appreciate that aspect of it too.

Dave Bullis 40:44
And I'll make sure to link the book in the show notes as well. And Stacey, I just want to ask, Oh, no problem at all. I just want to ask, also, you know, what? What next? What do you have next in the pipeline? You know, are you? What sort of movies are you working on next?

Staci Layne Wilson 40:59
Well, I'm so immersed in the book right now and psychotherapy festival run, but I don't have a lot ironed out yet, but my next hopeful project is to write and direct a documentary about the ventures, because, believe it or not, in spite of their incredible legacy and long running career, there's never been a documentary made about them. So if no one else is going to do it, why not me?

Dave Bullis 41:29
Exactly. You see an opportunity, or you see something that you would buy that's not out in the market, and you go out and you create it.

Staci Layne Wilson 41:37
Yep. Exactly.

Dave Bullis 41:40
So Staci, just in closing, I know we've been talking for about 40 minutes now. Is there anything that we can get a chance to talk about that you maybe want to talk about now, or anything you sort of want to say to put a period at this end of this whole conversation?

Staci Layne Wilson 41:52
Only to say thank you so much for having me on the show and to talk about my various different things. I know it's it's sometimes difficult to concentrate on one specific line of questioning with someone who does so many different things. But you know, I really do appreciate having a forum like this to be able to talk to you and to talk to your listeners, and just looking forward to meeting everyone so they can certainly find me online, and I love to interact with folks who also enjoy film and music and thank you.

Dave Bullis 42:29
And my pleasure, Staci and I thank you so much for coming on. Where can people find you at online?

Staci Layne Wilson 42:35
Just about anywhere I can give you the rundown, yeah, so I'm on Twitter as Staci Wilson. That's S T A, C, I W, I L, S, O, N, and the same on Facebook, and then on Instagram, I'm Stacey lane, which is my middle name. So that's S T, A, C, I, L, A, Y, N, E, and my website is stacilaynewilson.com so that's sort of the catch all for if you forgot all those social media things, you can go to my website and contact me there. In fact, I encourage you to do so,

Dave Bullis 43:09
But I thank you so much for coming on the podcast, and I wish you the best.

Staci Layne Wilson 43:15
Okay, cool, thank you.