It's a breakthrough event in women's athletics. For the first time, the spotlight shone as brightly on the women as it did on the men. If you make it and then you just start to talk about it, get in front of the right people, refuse to take no for an answer, good stuff's going to happen. And she [music] was like, "This is exactly the kind of movie that I want to make. No way." And she was it [music] immediately.
Where was like the first moment where you felt like, "Oh, we're on to something." From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between, this is Get In, the show focused on the [music] Hooser State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's [music] conversation. Before we dive into today's episode, a quick shout out to our friends at NCW, the team that's been building one of the fastest growing staffing and recruiting companies in America for over 25 [music] years. They specialize in the skilled trades. But here's the thing, they're also growing their own internal team.
If you or [music] someone you know is interested in recruiting sales or just making businesses run smoother, you'll want to check them out at teamncw. com. This is just another job pitch. NCW has been voted a top workplace by the indie star, landed on the IBJ Fast25 [music] list, and made the Inc. 5000 list multiple times. I'll tell you, I've got plenty of friends who work there and they all love it.
[music] Go check out teamncw. com. Now, let's get into the episode. Today I'm joined by Zachary Spicer, the founder and CEO of Pegasus Pictures, an Indiana based independent film production company. Since 2016, Pegasus has produced seven feature films entirely in the state of Indiana. Earned premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival, South by Southwest, and the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
And they secured distribution through Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and most recently Lion's Gate. Today we're going to talk about Zachary's path from IU Bloomington into Hollywood, let's say, right? But never forgetting Indiana along the way. We're going to talk about the upcoming film they have coming out all based around Little 500. And we're going to talk about uh how we first got connected with the duel. Was that two years ago at this point?
Yeah, it was about two years. Holy smokes, man. Welcome in. This is a long time coming. Thank you. I know.
I This is so cool. I love the studio. I love all the stuff that you've been doing and you've just been growing and growing and growing. You are you are Mr. Indiana. That's what we're trying for, man.
Uh fun fact though, wait, I didn't know this. I just read it in the the brief. You grew up in Green Castle? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
When you were talking about like going to Depal and everything, I grew up on South College. No way. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. So, that that's crazy.
Obviously, people who listen to the show know that I'm a Dep. And but what years were you there? uh 2015 to 2019. Okay. I was long gone by. Well, you were like doing big movie stuff by that point.
At that point, I had moved. So, I went to IU. Um I studied uh archaeology of all things down at IU. I know. And I I really loved Indiana Jones. Yes.
And but then I didn't realize that wasn't a thing, you know, like that's not that's not the actual job. Vigilante crime. No, there are no Nazis that you're punching in the face in archaeology. It's pretty much sitting in like a 4x4 box uh with a little spoon and a toothbrush. Um but uh where's my whip? Yeah, exactly.
There was none of that. Um but uh but all my friends were actors and so uh I followed a bunch of them to New York. I moved to New York as soon as I graduated from IU and I ended up getting into a conservancy uh out there and studied for two years and then I ended up a conser like conservation. Uh no, no, no. It's just a training program. a training program.
An an acting training program. Oh, okay. I was thinking conservation was No, conservancy. I don't I It's early. It's a conservatory. Oh, a conservatory.
[laughter] Okay. Wait. So, like a two-year acting training program. Yeah. Exactly. But you were not.
You were an archaeology major. I was an archaeology major. Wow. But I grew up here. I mean, like I made my first movie here in Indiana probably like when I was 10 years old. I I grew up with, you know, the old like VHS, you know, family film camera.
Yeah. And I would run out in the backyard and and all of my friends would get together and we would just like make these little movies and everything. And I actually I held like my version of your show. I it was called the Late Late late late late show. And we would like invite all of our friends into the basement and we would do this. We would like interview them about like the things that they were doing in their day.
like in uh like what age was that? Uh we started doing that probably like when we were around eight, eight or nine, but it continued for a long time. I always thought that that at college like turn on some mics and some cameras like the the postnight recap show. Oh yeah, dangerous. And like some people would probably not be able to get jobs. That [laughter] would be like a wild show to have.
You should do that. You should do a late night get in. There we go. [laughter] Uh okay. So, you moved to New York and you start down this path of getting into, I'm going to put in quotations, the industry. The industry.
Well, the funny thing, and this ties into little five, my very first job in New York City was I got hired to be a security guard for um Shakespeare in the Park. Shakespeare in the Park in New York is like in the middle of Central Park and it's free Shakespeare. Um but they do like these massive shows. So the very first year that I was doing it there, Anne Hathaway was actually acting in the lead of the show 12th Night there. And that very first summer, I got assigned to be Anne Hathaway's bodyguard. What?
Yeah. I'm 22 years old. I had just moved from Bloomington and my first gig there in the city was to be Anne Hathaway's bodyguard. At that point, was Anne Hathaway like Anne Hathaway? Like Yeah. Yeah.
I mean like she' already done Devil Wears Prada, you know, she had done like Brokeback Mountain, you know, like she's she had won an Oscar by that point and then she's doing Shakespeare in the park and she's doing Shakespeare in the park because she has like huge theater ties like she started off in the theater and and she's been a huge theater kid forever and this strapping young cornfed lad from Indiana. Yeah, Zachary, you got it. I know. I know. They threw me in there and my job was essentially to like walk an in and out of the park every night. And so it was really cool.
We developed a really nice friendship and we kept in touch over the years and you know we made all these movies here in Indiana. I don't I I try not to bother her because you know she's very busy. She's got a lot going on. Um but when we finished the script for Little Five, I remember us talking about um how much that she loved sports and uh particularly women's sports even back then. And uh I was like I know that this movie is going to be a big movie and I got to shoot my shot. You know, I had never I had never sent her anything before.
And so I sent her the script for Little Five on a Friday and then I got a call from her on Monday and she was like, "This is exactly the kind of movie that I want to make." And she was in immediately. And so we had been developing this movie for like 5 years up to that point and she made that call and then it was like boom right out the gate. That was in December, this last December and now we're filming. No way. Yeah, dude.
That's how full circle this whole thing is. That is wild. And and that just goes to show of like kind of being calculated like you have to at some point shoot your shot or you're never going to have the opportunity. Yeah. But you also don't want to like, you know, jam the wrong thing to down the wrong relationship or the right relationship, you know? Well, and and it's not Yeah.
I think it's just like um just being open to to where good energy is leading you, you know? like I I I never we met 20 years ago, but I I there was never a reason for me to like take something or or it, you know, it hadn't uh the right energy wasn't clicking or something like that. And it's like you could have been wi with any of the previous movies been like this is the one I'm going to send to a and it's like that doesn't make sense. But this is like full circle cuz you're tying back, hey, I remember over the years learning about how much you love women's sports in particular. Yeah. Do I have something for you?
Yeah. Well, and and honestly, I was like, this this whole movie has been destined to happen. Okay. That's what everybody talks about it even even on on set. like things will go wrong and millions of things go wrong in movies, but there there's a solution to it that's just kind of like right around the corner and everybody is just sitting around on set being like it feels like this is that this is destined like this is something that is actually manifesting itself. Well, tell us what the movie Little Five is about.
Yeah. Uh so I mean pretty obvious. Yeah, it's about Little Five. Um, well, it's uh it's inspired by the true story of the very first women's little 500 race back in 1988. So, uh I don't know there's a really great um New York Times article that came out about it. But, uh I read that a couple of years ago and that's what kind of spurned this entire thing.
But in 1987, all right, 1987, Indiana, what's happening? Bobby Knight, baby. Bobby Knight wins the national championship. 87. It's the last time. It's the last time that Indiana has won a national championship in basketball.
And they actually also win it in soccer. And the movie Hooers comes out that year. Wait, so the movie Hooers comes out? Yeah. And the IU wins the national championship in men's basketball and men's soccer. And men's soccer.
And it's also like when uh MTV first came down to Bloomington and started covering the Little 500 and the world's greatest college weekends and they did like a week-l long stent of like spring break coverage down in Bloomington, you know. Um and uh and so amongst the spotlight of all of that, these two women attempt to qualify for the men's little 500 in 1987. and one of them had one of the fastest lap times around the track of men or women, but they end up not being able to race. So, they along with the IU Student Foundation over the course of the next year build up 33 teams of four riders a piece and then they train all year round together and then ultimately hold the very first one in 1988. Now, in 1988, the spotlight on women's sports was not what it's like today. And so, they held that very first race.
They didn't think they didn't even know if anybody was going to pay attention. They didn't even know if anybody was going to show up. But Bill Armstrong Stadium, where the race is held back then, it used to hold 17,000 people. And that day, over 20,000 people showed up, including the New York Times, including MTV that covered it this time with Adam Sandler as the guest host VJ. If you've ever seen like clips of Adam Sandler down at IU, uh they they float around, you know, pretty much every basketball season. It was his very first time in Bloomington.
Yeah, that's it. and uh he was the guest host VJ there on the ground for that very first race. They've got like uh photos of him. Uh anyway, so we've we got all of that footage and everything from MTV and from that story we started to build this narrative that is like Hoosiers and Rudy and Breaking Away. It's inspired by the real story, but you know, we we we create a narrative, a fabricate uh of the characters and everything that that help us through. So, Wow.
Yeah. It's it's massive. It's just it's and and the New York Times, they wrote about it. It's a breakthrough event in women's athletics. For the first time, the spotlight shone as brightly on the women as it did on the men. Dude, I'm pumped up.
Let's go. That's what I'm talking about. I I read I read about all of this and I was like I have no idea how this isn't already a movie. Yeah. Well, Ann, can you think of a more perfect time and a more perfect place? So, that's what was so crazy about all of this and that's why I mean like this movie feels like it's destined to happen is that we're developing this entire story.
And I'd already been a big fan of IU women's basketball um and I'd been following them for several years. But then obviously with I think it was Caitlin Clark's junior year uh in Iowa when we had just cracked like our first draft of the script and we're going through the editing process and we're trying to figure out there's some structural things in there that we're trying to figure out how to make it work and I'm watching the rise of Caitlyn Clark and also like the things that she is battling with during her college career. you know, she's like a unique talent and and learning how to harness that ability while also like supporting a team and making allowing your greatness to make your team even better, you know, and like watching her work through that and like become a master of assists as much as she is in scoring. it started to crack something in the story that we were working on and we're like, "Oh, oh, that's that's actually really good."
So, Caitlyn was a huge part of inspiring a lot of the the lead characters journey throughout this film. And then, this is why I'm saying it's so crazy the the full circle of all of this. My college roommate from Indiana is Adam Sandler's right-hand man. He he does all of his writing and does like all of his music and everything and works on all of his movies. He's a one of the head writers for Saturday Night Live. He toured with Adam Sandler just like uh this last year I came to Cambridge and so I went and I hung out with him and I hung out with Adam and I I invited Caitlyn because I was like you need to you guys this whole thing needs to like come together and click.
And so Caitlyn came, met met Adam and all of us. And I got to share for a moment. I was like, Adam, you were there in 1988. You know, you actually saw it on the ground. I think I It might have No, he's toured through here a bunch. It wasn't his last time in Indiana, but um so you were there, Caitlin, you inspired a big part of this story.
And then it's my college roommates from IU that we like lived in an attic together, you know, for four years. It's this it's just this insane and and full circle moments that just kind of circle around all of this. And in the last 20 40 years, I don't know how long. Yeah. Indiana's never been more relevant since probably 1987. I I couldn't agree more.
Indiana University. Hey, I I mean, when we were on the ground like doing all of our uh uh shot listing and research for the shoot that we're shooting right now, Yeah. our director, our writer, our producer, and a a couple other heads of departments. We were there when IU won the national championship this last year, and we all watched it at Assembly Hall. And like the we're we're literally talking about mapping out scenes of how we're going to film the national championship win in 1987. And then a national championship win occurs and everybody floods Kirkwood and and we're just like what is happening?
It's just like it's all this is what a this is what a college kid would do if they won the they would climb the telephone. That's exactly it. That's that's actually what we filmed last night. We [laughter] have we have this massive scene. So in ' 87 when they won the national championship they all stormed Sha Walter Fountain that's right there in the middle of campus. And so we actually filmed that scene.
We had we had something it's it's insane how the community is coming out and supporting this movie. We put a call out for extras and we had over 13,000 people sign up to be extras in the first 48 hours. And and these national championship win scenes, we have to shoot at night. So last night we filmed from uh 8:00 p. m. and we wrapped at 8:00 a.
m. this morning. That's why I was late. Um, and but during that time we had 500 people that just showed up to be extras in the scene and just be there with us for 10 hours. And the actors the actors, you know, they're all from the the coasts and everything and they're just like are how did you convince these people to show up? I was like, "No, they just love this and they care about this story and this is a this is a community that is coming up and like lifting up the movie and willing it to happen."
So anyway, dude, yeah, it's wild. Unreal. It's really wild. Okay, so what part does like where does Anne Hathaway being involved in it, where does that come in and how does that elevate a movie? First, how does she get involved? um when she read the script uh she fell in love with it, but she, you know, as a Academy Award-winning actress, she she has notes and you know, you listen to those notes.
She's giving you feedback. Oh, dude, she's intricately involved in this entire process. Her her and her company Somewhere Pictures have been integral at every single step of the way of helping to develop and uh put the picture together and get the right people on board. you know, like we have an insane cast. We've got Rain Spencer uh from uh The Summer That I Turned Pretty and Ariana Greenblat and this amazing supporting cast. They they are they're all in because they're like if Anne Hathaway is doing something then I want to be doing what she's doing because and again like the spotlight an just opened the two biggest movies of 2026 Devil Wars Produ and the Odyssey which is coming out right now.
Oh yeah. And have you seen it? I haven't seen it yet. Oh it's on my Saturday night list. It's on Saturday night. Do you have your tickets yet?
No. Do I have to buy tickets? Oh, people still go to the theater. This is crazy, bro. So, the Odyssey, the Odyssey IMAX at the Indiana State Museum, 70mm one. That's the 70 mm one.
It is sold out for 3 weeks. You can't get in, bro. I should not have promised that date night. I'm [laughter] so I'm so If we have any friends at the IMAX. Yeah, seriously. Wow.
Okay, wait. So she comes in and her and her company start giving feedback and notes and help us develop the script and develop the story and then and then help us put the cast together and then the the crew like how many people does it take to make a movie? Our crew right now is 117 people down and and that's and that's they've been working for the past 3 months. And are they staying in Bloomington? Yeah, we're all down in for 3 months. For 3 months.
Yeah. No way. Yeah. So that's 117 that are there on the ground. Um we have a cast that's over I don't know like 45 regular people on top of that and that's just production. So then you move into postp production and then you've got an additional probably like well we're scoring the movie traditionally just like they scored movies in the past.
And so we're going to have a full orchestra. So that's another hundred people. But then uh all of the the special effects artists and the editors and uh the colorists and sound. I mean like you're looking at another 50 people right there. Wow. So the way that the way that we're making this movie is we're making it like they would have made it in 1988.
So we're shooting it all entirely on film, like actual 35 mm film. And we're shooting it on what they call this division. So um this division was this massive camera uh that they used to film like old westerns and things like that on and they they used this camera because uh it gives a great sense of scope and size and so like when they would do westerns you know you get this massive vistas and everything and it makes you feel like immersive of part of the movie. That's interesting too because right now that is hot. Oh yeah. Like filming like I have a cam camp setup.
Yeah. Yeah. Shoots kind of you can put it to vintage like that's like the light version but shooting stuff not in iPhone or not in digital HD. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. So we're shooting all entirely on film but we also we have to turn Bloomington back into 1988 and you've been down there recently. I mean like there's a raise in Canes and at every other hot chicken restaurant, you know, down lot of hot chicken down on Kirkwood. Um but uh but yeah, they've So how do you do that? So we build model sets. We build miniature replications of what Kirkwood looked like in 1988, just like if you go back and you watch like the original Star Wars and everything, you know, it's all like these tiny miniatures that they're filming against a a blue background.
And so we're doing the exact same thing. We are building a model version of what Kirkwood was and then filming it there on site. So, like one of our big um set pieces is Nick's English Hut down there. Yeah. And so, Sync the Biz, baby. Sink the Biz.
How do I get a How do I get a role as an extra playing Sink the Biz in the back? Well, you're going to have to show up in two weeks cuz that's exactly what we're going to be doing. [laughter] Can I go bibs? Absolutely. I just I want to be like the guy. This is the moment.
This is This was your audition right here. There it is. [laughter] There it is. Okay. Wait, what's the date? I'll talk to your agent.
They're like, "Yeah, yeah, talk to my people." But it's like the biz is sunk. Is that game like iconic from 1980? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. That's been been playing there forever. That is This is the role I was born to have.
That's the reason we started this podcast was to [laughter] get on the film with Little Five and be an extra in the background playing Sink the Abyss. Clearly, it's awesome. Dude, that's insane. Yeah. So, like the way they were approaching everything is the old way is like because, you know, I just I'm I'm a movie nerd. I I grew up like watching old Spielberg movies, you know, my entire childhood and, you know, Hitchcock and and everybody else.
And I just fell in love with the process of it. And I feel like, especially in my industry, everybody is just chasing after money the entire time that they they lose the sight that the process is so much of it. and and you know the the love of the process and how you go about doing something is just as important as the the thing that you ultimately create. And I think you'll create something better if you're loving the way that you're doing it. And this is the interesting piece for your career. I think it would probably be easier if you just fully planted yourself in Hollywood.
Fully plant yourself somewhere else. Shoot this movie. It It's IU themed. Maybe we do a weekend or a week in Bloomington, but we don't shoot three months. Yeah. In Indiana.
Oh, no. This is a terrible Yeah. It's a It's a I would If I moved the entire production to Bloomington, Illinois, I would make 40% more money than I am making it here in Indiana because the the the film industry runs on tax credits. So if I go and I make a movie in in Illinois filmed in Bloomington and then just in tiny script I Illinois um if I if I make it in Illinois for every dollar that I spend I get 40 cents back across the board. And when you're talking about a budget of $10 million is that the budget for this film? Yeah.
What was the budget of? Like I feel like one we'll get into that later because it feels like you just been leveling up. That's what you got to do, man. So, you're getting you'd [clears throat] get 4 mil back as a tax credit. Yeah. Guess how much I get back in Indiana?
250,000. That's right. I knew that. Uh cuz I remember you advocating on behalf. I That's just a new thing for us. I feel like it's not though.
It's not. So, this is this is my problem with it is that Indiana used to have a burgeoning film industry. All those films that we grew up on, Hooers, Rudy, Breaking Away, A League of Their Own, all of them in the 80s, made here in Indiana. And it was when Indiana had an actual tax credit. And then all of those movies went away. And then, you know, you can't you can't survive by making it um here because like all of these other states have the have the opportunity here.
And you know, we have been making movies here for the past 10 years. And there's a the constant argument that I keep hearing is is that there's not enough interest or industry here to be able to support something of that size where like we could add to the economy. And I'm like, dude, we have we have over 50 different interns on every single movie that we work on because and they're from all over. It's IU, it's Ball State, it's Butler, it's Purdue, it's Depal. We have a ton of people from Depal. These are people who want to work in this industry.
They're local here. Yeah. And we have trained them up over 10 years. All seven people who are uh full-time employees in my company all started as interns at one point um during one of the films that we've done. And all of them just want to work in the film industry. And there is there is enough equipment, there is enough resources, and there is enough people here to be able to start something and and be able to like see an entire other burgeoning economy that is not a data center.
That's so interesting, dude. I love it. [laughter] I I think that Well, I think it could be a joint between film and kind of like uh like what Pat's doing. Yeah. Like I think that that could be somehow lumped into each other sports and entertainment where it's like yeah obviously but it's like uh where think about the economic incentive or the economic impact that having Pat McAfee show filmed here in Indiana is like he's easily like the biggest marketing engine for Indianapolis for the state of Indiana. And it's like that seems like something that I don't know anything about tax credits but that seems like a credit that belongs.
Oh, well I mean like it's just it's just uh you know what drives what drives opportunity and and film has this very unique thing of that we spend money all over the place. So I have 107 uh people who are you know working with us right now. I have to put them up in hotels. I have to feed them. I have to get them rental cars. I have to get them gym memberships.
I have you know like we have to build an entire life around these people. And then not to mention all of the things that we have to buy for the movies that we make here. We we we have purchased over like 210 I think vintage bicycles. That's just one, you know, like we have scoured all of the all of the old like merch and everything. We have scoured over all of the vintage clothing stores across the state of of buying up all of that stuff. We need massive amounts of office space.
We need we need gear rental. We need I mean it's just like we touch so many different industries and it's so interesting because this will also be a huge win for the state of Indiana for Indiana University. Oh yeah. Like I mean it's going to get So let's talk about the duel. Talk about like like kind of like leveling up like distribution. So obviously you've been making movies over the last decade all in Indiana.
Where was like the first moment where you felt like, "Oh, we're on to something." What was the first film? It was the first movie. [laughter] It was the first movie. So, like the first movie we made was back on Kirkwood 10 years ago, Full Circle. Um, and it was called The Good Catholic.
And uh, we had made it, we had never made a movie before, and uh, we had put it together. We didn't know how it was going to do. It ended up winning the Santa Barbara Film Festival and then we ended up selling it to Netflix and that was the very first one. when we were figuring this shit's easy and well no no no we did not think it was easy but we did we did think that you know there is this there is this mindset that if you want to be a part of this industry that you have to have an in you know like you have to be in New York or you have to be in LA or you need to know a producer or you need to know an executive or something like that. We had zero ins. We did not have like keys to the kingdom of like being able to get access to people or money or anything like that.
Those might make it easier. Definitely definitely make it easier. It definitely makes it easier. But you know this this is what you're doing. This is like you grind it out and you build it from the ground up and it gets bigger and bigger and bigger and and you connect with people. That's what you do.
That's what you're so great at is that you're great at connecting with people and talking, meeting people where they're at and and that's what we try to do with our films is like you want to you want to connect with a community. You want to connect with something that people are actually interested in. So talk to me through first one, The Good Catholic. You put this movie, you you film it, you win a film festival, you sell it to Netflix. Like what is the economics of a movie? Like are you like do you just put like okay we spent $100,000 on this movie and we sold it for a million dollar and we all make 900 grand.
Oh my god. No I $100,000 movie would be would be I would be filming that on my iPhone. Um but I mean that first one that first one was uh the budget of that was like $500,000 and and uh then the next one was like $750 and then the next one was a million and then the next one was like one point. We've been like gradually growing the entire time. And I mean like the Do you get rich being an independent filmmaker? No, you do not.
Um but you know, we've make enough back that we're able to like continue to grow. Put it all in on the next one, right? Just double down and keep going. Cuz I would say like from the outside looking in, it seemed as though like the duel was like a big turning point or like a big like a big domino to fall of like we're we're legit. Yeah. I mean [clears throat] like we were down at the premiere and it's like you worked with was silo how you went with a bunch of cars.
Oh yeah. Yeah. Like we shut down the circle. All the celebrities getting dropped off in fancy cars. It was sick. That's the thing is is like it's not just the filming of the movie, but it's like the experience.
It's the event of actually having a world premiere somewhere. Like it's so much fun. and and people I mean like we sold out we sold out the symphony space you know on the circle of like having all of these people down there and doing something that they don't get the opportunity to do normally unless they you know know somebody in Hollywood is like go on a red carpet world premiere with a bunch of celebrities and and feel fancy for a night you know and and we're going to do the exact same thing with Little Five. We're going to So, Breaking Away um had its world premiere down at the IU Auditorium and they shut down Seventh Street and they did a big red carpet, search lights and the whole thing. And when this movie comes out, we're going to bring all of the cast and everybody back here and we're going to have a world premiere back there, dude. And we're going to for for I'm so proud of what we did for the premiere of the duel.
Like, that was the that was by far like one of the coolest nights of my entire life. We're gonna blow that out of the water when this movie comes out. It's a night I still talk about like the afterparty at the loom. Yeah. At at fields and it's just like holy. You like are sitting at a table like you're at the bar and you had grab a drink and then right beside you is like someone you've seen like on your TV like when it's like I remember watching you when you had a bowl coconut haircut and like we're in the sweet life of Zach and Cody.
This is [laughter] crazy. I know. Wild dude. It was awesome. Okay. Well, I'm really excited.
Okay. timelinewise, what can people expect? So, you're filming now, then I'm sure it takes forever in a day to like put a whole movie together and score it in the whole nine yards. Where when will we be able to see this creation come to life? So, I mean, like we film in Bloomington until the 12 and then we film uh outside of that until like the 2nd of September. And it will it's it's it's going to take a minute.
It's probably gonna be the fall or winter of next year. That's what we're looking at. Holy smokes. That's how long it takes to Yeah, this is the one thing I will say. Um, that is a a hell of a lot of time. But the thing that I love is from the very beginning with The Good Catholic, you talk about going and winning a film festival.
And you talk about not having, you know, relationships or not knowing anyone yet. If you make something good in the world, whether it's a YouTube video, whether it's a podcast, whether it's whatever it is, if you make something that is exceptionally good, the right people will at some point find it 100%. And like you can't just make it and just let it sit there on the shelf. If you make it and you shop it and you enter it in the film festival or you put it on YouTube, like this was our big thing. We just did uh our first ever like long form YouTube video, like Mr. beast kind of style, you know, and I was so nervous cuz we invested for us like I say we probably like 10 grand into the thing and I'm like that is a lot of money that I know what's going to happen and I was like dude if this falls flat on its face like I don't know and we just like kept saying make the best product possible and the algorithm for YouTube will tell us what it is.
It's like we put it out, it's at like 130,000 views, which like our previous most viewed video was like a thousand, you know, like on YouTube. And it's like make good content, make good whatever the thing is, artwork, songs, music, like whatever your thing is. If you make it and then you just start to talk about it, get in front of the right people, like go and just refuse to take no for an answer, good stuff's going to happen. Don't create something uh to be successful. Dude, if only there was a tagline that had to do with like trying to achieve something beyond your capability. Yeah.
Or like, you know, what do you do? It's like when pigs fly. Like when pigs fly or something when you Well, when you think about being But it's not thing like they're not stupid. What are they? It's like dreams. Yes.
Dreams. Yeah. Yeah. It's like dreams. And they're like they're not they're not silly. They're No, no, no.
Well, it's not just that they're not silly. It's like um you know, a lot of people will say they're uh Are they smart? Dreams are smart. No, no, no, no. People tell me a lot of times that dreams are dumb. But are they dumb?
Dreams aren't dumb, Nate. Dreams aren't dumb. That's the tagline. Dreams aren't dumb. Like, you're here. You've been making movies in Indiana for a decade.
You've brought the some huge names, huge stars to world premieres in Indianapolis to film. Like, you have cast like you're putting them up in Bloomington for the summer. Yeah. Like what do what do the big coastal elites think about spending a summer in Indiana? They absolutely love it. I was about to swear and uh they absolutely love it, man.
Like they've fallen in love with Bloomington and uh the the way of life and everything here and there's this there's the people more than anything else like they're just they're blown away by the hospitality of everybody and and just the genuiness of everyone. And you know, going back about what you were just saying before about, you know, being able to create something that's like larger than you, you know, or larger than something that you've ever attempted to do before. I think that I think that growing up in Indiana that there's a such a massive advantage that we have because when I was when I was growing up here, you know, before the days of cell phones and YouTube and all of that stuff, um I spent a long time just like sitting outside and just daydreaming. you know, there's sometimes sometimes you're proving it uh not to be the case, but sometimes there's not a whole lot to do in Indiana.
And you uh do such a great job of spotlighting, you know, all of the things that Indiana has to offer, but I remember growing up here always thinking that, you know, exciting things were happening elsewhere. And I just spent a lot of time just kind of like looking up at the sky and thinking about like all of the big things that I could do whenever I left Indiana. And I think that that time is so important, that daydreaming time is so important. And the great irony of my life is I spent my childhood thinking of the great things that I would do outside of Indiana. And it took coming back to Indiana to actually do any of them. I mean, there it is.
That's the That's the line, right, man? I just love it. Uh I'm obviously a huge fan. I cannot wait to see all the one. I can't wait to see the film. I'm very, very excited about that.
But I also can't wait to see the pageantry and just everything. It just feels like um I mean, we got introduced right when I was kind of like starting to get going. And it just feels like from the duel to watching you put this next one together, like I'm just so excited. You have a ton of momentum. Like big things are happening and it's so massive for our state. Thanks, man.
Like even if there's not the tax credit right now, but like just getting people from around the country and around the world more exposure to Indiana is huge. And you know, right now is the perfect time. It's like almost the perfect storm of IU football. Talk about the rise of like Indiana. Indianapolis is the epicenter of women's sports. This is the place to make that movie.
And we're really fortunate. And even if no one else says it, the fact that you aren't shooting this in Bloomington, Illinois, the fact that you aren't making it in Hollywood, the fact that even though it's not financially the most responsible thing to do, the fact that you're still shooting it here, it means a ton. And I think that that's the the difference. Oh, I appreciate that, man. Yeah. It's it's the the whole thing is just a it's a love letter.
Yeah. The whole thing is a love letter to this place. Like I I love Indiana and I love the people and I love all of the tiny little which could seem mundane details about it. Like one of my one of my favorite things um that's a small thing in this movie is that like on every refrigerator uh whenever you go into somebody's house in the movie there is the old IU calendar. It's the old illustrated IU calendar that had all the illustrations of the players faces and Bob Knight's face and then it had the schedule and that that piece was like the most valuable piece of information in our household when I was growing up because life existed around this calendar. You know, like things were not planned when the Hooers were playing a basketball game.
like the TV was on and we were sitting there and watching it and like just that specific detail of like being able to have that as a touchstone in every single character's house when we're going through is like all of those things make up the the love that I have for this place and and the fond memories that I have here. I love it. I'm so excited to see this movie. It's going to be awesome. We've come to the end of the show where we get to have a few roundabout questions to end things up. First one is brought to you by our friends at JC Hart.
They're a leader in creating enjoyable living experiences at apartment communities all across Indiana and beyond. Check them out at homejart. com. My question for you, yeah, why do you call Indiana home? And wherever I go, I've gone all over the world. I've been fortunate to, you know, go go a bunch of great places.
Um, and whenever I meet people, they're like, "Where are you from?" I'm like, "I'm from Indiana." They're like, "Oh, yeah, that tracks. [laughter] That makes sense." Um, I mean, I don't know if that's like a term of endearment or you're like, "Wait, what?" I mean, like it depends which person you're talking to, honestly.
Um but uh but I mean like in it's it's I I can live in New York for a thousand years and uh and I will always be a hooer because it is ingrained in the fabric of how we perceive reality and the the things that we think are important and the things that you know we don't put up with and the things that we value. And I wonder from the outside looking in if the fact that you are a Hooser and that you're genuine and you're hardworking like all the things that make Hoosiers, you know, like great. Yeah. If that like helps you stand out in an industry that again from the outside looking in like might not have that as written into the DNA. Oh yeah. I mean, like, you know, in your early 20s, I tried really hard when I moved to New York to like be a New Yorker, you know, and I would I would even like talk differently and, you know, try to try to put on a a a different affectation of myself.
And it, you know, it's the same thing. It's the stuff that they, you know, our parents were telling us when we were growing up and kids of being like, just be yourself. Like, you don't need to try to impress anybody. You don't need to try to be different, you know, to get a date or get a girl or anything like that. It's just like just be who just be you. Yeah.
And and we're all on a constant search of like trying to come back to our genuine selves. So, Amen. All right, we got our final three questions that we ask every guest who comes on the show. The last time we did this, we broke the internet. Oh, yeah. The last time we t we had this question.
[laughter] Uh, this is your opportunity to shed some light on a part of the state that more people need to be talking about, a place that's not getting enough love. I got to know what is a hidden gem in Indiana. I've got to shine some light on my movie people. Yeah, there's two and I got to I got to split it up. Um, the Artcraft Theater in Franklin. Yeah.
Have you been there? I have not been, but I've heard a lot of good things, man. you have got it is the cathedral of theaters in Indiana. It is stunningly gorgeous and the way that they approach showing movies is what they used to do back in the 20s and 30s and everything. They made it an event. They made it something that people wanted to come out to.
Not like going to an AMC where your the seats are crappy and your feet stick to the floor and it pays $1,000 for concessions and everything. They have the best popcorn. When you go there, they show like cartoons and everything before the movie. There's a guy up there that's playing in Oregon. While everybody's coming in, everybody's dressed, you know, in like the nice tuxes with the shirts and everything. The marquee is a stunningly beautiful marquee and they play all of these different types of movies.
So like I went there, I just went there a couple of months ago. They were doing this gorgeous 35 mm print of Back to the Future and they bring in all of these old movies and they'll sometimes play new movies and everything. And that's what that's what like people are starting to go back to the theater. But if we're going to get back to the place where people go back like in the ' 80s and '90s, we got to create the experience of people wanting to go out there and like, you know, have an event, have a night. Um, so the Artcraft Theater. Absolutely.
And then there's this there's a real great hidden gym in Bloomington. It's called Vulture Video. Have you ever been there? Vulture Video. Vulture Video. It is the last standing VHS rental store that I know of in central Indiana.
And my buddy Dave Walter has been running this place for years. And it's starting to like get get cool like the full circle moment. Yeah. Yeah. It's starting to get cool where I mean it's been cool. Like I don't mean to say that Dave.
It's been cool, but it's starting to get popular because like the this this younger generation is starting to get into physical media and so they rent uh they rent uh VHS and DVDs and Blu-rays and they they always like Dave and everybody that works there had you like you can just go in there because this is what we used to do when we were growing up is like there used to be a thousand of these places. I Green Castle. Green Castle had five VHS rental stores until Blockbuster came in and drove them all out. And I used to just go in there and just like I was young and I didn't know the kind of movie that I wanted to watch and I would talk to the guy that was working behind the counter and I thought he was the coolest person in the world. Oh, you've seen all these. Yeah, exactly.
and he was like he he introduced me to, you know, like Boondock Saints and uh and the first time I saw Terminator 2, you know, and just got me into like all these cool action movies of the 80s and '9s and everything. Sick. But like that's what they do. You go in there and you're just like, "Yeah, I kind of feel like watching this kind of movie." And instead of scrolling on Netflix for an hour and a half before you actually choose something to watch, they're like, "Oh yeah, you should you should check this out. If you like that, you should you should just watch this."
They're the original algorithm and I think everybody [clears throat] should go back to that instead of everybody needs like I think today you have like the modern day version which is like I have a buddy who like rates everything on IMDb. Yeah. And so like he is like my my AI he's like watched a thousand movies or something like that. It's like his his numbers are crazy. He's putting up veteran numbers and I'm like dude let's go. It's the same thing like if you have if you have an old car or something like that like you need a guy.
You need a guy in the neighborhood that knows old cars, you know, so that you can like go there and be like when it breaks down. I need I need my guy to take a look at it. You drive by and you you get a call from him later that night. It sounds like your timing belt's a little off. Yeah, exactly. What the hell is a timing belt?
Like just bring it by bring it by the garage. And the garage is not a shop. It is literally the garage of his house. and you pull up and he's got like a definitely refrigerator full of beer. Absolutely. But heavy.
There's like there's three guys in the back and they're sitting at a small table. They've been playing poker since like 10:00 in the morning. Absolutely. I love it. All right, man. Final question.
We'll send you out of here. When you think about world premiere of a movie, filming with some of the biggest names here in the state of Indiana, I use national championship, all of these great things from just sitting out in Green Castle and staring at the sky. When you close your eyes and think about the Hooser State, what is your favorite Indiana memory I tried to include in this film? It was coming down the highway um down into Bloomington before before the big expansion, you know, of the the six lanes that it is now. And uh it was my mom and my grandfather and we were in a line of traffic that seemed to be a 100 miles long. And we were going to see the Hooers play basketball.
And I I was about 6 years old. It was my first time going and it was just lights, lights all the way down and I was like, "What? What are we about to do?" Like from Green Castle, I'd never seen a traffic, you know, b that many people before. And then it just this slow creep all the way up for miles and then ultimately getting to Assembly Hall. And the first moment of walking into Assembly Hall with my grandfather who used to go to games all the time and my mom who taught me basketball and taught me everything about sports and like going in there and seeing that cathedral, it was like it just imprinted on my entire memory and my entire being and I was like this is the most important place in the world.
This is this is like I've been to the cyine chapel. I did not feel the way about the cysteine chapel the way that I felt about Assembly Hall the first time that I walked in. It's just it is something so incredibly powerful going in there and the energy and the band and the crowd and just like everything that is happening there and the the way the seats are pitched and the way that like you're just on top of one another and and the fact that every single person there knows basketball. They know it because their dad knew it or their mom knew it and their grandparents knew it. And it's just this knowledge that is passed down and I I it was my first time like just understanding my piece in my culture. Yeah, I got chills, dude.
That's incredible. Uh I'm so excited to see this film. I'm so excited to I mean hear about [sighs and gasps] all this all the fun that's going to happen over the next year and a half or year and a few months as we worked and and you work to get this thing out. Uh if people want to learn more about you, if they want to learn more about the film, if they want to learn more about Pegasus, how can they do that? Uh best is just to go on our Facebook or Instagram or Tik Tok, it's Pegasus Pictures. It's P I G Su, not Pegasus, Pegasus.
Um, and then, uh, yeah, our website, we've got all of our stuff up there. Absolutely, man. We'll keep up the good work and we will talk to you soon. Thanks, [music] man. Thanks for having me on. This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater.
Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at Sweetwater. If you want a behind-the-scenes look at everything we're doing across the state, make sure you follow me on Instagram and Tik Tok, Nate Spangle. Thank [music] you so much for listening and being a part of what makes the Hooer State great. We'll see you next time here on Get