Morgan Fallon on Storytelling

Morgan Fallon

But I was tenacious enough to go down there and basically demand that they save a bed for me. I do think in the meeting at some point I said, you better save a bed because I'm showing up. And I just think she likes that. It was great. I wish I knew who that was. I wish I knew that admissions person because I do have to kind of thank them. So yeah, they saved me a bed. It was great. They read the tea leaves correctly too, in a sense. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. A couple of turns I didn't expect in the road there, but yeah, for sure.

Tim Ferriss

No, no doubt. Did you learn what you were hoping to learn in school?

Morgan Fallon

Honestly, going into college, I'm not even sure I knew what I wanted to learn. I had these really weird conceptions of what the industry was. I pictured it in terms of, I kind of want to crawl out of my small town context and live in some big, glitzy kind of space. And I think that's what I thought Hollywood was. And so that was kind of the goal originally. And you quickly learn that that's not really how it rolls. But here's the thing about Emerson College. And it is a really great school in a lot of ways. They put you on set. And so Emerson's kind of known for building technicians. And what I learned that I don't know that I went in wanting to learn, but was the most valuable thing, is I learned how to be on set. I learned how to use everything on set. And I learned how to do everything on set. And

Morgan Fallon

But I was tenacious enough to go down there and basically demand that they save a bed for me. I do think in the meeting at some point I said, you better save a bed because I'm showing up. And I just think she likes that. It was great. I wish I knew who that was. I wish I knew that admissions person because I do have to kind of thank them. So yeah, they saved me a bed. It was great. They read the tea leaves correctly too, in a sense. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. A couple of turns I didn't expect in the road there, but yeah, for sure.

Tim Ferriss

No, no doubt. Did you learn what you were hoping to learn in school?

Morgan Fallon

Honestly, going into college, I'm not even sure I knew what I wanted to learn. I had these really weird conceptions of what the industry was. I pictured it in terms of, I kind of want to crawl out of my small town context and live in some big, glitzy kind of space. And I think that's what I thought Hollywood was. And so that was kind of the goal originally. And you quickly learn that that's not really how it rolls. But here's the thing about Emerson College. And it is a really great school in a lot of ways. They put you on set. And so Emerson's kind of known for building technicians. And what I learned that I don't know that I went in wanting to learn, but was the most valuable thing, is I learned how to be on set. I learned how to use everything on set. And I learned how to do everything on set. And

Tim Ferriss

Like a mensch too along with along with todd yeah question about working your way back up so if we do now just a mini flashback yeah you're taking all sorts of different projects now i'm Tempted to say whatever you okay so anything whatever you can get however i know you're also a very smart guy one could say what happened with Michael Mann was one part luck, but it was Also like many other, acquired many other ingredients for that to actually coalesce into what it did. As you were working your way back up, was there any particular strategy about how, let's say, past the halfway point before you get to ZPZ about how you chose projects or anything like That? Or was it really just throw as much against the wall and hope there's some synchronicity?

Morgan Fallon

It was definitely throw as much against the wall as possible. But I think that a marker of many people's careers is certainly not my philosophy or anything like that, but kind of like a trapdoor spider or something. You sit there, you're kind of patient, you're grinding out the days. And when the cricket comes by, you grab it, and that's the moment. And I think that that has been...

Tim Ferriss

When the assistant goes to the concert.

Morgan Fallon

So I came in on foodies and then did a couple of no reservations with Tony. Those were great. So the first one, I got called to replace someone on the Egypt show with Tony and I got along with him, which was kind of amazing, I guess. I didn't know at the time. I didn't know it was anything special, but I got a call after from Lydia and she's like, he knows your name. This is a benchmark moment. I was like, oh, okay, cool. So I went to Egypt with them and we'd had a great show. I did a few other, no reservations, was like getting to know Tony. But then they called me. I was working at the time, again, for my buddy Todd, who was show running Biggest Loser. And I had shot 96 episodes of Biggest Loser, which is real format-y reality TV with a little more puking than normal reality TV. But I had gone in like, I'd done that for three years. And really, I learned like how to shoot on that thing. Because you're just grinding out. You have a camera on your shoulder for like 10 hours a and you are just grinding out shooting. It's the same stuff over and over again. But you're like, you'll really learn it. I got a call, and they're like, we have this guy, Steve Rinella. He's got a really interesting story. He lives in Brooklyn, but he hunts for his food. He's a conservationist and a hunter and a writer, and he's a really smart guy, and you should meet him. I think you'd get along with him.

Morgan Fallon

So I came in on foodies and then did a couple of no reservations with Tony. Those were great. So the first one, I got called to replace someone on the Egypt show with Tony and I got along with him, which was kind of amazing, I guess. I didn't know at the time. I didn't know it was anything special, but I got a call after from Lydia and she's like, he knows your name. This is a benchmark moment. I was like, oh, okay, cool. So I went to Egypt with them and we'd had a great show. I did a few other, no reservations, was like getting to know Tony. But then they called me. I was working at the time, again, for my buddy Todd, who was show running Biggest Loser. And I had shot 96 episodes of Biggest Loser, which is real format-y reality TV with a little more puking than normal reality TV. But I had gone in like, I'd done that for three years. And really, I learned like how to shoot on that thing. Because you're just grinding out. You have a camera on your shoulder for like 10 hours a and you are just grinding out shooting. It's the same stuff over and over again. But you're like, you'll really learn it. I got a call, and they're like, we have this guy, Steve Rinella. He's got a really interesting story. He lives in Brooklyn, but he hunts for his food. He's a conservationist and a hunter and a writer, and he's a really smart guy, and you should meet him. I think you'd get along with him.

Tim Ferriss

Had you ever hunted prior to that show or been involved with hunting?

Morgan Fallon

Not at all. Never. What I realized is like growing up in New Hampshire, I felt like I was outdoorsy. And then I went with Steve to Alaska and I was like, oh, I'm not outdoorsy at all. I've never been off a trail. I've never been off like a well-marked trail. And all of a sudden you're standing in the middle of like Prince of Wales Island with Steve. It's fucking pouring rain. You're freezing cold. You're cliffhung because it's Steve and something always happens. What do you mean by cliffhung?

Tim Ferriss

What does that mean?

Morgan Fallon

What is cliffhung? So cliffhung, if you're, if think it usually happens when you're descending. But basically, say you're descending through heavy cover and you get out to a cliff. And you make a decision, which is like, I can get down this thing. And you go down a drop that you can't come back up. Then you realize that the drop, the next drop, isn't 15 feet, it's 60 feet. Then you're cliff on it. Oh, shit. That sounds like a great situation. Yeah. And you got to figure it out. But figuring all that stuff out was incredible. Again, I was just like, I'm just a dude. I didn't come from any kind of special background. I'm not a green beret. I was dropped into this thing with no understanding of what my capacities were when I was put into an environment where you have to rely on your natural instincts and your ability to do Shit and your ability to not get yourself fucking killed when you're out in the woods. And at first I was like, I can't do this. And by the way, I've got a 50 pound pack on and a camera all the time. So I got one hand, everyone else got two hands. At first it was terrifying. I remember that first time we got a little bit cliff hung and I'm like, where's the sat phone? Let's call the Coast Guard. And they're like, they're like, dude, we don't call the Coast Guard over this. Trust me, you're going to be okay. And it was an incredible, an incredible realization to be like, oh, wait, I am going to be okay. I've got all the stuff is innate in being human that I need to survive this and to figure it out and to deal with it. Whereas I think a lot of my career up to that point had been like how to navigate the human world. The constructed world. Yeah. That's right. I had never connected with the natural world. And I had no idea that within me and within all of us was this ability to navigate the natural world by simply connecting with stuff that we are born with. Steve brought that out of me. And once I realized that, then the whole world opened and you're like, oh my God, I'm in the middle of this highly dynamic, highly visual thing that we can just run with.

Morgan Fallon

Not worked with James Cameron. I know a number of people who have though. I don't think you're ever going to get that moment with Michael or with someone like Michael Mann or someone like James Cameron where you're like sitting down and drinking beers with Them out in the desert and talking about like life and things that really mean something. And like with Tony, you did. And that was the difference. He was actually, he was a friend and a very, very important friend who I miss every single day. He was not those guys. He wasn't an asshole. He could be an asshole. He could be an asshole all the time. He could be incredibly frustrating to work with, but there was something under it. There was something very loving there. There was something very caring. And once you were kind of in his sphere, he really did care about people. So from that perspective, it was different. From the work perspective, though, he wasn't going to mince words in the same way that he wasn't going to mince words when a dish isn't right in the kitchen. You can't. It doesn't work that way. Unless you want 20 fucking risottos sent back, you better get the first one right. And if someone fucks it up, you better let them know that they fucked it up big time, right now, immediately, and correct the problem. And that was a lot of the process with Tony, in post for sure. In the field, it was more like things that were cumbersome or inconvenienced. Tony, he didn't like messiness.

Morgan Fallon

It's not like an upbeat travel show where we're like, oh, today we're, you know, it's not. It was an exploration of the world in all of the permutations of what that means. And if you don't understand pain, you don't understand fear, you don't know those things, you are never going to be able to see it. You're not going to be able to see it. And I don't mean to be dismissive of anyone, but I remember we, you know, at one point we had a new editor coming on for a show and I talked to him for 10 minutes on the phone. And I asked him a few questions. What's your favorite shows? What's your life like? What do you do for, what are your hobbies? And stuff like that. And I called our showrunner, Sandy Zwick, and I said, I'm sorry, this isn't going to work. And she's like, why? And I was like, he's too fucking happy. His life's too good. Everything's okay with him. And he's not going to get it. And he didn't. And that wasn't prophetic on my part. It was just knowing that we had to embrace those things.

Morgan Fallon

It was...

Tim Ferriss

We did two in Vegas. We did the poker, the heads up poker, and then we did the evasive driving. Yes. Or evasive tactics, right? Because it was also on foot. It was getting out of zip ties. Yeah, exactly.

Morgan Fallon

So you have two characters moving around in a dynamic environment there, and they're constantly crossing each other. They're constantly crossing the line. They're constantly moving around. Now you need to know where that 180 degree line is all the time. And both your cameras need to be tuned up enough to move with that line and reestablish that line without thinking about it and without talking. And that's the dance that you're seeing. So when you talk about the dance, the dance is really maintaining that coverage in a way that is going to make sense for the editor and ultimately make sense for the audience. And it is difficult to learn. And once you do learn it, like with anything else that's fun to do, it's a blast. It's really cool to work with someone that understands how that works.

Tim Ferriss

I don't know if this is the schedule we had was normal. If it is, I don't know how the hell you guys do it for so long.

Tim Ferriss

Transitioning from a more narrowly creative role to a broader creative role with more managerial responsibilities so there are many ways to approach this i mean i suppose the the simplest Way would just be to say, what advice would you give to someone who is really technical and good at one thing, right? They deliver, they're really exceptional and they hope to embrace or they're being asked to embrace a role that is broader with managerial responsibilities. Like what advice would you give to your younger self as you were doing that or to someone else who's in a similar position?

Morgan Fallon

Get ready to relinquish control because if you don't, you're going to smother the people who are working under you. You need to trust them and you need to be able to work with the people who need work in a proactive manner to get them to the place where you need them to be because you are not going to be able To control everything anymore. When you have the camera in your hand, you have this tiny little world in the viewfinder and you can control every aspect of it. As you start to climb the ladder up to directing and then to show running, you need to depend on other people. So part of that is bringing good people in.

Tim Ferriss

The other part is understanding when you need to let people do their job.

Morgan Fallon

Muzzle brake, first of all, is a way to dispense the energy of the bullet coming out of the gun. It can provide accuracy and safety by pushing the energy of firing the bullet out to the sides. This muzzle brake was made by JMAC Customs in West Virginia, which is cool because they're an independent operation, which takes people who, you know, were laid off in coal mines and Various other extractive industries that have left West Virginia and puts them to work and trains them as machinists. And they do high quality work. Not particularly into guns but i respect what they're doing and uh probably get a little bit of commentary online about my understanding of the dynamics of muzzle brakes but that's What the internet's for yep west virginia for me you know and this is a very personal story so if everyone can bear with me, West Virginia for me was the most important thing that I ever Did. And when I say West Virginia, I'm talking about the Parts Unknown episode of West Virginia. I had lived in West Virginia when I was a kid, and my family went through a pretty tough time when we were there. My parents were kind of on the rocks.

Morgan Fallon

You haven't noticed. Know yeah yeah anyone who hasn't noticed man but we need to we need to connect with each other we need to talk to each other we need to be good to each other how are you choosing the projects

Tim Ferriss

That you work on now and how did you end up becoming involved with the United Shades of America?

Morgan Fallon

I mean, this was like, again, this is like one of those lucky moments where you're like, oh, well, obviously I'm going to do that. We had taken Kamau Bell to Kenya on Parts Unknown. And CNN wanted to do a crossover show. Kamau has a Kenyan name, though I don't know what his genetic descent is, but probably, you know, West African, not East African.

Tim Ferriss

For those who don't know, who is Kamau?

Morgan Fallon

Kamau is a comedian from Oakland, Black comedian from Oakland, who has, you know, really, I think, carved out like a niche for himself dealing in identity and cultural issues in the United States, but from a comedic lens. And has been someone who's really been willing to sit down with the other and have honest conversations with them, but do it in a way that is not so heavily laid. He's really kind of brilliant at that. Again, I mean, one of these people that I'm so lucky to have the opportunity to work with because he's he's super smart super dynamic and is doing something at a time in america where i Like really believe we need it where we are talking about these things head on his current project which i had absolutely nothing to do with is the four-part documentary on showtime On bill cosby and i think it's really brave of Kamau to come out and be willing to have that conversation. A lot of people weren't. That's who he is. We took him to Kenya simply because his name is Kenyan. Kamau in Kenya is like Dan here. You look at the phone book, and it's like half the people in the phone book are Kamau's. We shot this awesome show there. Cool went on safari we're like three feet from lions you know uh the safari was uh black rhinos white rhinos hung out with the maasai hung out nairobi which is an incredible incredible City again with like a really young really vibrant really hard-working population that is another place that is just driving this kind of like, how does one even say it? I mean, Africa's on fire right now. And I believe it's the next real growth place. I mean, with some hot centers around like Lagos and Nairobi and Accra and other places,