📍EEA: Turn Your Dream Story Into A Hollywood Movie With Tammy Gross

Interview with Tammy Gross

RJ Redden: [00:00:00] I'm u here we go. It says, we're live Tammy. We're live.

Hello everybody. Welcome. Welcome to the Epic Engagement Adventure. Today we had an adventure with technology. Right before y'all came to see us. So welcome, so glad to have you today. I am interviewing Miss Tammy Gross, a script. Oh, we'll get into that. And and she's amazing. I met her on a networking event a while back, and what she does with people's stories is nothing short of amazing and she.

So I'm engaging human being. Thanks. So obviously I invited her here. Tammy, how

Tammy Gross: are you? Tell me I'm doing wonderful. I am really happy to be here. We had a really great [00:01:00] discussion where I got to know more about you and that was so cool. You came on my podcast and then also, just engaging a, after that particular event, you were so impress.

Kudos to you for everything that you do because you make things very fun, but you also make them really simple and succinct and actionable, which is really cool.

RJ Redden: All right, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna snip that whole part and have 'em use it as a testimonial, cuz that was amazing. But we are here to find out more about you, my friend.

Tell everybody what a script entrepreneur is. .

Tammy Gross: It's it's a very well known old term that's been used. No, actually I made it up like about a year ago. ? Yeah.

RJ Redden: Why can't

Tammy Gross: you? Exactly. But you know what it's pretty apt because there was a point where after I started writing screenplays and I, we can go back further if you want at some point, but before I started writing screenplays[00:02:00] I was already an ent I was not I was totally an entrepreneur.

I had already hung my shingle as a musician and in 2000 I used the internet. Had to, I was being told to, I was having my arm twisted by all these people who wanted me to do these arrangements for them. They were very special kind of arrangements that I had always been doing when I was like a music director at different churches and in different community organizations and just as a musician.

there's like this thing called studio charts. And so I had so many people coming to me when there was a certain thing that happened. My dad died in 1996, and so I had a four year, like what's going on kind of time in my life. And in 1999 or so, , everybody was coming at me cuz like I had taken a break from some of this stuff and they're like, we need this.

Cuz at churches especially people were always learning a new song. And these were contemporary churches, very contemporary doing songs off the top 40. of off the radio and that kind of thing, or old songs and stuff where there might be some sheet [00:03:00] music that exists. But in many cases it was new music that we've only just started hearing on the radio that just worked really well with the theme of whatever.

And they had to learn a new song or two or more every week with volunteer musicians. Some of them might have been pros, but a lot of them might have been the person who just learned how to play. The three basic chords last week, and there's these. These special music charts that you can do.

They're called studio charts where it's, they're designed so that for one thing, the bass player doesn't have to see, keep turning the page for sheet music that's six pages or 12 pages long or something, . And it's also and it just works for all musicians and it helps everybody be elevated and shine.

And I loved being the person who could help other people shine. I did vocal coaching, I did a lot of things when I was a musician. And so that was something that I was, I just had. , okay, I'm gonna have to do this online. Cuz now I've moved out of state from where I used to be and all these other people have moved into other states and we were just all over the world and they were coming to me asking me to do this.

And so I made it a business and did that [00:04:00] since 2000. And in fact, I think I'm having my anniversary. I just realized in two days, cuz I think I. Maybe, no, it was yesterday. Yesterday was my anniversary. It was March 1st.

RJ Redden: happy anniversary. Yeah. March 5th is a

Tammy Gross: different anniversary. That's kinda connected.

But anyhow, yeah, so March 1st of 2000 is when I actually opened the doors for that. And so that is something that I just did for a really long time. But back when I was young, , and I'm getting to the answer by the way, back when I was

RJ Redden: Oh yeah, you always coming.

Tammy Gross: Yeah. Yeah. I was in a musician family. We were enter, it was an entertainment family.

I was on the road with my dad. He was on television. He did all these different things all across the country. We traveled everywhere and it turned out that I had some of his talent. Okay. I had all of his talent basically, but not quite as good. He's, he was like the best, but I was a carbon copy of him. It turned out So I We knew at some point, like by the time I was 13, I performed and everybody's and my family.

Oh, she really can sing. Cuz they had tuned me out at [00:05:00] home. I was playing on the piano and singing loud and everything, but I was in front of an audience and it suddenly dawned on the she has talent. So we kinda sat down as a family and I'm like, but I love to write, I love writing and I'm so good with the, I do the, I'm really good at the spelling and the punctuation and all those things and, but I just love to write and I love stories and everything.

And so we came up with a life plan for me. It's who does this? But we did. And basically that I would sing while I'm young and then I would write when I'm old and I have a life experience. And so in about 2008, apparently I turned old so that's when I started writing. Yeah. So I started writing because I came across a story, a true story.

I don't wanna go too deep in those. Cause I wanna get to at least the answer of the first question that you asked. And that is basically I started writing screenplays and I'll fast forward and I can go backward if I need to. And at some point I realized I am still a facilitator and I was actually still doing my music at that time too.

At least [00:06:00] online I wasn't singing as much. I wasn't doing as much performing, but I was still helping other people. And I saw myself as somebody who loves to help other people shine and be a facilitator. And of course, my love. for like editing and stuff is something that always seeped into every job I've ever had, whether it was in music or like administrative or anything.

There was always like a newsletter or something that I had to edit for somebody somewhere, and it was always part of my job description. Yeah and I had edited books at that point, and. when I started to realize the same thing was happening, I was getting my arm twisted after starting a writing group, everybody's asking me, okay, so you understand the format, so how do I do this?

And will you edit this and will you help me with this? And all that was coming at me to the point where it's okay, another shingles going up, . And so I started, yeah, an editing thing. So I was starting to help people edit their screenplays and that kind of brought me along and some. Like in the last couple of years or so, I realized, okay, I need to help more people [00:07:00] and do better and start coaching them more the way I used to with vocals and stuff like that, and make it more, scalable for me, but also just so that I'm helping more people.

And so that's when I realized I'm a script because I'm a creative who has found out that to be not successful. Everybody has their own definition. For musicians, our definition doesn't always involve money. We're starving artists by nature for some reason. But that's the problem, right?

And so that's why I became the entrepreneur is cuz I also had to remind myself, Hey, this is entrepreneurial. This is an entrepreneurial thing. You have to make money if you wanna have an impact. Money and impact. So that is, that's where it came born from, is just I'm a facilitator to help others, but I also have to help myself and I want other creatives to feel that they, it's not, it doesn't have to be at the expense of your.

Your livelihood can be your creativity and you have to, but you have to think like an entrepreneur. If you're gonna be a [00:08:00] musician, if you're gonna be an artist, there are things you have to realize, okay, this might not be my strong suit, but I've still gotta make it a priority. , that's a long answer to a very short, simple question,

RJ Redden: Oh, I love those. Yeah. No. It just, it gives you so much context, right? Yes. It gives us context because and stories just often do. Stories are the best at doing that. Yep. So yeah. So you take people's stories now , and you do some fabulous things with them.

So ki so talk a little bit about that if you could. .

Tammy Gross: Like with my own stories, I was trying to figure it out and there was that moment there was that there there was like a series of moments but they all happened around the same time where I had that aha. It's oh, I get story structure.

Oh, cuz that's such a killer right there. And like how to break story. It's still probably my biggest struggle is how to break a story when I'm trying to create something. . And that's why probably I'm [00:09:00] drawn toward real stories cuz it's all the materials there now I just have to, fix it and get it structured.

And so that's one thing that attracts me to real, to, to true stories. But that's something that I had to figure out for myself. But then also format, I'm talking about screenwriting for myself at least. And I've also written books. So it's not just, it's not just screenwriting. But and often can be.

can be writing a book and writing a screenplay and making them work together, but it's, that's probably the toughest thing that people think is easy after they think they get it. and then they find out I don't really get it yet. Cuz now I, I keep finding myself asking, how do you do this and how do you do that?

And it's really quite simple, but it takes time to really let it sink in. When it finally sunk in for me and it all clicked, I went on this retreat. Cuz I, one of the other things is also like, how do I just write faster ? How do I make myself stop editor? How do I stop editing myself when I'm. and I went on this retreat that was 48 hours and write your script in 48 hours.

There was some [00:10:00] guidance from some pros that I had met through some networking over the years at that point, and as everything else was clicking, then I was able to actually do that. So in 48 hours I wrote a script and it was probably one of my, it was probably me, my best script to date in that it was simple.

And yet it had complexity to it. There's a twist ending that nobody sees coming and that kind of thing. And and it was inspired by a true story, not totally based on one. And I was able to not only complete it, but I cleaned it up a little bit cuz it was a little, That's the secret to writing fast, is you just let yourself write it and just let it be junk. Yeah, let it be crap and everything. But in this case, I was getting out all the other things in a row and it's it came out pretty good and I just had to clean it up a little, entered it in a few contests, won grand prize in the very first contest, one, several other prizes.

I think it's, I can't remember what the number is, but somewhere. like a dozen all in one year that it won all these different awards and everything. And it's been optioned actually a couple times and now it's under option [00:11:00] right now with the producer of Bones. And he's also producer with queen of the South.

And this new thing that came out on Apple called Chanam. He's one of the producers on that. So he believes in the story. He loves ghost. This is so not me. I don't tell ghost stories, but this is a ghost story cuz it's based on a true story where a girl thought she was speaking to a ghost and I've wanted to explore that psychologically.

And so that's what it's about. And so it's in pre-production right now. It's supposed to get out to the world in the next year or so. Hopefully. It really will. You never know. An option is where somebody like a producer. Pay you money for your script. And they keep the on, they're the only ones with the option to turn it into a movie.

And so they, they pay for a certain amount of time to have that. And and he had a tragedy that happened last year, so he actually renewed it for this year because he had to, he had, he lost his stepson on a tragic accident last year, so that kind of derailed him on a lot [00:12:00] of projects and stuff. So that's why he's doing it now.

But that's, Options are really cool because then if he doesn't end up making it, I have it back and I can get it to somebody else. It's already been optioned by a couple other people who are still interested in it, so you never know. And at the same time that I did that, , I also turned it into a book and in a month I did this very publicly.

I did it on Facebook. I actually turned it into a bestseller. And I walked everybody through the steps that I was taking to do it, and it was really cool. I wanted to get it to number one, but I got it to number two, so that was good. I didn't know what I was doing. I was learning it as I went at that time, and at that time.

Yeah, sure. Yeah. Yeah. . So another long answer. I don't even know if I answered the question to be honest. .

RJ Redden: I, I don't remember the question. So we're good. Doesn't matter. No. And that, that's that's a fascinating process too. I'm in the middle of the sticks in the cornstalks in Omaha.

I've no idea what happens in Hollywood. I did watch I did watch the Making of The [00:13:00] Godfather that Amazon Prime series. That was a lot of fun,

Tammy Gross: and I learned a little tiny. . Yeah. The offer. That

RJ Redden: was great. Yeah. But but yeah, so you know how some of those things work, how a story becomes something that Hollywood would be interested in?

The, I've gotten, most people I think, have probably have no idea. Yeah.

Tammy Gross: And that's the thing is that no, even the people who, William Goldman. Is the guy who wrote let's see, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and marathon Man. And what else do you, oh of course Princess

RJ Redden: Bride, like my favorite movie ever.

Princess Bride.

Tammy Gross: Princess Bride. And the book. The book is amazing. But anyhow, and he's from my home. He's from my hometown. He actually graduated from the same high school as me, and so anyhow, he's famous. The thing that nobody knows. And that's the truth when it comes to everything Hollywood.

Nobody knows anything, but we've now been around long enough. , I actually have[00:14:00] figured out at least some steps that you can take to to make things happen. And, you learn things from, like the offer the series that you were just talking about, the making of the Godfather.

And there, it's like everybody's path is gonna be different, but there's certain things that do happen. And so yeah it's a big break. to, to try to figure it out. But it's something that I've been working on cuz it's like I want people to succeed. That's what I'm all about. I wanna help other people succeed.

I wanna help myself succeed, but I want others to succeed even more than I want myself to because that's what I love. I love seeing other people shine and that's my thing, . ,

RJ Redden: how do you know, how do you know when you know you're listening to someone else's story, or when you're considering a story, how do you know, hey, this is this might be script worthy?

Tammy Gross: There's an empathy that I think some of the best producers. and the best predictors, I guess you could say of success. You've got Jerry Brook Heimer, you have JJ Abrams. These are names that it's like when [00:15:00] they're attached to a project, you know it's gonna be good. And even if it's not like a genre that you care about and they just, obviously they have experience that's behind that, but there's also.

You have to have an empathy to other people's voices and to other people's opinions. If you're stuck in a rut with I only watch horror movies, I only wanna be scared, or I only watch, art house movies, and I just wanna have the intellectual, stimulation or whatever, if you can, step back and listen to a story for the fact that it's a story and that it's a good story that can bring you on a rollercoaster of emotions and bring you to an outcome that it's like you're satisfied.

At the end. You might not be happy. It might be a sad ending or it might be a horrible ending. It might, or it might be a loose ending, but if it satisfies you, cuz. . Okay. Yeah. I don't really wanna know what happens next. I wanna feel like that those people keep going on to have more adventures or something, that's just an instinct.

But I don't think instinct is always just what you're born with. [00:16:00] It is an empathy that you can, hone and everything. So when you hear somebody else's story or when you're trying to figure out if your story is good, you just have to look at it from a lot of different perspectives. Don't forget.

Your, yes, your grandmother's gonna wanna see this, but so is your next door neighbor who you don't get along with. And they have money, so you want them to pay for it. . And they, you want them to wanna see it and tell all their friends about it, even though it's I have this horrible neighbor, but I, she has a really good movie, , you, or book or whatever it is.

And so yeah there's an empathy that, that, that has to be. Nurtured, that we all really have. We just have to make sure that we tap into it. Cuz a lot of people, it's very hard to let go of what I think is good and then if you don't agree, then you just have no taste. And it's no, that's not how it works.

It's more about is it a story that will bring people along? And that's a really big thing. And I can't say that I fully have that. Nobody does, but I think JJ Abrams and Bruckheimer have it pretty good. .

RJ Redden: [00:17:00] Some of the biggies. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. God, I I no, no shade about the Star Trek and the Star Wars.

But I really loved JJ Abrams when he was doing Lost . Oh, that one.

Tammy Gross: Yeah. I loved him and then I hated him. Then I hated him because he, cause he ruins ending. It's okay. That is not the kind, that's not satisfying at all. . I didn't, nobody was wrong. No.

RJ Redden: And I don't, everybody lost is my favorite show.

And we will now be podcasting for six hours. I hope you have the comfortable shoes on. That ending, it was forever. It wasn't satisfactory to a whole lot of people. Yeah. And. . What I came to know later was, I wonder I wonder if they could have come up with something. Oh, they could.

Tammy Gross: That was, they could have, I think they just got themselves lost.

I, I think the title says it all. They literally got lost because it was one of those things where, you know a, they were actually operating on William Goldman's, his theory [00:18:00] of that. Nobody knows anything. And yeah, so that is where they started. Cuz they probably, a lot of, a lot of those people who were behind that, it's like they've done a zillion things and they've been throwing spaghetti at the wall for years.

And this was a spaghetti project, I feel like. that lost was yes, you're right. We could do actually , I could talk about it quite a bit too, that it is something where they just threw something and it's Ooh, that sticks really good and that is really cool and there are so many things. Let's think of these cool things, but they just, I don't know if I don't know the ins. I don't know. I haven't heard any interviews even about it, but all I can imagine is what happened. Knowing enough about the business, not that I'm the end all with the biz but I think that is what happened is that they started knowing that they had a cool concept, but they didn't have that friend in mind cuz they didn't have to, they were all established enough that they didn't really have to show, Hey, we got this really cool ending.

It's oh, just trust us. We got it. And then, Oh man, we don't[00:19:00] , and also it's for more seasons than we were expecting. We didn't expect to go past season one or two, . So I think they just got themselves a little lost. And that happens for a lot of people. And that is actually, that has been a cautionary tale.

There's, you'll notice that there aren't too many c I, in fact, I can't really think of any. I'm sure there are. I can't think of any series since 2004 or five where that's. Maybe 2006. I think that's when it ended. Somewhere around there. But anyhow, I don't think there've been too many. It ended in 10.

Oh it went that many seasons. I couldn't remember. I know I've, yes. Yeah. So since then, you just have not seen, and even during that, you've not seen things go where it's huh? You've seen things where they canceled it before they could get you to the ending, but they had an ending. Yeah.

They had the, they had all those years to bring you to that satisfying. and they just copped out because it's like we just didn't have it. And that was a cautionary tale that changed how things work. I just, you just don't see that anymore. Now you get full bibles from people that, it's called a series Bible when you come up with a [00:20:00] concept for a series.

and it can change of course, but usually you'll see that there's a lot of really cool twists to a lot of things nowadays because they take it all the way from the inception all the way to where it needs to end up, which might be in a totally weird different place where you never see it coming, which those are the best, but it's there.

Yeah. From the beginning and everything feeds into, yeah. Lost didn't feed into one. Place it just kept going, , and that's how it did. When you're writing your own story, that's something to keep in mind as in fact, that's the first thing I always tell people is have your end game in mind. and yes, I have to keep moving from the sun cause we didn't make sure that we had the Didn't realize it.

Oh it's five o'clock hour here. I'm in Orlando. Oh, actually I'm in Cape Canal right now at my mom's house. But yeah, the sun is playing its little tricks on me. . But yeah, so That's one of the things that you have to have is you have to think of your own ending and what your end goal is.

Not in so much what the end of your story is, but what do you want your [00:21:00] story to leave people with? Yes. So if you're telling your own story, if and that's one of the things that I love. I alluded to a little bit, but I love it when people tell their own story, true stories. They really resound with me for lots of reasons, not just because it's easier to break the story for me personally, but also because I only had a couple of clients over all these years since 2010 when I hung that shingle.

And I only had a couple of people give me their own personal story for one thing. Most people weren't doing that because I was getting a lot of, newbies or people who weren't really super known. They were pros, but they weren't super known. Then I had an, a lister come to me. Shola Buff brought me this movie with this, this script with a terrible name that I.

if even if I can remember it, I won't, I, it's almost a naughty word.

But it's not, but it was really weird. I can't, I'm so glad I can't think of it anyhow. Other than the title of it, it was like a really good story, but it was like two stories and it was a mess a little bit. But he knew what he was [00:22:00] doing cuz Shilah. can't almost say his name. And it was his own original origin story of when he was a kid actor.

He was doing like Disney stuff and he was doing some other stuff and the weird circumstances of living in a hotel or a motel with his father while his mother was out doing other things. And then his story actually had his mother's. Like the second half. And I don't know how much or if you even know who Shola Buff is, but he's had a lot of problems in the, that, that have been very public, where like he was arrested once and he had stuff happen and this is about the time that he sent it to me.

And so I even mentioned him, you could use some of, if you are trying to be, he seemed to be very deep in how he was thinking about things. So I was able to say, Think about the things that are happening now and how you can incorporate that and just tell the main story, which is you and your dad.

I love the story with your mom, but it rambles and you don't seem to have closure on some of those things. So you need to do something with the dad thing. And that's exactly what he ended up doing. And he came up with the movie Honeyboy in the end, where he played his own [00:23:00] dad. Really amazing movie if you haven't seen it, Honeyboy.

And then another Alister came to me and it was his origin story. He's the guy who does all the action sequences for the biggest. , franchises out there fast and furious, transformers Kong, skull Island, some of the Marvel things and everything. And he does all the action stuff. He's the second unit director and he brought his origin story of how he became a stuntman, which is usually how people become second unit directors, their first stuntman and stunt directors and coordinators.

And it was a great story. And and so when I got those, I. This is what I love to help people tell their true story cuz it also shows how they're making a big difference in the world now. And it's inspiring to all of us when it's a true story and people who are out there who are doing things like what you are doing and you're helping people to better.

get to the world with their products or with their services or with their coaching, whatever it is that they're doing, and [00:24:00] the coaches and the speakers who are out there who have their own things that they're trying to get out there. There's a reason you're doing that. I happen to know what yours is cuz I've heard your story and it's amazing.

Yours is very screen worthy. It's cinematic. It's a great story. It's got highs and lows. It's got it all. And and it's very interesting and some people might wonder if theirs is interesting, but it's if that's the, if this story kind of gives the foundation of why you are helping other people now, then it's worthy to tell here's, oh yeah, I don't wanna, I don't wanna blast you with too many words, but I'll just give you this spot right now that kind of hopefully is relevant to everything you.

is that the way I look at story structure and the way that you can really simplify it? Cause I'm always about simplifying cuz that's why I was in my head and it took me a few years to have everything click is cuz there was just so much noise and so many ideas of what works and what doesn't.

And it's simplify. . The simplest way to tell a story is obviously just, beginning, middle, end, [00:25:00] right? But if you're a person who's out there and who's doing things to help other people, and you wanna tell your origin story just even from the stage, and you wanna tell it in 30 seconds, let alone in 30 minutes, or in a whole movie, or in a whole series, whatever it is, think of it as a.

in an end, you've got a problem that you start out with and then you have the solution that you're trying to get to. However, and you heard me say some of this Before you can get there, there's usually like this huge mountain that's in the way. And so I'm picturing a w if you can picture the W with me, we got the, so you start out with this problem to get to the solution, but there's that mountain you have to crawl up and down and you fall off of and you fall into crevices and the caves, all the things that happened on a mountain that are just.

horrible. And that's that mountain that you had to move out of your own way to get to that solution. And what you're doing in the world now is you're helping people [00:26:00] go from problem to solution, and you're moving that mountain. You're a mountain mover, you're a mountain mover if you are helping people. To do what you did for yourself.

I love it when people are doing that kind of work in the world. Not everybody's doing that, but it's usually a motivator and a starter that you moved some big mountain out of your life and you wanna help other people move that mountain out of their life. And you have the means cuz you've got there.

You've got that solution. A lot of people just fall on the mountain and just cut and get stuck there. Everest has a lot of dead bodies. , True and you are not. I said bodies, if you did that you probably left your body in some other mountain, with some other thing where you didn't keep going because you had to do this one.

This was your mountain that you needed to do and you can help others live it. . So that

RJ Redden: simplified. So many, some of my fellow coaches, that's their story too. Yeah. And and and there's a thing in the industry where, you gotta write a book. You gotta write a book, you gotta write a book.

And and that, that's absolutely true. A book to establish expertise. [00:27:00] Yes. Yes. That is a good path. Yeah. But for me, . It's also gotta include the origin story, it's also, yeah, because yeah, if I'm a secret superhero and it's exactly.

Tammy Gross: You gotta, your persona is totally, it comes out of everything that you went through.

It comes out of who you are. , everything you went through and why you're doing what you're doing now and how you are and how people are perceiving you as well, yeah, and I agree and actually that's a great point is that I do think that people who are helping other people, I think that book is really important, but it's not gonna serve people as well if you can't just open up a little bit, be a little vulnerable.

but also be triumphant about it, that you went through something hard, but you also came out of it and you got to that solution, and that's why you're there. That's why you're helping people, so include that in your book. You can do it, you can do it throughout the whole book. You can pepper it in, start each chapter with it and then get into whatever the lesson is or [00:28:00] the tactic is, or whatever the book is trying to solve for people.

Or you can just make. The opening and make it your preface that it's here's my story and here's why I do this, and then get into it. You can do it any way you want. There's no rules. I love it when there's no rules. , there's no rules at

RJ Redden: all. No. Can it be a graphic novel type of thing with, Oh, that's why I like

Tammy Gross: it.

Cause yeah. Yeah. That's one of the things I love is that you have a graphic novel story and that's how you wanna tell it. And look at what happens to graphic novels these days, right? We got Marvel and we've got DC and they're all over the place and some that are like independent and everything and they're making it as movies and I love that.

So when you're doing that, , even if you never see yourself making a movie and you don't even have that aspiration, your story, ha, it has to play in the mind of the reader as a movie. And so I think everybody needs to write like they're writing a screenplay and bring us along your story. Get us in the inner thoughts.

Let us [00:29:00] hear a little dialogue. A lot of people forget that. dialogue is part of life that we talk , that we're saying words to each other. We're not just having the emotions we're also doing things and we're speaking things. And you don't have to go crazy with that, but that's one of those things that I think a lot of people who wanna tell their story, they just wanna sum it up and.

Even when, just earlier when I was saying it I don't think I actually said like what my family said to me. And I, that's a better way to tell the story probably is like my family sat me down and said, you need to blah, blah. I could, do it that way and probably if I ever write it myself, because I'm writing other people's, I haven't done that yet.

It's gonna have the dialogue, and it's how we have the human connection. So I think everybody who's listening probably can do exactly. . And I,

RJ Redden: I absolutely recommend you've got a little gift for the audience. I'm gonna put this in the chat so that everybody can get this.

Yes. Because it's important. Let's see. Okay. There's the live chat, new technology, everybody. [00:30:00] Very

Tammy Gross: good. . Yes. And that is actually, that speaks to what I had talked about, that there are steps you can take. You don't have to follow this like a map. Like I have to do this now. Oh, I can't do that yet cuz it's down there.

No, just, do 'em all. Just try not to do them all at once. If you take 'em one at a time, maybe you can do it a little out of order. But really, pretty much, if you wanna get your story out there, you're gonna have to talk about it. So you're gonna have to speak about it. So all the steps that are in.

are ways to get your story out to the world with or without. You don't have to go all the way to Hollywood, but if you're thinking that way, your story's gonna resound a lot better. Yeah. .

RJ Redden: And there's so many ways to, to tell the, to tell a story. I'm a ex theater kid. I'm a theater kid forever, whatever.

Every day.

Tammy Gross: Right now. Right now, possible, but still .

RJ Redden: Yeah, it's it, oh, there's so many beautiful ways to tell a story and I can't wait to get into that with you, [00:31:00] obviously. But I do wanna ask a question that I ask every episode. Sure. Coaches come and listen to this podcast to get different ideas of how to engage their audience, right?

Using all of your vast experience of storytelling and with audience and everything else, how do you engage your

Tammy Gross: audience? Tammy? I think the best way to engage for me has been, and I'm still learning, trust me, I'm still learning, I'm still struggling with certain things, is just be yourself wherever you are in front of them.

I'm trying to be myself right now. I'm not trying to put on any errors or anything like that, and so that's a big thing. when it comes to like tactically, I know for myself at least doing a summit was amazing because it brought in other people's audiences. Anytime you can get other people's audiences is such a great way to have new engagement.

And it also, especially if you're hosting it and the one that I did [00:32:00] last year, it doubled my audience pretty much over. , it doubled how many people I could reach. And like I had this audience of screenwriters and then all of a sudden I had this audience of speakers and they were all suddenly together and that was really cool.

But to engage them, I was the host, so I was the one asking everybody their question, the questions, and let them talk, let them shine. Cuz that's what I love to do. , but it was still ultimately my gig. They were on my stage and so have your own stage and engage anybody who comes to it, whether they're on stage or if they're on in the audience.

People would ask questions and stuff. It was the one that I did was live, and so people were able to ask us questions like in the chat we did it. Through Zoom. Did we do, yeah, we did it through Zoom. Very similar to what we're doing right now, but with that special engagement where people were invited to it and it was great because I got to know exactly what people really wanted to know from my guest or what they wanted to know from me.

Cause I think I did a couple of keynote type things too. It's another thing that [00:33:00] helps your stage. So I'd say that. But while I was there, I was just always trying to be. just that's the biggest way to engage is just open up and if you're a recluse, which I'm a writer, I'm a script and I have to keep reminding myself of the part.

I wanna go into a dark den and I just wanna write. I don't wanna have to engage with anybody. Just cuz I have a bubbly personality doesn't mean I wanna use it all the time. , right? When I'm with people, I wanna be with people. I don't wanna be distracted and thinking about the business side so much to the point, I don't wanna forget it, but I don't wanna think about it so much that I can't be me.

So hopefully that, that says.

RJ Redden: That does. And truly, that last part is so important. It's coming down to, it's coming down to really being who you are and and wanting to connect with people. Yes. It's caring, curiosity. We use it, it is every single. I like that you use it every single day, [00:34:00] and it is about connecting in that way and not in a way that's oh, I'm a super important person.

Like all the stuff that people do. This is this is why I am a huge fan of you, Tammy Gross. I am a huge fan. I wanna thank you for coming on and sharing with sharing with my coaches what's going. And giving them a new way to think about engaging with our audience.

You're the best. .

Tammy Gross: Thank you. I know I went over, I don't think you meant for us to go this long, but I talk a lot, so I apologize for that. .

RJ Redden: No. Don't apologize. I don't have an ending time on this thing. You know what I mean? It's Hey, it's and I don't, I'm not a strict person.

If you might, no, it doesn't strike me as being

Tammy Gross: you. But yeah, and you're right. And that goes with just, being yourself. But another way to sum it up maybe, is, if you're gonna show up. Don't just be there in body, don't show your face.

Just be there fully. Be fully engaged to.

RJ Redden: Yeah. And in fact I'm gonna [00:35:00] invite you and the whole audience here to a deal that my friend Dean and I, Dean and Isaacs and I are doing a, we have this ongoing kind of workshop and it's called Surfing the Tsunami of Change. It's a, and it's a once a month.

This month. I think you might be interested because of what you just said. We're doing how to read the. . I love it. That title is

Tammy Gross: mine. Wordplay. Oh my gosh. I love wordplay .

RJ Redden: It makes me so happy. Cause it makes people do a double tick. What is she saying? Does she have a How to read the Zoom? Yes. How to read the zoom.

And it's really gonna be, it's a round table and it's gonna So come and share your vast experience, please. And we're just gonna we're just gonna go and talk. , what do you do? What do you do with this precious? Rectangle real estate. How do you engage people through that? I know it's hard, but just because it's hard doesn't mean you can't [00:36:00] do it.

And and since we're, we're here for the near future. And since we are, how do we reach out? How do we connect over it? Come Tammy, you would be an awesome voice in. In that round table and all of you out there show up as well. Cause it's gonna be a good time I on there.

It's gonna be a great time. Yeah. Do you have any final words of wisdom for us? Anything anything concise like a Chinese fortune

Tammy Gross: cookie, ? I'd say that my Chinese fortune cookie would be just, there is a story in all of us and your story can change lives. Nice.

RJ Redden: Alright we have to end with that because it was a mic drop. So everybody within within earshot of this message do that thing do that thing, tell that story. . And with that fans grasshoppers, I'll be back. Same bot time, same bot channel. Next week, you can catch us right here doing some epic [00:37:00] engagement adventure.

Thanks for listening, and I'll see you on a bot.

Tammy Gross: Awesome.