Management Crisis: Richard & Ronald Step Back from Operations

email. I don't know, I don't know.

I'll tell them all by email.

Um, well, I mean, I talked to Sean. He's not going to join. I mean, I could talk to James about this too. I think Sean needs to probably take a little time for himself to, to get right. Uh, well, we're not— we don't— I don't want you going anywhere, and I'm making that—

here's the thing, right? Look, here's the bottom line. I spoke to James for about an hour this morning about all of this. I mean, about Sean's issue, you know, okay, here's James there. So James and I, we talked this morning also, you know what I mean, about all kinds of these issues, right? It's not just you guys, it's HDR, but everybody just like doesn't wanna follow institutional stuff, doesn't wanna do like what's like factually correct, right? And you know what, guess what? Everybody's getting tired. My decision right now at this point is step out by Monday. Because we're covering Mondo this week. Mondo's out, okay? And by the way, I will invite you to an HR meeting that's already preset to talk about Mondo's performance improvement plans, okay? It's just like when you and I—

with him or just internal?

No, this is internal. This is just us talking about how to set up a performance, you know, but you should be there, right? And, and, and, and also Um, as like when you were asking us the other day, right, when you, me, Katie, and Ronald, like, we should be objective, and we gave you what, like 15 violations that were objectively correct right there and then?

Yeah.

So if we were talking about write-ups, right, everybody would have got fired probably 17 times already, right? That includes literally a whole bunch of people.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, also too, I just mentioned this to Sean, it's tough for me not being there every day, day to day, to like know exactly what's the reality, right? Which I'm with you, facts are facts, right?

I'll tell you what, my biggest problem here is everybody's speaking without actually understanding what burden of command is, okay? So I'm done with that. As of Monday, I told James already, John and I are stepping out. You guys need to put on the burden of command for a while to figure out stuff for yourself, because until you feel it, it's easy to talk about things. It's not that easy. The reason I can do that very easily all the time is because all my life that's what I've been doing, running operations. But for those who hasn't really done it, they just think they've done it, okay? It's just like Sean says, I got 25 years. It doesn't matter until you actually have it and face the consequences. You don't really understand. So as of Monday, I will send the email later. As of Monday, we're stepping out, okay?

Oh, that wasn't—

okay, here's the thing, here's the thing. Well, that's why I was going to send you an email later, but since you're bringing this up, right? And I told James also this morning, this meeting, we shouldn't engage this matter because it's no longer important. It really isn't. Because again, this is just management admin stuff. Okay? With all the experience I've heard so far on the emails, you guys should be able to handle that without any problems. Now, try it for a while. If you guys still feel like you need us to come back later on, talk to us.

I mean, it's not— it's got nothing to do with me. I don't want you going anywhere.

Well, here's the thing. It has a lot to do with you, Mike. You're the CEO. You're the stakeholder.

But I can't control what someone's emotions are happening to.

Well, here's the thing. Then, then, then here it is. Then we need clarity on this. Okay. In other words, which I just spoke to him about, right? Well, let me ask you this. You spoke to him last week.

Okay, I get it. I get it. But now, like, The only other option I have here, Richard, is to say, Sean, get the fuck out of here, we're going to do this without you.

It's not, it's not about it, but I can't make that decision.

It's not that easy to make that.

No, no, no, that's not the point. I, I'm not here to want him go, okay? We're here to run the business, okay? But I do believe, I think if you work with them directly in Mondo for a while, okay, as an independent unit without Ronald and I intervening, you can see clearly what really is going on You can judge them by performance, facts, figures, and all that. Okay, then you guys have, I think, have a much greater heart-to-heart. Okay, right now it's just kind of argument, kind of like he wants this, he wants— I think you need more reality in that. Okay, and, and that reality isn't going to happen if Ronald and I are there because we will prevent certain things from happening. Okay, and some things has to happen in order for people to see what really happens. Okay, because running it, running that kind of operation is not as liberal as people think it is. It really isn't liberal. Okay, it's not like we're voting something. Okay, it is unilateral many times. Okay, so, and that's why there's a burden of command. It's, it's a lot of weight. Okay, and, and in case everybody forgets, including Sean, is Ronald and I, we have a regular job. This is all extra stuff, you know.

I'm dumb. No, not tonight.

Like, so, so trust me, I am not upset. Actually, I feel relief because now I actually—

I feel a little blindsided because just to be honest with you, the email this morning said there was an option there. I just talked this guy off the ledge one more time, and now I'm being told—

I, I realized something. That was my bad because you know why? That option is dumb on my behalf because Sean's not teachable until, I think, until you and him really reach to that reality. Because I don't think Sean realizes reality. He's too disconnected. It's just like his infatuation with this whole Mondo thing is insane. It's absolutely insane. Okay. So until reality really truly hits with all three, then you guys make a collective decision. If you truly, truly want us to step in, then we will. Okay, but temporarily we should step out so you guys see maybe it does work without us. You know what I mean? Let's, let's, let's see how it goes. Okay, I will send the email later. I mean, the option— when I saw what I told James this morning too is, is like, when Sean's email, uh, reply is not surprising. I already know I mean, think whatever you say to him doesn't stick for more than 48 hours. I used to think it was for about a week, but I was wrong. I'll tell you that. Okay. So it's— this is not about anger. It's not about anything else. This is just about like you, Sean, and Montel have to try the burden of command and actually face reality and face performance judgment, whatever that outcome is. Then you guys can, between the three of you, gotta be honest and say, hey, can we do this or we can't do this? If we can't do this, we'll seek outside help. If we could do this, let's do it. I believe the three of you could do it if everybody put in 100% effort, no BS. Because I think the other two, there's just too much BS involved a lot of times. Like, you know, you're just egging each other out. You're the greatest, I'm the greatest, we're all the greatest. Well, you know what, sometimes ain't so great.

Okay.

So I would say that option I shouldn't even offer after I saw that, because that was my bad, because I don't believe that. Because if we go on that option, it's going to go for about a week. And then, you know, at the end of 2 weeks, we're having this conversation again. So let's take a break from this kind of conversation. You guys run it for a while. If you— if it works, that's the best scenario. If it doesn't work, truly you guys want us to help, then invite us back in, but then the terms will change.

Okay, you said you guys. I mean, I, I wanted you to, to be doing this since—

oh no, no, I know, but 2 months ago, like, it's—

here's the thing, I still want you to do it.

Yeah, yeah, no, no, I, I don't mean it that way, okay? But trust me, this is not a hit on you.

I'm saying, I mean, it's just, it's got like— it— what's not going to work is now, now now it adds more onto my plate that I can't then focus on the sales and all that shit. It was the reason we wanted to fucking take Sean out of the operation so that he could focus on it. Like, the, the existential crisis that Sean is in has nothing to do with—

well, here's the thing, I've been, I've been neglecting my three departments too, that they need quality time.

Okay, and, and listen, I'm not, I'm not denying the fact that this is just more work and stress for all of us.

The thing is, and I think I think it's good for you to see for yourself how these guys really do behave.

I'm not— I'm not denying it, okay? Like, I don't know what else do I need to see. I've— I made this decision 2 months ago. I don't need to see anything else, brother.

Like, I know, but what I'm saying is that I think— I think this is where if you spend some time working with those 2 guys and really—

on what though? I don't— I don't— hey, I don't know how to run a warehouse. Never said I did. B, I never said I wanted to run anything of the operation business. What I want to focus on is getting people in the door and getting the brand out there. This will absolutely take me away from doing that. Not to mention, I mean, I'm not going to get another thing I'm frustrated about, but like, look, let's just try it for a while because I think, I think Ron or I are pretty burned out with this crazy shit running. And I don't, I don't blame you. We're all fucking burnt out. Okay.

So maybe this is time that takes the next, I don't know, month or 2 months or 3 months, whatever, really have a heart-to-heart with them on a regular basis. Because I think it's more than just one talk. For these guys, I think you got to stick— you got to throw so much mud on the wall, hopefully something sticks. And it's just that. I think Ronald and I don't have that kind of time to stick that much mud on the wall kind of thing. You know what I mean? There's other projects going on. There's other things that need attention to. And I think we've already given our pretty good effort in this, right? I've, how many emails have I done because of this? Just think about it. Over 100 emails right now. I mean, like, it's pretty insane what I'm writing. 'Cause literally I'm preaching Business 101, you know, really basic fundamentals that are just like, shouldn't even, at our level, shouldn't even be mentioned. It's such low level. Like, I'm literally the king of the low-hanging fruits. Okay, and, and it shouldn't be. And the fruits are just hitting the ground now. So it's like, let's take a break too. How about this? Let me ask you this. I need your help so Ronald and I can take a vacation. How's that sound?

Get in line, Richard. Get in line.

Yeah, so I appreciate your help, really, you know. But anyways, I will send an email, uh, later to clarified that move. Anyway, so we're here for a different, uh, meeting, I guess, you know. So let's, let's talk about what's supposed to be on the agenda then.

I mean, it was— it's sales. Well, my question— I had— was drafting an email to you, JD, and James's, um, and maybe it's just better to explain it. There's— I've met a few times with a sales rep. Um, I don't know if I've already mentioned this to, to one of you, but She essentially reps production companies, right? She'll— she gets— she has all the relationships with the agency. She gets boards, she sends it to the production companies that have directors that he thinks fits. I don't know. Again, I don't know how much you guys know about how that whole process works in commercials, but she reps production companies, so they are her clients. She's got, I don't know, 5 or 6 right now, and then has like loose relationships with others. Met her at an AICP event, kind of told her what we did, all this stuff. She's like, oh, how can we work together? I was like, I don't know. I mean, you're not renting supplies and doing all that kind of stuff. She's like, yeah, but my clients do, right? You know, is there a way to incentivize— basically, like, how is she incentivized to bring the clients to us? So I, I'm just— I got to think up of some sort of deal, right? Money. So what's the deal, right? So I'm basically just trying to figure out a deal, I will send my thoughts in an email in, in like our normal deal structure, and then just, you know, would love you guys' opinion on it. And because she wants— I mean, I talked to her last week. I wanted to put something in front of her this week because then we might invite some of those production companies to a Kings game that I've reserved the box for, um, the week of the 30th. So You know, I mean, they're not like heavy-hitting— the ones on our site, they're not like— it's no smuggler or big companies like that. For me, it's like, test the concept of this, see how it works out. And, and like, are these people motivated? Can, can somebody like this actually make them make a decision on where they get their supplies and their transport from?

I was gonna say, how can she motivate them to work with—

right, that's the question, right? I mean, oh, getting them— like, the, the idea would be that they all have to sign deals with us, right? And then like, is she getting a percentage of those deals, like up to a certain amount? I don't want this to be in perpetuity too, right? At least that's not what I want to go to her at the beginning. And like the way we have them now where they're tiered, you know, 10% up to like whatever, $100,000 and then 15 to it. Like maybe we just shift that they get a little bit less on their way to those bigger amounts and she gets the rest. Whatever.

Yeah. Or just get split. So if we're usually doing 10, 15, 20%, we do like 7.5, 2.5, so that the pressure company is still getting the bulk, but she's getting her like cut off the top. Um, and it's still the same economics to us, but she's incentivized to bring those companies in.

Right. Cause like her normal sales reps get like a monthly fee, which I don't want to pay her a monthly fee not knowing what she can bring. I'd rather just be complete incentive. Um, and then obviously they get a percentage of whatever they bring to the production company, right? And that is technically a perpetuity because she's continuing to do that work. But technically, once she hands us a production company, we have a deal with them, her work is done, right? So that's all. I'll send it more in an email so you have it kind of all in front of you, and then we just figure out what, what we want to offer. I've sent her like the template of the deals we do for production companies and what those look like, right? So she kind of knows what that is. And then it's just like, how do we incentivize her? Is it, is it a percentage of that? Is it a fee for the whatever? I mean, I guess it's a fee.

We want it to be based on the amount of revenue because yeah, I'm going to spin up 7 different production companies that do $0 in revenue, but right here, right, they're going to be guaranteed. So yeah, I think your head's in the right spot. I'll, uh, I'll keep an eye out for that because make sure the economics are aligned, but makes sense to me.

Yeah. Um, Bella, I've— I mean, they're just working on building out their studios right now, so I have not— I mean, he, he, um, acknowledged getting it. He said that they're probably will be looking at like a box truck and a van, not like the four-deal package to start. But that it seemed good. I forget what he'd mentioned something about. I don't know if it was a cost thing or what it was, but basically I said, listen, where else are you going to be able to lease a vehicle that's going to give you one to replace that vehicle while it's in for maintenance so that you're not losing revenue?

About it, right?

I think, I think it's a pretty sweet deal.

Um, yeah, I think it, I think it is fair. I mean, if our, if our goal is just to get vehicles perpetually rented, this is the best case scenario for us. Um, maybe it's a little expensive if rather than— they're, they're counter-positioned against someone like Enterprise. If they want to drive around in an Enterprise truck, that's their prerogative. But if they want to like have something that is in the studio production ecosystem and be in Hollywood and all that. I think it makes sense. So yeah, hopefully it works out. I'm glad to hear that. It's— well, I thought it— I honestly thought we'd send that and they'd be like, oh, this doesn't work for us. But if there's some sort of like lukewarm reception, maybe there's a chance to convert still.

Yeah, I, I don't— I just think they're, they're, they're working so much on this build-out that they don't have the You know, he even said, I just, I don't have the time right now to like think about this because it's kind of far, a couple months out, right? But it wasn't a no, right? So, okay. Um, that the dashboard, the, this like RentalWorks dashboard that, uh, James shared with me that you have. Yeah, I've just been kind of poking. I mean, I guess it updates every day and poking around. But one thing I noticed too is just having insight to like who's renting at Avon. And I think this happened with Caravan Club a couple of weeks back. We saw that they were renting with Avon, but then no supplies, right? So we, because they're a client, we're like, hey, we see you have a job coming up. Like, do you want supplies? Do you want this? Like Caravan Club has a deal. You know, I mean, I'm looking at this, but I also am using it as an opportunity to be like, hey, this is already a client that's at least renting with Avon.

Are you talking about the web plan, like the schedule?

Is that what you're talking about? Let me show you. Yeah. This thing.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So like Westy, right? Like Westy, I know he won't necessarily rent production supplies because his brother has production supplies, although it's, you know, I'm good friends with him. We actually share a CFO now. So, okay, we've been talking, and Angela too has kind of been pushing for like, hey, you should sign a deal with Versatile and get a rebate, right?

Right.

Um, which could incentivize them to get supplies more, but, but also the bathrooms and like other stuff. So it's like you know, I don't want to reach out to Westie and take business from Avon and move it to Versatile, but if we can upsell the business, then that's in our best interest, correct?

Well, and sorry, what is the actual Westie— Westie Productions— got it. What are they—

yeah, so I'm just taking this as an example, but also Scott Boucher is here.

Scott, and they're taking a Cube, so I, I wouldn't view it as taking business from Avon because like it's much more valuable to get the production supplies inside of the truck. And Avon, we're not going to do that. We could do that through Avon, and maybe— I don't know, I'd be curious to know who are they getting their production supplies for this, or do they truly just need a truck and that's why they came to Avon, right?

Well, I don't know why this one even says production supplies, because I asked Scott and he's like, oh, I'm getting it from— I forget what company he mentioned, but he's like, but good to know you guys have them there. I mean, Scott used to work for me, but I'm like, you know, Scott, why aren't you calling us, buddy? You know, you know we have this stuff. But again, I'm, I'm just poking around in here because I think it's, it's valuable. I mean, the— I think Ronald had like Cars Plus up one at one point showing us something, and I saw— that's where I saw the Caravan Club thing, right? Um, I guess more it's like I'm doing this to try to find opportunities for us to rent them more than just a truck, which is probably all they think of when they come to Avon, and turn it into like bathrooms, maybe trailers, definitely production supplies, G&E, whatever. So yeah, um, yeah, I don't know if there's other— I mean, this is pretty good for me to be able to look into what Avon's doing and do that, but, uh, I don't think that's, you know, I don't think I'm going to find anything with HDR that's going to be helpful with that, but Another thing that I had a question on is like this Nike— so Jazik and Associates, that's an art department, um, or a production designer that I work with a bunch, but he's also on the Avon board, and I didn't understand why he's on both boards.

Uh, so it must be because if there's a vehicle associated with it, they're coordinating the scheduling of the vehicles through Cars Plus. So I imagine they're putting the reservation in just so that the team down there has visibility into everything going out that day, um, rather than needing to split the view between RentalWorks and CarsPlus.

So how do I know if something that's in here is a versatile rental?

Uh, that is a good question. I wonder if— I wonder if there's a way to— let me just take this one for example.

That's the only one that I know is overlap, right? The rest of I don't, I don't think so. I mean, um, oh, maybe this. Yeah, the 6626 Sonic is also in here.

This one has an email of Donna at Versatile Studios, so I wonder if Donna is creating these. Maybe we can sort by the ones that Donna creates because they'd be Cars Plus reservations. Made for versatile, not necessarily Avon reservations in Cars Plus.

Right.

What was the other one you said could be an overlap?

626 here, the Sonic.

Yep.

626.

Yeah, this one's Donna as well. Maybe I can sort. Oh, and then the source is BS. Well, let me try. There's a couple of ways I might be able to exclude those. Um, just so we're not, we're not, yeah. Well, we don't need to, we don't need to duplicate them in our view because we're overstating what we're doing.

Or identify, like I was like, oh, maybe the job number is the versatile job number, but then it was, it's this, this looks like a Cars Plus job number, whereas this is a Rental Works job number.

Right.

But yeah, again, not, not crucial. I was just something I noticed in here, and I know you have a lot to do with this dashboard.

Yeah, I should be able to sort by the, um, or exclude the ones that are RichTown specific from the Cars Plus reservations. That way we're not getting those duplicates. So that's a good call. I didn't, I didn't think of that.

Okay. Um, and then, yeah, I've been poking around the, where is it? This, I mean, this is like, yeah, it's a, it's a lot, but it's great.

And I was gonna say, are we, we have, I mean, we've got what, a couple weeks of data now? Is there something that we should do? Maybe like, I don't know, put it in a pivot table and just see who is doing the most filming. Right now or something like that. I mean, the, there's some where we know that they're production companies, like Netflix Sunset is gonna be a studio, but Radical Media, commercial. I think just getting like a scope, this is telling us like we kind of know who our target customers are. We know now who's working in California more or less.

Um, yeah.

This isn't obviously, 'cause this would only represent people that are shooting on location, right? No one on a stage would show up, so. You may be— you're missing a portion of them, but at least gives us some idea.

Yeah, like even that. So I think we're on this smuggler job already. Maybe is this what we're definitely on? This Radical Chipotle. I think that was the radical one that was in.

Oh really?

Okay. Um, where is it? Active. Yeah, yeah, Chipotle. But again, is this just a production cube or do we have supplies? I guess I could ask. This doesn't look like supplies. So that's a good one to look into because technically they signed a deal with Galpin.

So, right, um, shows you how ironclad those deals are.

Yeah, exactly. Okay, um, this might be one I want to look into because I've been emailing with those guys, so But yeah, I mean, again, this data is great, but it's a lot once it gets populated. So yeah, if there's another way of organizing this.

Well, we've also got, um, we've got emails and phone numbers as well. So I don't know, like location manager for Super Prime specifically, is Mark Walton anyone you're familiar with or?

Mike Walton. Oh, look at that shit. I didn't even scroll over here, dude. Wow.

So we may be able to get—

So these are all the location managers that that put these in?

Yeah. I mean, you don't know who actually is the contact for this. It could be someone who doesn't have any decision-making authority, but it at least is an avenue to someone who we know has an active email address and an active phone.

Right. That's great. Cool. Sure.

And then I've got, um, I, I've got a rebate tracker kind of going that I believe is automated now. I've got, uh, 7 exclusives as of right now. It's Anonymous, Caravan, Apostrophe, Serial Pictures is with Anonymous. They're 2 separate companies, but I guess 6 if you include the same. Uh, WSM, Walter Schufer Management, and then two freelancers, Josh Hummel and Jason Roberts, who I don't know for like how we would consider those. Um, does that sound like everyone that we have an exclusive with?

Some sort of signed agreement? Yes. Yep.

Okay. So just for an idea, those customers have rep— right now they have $63K active orders of like revenue pending and they've done $22,000 of revenue with us in 2026.

Where's this tracker?

Sorry.

Here, I'll pull it up.

You see this?

Yes.

Okay, so This is everyone that you can see 2026 revenue that they've done for us, what their effective rebate is based on their deal. Um, active orders being ones that haven't closed yet and we haven't calculated the rebate for, but this is pending, knowing that we'll probably have to discount amounts based on, uh, whatever they come back with. Um, and then just total revenue for the life of our relationship. being there.

Uh, where's the total revenue here? Okay. I would have thought anonymous was a little higher than that, but yeah, this is good to have for sure.

Yeah. So this is, it's going back into Q4. So Q4 was—

what do you, what do you make this all in? This is great. Is this just in RentalWorks?

No. So I'm working on something that kind of sits on top of, um, our QuickBooks instances and our RentalWorks and everything that kind of consolidates all of our financial information into one, like, combined, like, view that we can all go in and kind of like an ERP that sits on top of everything. Um, it's kind of been my pet project on the side, but whenever something comes up and says, here is a thing that we want to be able to automate or track, I just kind of add it into that ERP. So now there's a versatile version of this rebate tracker. Um, so when Sean asked for Anonymous's Q4 rebate, we can click in and see all the invoices that they've done with us and see kind of how the rebate calculates out and the items that are excluded and everything. So it's not ready to be like put in the hands of everyone because I don't have permissions and everything set up. But like theoretically, you guys can look and just see exactly how all of our exclusives are doing at any given time. Time based on this information.

Yeah. So how do I get into that?

Uh, I don't have a link that I can share with you right now. I mean, I can send you the information as it comes up. I'm still working on like publishing it. Um, but I do think it's helpful like to know. Yeah, I didn't realize this WSM was so valuable. Um, yeah, I saw that company.

I don't think we're gonna do more than that because I, I bid that production and then we didn't— I didn't get it. So I was like, well, still gonna get the fucking supply. So I figured out, right? And then they like, not even did we just get the job, we got a deal with them, so that worked, right? Right. Yeah, it's a good one. That was one job.

So then as, as, um, and I've got the, uh, the, what do you call them, um, agreements queued up here so we just have them for easy reference. It popped up in a different tab, um, so whenever we need to access it. But, um, as they come in, I'll just add these and we'll keep the, the dashboard going and keep it updated.

Perfect. Love it. Thanks, man. Um, yeah, so for that permit tracker, if there's an easy way to give it a view that kind of shows us, like you said, who's— I think this is something me and James were talking about the other day too, right? Like with commercials, a lot of these people are shooting outside of LA, but they shoot a lot here for like a specific time of the year, right? Aging, like when they're here when they're shooting and then making sure that they're using us when they're here.

So, um, I might be able— let me see if I can just create a pivot table here. So if I went by, uh, production company, and then what do we want to sort? Like job?

Like, I think most importantly is production company and like how many productions they It's like, but then if you put how many productions do they have in this, it's going to be this ongoing counter, but it's like for Mark. Yeah.

Yeah, that's still kind of messy, but I guess as you get more information, it'll come in. Cause like I'm looking, if you look at the other tab on pivot table 1 on that file, you can see. So, uh, can I—

what is a pivot table?

I'm better at doing this in Excel instead of Google Sheets, so maybe I can figure out how to do it. But like Biscuit, for example, you've got 4 different permits here for Lily. Um, but that does seem like it's all part of the same job.

And then how do you go back to that information on that permit? You click, you like—

Yeah. So if I think of, I can click through that. No, maybe not. But I guess if I go to filming notices and I just search, search for Lily, right. We can look at what those permits, like where they were, who the contact is on that. Um, and get an idea.

Bluff 102.

Yeah. Smuggler here has got, it's got 5 different ones. 2 of them are AT&T related. One is called Star Jasmine, another called Seize the Awkward, another called Lancome. I don't, I'm not sure what that means, but those are all the clients.

Yeah. Seize the Awkward, Star Jasmine. Do we, are we, do we have anything else for Smuggler right now? I don't think so. Right.

Um, let's check.

Oh, what are those? Smuggler.

It doesn't look like we have anything. Well, that's invoice. Let me check orders. No, it doesn't look like we've got anything out right now with them. I wonder who they're using. Probably Galvin.

Yeah. All right. I thought we were working on a deal with them. Just looking at our calendar too. Maybe it wasn't entered. Um, and then was that the one that was doing— was that Biscuit?

Sorry, what was the question?

The Biscuit was doing the Lily?

Yeah, Biscuit was doing Lily.

That we were on. Crawford. Oh, okay.

Oh, sorry, there are a couple of orders for Smuggler right now. They're doing Armani Uh, yeah, uh, pro supplies delivery. So furniture delivery, furniture delivery, pro supplies delivery to Universal Backlot. Looks like it's about $2,500-ish of—

and that's currently—

that's currently— yeah, those are active orders right now, but nothing related to what I'm seeing on here. So, um, other question I had was the, uh, the Summerjacks, the report you wanted yesterday. What was going on? I guess what was—

I'm just trying to figure out what we're making off of that deal with them, having them in there, and because they get a cut of the, of the studio rental, right? Or I don't know if they're getting a cut or if they're just passing that discount on to their client, but they're getting a cut and they're there. They have an office there that they don't necessarily pay rent for, right? The whole deal is they're bringing in their business in there. And I'm trying to just lay out over the past 3, 4 months what, what they've actually brought in for business and is it worth the deal we're giving them, right?

Right.

Um, so I had a conversation, I had a meeting scheduled there yesterday. There was not like— I don't have all the information because all the lighting orders weren't in yet, but we're going to revisit it after Q1 to just see. And so I could sit there and be like, listen, numbers don't lie, like this thing needs to make money, you're getting too sweet of a deal. What I probably want to set up is some sort of like tier similar to the rebates, right? Like You know, you rent, you get up to whatever, $20,000, then we'll give you— of rentals in a month, then we'll give you 10% back or 20% or whatever that is. But like, until they hit these tiers, I don't want to just be handing money back and giving them an office there and like all this shit. So I think it worked for those first few months. We got a bunch of assets out of the deal, a freaking scissor lift, a bunch of shit, desks. But like, now it's if it's not making money, then, you know, I think for them they're like, well, what's the alternative? Who's going to come and shoot? I'm like, I'll figure that out. But right, you know, I'm not going to be held hostage for my space, right?

Okay.

Yeah, that's all. I mean, there's obviously just a lot of shit that wasn't in there, which then I told Sean and Donna, I'm like, we gotta— like, this shit's gotta get in there. Yeah, I'm gonna be billing them after each job.

Right.

Which they, they're going to start kind of requesting those invoices and like what they've chosen, especially for the studio rentals, like what they've charged their client. I said, but what I'd like to get to is that we're estimating before each job like we would any other client shooting in there.

Right.

But that also then requires us to have a rental agent just dealing with studio bookings to get them all that. Right now Donna sits across all of that with Sean and you know, therein lies the problem too that we're trying to solve for.

Yeah. Yeah. There needs to be a knowledge transfer, it sounds like, on the studio booking side of like what to do when those come in. Yeah. Because we have people that can take care of that. Like, pretty confident we have the staff to get the studio booking. I can't imagine the studio booking is a full-time, like, role. I feel like it's, especially at the volume that comes in at, like, No, I guess we lost Richard.

Okay, I mean, not that I want to cut the call short, but I need to figure out what, what we just talked about at the beginning of this call. So, right, um, but I mean, I guess that's it. Final decision, you guys are pulling out on Monday. I mean, what's the— what the— what's the purpose of the Just so I can ask, the Mondo call too, is that just to help us?

It's optional, okay? Our previous plan was working with HR to come up with a, you know, legal, safe, proper way of managing his performance, and then either he meets or exceeds or fails, right? But we need to make sure that we're in compliance. We are involving HR, okay? So HR, that's something we set up for Monday. That's what we were going to do. Okay. In addition to all the things we've done already, this is just the final step to involve HR before any kind of disciplinary action reduction or anything else. Just make sure everything is kosher.

That's it.

Yeah.

So I've already sent the invitation to you. So that meeting is set up. So it's going to be you, Katie, and HR. And basically you and Sean ultimately will have to decide either you implement that plan or you don't implement that plan. That's up to you. That's just something we set up for you to consider.

That's it.

That we were going to do, sorry. But since the meeting's already there, you might as well hear them out, you know, if you want to use them or you don't have to use them. That's completely optional.

Okay. I mean, are we all in alignment on this call that that's it? Ronald and Richard are pulling out.

It is what it is because right now I know where you stand.

I'd like to hear from the rest of the class. Sure, please.

I'd be curious what the alternative is.

Well, that they stay. I mean, the alternative is what I was working on before we got on this call, which was, dude, like, the, the Sean that responds at 11 PM at night to those emails rashly or irrationally is not the Sean that we want and that I know can be there. He just fucking— he needs time. He needs help. He needs time. I mean, we've— I feel like me and you have talked about this, James. Like, what I don't want is now I've told him, like, go take some time, get your fucking mind right, and now I'm being told that, like, Ronald and Rich, the only help that I had, pull up. What am I going to do, move to LA for a month and go help run this warehouse? Like, I can't fucking do that. It's going to take me away from the shit that I need to focus on. I never wanted you guys to leave. I've been trying to fucking mediate this thing. I get that it's— we're working with somebody that's irrational right now, but I have no other choice with him.

How about this? How about this? Okay, let us take a month vacation at least. Okay, let us take a minute.

I don't know what that does. Like, given, given the, the severity of the situation we're in, which you guys have never heard me to like argue the severity of the situation we're in or the plan. Like, if anything, you've even asked me, you're like, hey, make sure you talk to Sean about this Mondo thing so he doesn't flip it. Like, I've been doing everything I'm kind of being told, and I just feel like now it's, it's almost like I— not like on purpose, but I get punished because I've just told this guy to go fix himself, take as much time as he needs, and now like, here, I've just got to go fucking handle another thing. I don't know.

Well, here's the thing. I think Ronald Wright at least deserves a little bit of vacation out of this, okay? Because we're, you know, we need a little bit of harmony in our lives too, you know what I mean?

Like, okay, Richard, I think like, and forgive me because I'm coming in late to this, but Richard and I did catch up this morning and I would say that the piece of this that like we've been consistent on throughout this is like ambiguity and split authority, like, just, it doesn't fucking work. Forgive me if this has already been asked and answered on this a bunch, but like, I would say, and Richard, before you go back to the harmony and the citation piece, like, Mike was talking about, like, I asked the question, what's the alternative? Mike is speaking to working to an alternative. And I want to be clear, I know you don't actually think that you're being punished here.

No, I don't, but I don't actually think I'm being punished. But through the— this pulling out, it just throws a lot more on my shoulders. And like, what do we want here, guys? It's like, the reality is this isn't the only job I have. This is a very important— and taking up probably the majority of my time right now because I care about it so much. You know, it's bringing me in technically $0 because I'm like— of the financial situation we're in, because we can't pay those bills, right? That's another reality. So that aside, I'm not— I care too much about the brand and the company and the success of the company to just fucking be like, fuck this shit, you know what I mean? But I do feel like with, with this move, yeah, it's just going to throw all of that more on my shoulders, which, whatever, it's just not the best use of my time. Well, just like it wasn't the best use of Sean's time to be fucking buried deep into the operations, which we're trying to fucking work on with the email that you sent and all that. Yes, it takes time. Yes, he's gonna fucking change his mind every fucking week unless he goes out and fucking gets help. That's where I'm at. It's fucking stressful because I'm watching a friend suffer and a fucking business partner screw me at the same fucking time.

Let me tell you this, okay? If counseling works, jail be empty. Understand that part first of all.

If counseling works, what? Jail would be empty.

Okay, so, so then what are we—

then what are we spending our time with? Just to fucking fire them? I'll sue them. Like, what do we want to do, Richard?

I haven't heard you say that, and it's got to be a year since I last heard you say that.

Here it is, okay? See enough bad guys, see enough guys that don't mean to be bad but they cannot help themselves. Sean, believe me, is one of them. Okay, so the idea here is not to dump Sean, is to help him, but it's going to take a lot of time to help him. It's not something he's going to go through some rehab or somewhere, come out all good and all that.

So then what is this solution? How does this solution help us? This is anyone other than just punt this thing 2 months down the road?

This solution brings the 3 of you closer. Okay, work on the very non-BS level.

Okay.

To see what really, what it really takes to do this, because I think once everybody gets a true taste of reality, because Sean still hasn't seen reality because we've cushioned a lot of reality and consequences.

So how much more reality will this be compared to where we were prior to June?

It's just performance. I mean, like, ultimately the judgment is in, you know, efficiency, which saves time, money, and so forth. Revenue performance.

Right.

You know, HR compliance, things like that.

Okay.

So how are we measuring that performance moving forward?

How we have these financial reviews shows the performance right there.

But we got to that point in January and the performance was— which is why we're here.

It's obvious. It's very obvious Sean doesn't understand that. He has a lot of disconnect. And I think given the relationship that you and him have and Mondo and all that, I think if you invest some time into this, like 1 to 2 months, okay. Invest some deep time into them, maybe you get a better, better result. They just need to face reality. They just do. They're not really seeing reality. And I don't think there's any rehab you can send them to or anything otherwise. You know, he's got some severe personal issues above and beyond just emotional craziness. He still lives in the Quixote world. He's probably got some PTSD from that, who knows, apart from whatever else, other things. But the thing of it is, is that The point is not to give up on them. The point is to help them through. And you're the closest person that can help them through this. We're not.

I see what you're saying there at the end, Richard, is the piece of it that I wrestle with the most. Because it's like, if you think about last week, Mike, where again, it's the start of the week. So like Sean's going crazy, but like Sean quit. We accepted. And then it was up to you to more or less go put him against a wall and get him to retract and do all of this other stuff. And this, I don't want to say split, the split authority that we talk about, it is, I think it is still like, I don't have a good way for describing this or even trying to capture it because ultimately The challenge here is like, it doesn't matter if Sean is reporting to Richard here, you know what I mean? Like, it doesn't matter if Sean on an org chart or is like getting like his accountability administered by Richard, because at the end of the day, the thing that you're speaking, like the thing that's honestly kind of playing out where it's both I don't want to say perpetuating it. It's the thing that pulls it back when it goes crazy. But they're like, we can't control this person. You're the only one that kind of can.

Yeah.

And like, I think trying to— like, I would view this more as a forcing mechanism of like, we have no idea We are going to continue to be unsuccessful trying to do things as they have been for God knows how long. When at the end of the day, Mike, every time, how long have we more or less silently and sometimes spoken to been in the dynamic where it's like, hey, I've got a Sean problem. He's not responding to XYZ. I need you to go deal with that. And then you go deal with it. That's been basically the situation since August of last year. And I don't know how to fix this dynamic. It's a— it is a— it is taking place at the you and Sean level, and it's not your fault, but it is very much like the forces that allow Sean to be I don't know, control, like the forces that, like the mitigating and managing forces for Sean are you, they're not us. And in the meantime, like I genuinely and will continue to ask the question, like what is the alternative? And actually first, before I even ask that question, like Do you disagree with that characterization?

No, I don't disagree with the characterization.

Like, do you think that it's a fair and charitable description of, like, the dynamic at play here? Like, Sean believes he co-founded Versatile Studios with you. Is that true?

I mean, the rental business that is Versatile Studios, yes.

So like there is, there is that as a building block. I think that while we are all aligned and have been aligned from the get-go on like what the opportunity is, I think that there has been, I don't know, overestimation or lack of alignment on what it's going to take to make it happen. Like, I think the— I don't know if PTSD is the right word, um, like, Richard Hughes, but I think I agree that Sean has— like, I heard it yesterday. You know what the craziest thing Sean said to me yesterday was? If we consolidate into Fuller, we won't be able to load 5 trucks at once with 5 more trucks around the block, or like 5 more trucks in waiting.

We don't have that right now. Right.

And your ability to like scale up to that. And I was like, okay, so we'll be fine. Like, I, I guess like I actually, I understand like how it can feel punitive. It's not meant to be. It's, we don't know what else we can do because at the end of the day, it still just comes down to you managing like you working with him. I don't know what to do.

Do you?

You're the only one.

I mean, results is the problem. That's actually the problem. That might be why you're getting punished, is because you're the only one that can consistently get results here, right?

And also, if I continue this way, the way I am, isn't it result him jumping off the cliff again? Or I drag him into HR and written up?

I agree with that. I think we will definitely lose Sean in a more dramatic— we will actually dramatically lose Sean if we continue down this path that we've been going, where Richard is trying to like break arms, for lack of a better word. Where he's trying to—

we go about you guys pulling back, one month, two months down the line, nothing changes, like, or nothing financially changes, then what? Then, then we're just back here and he's gonna just do it anyway? Like, what I've hoping for is that he can just go get his mind right. He hasn't taken any time to do that, you know. Is this, is this something that's been going on for him for years? I don't know. This has just started to shed light for me too that this was an issue for the guy.

I, I think, look, this whole Quixote fallout damaged a lot of these ex-Quixote guys' heads. They really have, because that's because, you know, they live in that life for like decades, you know, over a decade. Even that includes myself. Okay, it took a lot of things. I gotta think my own, like, think differently than that, because Quixote has a point. Look, put it this way: Ivan's son used to be at the front desk. I asked Ivan to remove him, ask him to leave, because I said— I told him, if your son stays any longer, he's gonna be useless. That's advice. And he did. He got his son out of there.

Okay, but Richard, Mike's question was, okay, so we go this path and Like nothing.

Sean doesn't go— like, I can't now have him like go away for 2 weeks to wherever, rehab, Arizona, get your mind right, come back. You better be a different person or I'm gonna—

is he actually going to do that?

He's going to go to— probably go to Arizona to go spend— just work remotely from Arizona. But what— at that point, I'm just like, take a week, dude. Like, get your mind right. Like, what's— that's what I'm saying. Am I supposed to just— I think with us, like, I think he needs that. I think if I just push him past today to like, all right dude, you got it, like now you gotta go fucking do the thing that I know you can't do, which I just fucking told him. Well, you know, like go do it now. Like what do you think that's gonna do? Is this gonna fucking drive the guy to just fucking keep in this pattern?

I think us stepping out for a little while is going to reduce his pressure a little bit too. Isn't that— relief a little bit of pressure and tension?

Yeah. And throw that onto me.

I mean, you're the catalyst that might make this work, actually, you know what I mean? Like I said, we step away for a month or two, you know, see how things go. If we really need to come back, fine, you know. But I do think you need that little relief valve right now, because right now it's getting to the point where I'm trying to be civil, but that civilness is going to go away here in the next step, okay, which I don't want to take. Because he doesn't get to say as an employee, I don't fucking disagree. I disagree. He doesn't have that choice, but he's disconnected, and that's why I'm being nice in my emails, okay? But don't, don't think for a minute I believe what I wrote in that email, okay? He's fucked up in the head. Understand that, okay?

Richard, I think I have a question. Like The— if I ask you, Richard, and actually Mike first, if I asked you, what do you think the problem we need to solve for here is?

I mean, with Sean or with in general?

What's the biggest biggest problem, or what's the biggest threat facing?

I mean, it's the, it's the issue we've been trying to solve for. I'm not denying that. It's, it's how it gets to— so he needs to get his ass out of the operation, stop interfering with us setting up the operations. I think his, his biggest fear is like, oh, you know, we, I saw an SOP Ronald put together and it just wasn't correct and it didn't have like certain things. And I mean, I have an email that Jason Roberts, one of the guys that freelancers that's getting us all work— we fucked up an order for A+, like pretty big. There was a lot of shit that didn't go out, and that doesn't help me be like, hey, just let Ronald— and it's probably got a lot to do with Mondo. Why didn't Mondo check that order on the way out? Because he's like rebelling against this thing. That's just all the shit at play. But yes, the biggest The biggest issue right now is that place running like operationally sound and efficient, and Sean not being able to focus on going or wanting to focus on fucking sales. Like, we need the revenue and we need that place to just run more efficiently because it's costing us too much to run when it gets busy. That's the biggest issues I see, which is what I think we've been trying to solve for, for 2 months. And I, I feel you, it's, it's got to be frustrating to step in, Richard, and just have this person who's just not stable and running off the fucking deep end every, every fucking week.

Actually, if I could try to speak for Richard, I think the frustrating thing would probably be the inability to fix it, like to solve it, because what it requires is you. I similarly share that frustration. So I think, and it's not with you, of course, we're— I'm thrilled to be like, this thing would've died a long time ago. The reality that to me, that reality is possibly the biggest problem is that we can't get anything done without you.

And so, with Sean, we can't get anything done.

With the fucking Enterprise, you're like— this next part, I know what it's going to sound like. It's not that. It's not enough.

It's, it's you going to, um, We just had another fuck-up on A+ and he just like ripped Sean a new asshole. Like, I just— I don't know what the fuck's going on, man.

But like, how do we solve for that? How are we able to solve for that when like the Dan Olivo, Mondo, Sean sandwich like is unable to really be managed without you setting it, make like making it okay. And I'm not trying to, I don't mean to laugh to make it just, it's the, I think it's what I'm trying to do is be realistic with what the dynamic is because if we don't speak to that, then we're never going to actually solve this thing. And I'm wondering if you feel that that is also, if you are getting any of that, like if you're seeing and sensing the same thing.

Because, like, it's sensing what, that I'm the only person that can get something done there?

We can't get something done there without you having some blessing or giving, like, a pep talk. None of this is meant to be diminutive, right? But it's like you're going and you're doing, like, the, like, the one-to-one thing. And so it's like it As a result, we can't implement something without you having given it a stamp of approval. And I'm not talking about like the conversations. You're in the fucking trenches with your sleeves rolled up talking to these people, trying to sell them on what are normally very customary things. And again, this is actual gratitude that you have done that to date. This is us trying to figure out like that's the dynamic that's actually playing out here. So what do we do with that? And I say all of that again as a pretext to what is the alternative? Because we are no further at all. And I don't know that sending Sean to Arizona to work remote for a week while it gets him out of the office, like, I don't think that that's it. And so I would like to rather have a conversation around like, A, this is the thing that's actually happening here. That's a question mark. I know it sounded like a period, but like, I would be curious, do you agree with that characterization that that's what's actually happening here? And then B, like, the next question is just like, that is a— that is a— I kind of agree that it's going to take a month of real hard work to break it of that. And I think that like we're— we don't have time to let things run its course anymore.

Um, so, but, but I feel like the decision's being made because we know it's—

more back to you guys to ask like, what is the alternative?

Also, one more thing to add, just so you know, in my— this is just my opinion, Mike, okay? In order for versatile to work, let's say in the future or whatever, right, to really make it efficient, mono and Ronald cannot exist in the same place, okay? And Sean kind of like can no longer infatuate with that idea that mono can— is all Almighty. It cannot go on. Mundo is not salvageable.

Okay, so, but what you're saying is basically we're just like— you're sending us off on what you believe is just the path of destruction, and we'll be right back.

No, no, no, this month—

I don't agree with that either.

No, no, no, what you just said, Mundo is not fixable.

It's not—

can't exist in this place. So, so the alternative in your eyes is you— we get rid of Mondo, you put another GM in place, Sean becomes a mascot for the company, and I don't know.

Well, I mean, he sells, okay? But again, that's just an opinion, okay? Doesn't make me right or anything like that. But what I would say is take the next month or two, really, like you said, get, get in there with these guys. So you, you You're gonna see even more than what you're seeing now. And also you can hold them accountable and see what they tell you. If they succeed, great, praise them. If they don't succeed, ask them what really happened. I mean, just be honest with them and see how honest they are with you. Do they make an excuse or they don't make an excuse? You will find out that for yourself. If you really, really need us to come back later on to take over, we will. I'm not saying no, this is not like a final decision, but it is a temporary measure to relieve some pressure because I was that close of punching him in yesterday. Then I changed my attitude.

Okay, but it's like, what's the point? Exactly. I think here I, I'm actually— this is a sincere, not rhetorical question— what would you do differently? And the question I actually want to ask is like, what did you talk about with Sean on the way in, like, to this call?

Yes.

Was it the same consensus?

It was just like, dude, what— basically telling him like, there is no alternative, Sean. Like, what is the alternative? You're going to come back and run operations? You're not even sound of mind right now. I don't know that.

Okay, but like, how is that different from last week?

And also, in the midst of all that, I mean, also like, his response was very unclear last night other than, I respectfully disagree. To what? I'm like, what are you disagreeing to?

But like, you know, I think part of this also—

I think it's also a misunderstanding that I'm not reporting to Ronald. I'm like, nothing in this email says that you're reporting to Ronald. It's basically saying that he doesn't report to you. Okay, guys, but so you're telling me— I mean, I'm agreeing with everything we're fucking talking about, guys. Who was supposed to put him back in the fucking SOPs? Huh? Who was—

who's responsible for telling him Why are you writing SOPs? Don't write SOPs.

Again, do we just fire him? I told him not to write SOPs. Like, no. Oh, did you? Yes, I told them last week this isn't something you should be focusing on. Oh, let's focus on the fucking sales tracker, which he didn't have updated yesterday when we met. And like, I'm like, that's what I need you spending 80% of your fucking day on. 70% if you want to tell me You got to take calls from clients that have issues, but then you should be delegating that. The issue right now too is he's delegating everything to Donna, and Donna's fucking up orders, man. Like, we— I don't know, these— I gotta read these texts now about one of our clients, probably one of our bigger clients, regular clients, A-plus, is fucking pissed right now because this is now the second job.

All before any of this took place, before Ronald was ever inside the warehouse They were fucking up your jobs in San Francisco.

Sure. Yeah.

Like, and the one thing that I would push back on is the— it's the question is who's able to manage Sean? Who is able to tell Sean, don't write SOPs, don't be involved in the SOP drafting process? And that actually stick? Because you saying you shouldn't be focusing on that, you should be focusing on the sales piece of that. It's, it's in that same way, vein of just like, you're not—

he can—

he's like, he's not reporting to anyone. And no, the answer is not we should fire him. But like, I do believe that you are the answer. And I think that we have to figure out how to either— we have to firm that structure up because I was on that call. He said some other crazy shit. He got— he was upset that someone has not replied to his cold email because he's been around the industry and it's a small industry and he feels that he's at least owed a reply. Like, that's the type of stuff that I flew into and we haven't had a chance to catch up on that. But I'm like, oh no, John, that's your job. Your job is to follow up into oblivion. And like, I, I don't know how we solve it otherwise until we solve the dynamic between the two of you. Or rather your orientation to that business unit. Because until, like, you are the example that Sean has to latch on to, you're the safe space and you're also the example. And I think that, like, having— I think that— can the rest of you guys jump off, please? Yeah, please jump off.

Oh.