Brett Banker: Redefining Marketing with X & O's Bold Vision

Justin Levinson (00:00.674)

Hey there everybody, welcome to the Agency Side podcast. I'm your host Justin Levinson. And today I'm here with Andrea Panda, who is a managing director over at SciOp, which is an amazing design studio. And I'm really excited to talk to her and hear her story. Welcome to the show, Andrea.

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Andrea Panda (00:18.732)

Thanks for having me, great to be here.

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Justin Levinson (00:20.66)

Yeah, appreciate your time and excited to have you. So the first thing I usually like to ask our guests is, you know, what got you into this particular creative space?

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Andrea Panda (00:35.62)

man, that could be a long answer, I started in casting and just sort of moved my way up and fell into commercials and just had a real love for production and live action. I came to PsyOp later in my career and really just believed in their forward thinking space and merging post and live action.

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Justin Levinson (00:38.606)

I don't know.

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Andrea Panda (01:05.294)

That's a short answer of how I got here, but it's really interesting to be in a space where you get to meld the two.

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Justin Levinson (01:13.964)

Yeah, when were you in school studying like film or or any something anything similar to that?

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Andrea Panda (01:21.134)

You know, no, didn't go, I did it the hard way. I PA'd and worked my way up and kind of fell into things. You know, one of those wild California, moved to California stories. So I didn't go to film school. I just kind of learned along the way and connected myself with, you know, the right people. you know, I use the word hustle lot, but it was a hustle. And here I am.

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Justin Levinson (01:50.414)

Yeah, where did you come from when you did before you moved to LA?

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Andrea Panda (01:55.534)

So I was in Arizona. I originally moved to LA just to be here for the summer ride, a cousin that lived here. And I think two weeks into living here, I called my parents and said, I'm not coming back. No point. So yeah, I grew up in Tucson and always knew that I needed to be somewhere bigger, somewhere where much more was going on. So my cousin was in the casting space. She kind of got me into that space and I did that.

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for a while, you know, in my early 20s when I first moved here and then kind of fell into the commercial space and decided to make the jump into production. And yeah, I was lucky enough to partner myself with some really, really amazing mentors along the way in production and worked on some really huge, amazing jobs back when we had lots of money in production.

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and got to travel the world. So I feel like I have a really unique perspective in how I came up and who I worked with and got to a point where I was ready to settle down somewhere and be staff. And honestly, SIAF was the first call I took and I've been here ever since.

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Justin Levinson (03:11.67)

Yeah, I definitely like to get back into your story and how you got to where you are now. But just for our viewers, maybe you can tell us what is it exactly you are doing? What's your position? And what are you know, what's your day to day kind of look?

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Andrea Panda (03:30.156)

Yeah, so I'm managing director of the live action and VFX department over at Cyop. You know, we're originally known for our animation world building character development and live action has, you know, slowly been building up at Cyop. And my day to day is really client interfacing, director interfacing.

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do a bit of the EP as well. So I manage all the pitches that come in and just try and find ways that we can collaborate best with the creatives that are coming to us and coming to our directors. My day to day is also making sure that my team has what they need, that we have enough staff to build our jobs, staff our jobs, and if we need to bring in freelancers, making sure we're hitting.

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know, margins and in any spare second I have, looking for new talent, new creatives to reach out to and build up our roster.

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Justin Levinson (04:34.678)

Yeah, that's exciting. And yeah, you've had quite the journey from, like you said, from PA all the way to managing director. When you started at SIAAP, what was your position when you started there?

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Andrea Panda (04:49.522)

I was hired as a head of production of live action.

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Justin Levinson (04:52.359)

You came in and said production. Okay, cool. And it was a PA that you're doing prior like during casting you mentioned

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Andrea Panda (04:57.504)

Yeah, when I was, I was like freelance in the freelance department, you know, section of production. So I was on the ground on the jobs and I think I paid for a couple of days and then coordinated and production managed and produced and just sort of, you know, climb up that production, production ladder before I came to S.I.O.

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Justin Levinson (05:15.936)

Yeah, that's interesting to have been like in that freelance, you know, world and then to go full go staff somewhere and stay somewhere for, you know, for for a long time through your career. That's pretty you don't always see that every day when you're looking at people's profiles. And so that's cool that, know, you definitely found a home that was a great fit for you considering you've been there all this time. How has the role evolved in terms of like, I know you were

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had a production and then towards to now, there lot of difference now that you're a managing director? Is there sort of like more responsibilities on your plate typically, or how does that typically work?

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Andrea Panda (05:57.634)

Definitely a lot more responsibility and the department itself has really evolved and our live action offering has evolved. So when I started as HOP, it was really just me and the EP of live action at the time. Just any job that would come in that had a live action component, whether big or small, it could have plate shoots to integrate for animation. It could be mostly live action, very across the board, but it was really just him and I.

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bidding and running the live action side of the jobs, crewing them, things like that. And after he left, I took over this side because I had the trust of the directors as opposed to bringing someone new in. And eventually it evolved into us taking on live action, taking on the VFX portion of the company because they work so closely together and the director. It's one of the cool things about the way that we're

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That's I up works as the director gets to you know, the live-action they don't just shoot the live-action then leave there They're integrated into the post all throughout with our staff. So You know, I'm working with my VFX EP and my live-action EP HOP to Staff the job in a holistic way so I would say yeah the the the job and the department have also evolved and now it just

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It flows so nicely and I could tell clients and agency feel like they're getting a really cohesive approach and that continuity with faces and names across the board on any given project. it's evolved a lot and it's been a bit of an uphill battle, like preaching live action for an animation company, but I feel really strongly in it.

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you know, love mixed media and think that this model is the way to go. And it's been really successful and yeah, I'm still here. So it makes me happy.

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Justin Levinson (08:03.15)

Yeah, that's great. Have you seen a lot of changes in the industry? I know you said previously that it was when people paid like a lot of money for you know, budgets were, you know, maybe a little bit higher. Yeah, well, what kind of things been been changing? You know, since you got into it has been like a lot of technology or just different. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on that.

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Andrea Panda (08:15.415)

Hmm

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Andrea Panda (08:29.836)

I mean, the changes are incredible to watch. think that, you know, when I started here, the budget started changing because, you know, we started to focus more on social advertising, not we, but the advertising, you know, the world as a whole fitting into those types of budgets. think that...

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you know, technology has definitely evolved. Obviously there's new ways to, you know, ideate and create. And I think there's a really fine line with that when we're talking about AI and things like that. And it's also become, you know, last year was really hard, not just for us, but I think for everybody in the industry. And I learned a lot. learned that, you know,

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A roster like mine that doesn't have the A-list names attached to it are going to have to try just, you know, triple the amount of work and try just as hard just to get in the door. And that collaboration is going to win every time. So, you know, not dying on your sword to have that one creative thing or that, that budget, like we'll work with you. We want to create something amazing, but in the end there are constraints that we have to work.

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within if we want to work. I think, you know, last year was a huge learning curve when it came to that. And we've already had a really successful month this year. and I think a lot of it is due to what we learned last year, just being, you know, side by side with the agency creatives, me being side by side with the producer to just, you know, make their job easier and, be, a

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really true partner. You're not just going to get someone who's going to put a treatment together and say take it or leave it. Like it is an evolution from start to finish as a true partner. So I think that has been a big learning process throughout the way, throughout the, you know, my career and especially in this position. You know, what is it that's going to get us in the door? What's going to be the thing that wins? What's the creative edge?

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Andrea Panda (10:46.094)

learning as much as we can about their relationship with their clients and their past histories and learnings. And, you know, being honest and straightforward, like I'm really big on just honesty and transparency. Here's what we're putting forward. It's going to cost a little bit more. If they don't want to pay for it, can, you know, can try, we can, you know, scale back a bit or, you know, always just staying really close in.

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in all of that to try and also evoke transparency from them because I think the more transparent we are with each other, the more we're going to learn from each other. There's production, there's client, there's agency. We all speak a different language, but we all still have to work together and we all need each other. So that transparency to me is super vital.

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Justin Levinson (11:39.276)

And as managing director, you're sort of like, you're meeting all of these people. You are balancing all the different relationships and all these different pieces, I imagine.

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Andrea Panda (11:50.66)

yeah, definitely. And everyone has a different edge, a different personality. There's definitely a sales aspect to my job. What is it that's going to make this person tick? What is it that's going to make this person trust me and want to come to me and trust that they've chosen the right partner, the right director to get them through this three, six month long job? You have to like the people that you work with.

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It's a pressure cooker sometimes. So yeah, that's a big part of it.

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Justin Levinson (12:24.622)

Yeah, you gotta understand people. I feel like that's a really important part of just creative in general. And we're all kind of like sensitive people and you have to kind of like understand each other and like being like aggressive doesn't ever really seem like a panel. It doesn't really work out. You sort of have, you yeah, that's super interesting. I know, you know, as a design studio, you guys are, it's kind of like advertising, entertainment is kind of like

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Andrea Panda (12:33.035)

Mm-hmm.

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Andrea Panda (12:43.278)

True, true.

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Justin Levinson (12:54.062)

lot of things. How is like a design studio like to out maybe different from like a creative agency? I know there's just some there's a lot of like overlap. Sometimes even you'll notice that people who are in you know, who are like motion designers or different may work in both kind of worlds. What is it that's different about what you do to just a general sort of creative agency?

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Andrea Panda (13:22.03)

I would say a creative agency is working closer with a brand and ideating from the ground up. We come in more when an idea is more sold through and we're the executors. So we're here to elevate creative that's already been given to us and elevate it in ways that you can practically shoot it. Camera movements, art department.

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All of that down the line, you we want to take your creative and elevate it in a way that's going to make viewers, you know, want to watch the whole 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 15 seconds. So I would say that's the way, that's the biggest way that we're different. I mean, sometimes we get clients, brands that come straight to us and we start from the ground up with them. That's, you know, an ideal situation sometimes.

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if they don't know how to best execute something, yeah, I would say that mostly we work with creative that's already been thought out and sold through, and then we're there to make it the best that it possibly can visually and put that vision into a way that client can understand and the agency creatives can help explain it to their client. It's really the...

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the middle man without actually being in the middle.

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Justin Levinson (14:51.138)

Yeah, no, that really that that makes sense. And what does it what does it look like when I guess maybe you can explain to me what it looks like. Like in the beginning of the client comes to you and you have a you know, they want you to do your thing. What does this sort of look like an order of operations for when like the work comes in the door on your end?

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Andrea Panda (15:16.31)

Yeah, well, I mean, getting in the door is really the hardest part. Well, you know, we have sales reps and different ways that we get boards in and we'll put a reel together and try to put our best foot forward, knowing that competition, especially these days is very, very thick. So once we're chosen to shortlist, whether it's a single, triple, double bid, we jump in and talk to the creatives and my director will

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pick their brain. You know, what is it that clients are most excited about this? What is it to watch out for? What do you envision for this? And then sometimes bouncing ideas off of them. How far can we push it? How much do we need to stick to the script? And then we break off and we go off for a week or so and it's me and my team and the director working on the treatment, putting style frames together, storyboards.

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you know, pulling out references that really convey the director's vision. Sometimes there's tests, animation tests because of the mixed media aspect, typography design. And in tandem with that, making sure that we're fitting that within the budget and bidding for the right place to shoot that and that we have the right talent. And so it's just sort of like,

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making it all more formal and cohesive and then the you know, we come back to the creatives and the director will pitch their vision to to the creatives and From there they they decide who who they want to present to their client It sounds so easy just saying it but getting getting a job across the line these days is harder than ever

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Justin Levinson (17:02.478)

Yeah, I mean, I imagine there. So there are some clients that may be more open to like your twists and what you want to do with it and make it something really your own. And then there's others that are like, I kind of want to like this and there's less play that accurate.

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Andrea Panda (17:20.142)

100%. Yeah, we really depend on, you know, our agency creatives to lead the way with that. They are, they know that relationship best and they know what their threshold is and what it's not. They're also, you know, pitching themselves. So sometimes they want to say, you know what? No, we want to push them harder. They wanted to do this with their brand. And so we're going to show them how to do it. So we just really lean on that sort of guidance because

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We'd love to push it. Let's, know, we're here for the visual and the, you know, the wow factor. And they're there obviously to sell a product. So getting those to meet sometimes it's work, but again, collaboration, collaboration, collaboration. You can achieve both.

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Justin Levinson (18:07.992)

Do you see some time skillfully with the creatives being able to maybe slowly meet the client and their comfort, but to sort of like slowly guide them into your vision and have them be like, that's amazing. Is it, is that sort of like part of the process a little bit? Yeah. Yeah.

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Andrea Panda (18:22.606)

Yeah, make it seem like it was their idea all along. Yeah, definitely, definitely some of that. They can and sometimes it takes, know, getting the director, it's not typical, but it does. had this recently, director needed to get on the phone with the clients directly, you know, it's almost like you, you

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you don't listen to your parents, but you'll listen to the stranger next door. So once they heard their, you know, them relay their vision, they were able to digest it, you know, be a bit more open-minded. But it can be a little bit of a, you know, just see like, kids are with parents. How much can we push this, this envelope and we'll get them there. Maybe it's too much at once and little by little. But that's always the end game. It's like.

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pushing creatives, that's what creatives want to do.

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Justin Levinson (19:19.022)

totally. Yeah. And you had also mentioned a minute ago that you you were you're even booking where the shoots are happening. That's part of the gig to

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Andrea Panda (19:30.934)

Yeah, so part of production is we need to look at where we're going to be able to execute this. know, budgets are not what they used to be and it's a challenge. So there's many times my amazing HOP will have to bid, you know, many different countries at once to put it together like who...

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Where can we get what we need location wise or set build wise or talent wise? There's a lot that goes into that. And how far is everyone willing to travel? There's a million boxes to check when it comes to landing on the right place to execute this. We would love to shoot more in the States and love to shoot more in Los Angeles, especially. It's just really challenging with.

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the budget constraints and things like that. But yeah.

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Justin Levinson (20:30.766)

Is there a place that sort of comes up as a prime location for shooting that happens a lot in this space that's sort of affordable and aesthetic is appealing?

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Andrea Panda (20:42.702)

Yeah, there's a few. Mexico City has been a really big one the past I'd say five years. If they want to stay in North America, we love to shoot in Montreal. We have an amazing partner up there. The dollar goes a little bit further. If we're really trying to stretch a dollar, you might have to go further south to lately Columbia is a really new big hot spot where you can really stretch the dollar.

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you know, if it's January and you need it to look American and you need a diverse amount of talent, usually go as far as Cape Town. We'll go to South Africa. That's a really popular one. Yeah. So it's far travel, but the dollar stretches and you're going to get, you know, you're going to get top notch crew equipment, you know, and obviously it's warm there.

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in the winter here so you're going to be able to get more sunlight.

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Justin Levinson (21:45.646)

Do you get to travel to these places too? Are you going on set to these locations?

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Andrea Panda (21:50.73)

I do, I try and take a really hands-on approach. My mentor that was here before me kind of taught me that and I saw it be really, you know, it's really effective having that. There's nothing more bonding than being on set with people for 12 hours a day. So yeah, you get that. Yeah, for good or bad, but it can really help you bond with your director, but also with, you know,

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the agency and the creative and the client. And cause you're putting up, you're putting on the production for them. This is our production. Come to our set. You know, we'll take care of you and we'll give you the best, you know, production value possible and the best experience. So I like to go, I like to, you know, take them to dinner, have our service company show us around and get to be hands on with, you know, the local, the local teams. So.

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I think that's a really integral part of making these relationships last.

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Justin Levinson (22:54.732)

Yeah, seems like some very nice places to travel to if that's part of your gig, you know, it seems pretty fun.

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Andrea Panda (23:01.198)

Yeah, it's definitely fun. I, you know, I'll have to go to Montreal in a couple of weeks, which will be extremely cold, but so you.

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Justin Levinson (23:10.382)

I mean, I want to say it before, but I'm actually only about an hour and a half away from Montreal right now. Because our house is in Vermont. although most of our, you we work primarily in Los Angeles where my wife and I first was born. Yeah, we live in, we have a home in Vermont. So I'm always connecting with creatives in LA, London, New York, but living here in the boonies. yeah, Montreal is one of the...

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Andrea Panda (23:15.63)

Ugh!

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Andrea Panda (23:32.779)

Yeah!

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Justin Levinson (23:38.336)

It is a really beautiful city and it's really nice that it's like civilization that's close to us. And we actually, for my wife's 40th birthday party, we were there not that long ago and we went to see, there's a hotel where John Lennon stayed for a night for his, for one of his like bed-ins that he did with Yoko Ono. So we stayed in.

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Andrea Panda (23:56.568)

Mm-hmm.

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Andrea Panda (24:02.158)

okay.

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Justin Levinson (24:02.37)

his exact room that he was in for that. And there's all this really cool like Beatles or John Lennon like memorabilia all over in history about him and all this kind of cool stuff. Yeah, it was pretty, it was pretty fun. And they even put a guitar that sort of looked like the one John Lennon had in that room. but yeah, it's a whole different story. But Montreal is really fun. You get some like better food and

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Andrea Panda (24:13.198)

That's so awesome!

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Andrea Panda (24:22.349)

have fun.

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Andrea Panda (24:28.12)

the food, the wine, it reminds me of, and it's quaint. It always feels like Brooklyn and Europe mixed together for some reason. I love it. From the West Coast, it's just so different. Yeah.

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Justin Levinson (24:33.07)

Thank you.

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Justin Levinson (24:37.294)

Totally. But you're right about the cold factor. mean, when I was applying for colleges years ago, I was lucky to get accepted to McGill. But I ended up going to the Berklee Music College instead because it was just, I literally factored in only temperature. Like I looked at where I was in Vermont and it was like, okay, Boston is usually like five to 10 degrees warmer. And then it was like,

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Andrea Panda (24:59.278)

you

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Justin Levinson (25:06.242)

Montreal is like 10 degrees colder than Vermont. I was like, I cannot live in any colder than this already is. And so that was what wrote off that opportunity. But yeah, Montreal is a cool spot. So I guess it really gives you a wide range from like Cape Town to Montreal to Mexico. You're getting like a lot of diversity.

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Andrea Panda (25:09.422)

Yeah.

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Andrea Panda (25:17.55)

You

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Andrea Panda (25:24.438)

Yeah.

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Andrea Panda (25:28.472)

We'll all be coming straight from a shoot in Miami. So I'm going from Miami to Montreal. So that suitcase will be fun to pack. yeah, it's fun to see the different and meet the different crews. They all have a different vibe and way of, you know, way of operating. And it's fascinating and enriching to see.

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Justin Levinson (25:33.632)

Nice.

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Yeah

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Justin Levinson (25:52.864)

Yeah, so you've got the crews are, they're based already in these areas that you're working with. So they're already, and you're not bringing in your own people for those particular roles.

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Andrea Panda (26:04.822)

It depends on the director and the location you're going to. Typically, a lot of directors like to...

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pick their DP and travel in their director photography and sometimes also production designer. So for instance for Montreal, think we're using a local Montreal DP there. They have some incredible local talent, but we are bringing in a production designer from LA because it's an incredibly stylized set that we'll be building.

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And then there's union rules you have to adhere to. You have to travel in your AD sometimes and things like that. So key players, producer, key players are the ones we're usually traveling in. But otherwise, yeah, the crew on the ground, every state in the US, every country in the world has a hub. They have their own production hub. Some have more equipment than others. Some have been doing it longer than others.

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some have more, you know, local crew than others, but you can find, there will be a shoot anywhere around the world at some point in time. It's, it's super fascinating. LA is not LA, New York and not the only ones.

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Justin Levinson (27:22.99)

That's awesome. Are you involved in the music by any chance as well with these different things that you're doing? How does that work?

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Andrea Panda (27:32.771)

our, our post team, yeah, we'll, we'll usually, you know, our director will have a strong opinion on a composer or music house they like to, they like to work with. but they work in tandem with, with the agency creatives or the client creatives on what they want the track to be. and, you know, it's like any other creative portion of, of the project. that's, you know, takes time to.

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to think about, put together, record it, depends on the budget. But yeah, music is a big integral part of sort of like putting a bow on a package. It really brings it all together.

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Justin Levinson (28:16.652)

And do you have a lot of say in it or is there's not as much in your world?

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Justin Levinson (28:54.862)

Cool, I think your audio, I might've lost a little bit of your audio with your headphones coming out, sorry about that.

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Andrea Panda (29:03.851)

Can you hear me or should I put that in the background?

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Justin Levinson (29:05.602)

I can hear you a little bit, but it's just a little bit muffled.

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Andrea Panda (29:09.513)

Bye.

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Justin Levinson (29:12.334)

So I think yeah, cause your microphone might be on there.

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Andrea Panda (29:16.395)

Maybe this one died.

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Justin Levinson (29:22.808)

We always get it, so there's no worries at all.

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Andrea Panda (29:26.059)

going in a space.

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Justin Levinson (29:27.214)

I can't hear that one, but I heard it on the other one when you had your other earpiece in.

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Justin Levinson (29:35.021)

I think I...

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Andrea Panda (29:35.379)

There

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Justin Levinson (29:38.936)

can't hear you yet either on this one.

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Andrea Panda (29:42.548)

I lost you completely.

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Justin Levinson (29:43.63)

I've lost ya. Can you hear me a little bit?

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Justin Levinson (29:49.358)

You can hear me.

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Andrea Panda (29:54.172)

There we go. Okay.

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Justin Levinson (29:55.182)

All good, no worries. Like I said, we have an editor that can take care of anything that makes us not look like we're weird here. Yeah, so I guess maybe I can ask just a question again, because I couldn't quite make out what you're saying, but what is your contribution to the music? Does that go through you directly or is that kind of in a different world?

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Andrea Panda (30:22.468)

Yeah, it doesn't necessarily go through me directly. We will help handle on our end, our post team will. What I really do try and do with music is just advocate for my director to be involved. Because a lot of times directors will have a strong opinion on the composer, the music house that they work with, what they want the final track and cadence and rhythm to be. Some directors are not as, as feel as strongly about that.

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But at least, you know, that's my part personally. And it is just saying, you know, hey, can we keep my director involved? They're going to have an opinion. And, you know, it's just another way to stay in collaboration and make sure that everyone's vision is sort of, you know, being taken into account for the final cut because, you know, music can really bring a whole spot together. So, yeah.

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Justin Levinson (31:17.486)

Yeah, I'm a total music nerd. Obviously we're talking about John Lennon and all these guitars behind me. always just kind of curious how that plays into all this interesting work. What are like some of the, you know, what are the main like pain points in your industry these days? Like what sort of like, you know, what are some of the challenges? I'm always trying to learn from people that are in this creative space. Because I think by

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Andrea Panda (31:23.716)

Yeah.

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Justin Levinson (31:45.518)

My heart always wants to be a problem solver. So, obviously there's no way to identify ways to solve problems without understanding what problems are. So I guess maybe it's a very general question, but maybe there's something that comes to mind to you that's sort of like, you know, it's just some pain points in this particular space.

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Andrea Panda (32:08.521)

Yeah, you know, there's been there's been a few that have come to light in the past few years, especially as things have gotten harder. I think asking for more for less is a really yeah, that's a big one. And that's

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Justin Levinson (32:18.542)

I don't know.

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Andrea Panda (32:24.476)

why I really try and be as transparent as possible and say, listen, we want to be partners. This isn't for lack of being partners, but here's what you can't afford. We don't want to put the production value or the final product and the creative at risk just to squeeze another dollar or get a cheaper this or a cheaper that.

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you know, and also to remember that we're all a business, we're all making money. you know, doing it for free is not going to, or at an incredibly reduced fee is not going to help anybody get anywhere or create a nice environment to work in. I would say that's the, asking for more for less is a really big challenging one.

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also asking production companies to front the cost. That happens a lot too. And it's a bit frustrating. you know, again, we're all businesses, we're all just trying to, you know, stay afloat and, we want to be good partners. but you know, not, not everyone can, can float that for as long as we're asked to sometimes. So I think.

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Justin Levinson (33:39.258)

How does that model typically work? they want you to pay for everything, then you'll get paid plus a fee, gratuity fee after the project's completed kind of thing? Is that how it works?

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Andrea Panda (33:51.484)

Well, you know, the model for live action anyways, like we're, we're, put a fee on top of the final, you know, budget. has to fit within their overall budget, but that is the, cause the rest is, you know, freelance is, is hard, is our hard costs. So, um, but a lot of the time and we have payment terms, know, 75 % upfront or 25 % of, you know, after the end of the shoot. Um, but those deadlines are, are passed.

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many, many, many times over. So yes, you could be talking a million dollar budget and we're about to shoot and we've had to pay crew out and haven't seen a dollar yet. So that puts us in a really bad position when we are the customer, you know, or we're the one providing a product. yeah, I hate to be in that position, but I would say that's one of the biggest pain points.

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Justin Levinson (34:43.17)

Yeah.

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Justin Levinson (34:49.027)

Yeah.

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Andrea Panda (34:49.797)

As of late, yeah.

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Justin Levinson (34:51.574)

Interesting. that's what what I guess outside of because we have about another 10 minutes left outside of, you know, just general work. You know, maybe you can tell us some stuff that just kind of makes you happy outside of work.

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Andrea Panda (35:09.891)

yeah, I could talk about that for sure. I have a seven year old son and he keeps me incredibly busy. Actually reason why I went staff because I was freelance did not bode well that kind of schedule to being a mom. So yeah, we live down in, we live in South Bay, California. And so there's lots of.

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Justin Levinson (35:11.63)

Like finally!

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Justin Levinson (35:19.982)

Cool.

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Andrea Panda (35:36.878)

outdoor activities and birthday parties and things like that. And I'm just a really big fan of either hanging at home with family and friends and entertaining, going to the movies with my son and my husband. We're also big travelers. My husband's family's from the UK, so we go back there often and it's definitely my second home. It brings me a lot of joy. Reading.

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I'm a big TV watcher, love to dive into the series. That brings me a lot of joy for sure.

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Justin Levinson (36:14.766)

Any particular books that you could recommend or things that you think people would like to read?

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Andrea Panda (36:22.62)

I usually go for like an easy read, a mystery or a lot of women-led dramas. Kristin Hannah is probably one of my more favorite authors and she wrote like the Nightingale and the Women and I would say the Women is one that I've read, the latest one that I've read that I would recommend to anyone. It's a historical fiction based in Vietnam.

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war time about the women that were involved in the war and the nurses. And it's just incredibly written. But yeah, those, those fast reads and juicy content. That's, that's my jam.

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Justin Levinson (37:05.484)

Yeah, as far as like, like movies that you go to, do you guys, do you try to go see movies that like you, your husband and son all like together? Is there sort of like any, any highlights on that front?

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Andrea Panda (37:18.403)

Yeah, we definitely have to see movies that are appropriate for him, lucky for us he has. He's become a, because my husband's a movie buff as well, so I think my son has just taken it on by osmosis and loves to go to them. I mean, he sat through Wicked with me, which is a big deal for a three hour, three and a half hour movie for a seven year old. And he really enjoyed it and follows along and asks questions.

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Justin Levinson (37:34.316)

nice.

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Justin Levinson (37:38.317)

Yeah.

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Andrea Panda (37:42.682)

We see any and all kid movies that we possibly can. We're looking forward to Dog Man in a couple of weeks, which comes out. And then when my husband and I are on the few chances we're able to get to a movie by ourselves, it's usually a Marvel movie. Cause you know, I have to make sure that I'm up for anything, but him not so much. So yeah, we all love going to the movies. I love that my son is an age that we can do that with him now.

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Justin Levinson (37:48.974)

Go up.

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Justin Levinson (38:11.694)

Yeah, that's really cool. I have a six year old and one of the, it wasn't that recent, but Inside Out 2, we all saw it together. And I really enjoyed that movie. It just seemed to check a lot of boxes for people of my vintage and her age and everything she's going through. And I just remember, I was really like touched by that movie. Like surprisingly, like I was like,

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Andrea Panda (38:20.228)

Mmm.

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Waka,

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Justin Levinson (38:40.268)

Yeah, I left that and we talked about it and really enjoyed it. I think that was really, we'd seen a couple of movies together. We saw the Charlie and Chocolate fact or the Wonka, we Wonka together and that one. So there's been a few that we've enjoyed, but I'm also a Marvel fan. I'm a budget Wolverine for anyone who needs a, whoever needs a less muscular.

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Andrea Panda (39:00.868)

Photo double.

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Justin Levinson (39:06.446)

not as good looking Hugh Jackman who cannot act, I'm the guy. But I do really like, I'm a big X-Men fan. That's actually one of my favorite Marvels. just love the, you know, I just love the story in X-Men and how deep that is if you kind of, you know, maybe.

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Andrea Panda (39:14.743)

Yeah. Totally.

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Justin Levinson (39:26.19)

you know, just the relationships of all the different types of people and how they're kind of at war with each other and their internal struggles. The depth of that one has always reached me at another level than other Marvel, but I do love Marvel in general.

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Andrea Panda (39:41.288)

Yeah, I was never like a Marvel buff, but I always did like X-Men because I loved seeing what different powers they would come up with and I've developed, I've definitely discovered about myself that I'm a big sci-fi fan. I can totally nerd out when it comes to that stuff. I love like apocalyptic and you know, just coming up like what, this is just the coolest, you know, idea ever. And so I can get into the Marvel stuff. My husband has to explain some of it, but.

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I do find it entertaining, that's for sure. And now my son is very into it, of course, so I have no choice.

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Justin Levinson (40:16.014)

Awesome, Andrea. Well, I really appreciate you hopping on here today and sharing your story and your insights. And I know folks that are listening are going to be excited to hear it. So yeah, I really, really appreciate your time and I hope we can have future conversations and maybe get you back on here in a couple of maybe next year.

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Andrea Panda (40:39.444)

I love it, would love to. Anytime, you know, any chance I get to talk production or industry, I'm all in. So happy to be on anytime. Thanks for having me.

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Justin Levinson (40:50.51)

All right, Andrew, have a great rest of your week and be well. All right, bye.

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Andrea Panda (40:54.49)

You as well. Thanks so much. Okay, bye.

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