SPEAKER_00 0:00

I think I don't even do headbands, you know? Like I can't even do I don't like any type of pressure on my head. I barely just this year I started wearing hats.

SPEAKER_02 0:10

Oh nice. Yeah. I used to in like middle school, I wore a a headband every day. No, that was my hairstyle. And I literally I had a dent.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Like I had a little That's so cute. That's so cute. Did you have one for like every day of the week? How many, how, how many are we talking? How many headbands here? Oh my goodness. I don't remember. Did they attach at the bottom or were they like did they end like behind the ear?

SPEAKER_02 0:37

The behind the ear. They were the classic plastic. I think I got them all from Claire's. Um I don't think I had one. I wasn't, I didn't have one of like, this is my Monday headband. This is my Tuesday. It was whatever I was feeling. Um gotcha. But yeah, I think I did have a good collection of headbands. We're talking 20. Okay, maybe not that much.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Gotcha, gotcha. In one production of Grim, our guest today played all seven brothers. Not one, seven. She also once performed as SpongeBob himself for an entire weekend, sponge costume and all, and called it a job well done. Welcome back to Ilse Will Say, the show where our travel budget is zero dollars, but our Tokyo dreams are fully funded. Welcome to my brain. I'm Ilse, your host, Certified in Stage Combat, Hand to Hand and Broadsword. Thank you very much. Who once played a half-elf sorcerer in a single game of Dungeons and Dragons and understood none of it. Today's guest actually plays DD for real, so hopefully some of that fluency rubs off on me. Our guest is an actor, puppeteer, voice actor, and award-winning filmmaker. Jeff nominated twice over, whose short film Grilled Cheese just won Best Horror Comedy Short at the Marina Del Rey Film Festival. She's lived in Tokyo, London, and Atlanta before landing back in Chicago and somewhere in there became a working puppeteer voicing Bird in Monkey's magic merry-go-round. And my guest today has known since she was eight, doing a school production of Snow White in Tokyo, that this is the job. Please welcome Connor Brown Springer. Oh my goodness, I love that. Ah, thank you. You're very, very welcome. Wow. You've done quite a bit.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

Yeah, I can't, I'm not, I can't really remain idle. I gotta do things.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

That's why you identify with a squirrel on the side. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:55

That's why I'm a squirrel. All the nuts in my mouth. And then I gotta do something.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

All the nuts in my mouth. Oh my god. This is a PG show. Okay. Sorry. No, I'm just kidding. In like a short elevator pitch of your life, how in the world did you you because you were born and raised in Chicago, then went to Tokyo, London, Atlanta, came back to Chicago?

SPEAKER_02 3:28

Yeah, I was born here in Chicago, and then my dad's work uh brought us around the world. And then I was freaking cool. Yeah, it was pretty awesome. Um, pretty much most of my adolescence, because I was in Japan for eight years, London for two, then pretty much finished high school in Atlanta, and then I went to Columbia College, Chicago. Um, so that's what's brought me back to Chicago, and I've I've been here ever since. How many languages do you know? Uh just English. Not Japanese. Um, well, fluently. Um I uh language is not my strong suit. So I had very basic survival Japanese, and then rightfully so, moving to London, they didn't really offer Japanese as just kind of a standard language, you know, crazy. Um so then I had to restart with a new language, and then I started learning Spanish. Um and so sometimes I have like Jappa Spanglish in my head. What does that sound like? Oh god. Um for me, my hardest thing is it's like it's kind of like here's another reference. My brain, I feel like, is the Spongebob scene with all of the folders and all the little tiny versions. Yes, yes, in the brain that it he's just like going through all of the files. Yeah, so the languages are just folders in these files, and sometimes it takes forever for them to find the correct language. So I did recently go to Japan on a trip um like two years ago with my husband, and sometimes I would want to say Spanish words instead of Japanese words. I'd be like, oh, I remember like this is um I'll just say like uh El Bano in Spanish, but like uh what is it in Japanese? What is in Japanese? Uh Toire. So that's kind of more thing is when I want to speak Japanese, usually Spanish wants to come out, and when I'm trying to think of Spanish, usually Japanese wants to come out. And then when I'm trying to speak English, I don't know what comes out sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

And you're like, I hope this is the correct language. Exactly. That's totally fair. Uh so what so in Atlanta, come back to Chicago Columbia College. What brought you back to Chicago? What did you just wanna reconnect with the roots? Um, did you you well you did that uh production of Snow White in Tokyo? Did you always know that you were gonna be in this profession?

SPEAKER_02 6:04

Yeah, kind of. Like I so that show in Japan, it was kind of like a choir perfor like it was a choir performance. And so the best way was almost kind of like a staged reading of like when you are your character, you are on stage, but then the bleachers are literally right behind. So when you're not your character, you just join back with the rest of the choir and sing. Um but yeah, I did that at like eight years old, and then about third or fourth grade, they had something called electives. That's where you can finally choose kind of just like your fun, more creative class, and they had a showcase, and they were doing um, I want to say it was like Hamlet in 60 Minutes kind of vibes. Like it was very schools just trying to do I'm like, You really gonna tackle Hamlet? But like it was kind of this um, it was very comedy, it was very slapsick, it was very much the joke of we're trying to do this show really quickly, and so it's very it was very fun and very playful, and I went, wow, that's really fun. I wanna do that. So I just always took any drama class that was available, and then when they started having um the ability for like the classic after school rehearsal shows, I would always do that. Um, and then yeah, when it for Columbia College Chicago, I um I did the classic, I was just kind of looking for um a variety of universities. I applied to a bunch that were more uh uh BFA styled, um what are they called? Oh, conservatory-styled. Um and so I did a bunch of auditions and Columbia College Chicago had a much more liberal arts-styled curriculum. So I ended up choosing Columbia College Chicago for, you know, I was like, oh, Chicago is a beautiful city. I have some friends and family, it will be nice to reconnect. Um, because it's liberal arts, I get to learn other things and not just really be stuck in the conservatory-styled um curriculum. And I was then able because of this, I did uh I majored in acting and then I had two minors, one in voiceover and one in video production. So if I ever wanted to kind of create my own things, because I did also really like creating things, I had those skills.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Mm-hmm. That's awesome. And you did put them to work. I mean, what what are you what are your I'm like trying to lead the witness here. I'm like, what what are you working on now? Because I think that you have you're wearing a lot of hats right now, and it's wonderful. But what um what are you working on now and how do you choose your next project?

SPEAKER_02 9:02

Oh goodness. Um so right now I'm working on probably a couple things. Um working on um, I'm so I'm in rehearsals for a stage production right now called Ride the Cyclone at Metropolis, where I'm an understudy for that. Um I I'm already tired.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

I'm already tired. Understudying is the hardest job in the industry. I'm sorry. No, it's so hard. It's so hard. You get very little rehearsal time, and you have to be completely off book and know your mark at the drop of a hat.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

You were saying just never know when you're gonna go on.

SPEAKER_02 9:45

It's so stressful. Um yeah, no, understudies are the bomb. Because they do kind of a lot of times they do more than the actual performer, especially if they have to cover multiple tracks. Um yeah, I one time you'll see my ADHD brain. Um because I was an understudy for SpongeBob and I didn't know that I was gonna be on until like 3 p.m. before like a 6 or 7 p.m. show. So I was like, I got the texting like you're on, and I'm like, great, I'm going to the theater. Who can go with me? Like, who can help me?

SPEAKER_00 10:23

Oh my gosh. I'm already stressed. Okay, so you're understudying.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

Um yeah, I'm understudying that. Um I am currently working on a script with a friend, Tommy Martin, a feature film script. Whoops. Um, yeah, it's um basically uh just to like tease it, it's basically Wizard of Oz meets 80s, meets drugs, meets fitness, meets selection. I'm in. Yeah. Um yeah, and also with Tommy Martin, um recently we made a short film called Grilled Cheese that is currently taking its film festival route right now. So um, yeah, it's just been us kind of submitting to film festivals, going to some film festivals, promoting it, and just staying cheesy.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Congratulations on all that. Oh, thank you. Um, what is the biggest thing you've learned like through this grilled cheese uh process? Because it's very different writing than being in pre-production, then production, then post-production, then film submissions, then actually getting into festivals, then networking, and then trying to do your next job. Like lit there is a lot that goes into it. What are some of like the highlights that you've learned through this process?

SPEAKER_02 11:54

Um, I guess um, because I've had some I've had some experience kind of producing my own content with some other friends, and it's been a lot more like a one location, um, just kind of creating characters that we kind of already naturally are. Um, so this was the first shoot that required multiple locations, even if it was only a few, um, some special effects, and um also a little bit more of like a personal investment with this film because we splurged a little bit with some really cool lenses that um Jack, our DP, kind of recommended, and it does look really pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

Yeah, when you said special effects, I was like, yes, yes, I I dislike, I dislike them so much. Uh like the pro I love them when they're done, but the process to getting there is is tough. Um, is this your first feature that you're gonna that you're working on?

SPEAKER_02 13:00

Yeah, the script that we're working on is our my first feature um in the creation process, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

Do you have any advice to folks who are doing their first feature that you've already learned?

SPEAKER_02 13:12

Well, we uh truthfully, we are still like very baby steps. We are still we're still writing the script and it's just been it's been a very what has been nice, but I guess also pro and con about it is that we've been very leisurely working on it. We've kind of find the times that we are able to work on it. Um, and we always work together with it. We like make sure that we're both working on it and kind of brainstorming together, like one-upping each other. Um usually lots of coffee is ingested. Um so right now we're we're still not really finished with the script. I think we're like 70 pages out of 90. Um, but our process has very much been like what's the main story? Then we get what are the kind of like the beats of the piece we want to tell, and then we really just kind of backbone it, like kind of just really quickly write it, and then we're able to give it some more muscle, some more air, some more juicy bits to it. Um so we're kind of in the fun process now of still being able to add to it.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

Chicago's best kept secret? It's not deep dish. It's Joel, my sonette photography. He's legitimately the best, and it's about time everybody knew. Actors, execs, LinkedIn Lurkers, book at mysanetphotography.com and thank me later. I I'm also writing a feature, and what I've recently learned because I like the business side of things as well. Um and I love the creative side, obviously. Yeah. But I what I just realized, maybe last week, is that I can't do both. Yeah. Not while writing a feature length script. So I because first I I'm I collaborate with other writers because I don't like writing by myself. I think it's really sad and boring. Um so when when that's happening, when the collaboration is happening, then collaboration. I know my my southern weird Chicago like accent just came out. Let it out, y'all. Let it out. Yeah, yeah. Collaboration. When that collaboration is happening, like I can um uh I I can be a little more business-y and say, okay, this is the deadline, this is what's happening. Um, but when I'm writing by myself, I can't do that for myself. And I just recently learned um bribes and threats. Those are the two things that will get me to finish a script. And I just got a friend uh to come on uh as like a producer to just just bribe me and threaten me to finish the script. So if that helps at all, maybe bring another thing. Write that down, write that down. Bribes and threats, thank you very much.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

Threats, take that into real life.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

Like if you don't finish this, you are done, you know, or um when you finish this, you get to have another coffee.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

Yeah, like no, I totally hear you. Like I struggle to do something by myself.

SPEAKER_00 16:32

Oh, it's the worst.

SPEAKER_02 16:33

Cause yeah, like I um truthfully, so I yeah, I wrote grilled cheese by myself in like 30 minutes, not really expecting it to that's the best, yeah. But like I wasn't really kind of expecting to uh do much with it. Um but then I was chatting with my friend Jack, who was our DP, and we kind of had like, ah, I want to create something. Ah, I want to create something. And I was like, I have a script, I guess I have. And he went, I'm down, I'll film it. You can have my equipment. I was like, oh, oh, okay, great, great. Now I gotta do it. That's awesome. Um, and so I was very much quickly, I guess, learning, like, oh, I do need support with this project. So that is how I got my friend Tommy Martin involved to basically say, Hey, I I need a collaborator, I need help. Will you help me get this together? Um, so he was a great support and helped it, and then it did kind of become a fun, like, okay, who do you know, who do I know, who would be wonderful to make this disgusting makeup.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

Yeah, that's what that's why I got into this business. It's for the bringing my friends together and having fun.

SPEAKER_02 17:46

Yeah, like I love making things with people and collaborating with people and meeting new people. Um, that's what's the best part, I think, about filmmaking or even with theater, an ensemble.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think we for like I forget that. Um, and something that you just said that I think is so important is to like write and create the art of it as if there's nothing to be had. Like there is no objective, there's just like fun and excitement, and you you just wanted to write grilled cheese because it came to you and you wanted to write it with no expectations. Yeah. And then bringing somebody in and then create like then doing the businessy side. That's what I'm trying to I think it still ties into like the businessy side versus the like the artist side of like I wish I could just detach expectations when I'm writing. Because that that's what stops me from editing a script or continuing it. Because then I'm like, oh well, this is actually really good, and I could sell it and I could get this money, and then I have to find the budget, and then yeah, and then the ugh, then the boring stuff comes in.

SPEAKER_02 18:59

Yeah. Like, even with the feature, or at least kind of what I like to do, is just kind of write whatever you're thinking of. Don't even think about budget. Like, even if you're like, this is even if you're like this is gonna be set in the 80s and already there's gonna be a lot of murder. Like, we already know in the back of our head, like, ooh, if we were to try and make this, like, there's all that budget. But yeah, we're just having fun writing it, getting this story out, and then when it's completed in quotation marks, that's when you can switch to more business side.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

I needed to hear this today. I'm not I'm not gonna lie.

SPEAKER_02 19:36

Yes, just write it, do it, write it however you want it, and then don't think about budget. Yeah, don't think about budget. Think about what's making you excited to write, what's having fun, and then later you can switch into a business brain and go, okay, this is obviously plan A, but what is plan B and C if budget and yada yada?

SPEAKER_00 19:54

Honestly, uh that's an opportunity for for other artistic um like mediums, right? Like we didn't have special effects for one of our shorts and instead we did shadow work, you know? So it's like every mistake or every setback, in quotes, is is also an opportunity for art, you know?

SPEAKER_02 20:18

Yeah, and I guess I do say special effects. It is all practical effects in um grilled cheese. So we had um uh wonderful Alex Perez and Natalie Zombie kind of work together to do some disgusting makeup and also um some very practical, gross looking cheese and goo. We called them the goo gang.

SPEAKER_00 20:47

Oh, that's fun. And speaking of uh goo, let's go to hot cakes. They're like hot takes, but they stack up. I don't know. I figured like maybe you put syrup on the hot cake. Oh no, yeah. That's a very good, yeah. Okay, that's a very good takeaway. All right, we're gonna put 60 seconds on the clock. Are you ready?

SPEAKER_02 21:04

Oh, sure.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

Go to snack on set.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

Ooh, Sour Patch Kids. Does that count?

SPEAKER_00 21:09

Best Chicago deep dish spot. Ooh, I'm a genos. Genos, really. Uh weirdest thing you've ever had to voice as a bird. Shut up. Best cosplay you've ever seen at C2 E2.

SPEAKER_02 21:24

Oh gosh. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

Woohoo! One thing you miss about Tokyo. Oh, just the food. If not a half-elf sorcerer, what DD class are you actually built for?

SPEAKER_02 21:38

I would probably be some sort of bard.

SPEAKER_00 21:40

Okay. I don't know what that means. Uh, worst puppet malfunction story.

SPEAKER_02 21:45

Oh, I guess um, I think birds' wings have fallen off before. Oh. And we had to stick it to throw them back on.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Oh no. I called them chicken nuggets. Wait, what? Thank you so much for playing, by the way. Wait, what what do you mean, chicken nugget and then? Have wings.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

So what? Um so the the bird puppet in Monkey's Magic Merry Garant has like little wings because it's a bird. Okay. But to me, they also look like chicken nuggets in like a very loving, loving, appreciative way. And so sometimes I would shake birds so her wings would just kind of flop around. And I'd just be like chicken nuggies. Um so yeah, when they I think fell off one time, it did just look like a chicken nugget.

SPEAKER_00 22:32

Aww. Um, I did, I was watching, I love HD TV. Um, I just love it, and I'm obsessed with ugliest home in America. Um Ugliest House in America. Yeah and uh this lady had chickens in her house, and one of the names of the chickens was Nugget. And it was so cute, and I was like, it's a little morbid, but it's really cute. That is so cute. Yeah, they're they're gonna live a long time. Oh, and the other one was named Omelet.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

I honestly really love naming well, not that okay, obviously, like well, the omelet not so much, but omelet's fine, yeah. Naming an animal after what, like food.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

It's so cute. So cute. Yeah, it's so cute. It's so cute. I love it. I love it. Um, okay, but we get weird on this. Uh, and it seems like with the D, um, and like uh you you have some like funky fun stuff. Do you believe in anything weird, woo-woo? Um, you know, anything that might be off the beaten path?

SPEAKER_02 23:43

I mean, yeah, I do I believe that there would be some aliens, whether or not they're like the classic little gray men, like the fact that the universe is so vast, like we are clearly not the only thing.

SPEAKER_00 23:59

People, everybody that comes on the podcast now is like, yeah, aliens are real, but that's not really a woo-woo thing. I mean, we just like move on at this point.

SPEAKER_02 24:07

Well then I was gonna say, and I do I do believe in ghosts and spirits as well.

SPEAKER_00 24:13

Yeah. Do you believe in the um we're living in a simulation thing? Or do you what do you what do you believe because ghosts and spirits, people believe in them, but then like the the why or the how is not, you know, sometimes they believe in a different how or why.

SPEAKER_02 24:32

I feel like it's like an more of an energy thing. Like I think it's more people's lingering energies versus like demons, like a literal demon or literal such and such. Um what's the weirdest thing that's happened to you? Let's get Ooh, yeah. So I so in London, um we supposedly lived in a haunted house, actually.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

We were ever Oh man, there's so many haunted houses.

SPEAKER_02 25:08

I mean, right? I mean, come on. The number there's the number of houses, the number of people who have energy energy. Yeah. Um, but yeah, we were told that there is a woman in black who lived with us. Why? I guess like old days, they just always wore black, or maybe they're mourning.

SPEAKER_00 25:26

Yeah, I don't know. For like a year, didn't we just fashion trend back then? Yeah, didn't they wear like if you were in mourning, like the women specifically had to wear like black for a specific amount of time?

SPEAKER_02 25:37

I'm sure. Yeah, probably. I think so.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

Maybe especially like as a widow or something.

SPEAKER_02 25:42

Yeah, yeah. Um, but my I never saw her. Um, but one thing is my I even before I knew about this, um my parents' room, for some reason, every time I entered it, I just had this weird energy and felt like I was being watched. Yeah, so I was always like hesitant to go into my parents' room. Um and then one other instance was that one time I was going down the stairs in my socks, and then I like stepped in something wet. I was like, oh ew. And I looked down and there seemed to be just kind of like this wet spot, and I touched it, I was like, oh, it's wet. Um and then I went downstairs stairs to continue whatever I was doing. But then I was like, oh, I should I should wipe off the wet spot up of the stairs that I stepped in. And when I grabbed a towel and went back up, it was gone.

SPEAKER_00 26:43

Was it water?

SPEAKER_02 26:44

I don't know. And I even was like, hey, mom, did you clean this wet spot up here? And she had no idea what I was talking about, so to this day I don't know what that was, and to this day, truthfully, I don't know if someone else cleaned it or what it was. Like, I don't I can't like a hundred percent commit that it was paranormal, but but you're like always think about it.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

That was still weird. Yeah, the fact that it stayed with you, I think adds to the weirdness. Um I do want to say I love that you're into Spongebob and all like oh, SpongeBob is my funny bone. I I feel like because we've watched it, our brains are fused a little bit, because like that's how I think. Like SpongeBob is how I think. Yes. You know what is going on in your brain when you're writing? My goodness.

SPEAKER_02 27:36

I think it's just like being messy. Specifically for at least grilled cheese, um, because if when you if when you get to watch it, it is kind of gross and messy. I just like constantly ooze.

SPEAKER_00 27:51

Um I'm sorry, what what are you you are you an alien in a human suit?

SPEAKER_02 28:02

Like that is the only cheese, obviously. That's what's oozing on my mask and it oozes alien juice. Yeah. It definitely looks like that. Um but yeah, like I kind of wish I had some deep, like, oh, where did grilled cheese come from? But I think it was just like I wanted to make something gross and messy and just be covered in weird substance. And so I think I just have fun writing weird, gross things. So that's just kind of like a little way of playing, and then having to then later figure out how you get to do it and create it is just a fun little challenge.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

Well, that's awesome. I know we talked about grilled cheese. Where can folks catch it? I know you're doing the festival run.

SPEAKER_02 28:55

Yeah, we have a few upcoming options for people. Um, if you're listening from New York, you can go to Chiroma Dance Film Festival September 4th to the 6th. And if you are in Delaware, you can listen. Listen, you can watch it um the sometime in the 24th to the 27th at the Delaware Horror Film Festival. And also, if you are in Illinois, um, we have one for you as well. Um, there is a massacre horror movie marathon at the Pickwick Theater in Park Ridge on October 10th. Um, that you can go see it.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

That is a lot of film festivals. Congratulations on getting into all of those. My goodness.

SPEAKER_02 29:44

Thank you so much. Yeah, it's it's it's insane and exciting and heartwarming. It's like, oh my gosh, people love our gross little thing.

SPEAKER_00 29:53

Well, I think we just have to keep making the weird stuff because I think normal is boring.

SPEAKER_02 29:58

And I think as well, like because we're such in a digital AI world, seeing things that are clearly real and practical, I think is really refreshing.

SPEAKER_00 30:08

Yeah, yeah, I agree. Well, this has been wonderful. Thank you so much for being on the podcast. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 30:14

This was so much fun.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

You goofy gooberges to show how Spongebob has shaped our minds and lives. Uh so fun. If you learned, liked, please like, subscribe, send me a DM. I love hearing from you. And go follow Connor at JGC Brown97 on Instagram. She's doing wonderful things. Um, and and very fun and very light and murderous as well. Uh yeah, this is so fun. I love, I love this job. It's the best. I hope you love your job. And if you don't, go find another one. Alrighty.

unknown 30:58

Bye.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

Ilse Will Say is an Intrepida entertainment podcast produced and edited by Jacob Kagel, music by Eric Bacchus, and photography by Joel Mysenet, and I am your host, Ilse Sacharia Rivera. The views and opinions expressed on Ilse Will Say are entirely those of the host and guests, and do not reflect the views of any employers, sponsors, or innocent bystanders. This podcast is for entertainment purposes only. Nothing said here should be taken as professional advice, expert opinion, legal guidance, or a reason to DMS you conspiracy theories. We're here for the laps, y'all. Carry on.