THE 505 PODCAST

Get One Month FREE of Riverside if you use our code "505https://creators.riverside.com/505What's up Rock Nation! Today we're joined by Giancarlo Stigliano, a cinematographer and DP who has shot major commercial campaigns, built one of the most thoughtful filmmaking channels on YouTube, and become known for showing the side of cinematography most people never see. In this episode, we get into why being a great DP is only 30% technical, what most videographers are missing when trying to level up into bigger commercial work, the Puma shoot that became his “welcome to the NBA” moment, why buying expensive gear is not always the move, how to think through lighting, contrast, and problem solving on set, and what it actually takes to go from local clients to working on bigger productions with real crews, real pressure, and real stakes.Check out Giancarlo here:https://www.instagram.com/carlostigs/Timestamps:00:00 – Intro01:02 – Free Sales Call Guide01:13 – Why Being a DP Is Only 30% Technical03:32 – The Set That Changed Carlo’s Perspective06:10 – Imposter Syndrome on Bigger Productions08:32 – Carlo’s “Get on Base” Moment with Puma10:55 – Riverside Sponsor11:56 – How Videographers Can Level Up Into Bigger Commercial Work18:12 – Buying a Cinema Camera and Becoming an Owner-Operator21:10 – Moving Beyond Local Retainer Clients26:36 – Learning to Plan Instead of Just Capture28:44 – What Makes a DP Hireable31:09 – Shooting a Feature Film After Interning for Danny34:57 – Lessons Carlo Took From His First Feature36:38 – What a DP Thinks About First on Set40:12 – Managing Time Pressure on Set40:50 – Working With Different Director Personalities45:17 – Technical Lessons That Changed Carlo’s Cinematography48:33 – Why You Shouldn’t Always Shoot Wide Open50:55 – How YouTube Has Helped Carlo’s Career57:57 – Building a Real Connection With Your Audience1:00:39 – Carlo’s Lighting Process Before a Scene1:03:30 – Contrast Ratios Explained Simply1:05:01 – Problem Solving on Set as a DP1:09:57 – How Carlo Fixed a Difficult Window Lighting Scene1:12:03 – Taking Creative and Career Risks1:15:31 – Burnout, Slow Seasons, and Freelance Pressure1:20:44 – Fitness, Lawn Care, and Hobbies Outside Work1:28:48 – Wrapping the Episode with Carlo1:29:17 – Post-Pod DebriefIf you liked this episode please send it to a friend and take a screenshot for your story! And as always, we'd love to hear from you guys on what you'd like to hear us talk about or potential guests we should have on. DM US ON IG: (Our DM's are always open!) Bfiggy: https://www.instagram.com/bfiggy/ Kostas: https://www.instagram.com/kostasg95/

Win $100K from Artlist here:https://artlist.io/artlist-70446?artlist_aid=the505podcast_2970&utm_source=affiliate_p&utm_medium=the505podcast_2970&utm_campaign=the505podcast_2970Sign up for our newsletter and get the full breakdown of every episode sent straight to you.https://the505podcast.beehiiv.com/What's up Rock Nation! Today we're diving into the phenomenon of Erewhon, the ultimate health food store where even a single Japanese strawberry can cost $19. We explore how this luxury grocery store in Los Angeles has cultivated a massive following, despite its notoriously high prices, becoming a staple for rich people and a symbol of celebrity lifestyles. Discover the business stories behind its success and why people consistently line up outside its ten locations every morning.Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro00:30 - How Erewhon built a cult around expensive lettuce02:22 - The third space play04:21 - The membership upsell at checkout07:17 - The Bieber smoothie economics10:34 - Artlist $100K AI challenge11:41 - The earned media flywheel you can't buy18:24 - Merch, hoodies, and the loyalty test20:24 - Multi-million dollar ideas for Erewhon26:12 - Founder-led content and capsule collabs32:25 - Our biggest takeaways33:01 - Insane driver35:38 - DCA relaunch, Chicago, and a Miami bachelor37:00 - Nike Swim campaign39:09 - First concert gig42:05 - New dog42:50 - The pod is going back to Creator Land45:30 - Brayden's embarrassing 48:19 - Chuck Sperry shoot54:14 - We're so backIf you liked this episode please send it to a friend and take a screenshot for your story! And as always, we'd love to hear from you guys on what you'd like to hear us talk about or potential guests we should have on. DM US ON IG: (Our DM's are always open!) Bfiggy: https://www.instagram.com/bfiggy/ Kostas: https://www.instagram.com/kostasg95/

Get 30% OFF your first 3 months of beehiiv with our code "505POD30"http://www.beehiiv.com/splash?utm_campaign=brayden-figueroa-2026-Partnership&utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=brayden-figueroa&utm_term=dedicated-podcast-1&stripe_campaign_code=505POD30What's up Rock Nation! Today we're joined by Taki Moore, the coach of coaches. With 20 years in the game, he's built one of the most respected coaching programs in the world and helped create more seven figure coaches than arguably anyone else doing it. In this episode, we get into why he hopes he never goes viral, why most coaches are accidentally building jobs they hate, the five part offer framework that lets him change the wrapping every month without changing the product, cutting his team from 36 to 8 by leaning back into marketing instead of management, and how to turn your knowledge and expertise into a seven figure online business.Check out Taki here:https://www.instagram.com/takimoore/Timestamps00:00 - Intro00:00:57 - Why Information Became a Commodity00:02:25 - You're Paying for Speed, Not Information00:02:58 - How Coaches Should Generate Leads in 202600:04:00 - Coaching Is the Accelerant00:04:56 - The Mistake of Teaching Everything You Know00:06:32 - When Taki Went Pro With Content00:08:33 - Why He Doesn't Want a Media Army00:09:24 - Caleb Ralston and Doing It Your Way00:12:11 - Why He Hopes He Never Goes Viral00:13:09 - Entertainment Creators vs. Education Creators00:13:33 - Why He Deleted YouTube Studio00:14:15 - Beehiiv Ad Read00:15:07 - Burnout at 204 Episodes00:16:43 - $30K Sale 30 Minutes After His First Upload00:17:51 - Treat Your Business Like a Lab00:18:55 - Why He Switched From Free Webinars to Paid Workshops00:21:10 - 5% Qualified to 55% Just by Charging for the Ticket00:22:37 - The Free vs. Paid Workshop Test00:23:18 - The Missing Piece Between Leads and Clients00:24:38 - Same Product, Different Wrapping00:26:22 - The Offer Seesaw00:29:00 - Why Email Beats Every Other Channel You Own00:31:21 - The Ghostwritten Email That Made Him Cringe00:32:35 - The Two Things That Make Content Land00:34:06 - The Japanese Toilet Story00:37:24 - The Jell-O Mold Theory of Content00:38:43 - The $8K Handstand Coach and the Lottery Niche00:40:17 - The Brick Method00:42:43 - Contrarian, Not Controversial00:47:19 - Do Shit and Live the Dope Life00:49:08 - Boring Businesses vs. Sexy Brands00:51:32 - Practitioners vs. Talkers00:52:29 - The Offer Diamond00:54:42 - The Weekly Billing Trick00:55:27 - Real Scarcity Is a Marketing Tool00:56:13 - Workshop or Sales Call: Which One Fits You00:59:24 - Everything Works. Pick What Fits.01:00:30 - Building Your Business Like a Jigsaw Puzzle01:03:25 - The ABC Doc: Avatar, Business, Character01:05:38 - Why Recurring Revenue Saved His Business01:06:39 - End, Extend, Ascend01:08:14 - The Dope Squad and the Birth of Boardroom01:14:23 - The Kid Cudi Theory of Onboarding01:15:50 - Believe, Belong, Breakthrough01:19:31 - Magic Trick First, History Second01:22:17 - The $500 Tomahawk in Minnesota01:24:48 - The $55K a Night Bachelor Trip01:26:52 - Coaches Keep Building Jobs They Hate01:28:19 - How It Feels Beats How It Looks01:30:39 - $27K in a Year, Then $30K in an Hour01:31:36 - Outsource the Laundry, Outsource the Hate01:35:00 - From 36 Employees to 8 by Leaning Back Into Marketing01:36:12 - Admit What You Hate01:37:30 - Yellow Pages and the Workshop That Almost Killed Him01:40:44 - Why He Doesn't Lead With Testimonials01:42:34 - The Drawing Habit That Built His Brand01:44:12 - Advice for the 5K to 10K Coach01:47:18 - $200 From a Mate and a Pregnancy Announcement01:48:33 - You Need a Deadline Baby01:50:03 - Mark's Five Minute Coaching Masterclass01:51:25 - The Shirt Off Body Fat GoalIf you liked this episode please send it to a friend and take a screenshot for your story! And as always, we'd love to hear from you guys on what you'd like to hear us talk about or potential guests we should have on. DM US ON IG: (Our DM's are always open!) Bfiggy: https://www.instagram.com/bfiggy/ Kostas: https://www.instagram.com/kostasg95/

Check out Artlist's new AI music and get 2 extra months for free here:https://artlist.io/artlist-70446?artlist_aid=the505podcast_2970&utm_source=affiliate_p&utm_medium=the505podcast_2970&utm_campaign=the505podcast_2970Sign up for our newsletter and get the full breakdown of every episode sent straight to you.https://the505podcast.beehiiv.com/Coachella just pulled off one of the biggest business plays of the year, and we had to break it down. In this episode, we get into how Justin Bieber’s headline set, record merch sales, brand activations, and overall media frenzy turned the festival into an absolute machine. More importantly, we talk about what creators, brands, and business owners can actually learn from it when it comes to attention, hype, world building, and capitalizing on cultural moments.Timestamps: 0:00 - Intro0:31 - Recovering from Bieber fever1:05 - Coachella inflation: $375 in 2013 vs. $625 GA now1:49 - Why GA is not worth it anymore2:24 - The security line chaos before Bieber day3:25 - Bieber breaks Coachella records4:15 - Skylark merch does $15M across both weekends5:19 - Why Bieber could pull this off (5 years off the stage)6:47 - Merch as world building: the Skylark activation9:16 - Gap and Central Cee: the unlabeled collab play11:26 - Artlist AI Studio ad read12:27 - Why artists only play Coachella once13:38 - The quadruple squeeze: album, tour, merch, Netflix doc15:02 - Repurposing one performance into endless content15:32 - 234 posts: Coachella left reach on the table17:15 - The missing iPhone-in-the-crowd content18:22 - Showcase the fans, not just the performers20:13 - Why aren't they posting the hits22:30 - The "dead crowd" narrative is overblown23:08 - Coachella's biggest social miss24:07 - Why 6 days of business means you squeeze harder25:05 - Sales framework: catch people at peak emotion25:58 - The YouTube integration was a paid play26:55 - Mixed reviews on the Bieber set28:49 - The nostalgia play every brand should steal29:13 - Coachella's business model breakdown30:02 - Brand sponsorships and the cost of activating31:19 - Performing at Coachella as a resume stamp31:40 - Gap's comeback moment33:06 - Spider intermission34:17 - 12.5% of revenue from brands (Lakers comparison)36:01 - The $60K Coachella table story37:16 - The offer stack: GA, VIP, Sahara, luxury camping38:44 - Selling next year's tickets with no lineup announced40:26 - Who else could headline like Bieber41:18 - The 2012 bet on two weekends42:44 - Haggling Uber drivers outside the festival45:23 - The bedbug situation at World Mark Indio48:18 - Going full Karen for a full refund49:37 - Wrapping the business of Coachella51:02 - Kostas retires from Coachella52:09 - Filming a rocket launch in the Mojave53:46 - Tim Cook stepping down at Apple55:41 - Pod direction change: less guests, more solo59:18 - Shifting focus back to photo/video creators1:00:35 - Taking the pressure off growth1:01:20 - Getting back to the roots of 505If you liked this episode please send it to a friend and take a screenshot for your story! And as always, we'd love to hear from you guys on what you'd like to hear us talk about or potential guests we should have on. DM US ON IG: (Our DM's are always open!) Bfiggy: https://www.instagram.com/bfiggy/ Kostas: https://www.instagram.com/kostasg95/

Sign up for our newsletter and get the full breakdown of every episode sent straight to you.https://the505podcast.beehiiv.com/Nike turned a $3 million bet on a 21-year-old Michael Jordan into a $126 million first year. Then they did it again with Tiger, with LeBron, and built the most recognizable brand slogan on the planet. In this episode, we break down how Nike built a dynasty through athlete partnerships, storytelling, and bold bets and what went wrong when they stopped doing what made them great. Plus, we got to pitch our agency Blue Stripe at the Nike campus. Timestamps: 0:00 - Intro1:04 - The bet on Michael Jordan2:32 - Air Jordan gets banned by the NBA (free marketing)4:16 - What brands can learn: find the diamond in the rough6:22 - Tiger Woods signs with Nike8:11 - Why long-term partnerships beat one-off deals9:28 - The LeBron James signing11:56 - Nike won on story, not money12:53 - Branding is all about pairing16:07 - Just Do It and Phil Knight meets Wieden+Kennedy17:08 - Wholesale partnerships and being everywhere19:49 - Posting consistently vs. posting every day22:32 - The fall begins: new CEO John Donahue23:10 - The direct-to-consumer pivot33:49 - Competition fills the vacuum: Hoka and On Running35:20 - The Kanye chapter39:33 - Quality slips and feeling corporate40:40 - 94% brand awareness but nobody's buying44:31 - The comeback: Elliott Hill takes over45:08 - Why you should promote internally46:35 - Getting back to your North Star47:17 - Nike returns to retail shelves1:05:41 - Post Pod DebriefIf you liked this episode please send it to a friend and take a screenshot for your story! And as always, we'd love to hear from you guys on what you'd like to hear us talk about or potential guests we should have on. DM US ON IG: (Our DM's are always open!) Bfiggy: https://www.instagram.com/bfiggy/ Kostas: https://www.instagram.com/kostasg95/