"You're going to die and nobody's going to remember you 50 years after that." — Tom Provost

Welcome Tom Provost:

We’re joined on the Starline by a true Hollywood polymath. Writer, director, actor, teacher, and part time charity CEO. Hollywood’s go to script is in the spotlight now with his film “Young Washington”. We welcome Tom Provost.

Tom, let’s go Beyond the Mic. Every version of Washington we've had is the marble statue. What made you want to write him at his most unfinished? He was young, unsure, capable of a mistake that could've ended everything?

How has your views of Washington failures changed since researching and writing this?

The film has an icy river sequence too dangerous to actually shoot. But a pool in Ireland stretched into a frozen death trap with the assistance of AI. What was it like watching a scene you wrote on paper become something so dangerous that technology had to invent it?

What's the one scene in this movie you fought hardest to keep true, even when an easier version could've played safer?

The Rockin' 8:

Young Washington is the film and Tom Provost joins us for the Rockin' 8. 8 random questions, just trust your first instinct. There is no Pressure.

1. You played Ensign Filie on SeaQuest DSV right as the network was retooling it into the ground. What did that teach a young actor about how Hollywood actually works?

2. A friend of mine once drank 32 oz of blue cheese dressing on a dare. Could you?

What’s the secret of your blue cheese?

3. When you're at the movies, what snacks do you buy and if it's popcorn, how do you treat it?

4. If you had to build the perfect menu for a night watching Young Washington, what's on it?

5. Ten years waiting tables: Is there one shift or one table you still think about today?

6. After the fire took 1,832 of your books, what was the one you went looking for first to replace?

7. Is there a smell that means home to you?

8. What's a piece of advice from a parents that didn't actually land until years later?

The Impossible Question:

If you could hand the script of your own life to a 21-year-old Tom Provost, what's the one scene you’d let him edit? And if he chose to fix it, would you still be the man who made “Young Washington”?

The Back Half:

Tom Provost from “Young Washington” join us Beyond the Mic. Four years at UT Austin studying English lit, film production, and criticism. How did those years actually prepare you for the life you're living now?

You co-wrote “Under Suspicion” decades ago, then years as a script doctor and consultant before your name went back on a poster with “Young Washington”. What made these two projects worth stepping out from behind the curtain for?

How have your thoughts on respect changed?

This film leaned on AI to build shots too dangerous or expensive to shoot for real. Has working with AI changed how you think about your own process as a writer?

There's a line in the film: "The world is often an unfair place, and you must take what it gives you and make it yours." What have you taken from the world and made it yours?

Tom, you are a giver, as the founder and CEO of Bags and Grace, how does surviving your own house fire change what you think people actually need when they've lost everything?

Teaching:

Tom Provost from “Young Washington” join us Beyond the Mic. You teach film making and acting to students who want the career you have. What's the one lesson you didn't actually understand yourself until you'd already failed at it?

Who challenges you now?

You had early success with a produced, Edgar-nominated screenplay, a directed feature that won festival awards. Then years as a script doctor and consultant, other people's names on the poster. Was there a point you thought your own name might not go back on one?

What’s on your list now?

Tom, what did you get from your dad that's different from what you got from your mom?

When was the last time you lost your temper?

One Big Question:

Your mother is a historian of the American Revolution. She handed you this country's story before anyone else did. If she watched this film sitting right next to you, what's the one moment you'd most want to see land on her face?

So the best vacation was where?

Your best memory of family is…

The Wrap:

He likes milk duds in his popcorn, waited once on Robin Williams and wants you to watch “Young Washington” now. Tom Provost, thanks for taking the time to talk with us today.

And that my friends is a Beyond the Mic XL.