Vol. 33

Getting to empty with Alex Hudgens

September 2018

Founder. Producer. TV Host. Actor. Coach.

It’s not everyday you get to speak to someone who has faced Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson in a thumb war and come out on top, but Alex Hudgens has done just that (and more) through her energetic and charismatic junket interviews with Hollywood’s biggest names. As a TV Host for Access Hollywood, amoungst other outlets, she has also been able to learn all about show business and has recently switched her career off-screen; starting a production company, HybridHouse, as well as working as an executive coach in L.A.

Energetic, positive and courageous, Alex tells how she discovered a love of journalism and performance as a young girl in St. Louis before making the courageous move to L.A. from Tennessee to pursue her career in Hollywood and everything in between, sharing her thoughts on pursuing a purposeful life and the importance of not hating Mondays.

Alex Hudgens--- 30 August 2018

By Lorenzo Princi

What do you do?

[Laughs] that’s a great question actually. I do a lot of things, currently I am kind of in the midst of building a couple of companies-- not kind of, very much! So up until this point I’ve been a TV host both digital and, you know, national, traditional media; primarily entertainment news and made a lot of connections. Really enjoyed myself, got to travel so, so, so much but for a number of reasons which would take up our entire interview time, if I started really going into all this, it was time to go.

So, in January I left Access Hollywood where I was on camera there and-- I covered Sundance (Film Festival) as a host for them and that kind of rounded out January and then I don’t really know what happened in February or March. Like, I couldn’t tell you because I technically-- I received the paperwork that HybridHouse, my production company, was officially incorporated about mid-April. So between Sundance, the end of January and getting that in the mail, I don’t know what was going on [laughs]. I know I was working, there were a lot of meetings, there were-- “I need an attorney and I need an accountant and let's go back and do this logo fifty-seven times” and suddenly like, I had a baby! So I guess-- I guess that happened...

So, I started HybridHouse Productions, officially incorporated in April. I’m primarily working in unscripted right now as a-- it’s just me-- So I have three interns from Vanderbilt (University) but it’s just me so I’m more of a producer. I don’t employ a bunch of videographers or anything like that. I have seven shows on my slate right now. Only one of them is truly original in that, from a seed-- nah, two-- seeds of an idea through to having a pitch deck all laid out which I’m now trying to sell. The other five were all in existence in some way. It might have been a host who just didn’t have a show developed around them, maybe they’re an 'Instagram Influencer' or a couple of them have shot an entire first season of their show and just needed someone with a little more perspective, experience to come in and flesh it out, re-package, re-brand, add, that whole deal.

So, that’s been really fun, but it’s funny that you ask, “what do you do?” Because I’m more so running in the background... I shouldn’t say it like that, I am actively-- interns have helped me get to the point that I have all these decks now and now it’s the selling part. So, I am not sitting at my table everyday developing shows but I am playing the whole, “can I email them back right now or is it too soon?”, that selling game.

So my day-to-day is more coaching, I’ve been-- I’m going to call it Executive Coaching, I don’t love the word “Life Coach” ... but I have a roster of clients that I coach, they’re in all kinds of industries, they’re all badasses and within that kind of side of things I am developing-- it’s like the private clients are one thing and they’re wonderful and I love them but I really enjoy training like group workworks and large scale, like keynote type thing-- give me the TED talk, I’m coming for you! [laughs] So I’m actively developing both a book, I’m writing a book and a concept that kind of incorporates the concepts from the book and how I work with private clients into a group… you’re really one of the first outside people to be hearing-- I mean people know that I’m coaching, that’s not a secret by any means, but there’s a lot going on behind-the-scenes. I don’t ever do anything like [speaking softly] “I’m just going to do this”, it’s like “go hard or go home”. So all of that has an umbrella now or-- I actually prefer 'container' to pour into that has a name that I’m actively trying to get-- make sure that I can have it and that will kind of become my two-- I know have two very clear businesses.

So, I’m super excited!

A type portrait of Alex Hudgens

So, you do a lot! That’s where you are now, let’s take a step back. Where did you're love of performance come from?

Childhood? That’s a good questions. You know I-- I don’t know, I’ve always loved movies. I never intended to go into entertainment news, per se, as a kid-- I didn’t even know-- I’m from St. Louis, Missouri-- I didn’t even really know that you could work in the entertainment industry [laughs]. That sounds silly but you watch movies and you’re like-- you don’t realise necessarily as a middle-schooler that that’s hundreds of people who were involved in that in all these different jobs. Yeah I had no idea...

So, when I was younger I actually wanted to go into locals (news). I thought that-- my sixth grade band teacher, who is a good friend of mine now, loves to remind me, he’s like, “when you were twelve, you walked up on the first day of class and shook my hand and said, ‘I’m Alex and I’m going to be’”-- something along the lines of, “I’m going to be the next Katie Couric” [laughs]. Which you know, way to go twelve year old me. I think that translated into, “oh, I want to do news” and then I had an internship and I was later a production assistant at a local news station in St. Louis and hated it! [Laughs]. Hated it, not the people, I just didn’t like what I was doing. Made me realise, “this is not what I want to do, it’s not the path to Katie Couric”, and then went into entertainment.

But I think, moving to L.A. kind of like-- the love of movies has always been there, the love of performing in some sense; I play piano, I was a cheerleader, I was in marching band, lots of public speaking stuff throughout my life, I’m very much a ham [laughs], we’ll see how much it comes out in this particular setting but I’m just a goober, so I think naturally as a host I was, like, good. I love other people and I’m easy to talk to and I make you feel comfortable and all this kind of thing and it’s fun but I think, I’m very grateful to be in a place where one of my dreams, you know people make a bucket list whatever you want to call it, one of them was to be talent on a national TV show in some way and I did that and it was kind of this moment of, “oh, I did it!” and now I need to grow a little bit and the acting bug caught up with me and I’ve acted and you know, when I was a kid and took courses in college and that kind of thing.

The best advice I got, I think, when I moved to L.A. was, “be really good at one thing and then people will assume you can do everything” because I think a lot of people move into this industry and this city and they’re like, “I’m a model, singer, musician, da, da, da, da…” all these different things and never actually, “what do you do? Do you do any of those? Or do you say that?”

So, I got really good at one thing and as I started to realise I was ready to grow and transition I also started to re-engage this other performer that’s always been there. But yeah, just living here (in L.A.) makes you realise what’s possible, I think. I cannot really see-- I think it had to be for me what-- it’s interesting to look at what you know and what you think is tangible at different times in your life, so growing up-- and no one's ever told me, “no, you can’t do that”, I’m very lucky to have had quite the village support my whole life; parents, everybody. But there’s still this thing. You only have your own perspective so, of course, twelve year old me in St. Louis thinks, local news but then twenty-two year old me thinks I need to move to L.A. and do this little thing and the twenty-eight year old me says, ‘hey, I can actually do anything I want!” [Laughs] and what I want to do is act, so I’m going to try that, so yeah, that’s where we are.

"To die empty means whether I live to be one-hundred and five and I’m lying there, I want to feel like I have nothing else to give. I want to give life and the people around me, every ounce of energy and dreams and love that I possibly could have."

You grew up in St. Louis before and moving to Tennessee to study at Vanderbilt, what brought on the move?

Yeah I went to collage there-- yeah I actually didn’t-- ‘University’ is what you guys call it (referring to Australians).

Lorenzo: I went to collage, which is a layer down [laughs].

Alex: [Laughs] College makes more sense though, like you learnt an actual trade, there’s something to be said for that, just saying. University can be a waste of money, I don’t think mine was but anyway. That sounded so anti-- I’m such an academic, “yay! Education.” (But there’s) something to be said for learning a craft and starting to work.

Lorenzo: Vanderbilt sounds a little bit different, how did you find it?

Alex: Vanderbilt I loved. My education had very little to do with what the first part of my career has been. Most of my friends from Vandy-- right now I think it’s in the top fourteen schools in the (United) States, so super smart kids. All my friends are doctors, lawyers, engineers, some consultants and I’m like the one weirdo who was like “entertainment!” [laughs].

So, I would say it was really where I came into who I am in my ability to interact with a lot of different personalities and interests and-- I considered going to journalism school, I got into Northwestern (University) and Mizzou (University of Missouri) which are two of the best ones here and didn’t want to get pigeon-holed. Like I was kind of like, “what if I get burnt out? What if I don’t want to do this?” Which in retrospect I’m really grateful for because first of all, Vanderbilt is amazing!

I don’t like when people say, “College is the best four years of your life.” I’m like, “That sucks, I’d like to enjoy the rest of it too!” (Vanderbilt was) an incredible four years but I’m glad that I really-- it’s a liberal arts school so I got a well-rounded look at things which has very much come back. It’s not that it didn’t apply to the hosting stuff but not specifically, that was more on-the-job training than anything. But now, that I’m back into business and working with people on marketing, psychological and sociological level, I’m like, “thank you Vandy”.

So yeah, I ended up in Nashville, when I was in high school I didn’t even-- most of my family is from small town Tennessee, like everybody is from small town Tennessee. My parents are-- well not technically high-school sweethearts because my mum did not give him the time of day until he graduated but same small town, all my relatives still live there, all four grandparents still living. So, for some reason I was a punk when I was a senior, like, “I’m not going anywhere in Tennessee,” I don’t know, for no reason and then one of my most beloved-- wonderful teacher who I will be indebted to forever said, “have you looked at Vanderbilt?” “Isn’t that in Tennessee?” And then I got in and the rest is history so... And I cheered-- I made the cheerleading squad. Had a try out to be a cheerleader there before I technically committed to going the school [laughs] so I made the cheer team and was like, “oh, I guess I’ll go here for sure.”

Nashville opened those doors for a lot of-- there’s Entertainment there too, it’s primarily music but between the cheer stuff and being in the athletic world and then being just in Music City and the alumni network at Vandy, I had a good little-- while I wasn’t getting specific news training, trust me, there were peers of mine that were on other shows who did go to J-School and did, you know to UC (University of California) and UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) who just have endless connections in Los Angeles but I still wouldn’t trade anything, I’m like, “it still worked out.” I still encourage young people to learn what they want to learn in college and have a really good time and network, learn how to network more than anything but don’t freak out if you think, “this is going to decide the rest of my life.”

I don’t live from a place of fear.

You've done quite a bit of volunteer work, why do you find it important to help others?

My family and my faith I would say. I definitely-- My mother’s the most selfless human being on the planet, so she-- I have a younger brother and our parents just really instilled, from a very early age that we serve other people. Like that’s what we're really here for at the end of the day. You can do what you want and have a great time and you can do it really well. Hard work was a big thing in our house too but serving-- I remember going to-- I grew up in church-- my mum-- we would have ‘room at the inn’ which is where people from the homeless community would come sleep at the church and you would prepare a meal for them and like setup the beds and all that stuff and my mum-- I was there as a little, little kid helping with that and I’d say ‘room at the inn’ was probably the first thing I can think off.

My mum would help with foster kids sometimes and then just being in youth group when I was in high school, you’re doing mission trips so I helped clean up Hurricane Katrina when that happened. Worked with a homeless rehabilitation program in Denver which was cool, helped build the like-- all kinds of stuff for a big national park in Missouri, like, yeah there’s been a lot…

At the end of the day I don’t think that’s unique to me but I think I’ve tapped into-- most humans eventually realise we’re happiest when we feel purposeful and when we are serving other people in some way. And I’m really lucky that my parents turned that switch on from a young age but that’s the stuff that makes me the most excited. Like, if it’s a trip I just kind of-- I just described trips and events and that’s cool because that stuff does definitely shape how I get to be me today but it’s not just that, it’s the little interactions, it's the, helping out a friend when they need xyz, it’s the, sending the handwritten note. My mother made me do that all the time and I hated it but now I do it all the time and I make my interns do it.

So, now I get to play this game of; how do I-- I now own businesses so… how do I incorporate service and community mindedness into the bones of my businesses. It’s all adding value, at the end of the day, I’m adding value to people with everything that I do and not entirely in an altruistic way as I recognise that’s what makes me the happiest anyway [laughs]. Because you’d like to think there’s some selflessness because it’s not always something that I want to do necessarily or that I want to prioritise but there’s nothing-- I’ve been around the most famous and successful people in the world and the happiest ones are the ones who don’t really care about that stuff and they’re focusing on, “how do I give back to my family, my friends, my community?” And a lot of people have got a lot of money and a lot of sadness, it’s interesting.

You did a lot of interning to build up your experience, how did you find it?

[Laughs] depends which one you are talking about! Internships are great if you-- it’s interesting, how do you guys (Australians) learn? Do you just kind of have to-- how does an employer hire a new--

Lorenzo: You’ll get a junior position, that tends to be the way it works. With internships, even if you have one they can only be for about three months before you have to start being paid...

Alex: Oh, interesting, that’s a good thing. We need to implement that! Yeah, I-- internships are great, I had one where I was the intern/office manager for a marketing company. Then I had one with the athletics department at my school, had one at a news station, had one out in L.A. before I ever graduated with a bunch of different places and it’s great because it's kind of low pressure. You really are there to learn and if the company and the leadership there are doing what they should be doing, they know that so they put you in positions that you're not-- it’s nice to have a little responsibility because then you learn but there’s nothing riding on you because you’re not getting paid most likely. You just get to watch and I have made-- internships are great for figuring out what you don’t want to do as well, as I discovered.

But I think you end up making-- that’s where you really start building your network so that’s how it led me to where I am because the summer I was in L.A. as an intern; so many people that I connected with through those internships are now clients, mentors, have hired me, you know. So with my interns I wanted to do something similar in that, “yeah, you’re working for me and we’re going to get this stuff done but then--” I love naming stuff, so I have ‘HybridHouse Calls’ [laughs] get it?

We have house calls come in all summer long where I was bringing in people from other realms of the industry (in which) I am not an expert. I brought in my friend who writes feature films and another friend who works on The Ellen Degeneres Show and this kind of stuff so that the interns could, you know, that person sat there, told their story and then they did a little Q&A so they could learn as much as they possibly could and connect with these people. I only brought people in that I knew-- you know they’re interesting and really successful but also, these are people who, when my interns email them two years from now, “remember me?”, they’ll respond and they’ll do what they can because I think, if you care a lot about workplace culture and leadership and I think-- I don’t know how it is in Australia but I think we could do a much better job in The States of-- work should not be this thing that people are dreading.

I hate stupid memes about, “oh Monday, I want to die!” Then stop doing what you’re doing, and I mean that. We work most of our lives and if you know you’re going to work for sixty years or more why the heck are you doing something you don’t like to do? So I’m very conscious as I’m building my businesses, it’s kind of the same thing as making sure that service is woven in that I want the culture of my office, which is my apartment currently [laughs] to be somewhere that people want to be where they feel valued and appreciated and you know, that includes who you bring into the environment.

I just realised I hadn’t had, outside of my home, I hadn’t had a tonne of great leaders in my career and I’m like, “I’ve turned out alright” [laughs] but there’s been enough experience where I look and I say, “okay, this person was really good at this but they made me feel like blah” and now there’s this thing where I get the opportunity to learn from someone else’s mistakes and do something better!

Work should not be this thing that people are dreading.

With your move to L.A., this must been a exciting and a little scary how did you find it?

It was scary but it wasn’t, I think I just knew-- I just did another interview recently where I realised, “do I sound like an asshole? I kind of sound like an asshole because I’m not scared” [laughs] but I don’t live from a place of fear and I think that people do, people really do and they don’t call it that, but your living from; is it playing safe? Is it playing small? Or there’s, so many... comfort. But I just refuse to do that because we have one shot at this whole thing, so if I’m going to go for it personally.

So, yeah, I mean I can’t say that it was easy because it wasn’t and I couch surfed when I first moved out here. I drove my truck-- when I drove out to be an intern the first time I was supposed to sublet an apartment from USC student and she emailed me the night before we were to drive across the country-- I’d never been to L.A., never even visited L.A. before I moved out here for two and a half month as an intern-- and this girl [laughs] says, “sorry I sublet it to somebody else” and that was it. My parents were certainly not thrilled with like, “alright, we’re letting you drive across the country now to, nowhere to live!”

That was my first experience of being really humble and having to ask for help and staying with people who were like, loose connections. It wasn’t the safest thing I’ve ever done, living out of my car basically. I never slept in it but like literally my whole life was just in my car and I’d go out there to get my clothes. So I think, when I survived that first summer and all that mess, moving officially, I just knew it was right and I knew that people get scared and I urge people to think, “what’s the worst that could happen?” Truly, what’s the worst that could happen? And for me I got all the way down to be homeless and starving but that’s impossible because I have a family that loves me so I can go home. So, the worst that could happen is that I have to go home? Then I have no excuse to not at least try.

So yeah, moving out and knowing I have this support system behind me. I didn’t have a job when I came out (to L.A.) so I did a lot of odd jobs. I was working fo BlackTree and getting my foot in the door but I wasn’t getting paid enough to support myself at all, so I was a nanny and a background extra on some shows and I did brand ambassador, they’d be like, “come and hold this thing” and I’d be like, “alright” [laughs]. So many little odd gigs and stuff but it was worth it, that time-- at no point did I not think it was going to work out. Again, not in like this conceited way but you actually have to believe in yourself that hard and sit there and say, “no, I am going to move and it’s going to take a while and I’m going to bust my butt but I can do this” and then you start meeting people because for me, the more I was on red carpets and got to practice my craft and realise, “I’m actually good at this” and then also be around these other people, they’re all wonderful and they’re all good at their jobs too but I could look at them and say, “they’re not any better-- they just have time on me. There’s no-- they’ve just being doing it longer.”

So I think when you just do, do that, it just becomes; what do you really love? And what are you willing to struggle for? But don’t be scared of it. I’m not a fun-- my coaching clients joke that I’m team “quit-your-job” but I’m like, “I’m not team quit-your-job. If you don’t like your job, then yes!”

I’m team, 'we-have-one-life-and-I-want-to-die-empty'. I did not come up with that phrase but I’ve expanded it in my own life but to 'die empty' means whether I live to be one-hundred and five and I’m lying there, I want to feel like I have nothing else to give. I want to give life and the people around me, every ounce of energy and dreams and love that I possibly could have, and I’m good [laughs], “take me now! Use my body for science, I’ll give you one more gift” [laughs].

So yeah, if that’s how you’re operating-- and what’s crazy is, that’s if I live to one-hundred and five but we don’t have any guarantee of any amount of time, I could walk outside right after this and get hit by a car so-- I’m not going to go do it on purpose, but I’m okay. I’m in a place where if that happened I think people will say of me, “she was really going for it.” Like there was no-- I would rather risk failure than deal with 'what if’s'. The 'what if' is the worst, makes my skin crawl, “what if I had just tried?” And we see that, if you’ve been around anyone oldish at all, it just breaks my heart when people are bitter and regretful and all these things at the end of their life and if did not have to be that way...

"The worst that could happen is that I have to go home? Then I have no excuse."
Caffeine & Concrete Vol. 33

You have a natural rapport with the celebrities on red carpets and junkets thanks to your quick wit and charm. Are there any techniques you have develop to keep your emotions in check and not get too overawed?

Yeah, [laughs], practice. I would say it’s just remembering people are people. At the end of the day, they’re people. It’s just that general attitude-- they just have time on someone-- I’d be lying if I said they were people that-- “I’ve been watching you in movies my entire life and now I’m standing here talking to you!” That’s not normal [laughs], that is not lost on me. No aspect of this industry at all even while I’m solidly working in it is lost on me. I’m not jaded but I think first of all they want to be treated like people-- you have your divas who I will not name, but people that really think their you know what doesn't stink but you treat them a certain way and then, “okay…” Those are few and far between. Most people really appreciate it when you don’t act-- because think about it, can you imagine not being able to go to the grocery story without people asking you for a photo? And that’s on a normal day. What about the days when you wake up and you don’t feel good and you’ve just been broken up with and your dog died and then people are still, “hey, hey, hey” and you still expect me to be happy and respond because then, “you’re a bitch!”

So I think just recognising that these are people who have the exact same problems that I do but have a giant magnifying lens on them. How do I respond to them off camera to make them feel comfortable, as like, “hey, I see you”, “good for you”, “I respect you”, “loved your work”, you know whatever and then on-camera technically a hosts job is to kind of disappear kind of-- yes you’re a TV personality so you’re going to see my personality but I’m the vessel for this audience who will never meet Oprah, to meet Oprah. So I come at it like, “what would I want to know if I were sitting at home watching this?” Or, “how would I want to respond” because you want to feel like they’re your friend you know so if you’re watching it through a screen it’s my job to be your avatar and help you get to know this friend so I think it works well with both things; the audience appreciates that and I think the actors do because they know I’m not bullshitting them, like kissing their butt but I’m also-- especially in that setting, you’re a peer.

Technically the journalist has power because you know that I can make you look good or bad in this moment and also I’m trying to help you sell tickets to your film mostly. So you kind of have the upper hand. I remember the first time I was around actors who-- very famous, big names, who seemed nervous. Not necessarily around me but like nervous in the situation and thinking, “you’re so and so! How am I-- I’m nobody” and there was this kind of perspective check of, “oh, yeah, everybody's just people.” Everyone wants to be liked, especially people who make a living by playing other people. Sometimes there’s a lot of anxiety around, “I have to be myself now? And what does that even mean? Who I actually am versus who people perceive me to be because of my job.”

So, I think just coming at it and being like, “hello, other human being, let’s talk about what we’re here to talk about” [laughs]. And you can fangirl, I think, once you have a rapport with certain people or people who-- Meryl Streep knows that she’s Meryl Streep, like it’s okay to do a little hint of like, “I’m freaking out right now!” and let them know. It is kind of this balance of, no you can't be all goofy but they're not stupid, they think it’s cool too so yeah I think you can tell them. I told Sir Anthony Hopkins I was fangirling, one of the few times I can remember using the work ‘fangirl’ and he said-- I said, “I’m fangirling so hard right now, I don’t know-- do I call you sir? What do I call you?” And he was like, “Call me Tony” and I like lost it [laughs].

Recognising that these are people who have the exact same problems that I do but have a giant magnifying lens on them.

You're always sharing positive messages on social media and becoming more and more of an online influencer, do you feel a certain responsibility in that?

Social media is great but it’s also terrible so I’m trying to stay on what I personally consider the right side of it as much as I can. I think if you’re somebody who has eyeballs on you in any way, I believe you have a responsibility in some way for what you’re putting out there. And some people don’t, I’ve been in this debate with people who say, “it’s not my fault if people want to follow me so I’m just going to do me and if I-- I’m not trying to be a role-model.” Okay, that’s fine, but you are! If you want to be or not you are and whether you want to take that responsibility on or not, there are people watching you.

So for me it becomes-- there’s a certain level of pressure I guess but not really. I take it as more of a honour and a privilege than a stress and responsibility, like “I don’t know why you're all watching me but if you're going to, I’m going to use this as an opportunity to hopefully make your life better.”

That’s what I really want. I think you can, you know, there’s the realm of like Instagram and specifically-- that’s where my biggest audience is and it’s either-- you’ve got the “Insta-hos” as they say, “like I’m going to get on here and post pictures of my butt.” Cool, great, if I started doing that I would have a lot more followers than I do [laughs] and you know what girls, make your money, good-- are you investing it? That’s my question, are you smart longevity-wise? But-- I say that like tongue in cheek, kind of joking, but I do mean it. I think my generation, the millennials are the first true guinea pigs for; how is this stuff really affecting us? We don’t know. We are the first ones-- we didn’t even fully grow up with it, Gen Z underneath us, they’re being surveyed and statistically they’re depressed, they don’t know how to have lasting relationships in real life, their anxiety is through the roof, all this stuff because of social media in a very, very large part.

So for me, knowing that and caring about people the way that I do, it’s just become; anything I post needs to, I’ve already said, add value but-- it can be very real and it might not be super happy, you know “everything’s going to be great” because that’s not real [laughs].

To answer your question, my lens on life in general and it is because of my personality but I just can’t take that much credit, it’s so much because of my faith and where I really put the things about me and what I put my identity into and the people around me, give me this position to speak from, somebody who has problems and struggles and really crap days just like anybody else but overall I’m a very joyful, grounded person because all this shit doesn’t matter at the end of the day. So if you come at it like that then yeah most of what I say is probably positive and probably going to be, at least intending to be encouraging.

And my audience is funny because a lot of them are from Complex which was when-- that’s like the cool sneaker boys and I wonder how you really like feel initially when you read my post about relationships or something? But, they need to read it too and it’s just my little contributions. I’ve no doubt that Instagram-- all this stuff is going to go away and this is probably what my book is about to be honest, like, “hey, this stuff is great and it’s connecting us and all this good stuff but are we finding our value in it? Do you feel less worth when you notice that you lost a bunch of followers?” And people do and I hear these conversations all the time. “Oh, they unfollowed me!” And I’m like, “what!?” And I’m not down playing that because it feels very real and it is a sense but then hey, let’s remember all the stuff that connects us in real life and since you guys are watching me on here, I guess this is where I’m going to talk about it...

You’ve recently kicked off your own production company HybridHouse Productions? Tell me more about that and what’s next for Alex?

What’s nex? I want to continue building HybridHouse, I would like to move into the scripted world as quickly as I can. Unscripted is great, in that it’s a really fun place to dive into a lot of issues but a lot of storytelling TV right now-- I mean the quality of television shows is through the roof. So, yeah, I don’t have any intention of-- I’m not really trying to be a full-time producer, if you will, but what I wanted to do is establish the company so now, when something crosses my path that I want to help produce, it’s HybridHouse that’s doing it, it’s not really me. I wanted it outside of me also-- as I book things as an actor, you negotiate a producing credit with your company, so that’s that.

And then with coaching, the new, like I said, 'container' that it’s all in I’m super excited about and hoping to launch that very soon. Got to finish this book [laughs], it’s up here [points finger to head]-- I think I’m about to drive out to the desert for about a week and just write the damn thing [laughs] because I’m writing it here and there…

And continuing to act and build. I didn’t know the term serial-entrepreneur until about a year ago and then all of a sudden I’m like, "shit, that’s what I am! Oh oh!" Like everything other day something pops into my head and I’m like, “oh, that’ll make a really good… STOP!” Not that, that’s bad but there’s a level of you know, “focus on what you’re doing right now.”

Yeah, what’s next is a fun question for me because there’s always-- I’ll never be done, ever. There’s always something swirling around in here [points finger to head] so-- hopefully money! [Laughs] There you go, shout out to anyone reading this; feel free to just send me a large sum of cash and then I can really make some movies and hire some people [laughs], that’s what I want.

Follow Alex on Twitter (@A_Hudge) and Instagram (@A_Hudge).
Follow HybridHouse Productions on Twitter (@HybridHouseProd) and Instagram (@hybridhouseproductions)

Photography by Nicole Balsamo. Proofreading by Luke Yates.