Swiss and Lali Hijack Hollywood is a comedy podcast written and produced by Raul Vega and his Phantom Ape Productions studio. Geeks World Wide spoke with Raul about his work as an audio engineer at Hans Zimmer’s studio and the creation and production of Swiss and Lali.
Swiss and Lali Hijack Hollywood was a new creative project for Vega after his successful Rose Drive podcast. The show and characters were also a creative outlet during COVID related isolation. Vega stated, “This is our way of coping during all of last year, and not seeing any of our friends. We kept our group very small.” Consequently, this small group of talented and creative individuals produced a fertile environment for humor and outlandish situations.
Swiss, Kristin Couture, and Lali, Aparna Brielle, stumble through a series of misadventures on their way to Hollywood. The hilarious cast of characters and situations leads to light-hearted fun and biting humor. This sense of humor was a welcome escape from COVID when the podcast released in the fall of 2020. Fortunately, this sense of humor grew and expanded over the sixteen episode season, which just wrapped up at the end of 2021.
Character Development & COVID
The series took a hiatus after the first twelve episodes when COVID numbers rose. Fortunately, this pause provided time for Vega to find the mental and creative energy to return to the. Furthermore, while the plot was initially loose, the time away during a spike in COVID numbers provided the opportunity to create a more structured story. This resulted in a plot that builds toward the conclusion released this past fall. Vega reflected that the “finale was a great opportunity for us to be able to get all of our friends back together.”
“At the end of the day, when you’re just working with amazing professional actors, giving them the liberty to just take this idea and actually realize it in a way that you can couldn’t even really imagine is so much fun.”
Vega was able to bring friends back together. Friends that included cast members from his previous Rose Drive podcast. Along with friends and co-stars of Aparna Brielle (Lali) on A.P. Bio. The time also provided Vega the opportunity to weave the story and characters tighter in the second half of the series to create an epic three-part season finale. A season finale which included guest star and A.P. Bio alum Patton Oswalt. “He [Oswalt] was such a good sport about it too, because if you notice, when you listen to it, we don’t ever say his name and that’s, you know, until the very end.”
Future of Swiss & Lali
And while season one is completed, Vega is already scripting out a lot of ideas for future seasons. The success of Swiss and Lali is creating opportunities to expand. “We always told ourselves from the very beginning, we are only going to do this show as long as it’s fun.” After the success of the first season, there are avenues to secure additional financing for seasons and plenty of ideas for the characters.
Swiss and Lali started with a series of initial cartoons that created the tone for the characters and the series. Now Vega is exploring the option of one-off episodes centered around the various side characters. He talked about a wealth of creative energy in the characters and their actors. Vega acknowledged fan requests for more Buster Kitty. Period.
“I can write as much dialog as I want for Swiss and Lali, but they’re the ones who know exactly at this point how to deliver it because they know the characters so intimately.”
Writing Characters
As the creator of characters and sole writer, Raul recognizes he is “pretty diligent” about defining the character. Although the character cartoons helped to define and create a foundation and defined the characters. Vega gladly admits that Brielle and Kristin Couture (Swiss) have such great chemistry and were able to build their characters over the course of the series.
“At the end of the day, when you’re just working with amazing professional actors, giving them the liberty to just take this idea and actually realize it in a way that you couldn’t even really imagine is so much fun.”
Vega recalled times when he wrote lines for Swiss, but Brielle and Couture swapped them because they fit better with the other. “I can write as much dialog as I want for Swiss and Lali, but they’re the ones who know exactly at this point how to deliver it because they know the characters so intimately.”
Beyond knowing and expanding their characters, both co-stars brought additional support to Swiss and Lali’s production. Brielle designed the website and ran social media. Couture brought in funding. Vega praised his time with both and the rest of the cast stating that working with “people that want to get down and dirty with you is so much fun.”
Swiss & Lali Studio Production
Our conversation shifted to sound production for Swiss and Lali and Vega’s audio engineering experience. Vega described working with audio tracks recorded in a variety of environments. And the creative and fulfilling creative challenge of bringing the tracks together as one cohesive sound. The editing is designed to make it sound like a studio recording.
And while the three-part finale was recorded in Vega’s in-home studio, Raul’s industry experience and talent created a high level of professional audio quality throughout the series. Music also adds to Swiss and Lali’s quality of production. Hannah Parrott composed the main theme. Additionally, they created blocks of score. This allowed Vega to mix the music throughout the episodes. Thematically, he frequently returned to the musical themes for character recognition. Vega described the use of consistent musical themes mirrored the limited character growth of Swiss and Lali during the season.
Industry Insight & Professional Growth
Finally, we discussed Raul’s path into the industry. From a Cal State music student, to intern with Hans Zimmer’s studio, to working in the industry as an engineer at Zimmer’s studio. Raul Vega has remained creative and successful. Vega’s experiences and projects with Zimmer have varied. Recently, he provided digital instrument preparation for such blockbusters as Wonder Woman 1984, No Time to Die, and Dune.
Digital instrument preparation involves recording notes, musical articulations, and dynamics and transferring them into blocks of sound. These blocks of sound are edited and mixed as musical scores are produced. Vega shared about his own growth as an audio engineer in the intense but supportive environment of Zimmer’s studio. He described his success as coming from “a really strong support system” where everyone is helping each other learn through struggles and small failures to find success. Vega stressed the importance of learning from mistakes and understanding “how to avoid making that mistake again.”
Audio Narratives & Future Projects
Raul Vega started podcasting to expand his portfolio and explore sound and story. Rose Drive and the success of Swiss and Lali Hijack Hollywood accomplished this. He needed to teach himself the tools and techniques. And continued to learn and grow creatively. Fortunately, Vega is not finished creating audio narratives that “let your imagination kind of dictate the visuals in your mind.”
Sit down, listen to something and just kind of get lost in the story.
Vega wants to keep pushing at his own creative boundaries and knowledge areas. He plans to grow into his next creative challenge: writing for TV and other visual mediums. But until then, Vega has more audio narratives to tell. And is currently working on a horror series. Regardless of the genre, Vega wants people to, “sit down, listen to something and just kind of get lost in the story.”
Swiss and Lali may have started as a way to cope during COVID, but it’s become a successful creative endeavor. Now it is a new enterprise more than just an outlet.