‘Nobody Knows Nothing’: Showrunner Brian Volk-Weiss on Creating Content in the Streaming Age

David Shultz

David Shultz reports on clean technology and electric vehicles, among other industries, for dot.LA. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Outside, Nautilus and many other publications.

‘Nobody Knows Nothing’: Showrunner Brian Volk-Weiss on Creating Content in the Streaming Age

It's only 11am, but Brian Volk-Weiss is on his 7th or 8th meeting of the day when we finally get a chance to talk. No surprise there—who has time for sleep when you've got over over a dozen different projects in post-production alone?


As the 45-year-old founder and CEO of The Nacelle Company, a Burbank-based production company that specializes in pop culture docuseries, books, comedy and podcasts, he's worked with companies including Netflix, Amazon and HBO to build a media empire that he hopes one day will rival Viacom.

Volk-Weiss is perhaps most famous for directing the two docuseries "The Movies That Made Us" and "The Toys that Made Us," which use their respective subject matter to examine the broader influence of pop culture. His latest project, "The Center Seat: 55 Years Of Trek," is a 10-part special about one of America's most beloved sci-fi series. The first episode debuted on November 5th on The History Channel.

dot.LA spoke with Volk-Weiss about his obsession with pop culture, how COVID has changed the industry and how he picks a project in an age where data is boundless and audience expectations shift at a moment's notice.

dot.LA: First things first, how do we pronounce your company, "Nacelle?" And where did the name come from?

Brian Volk-Weiss: "Nuh-cell." A Nacelle, first of all, is a real thing: It holds the engine onto a vehicle. When you're looking out the wing at an airplane and you see the engine, it looks like a beautiful part of the plane. If you take the engine out of the plane, it's this big nasty jumble of pipes and wires. Whatever holds the engine to anything, that's a nacelle. I liked that as a concept, because a lot of what we do is work with talent—like Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, Amy Poehler, whatever. I view our job as basically supporting their vision.

I learned of the term, as most people do—if they're even aware of it—from "Star Trek." If you look at the Enterprise [spacecraft], what people who are not Trekkies would call the "wing"—those wings are the nacelle."Star Trek" is a massive franchise. How do you even begin to tackle a project like that?

We start with massive amounts of research. The research goes on for about six to eight weeks, then we start doing pre-interviews; between the research and the pre-interviews, our story editors start to put together what we think the episode is going to be. Then we start shooting.

One of my little secrets about directing these types of documentaries is to find the lawyers. The lawyers, very often, are the only people at these giant companies that see everything. They see the marketing; they see the production; they see the post-production; they see the sales reports.

So, I was obsessed with getting a lawyer from Kenner [the company that makes "Star Wars" toys]. It took forever to find him, and I think he was 88 or 89 years old. His name was Jim Kipling. By the time we did the interview, I think we'd almost locked the first cut to send to Netflix. But in the interview, he casually said that Kenner got the lion's share of the money from the toys, not George Lucas. This was the opposite of what everybody had been told their entire lives! So after we were able to confirm what he'd told us was true, we literally tore the episode apart and started again.

How has your approach to creating content changed as the industry has evolved?

The real change wasn't driven by the industry, it was driven by COVID. We were in production on a lot of shows last year when COVID hit, so we had to design these remote camera systems that we could FedEx to people in cases. Now that things are going back to regular shooting, we're still using those to a certain degree.

It's like a force multiplier. If we were budgeted to do 40 standard interviews with a pre-COVID methodology, now we can do 65 interviews. Forty of them will be the regular thing where we get on a plane, and we set up lights, and we interview them. But for 25 of them, we'll keep shipping these kits and do them that way. And the people we're sending kits to, very often they're people that are only important for one or two very specific things. Sending a remote camera kit allows us to get stuff that, before COVID, we wouldn't've even bothered trying to do.

What's in the kit?

It's two cameras, two tripods, two lighting bars, two audio recording devices, a mixer and three hard drives, two of which are backups.

Anything else coming out of COVID that you think will be a permanent change for the industry?

Viewing habits have changed drastically. We have so many people now watching our content on places like Tubi. Tubi was something I never even knew our library was on. Now they're one of our best partners. COVID got people watching things in ways and in a volume that I believe is unprecedented.

How do you adapt to that as a content creator?

The streaming services, they're all different, but the main thing is that A) they just have a confidence I've never seen before, and B) it's a much more worldwide thing than other companies. When we're working for Netflix or Disney Plus we're constantly talking about the whole world. When we're dealing with The History Channel, it's all about the USA.

What do you mean when you say that the streaming companies have a confidence that you've never seen before?

I'm not giving any secrets here, but the cable business, it's not what it was 10 years ago, let alone 20 years ago. Netflix, Disney Plus, all these other companies are all kicking ass, so they're like, "Yeah do whatever you want! I'm sure it'll be great!" Some of the older companies, they're more traditional and there's just a lot more back and forth.

Do you think the old model opted for quality over quantity while the new model is just sort of throwing things at the wall to see what sticks?

I don't think quality has gone down at all. I think this started probably with "The Sopranos," but I think quality is as good if not better than ever. What I always say about Netflix is that it's really hard to sell a show to [them]. But once you sell the show, it's kind of up to you. They really really trust the filmmaker. At some of the older companies, there's a lot more "Oh I don't know if people will like this."

The truth is you don't know what people are going to think until it comes out. I mean, Netflix will be the first people to tell you they didn't know "Squid Game" was going to be "Squid Game." Some of the newer companies are more at peace with the fact that nobody knows what the public is going to like

It's almost like the VC model for investing in startups: You just have to trust the founders.

Exactly.

Do you think we're improving our ability to predict what's a hit or are we learning it's even more esoteric than we ever imagined?

I think we are absolutely not improving. I don't think it can be improved upon. Netflix has more data than any content company in history and they still have things that they spend a lot of money on that bomb and things that they don't spend a lot of money on that are huge. "Squid Game," I think, is the first planetary TV show. They spent $20 million on it. That's nothing! They have movies now that are between $100 and $250 million apiece.

Another example I like to point out: Watch the Youtube video where Steve Jobs introduces the iPod. He's on stage with 5 different products. It's a 90-minute presentation. He spends 88 minutes on the other four products. Twelve months after that presentation, the iPod has literally saved the company, and all four of those other products—one of which was like a printer, one of which was like a phone, I don't fucking know—but all four of the other products were not being sold 12 months later. Nobody knows nothing.

In a world where nobody knows nothing, how do you navigate those waters? How do you, in your own words, make Nacelle the next Viacom?

I was a manager for a long time—over 10 years. I would have clients that could sell 15 to 20,000 tickets in B and C markets. I'm not talking about New York and Boston and L.A. I would have a client who could sell 25,000 tickets in Albuquerque, and I'd be talking to Comedy Central and they'd say, "Oh I don't think people are going to like that." This comedian, with no marketing, has sold two million tickets in 10 months, and you're saying you know better than he does what the people want?

I just trust the artist.

How do you decide whom to trust?

Very, very, very carefully. In this day and age, everybody wants to talk spreadsheets and Google docs and algorithms and all this other crap. At least for me, I just go with my gut. We're doing a book now with Jenny Mollen. Is this a book I would've bought for myself if I saw it walking through Barnes and Noble? Hell no! No offense Jenny. That being said, her other books were successful, and she is a hard-working person. I know based on her first two books, it's going to be a good book and I know she's going to work her ass off promoting it. If the book bombs—which I know it won't—I will sleep well at night knowing I made a good decision.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

LA Tech Week 2025: Sunday’s Event Lineup

Here's the Sunday, October 19th lineup for LA Tech Week 2025, organized by location so you can easily explore events that fit your goals and schedule. Dive in and see what’s happening near you!

ARTS DISTRICT

3:00 PM

BEL AIR

3:00 PM – 7:00 PM

BURBANK

6:30 PM – 9:30 PM

CULVER CITY

9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

4:30 PM – 7:30 PM

INGLEWOOD

10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

  • Spinovation: The Future Is Femme, The Future is Frequency: See Details Here
    Sonder Impact, Black Women Spin, Sip & Sonder

KOREATOWN

12:00 PM – 3:00 PM

MARINA DEL REY

12:00 PM

  • Sunday Tech Brunch
    Sawubona

MID CITY

9:00 AM – 11:00 AM

  • Women in Cleantech Hike and Network: See Details Here
    Women in Cleantech and Sustainability

SANTA MONICA

9:00 AM

10:00 AM

3:45 PM

4:00 PM – 7:30 PM

  • OFF THE HOOK Santa Monica Seafood Festival: See Details Here
    Spin PR Group, City of Santa Monica, Tech St.

6:00 PM

7:00 PM

  • Pritam: A Musical Legend - Live in Concert: See Details Here
    American South Asian Network

7:00 PM

  • Building AI workflow editor in React with Workflow Builder SDK: See Details Here
    Workflow Builder

7:00 PM

8:00 PM

  • Unlock Apple's Corporate Advantage for your Startup!: See Details Here
    iStore by St. Moritz

TOPANGA CANYON

3:00 PM

  • Dreamore Hike and Picnic: LA Tech Week: *Invite Only*
    Dreamore

VENICE

10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

  • Coffee, Walk, and Schmooze: See Details Here
    JFE (Jews For Entrepreneurship) Network

VIRTUAL (LA)

10:00 AM

  • Level Up with LinkedIn: A Student’s Guide to Networking & Opportunities (Virtual Event): See Details Here
    FIMAC

10:00 AM

WEST ADAMS

1:00 PM – 3:00 PM

For updates or more event information, visit the official Tech Week calendar.

Enjoy LA Tech Week 2025!

Download the dot.LA App


LA Tech Week 2025: Saturday’s Event Lineup

Here's the Saturday, October 18th lineup for LA Tech Week 2025, organized by location so you can easily explore events that fit your goals and schedule. Dive in and see what’s happening near you!

BEVERLY HILLS

2:00 PM

CENTURY CITY

7:00 PM – 10:00 PM

CULVER CITY

9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

10:00 AM – 11:30 AM

1:00 PM

DTLA

7:00 PM

  • {MiniMax x Nakid x SkyPortalx}: TECH/MOTION/MUSIC/ART: See Details Here
    MiniMax (Hailuo AI)

10:00 PM – 2:00 AM

EL SEGUNDO

10:00 AM

  • Venture on the Green: *Invite Only*
    BLCK VC

4:00 PM

INGLEWOOD

7:00 PM

  • Valar Atomics, Durin and Discipulus Ventures - Night With A Nuclear Reactor: See Details Here
    Valar Atomics, Durin, Discipulus Ventures

MARINA DEL REY

8:30 AM

12:00 PM – 3:00 PM

5:00 PM

  • LOST iN Sunset Sail: Navigating the Tides of the Creator Economy & Media: See Details Here
    LOST iN

PASADENA

9:00 AM

PLAYA VISTA

2:00 PM – 4:00 PM

SANTA MONICA

7:00 AM

9:00 AM

  • Pedal & Network: Tech Cyclists @ LA Tech Week 🚵: See Details Here
    Instafill.ai

9:30 AM

  • Getty Center Guided Tour & (Optional) Photography Scavenger Hunt: See Details Here
    NEW MOON Impact Productions

10:30 AM – 11:30 AM

11:00 AM – 2:15 PM

12:00 PM – 5:00 PM

1:00 PM – 5:00 PM

1:30 PM

  • Self-Defense in Court and the Streets: See Details Here
    Santa Monica Striking, Luri Inc.

2:00 PM

  • SMARTUP 500: THE FIRST AT TECH WEEK LA - Launching the world’s first Startup Ranking: See Details Here
    Smart Times

2:00 PM

  • NLPs (No Lame Panels) The Creator X Founder Rooftop Party: See Details Here
    Startup Village, Sanctuary

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

4:00 PM – 6:30 PM

  • Just Do It?: Helping Founders Perform Like Olympians: See Details Here
    Elite Psychology Group

5:00 PM

6:00 PM

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

6:00 PM

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

  • The Future of Hospitality: Poetry, Provenance & Passports: See Details Here
    Villa Kitchen, Airble, We Speak Dance, Techstars San Francisco

7:00 PM

  • 🚀 Investor x Founder Open Mic Pitches: See Details Here
    Feathr, Los Angeles Fun Events

7:00 PM

  • Life is a Pitch - LA Edition: *Invite Only*
    DeepMyst

TOPANGA CANYON

5:00 PM – 8:30 PM

  • Walk&Jam: Use AI to make art while hiking Topanga Canyon: See Details Here
    Formhaus llc, Wonderland Immersive Design

TORRANCE

1:00 PM – 4:00 PM

  • Crunches & Conversations Presented by The Differentials and KIS Training Studios: See Details Here
    The Differentials, KIS Training Studios

VENICE

1:00 PM – 4:30 PM

  • Beyond the Language Barrier: Exploring AI's Next Frontier: See Details Here
    Medusa AI

VENICE BEACH

8:00 AM – 12:00 PM

  • SŨRFED Club @ Venice Beach: Founders, Creators, Investors share the waves: See Details Here
    SŨRFED Club, Go Vitamins

WEST ADAMS

9:30 AM – 10:45 AM

  • Funders Shaping Democracy, AI & Media: See Details Here
    New Media Ventures, New Rising Ventures

WEST HOLLYWOOD

4:00 PM

6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

9:30 PM

  • Vibe Check Comedy Show, Tech Week Edition! @ Hollywood Improv: See Details Here
    Vibe Check Comedy

For updates or more event information, visit the official Tech Week calendar.

Enjoy LA Tech Week 2025!

Download the dot.LA App


LA Tech Week 2025: Friday’s Event Lineup

Here's the Friday, October 17th lineup for LA Tech Week 2025, organized by location so you can easily explore events that fit your goals and schedule. Dive in and see what’s happening near you!

ARTS DISTRICT

8:30 AM – 12:00 PM

  • Power Day: Ideas, Pitches, Connections: See Details Here
    Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI)

6:00 PM

  • WEB3 GAMING IS DEAD - Happy Hour: See Details Here
    Plassa Capital, Yee-Haw Monster Trucks

BEVERLY HILLS

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

4:00 PM

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

  • So you went viral, Now what? (pt II): See Details Here
    Verci, Study Fetch, TechSpace

8:00 PM

  • Private Pool: GP x LP x FO: *Invite Only*
    Visionlist Commons , Bay Area Innovest

BRENTWOOD

8:00 AM

  • Founders & Investors Hike: See Details Here
    Salehpour Legal, Technology Founders of America

CARSON

11:45 AM

  • Lightspeed x SVB Porsche Experience: *Invite Only*
    Lightspeed Venture Partners, SVB

CULVER CITY

8:00 AM – 6:00 PM

11:00 AM

1:00 PM

  • Surf Parks & Wave Pools: From Doja Cat to Mark Zuckerberg: See Details Here
    Surflytics

8:00 PM – 12:00 AM

EL SEGUNDO

11:30 AM – 2:00 PM

5:00 PM – 8:00 PM

HOLLYWOOD

10:00 AM

  • AI, Revenue, and Reality: How Fortune 500s Work With Startups That Ship: See Details Here
    Sunrise AI, OpenTable

12:00 PM – 2:00 PM

  • Unplugged: LA Tech Week Recharge Experience with TAY × Checked Out: See Details Here
    TAY Fitness, Checked Out

9:00 PM

INGLEWOOD

8:00 AM

  • TCSI Presents: Caffeine & Connections: See Details Here
    The Cyber Security Intellects Nonprofit

LONG BEACH

7:00 AM

MALIBU

10:00 AM

  • Great Leaders Podcast & Profiles: See Details Here
    NEW MOON Impact Productions, Origin Studios

12:30 PM

MARINA DEL REY

9:00 AM

  • Keeping Your Freedom as a Founder: Real Talk on Funding: See Details Here
    Lighter Capital

10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

  • D-Wave Research Day & Hackathon!: See Details Here
    USC Information Sciences Institute, D-Wave

4:00 PM – 6:00 PM

  • The Sky is Not the Limit: All About Aerospace: See Details Here
    Sunstone Management, USC Viterbi Startup Garage

PASADENA

10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

11:30 AM – 1:30 PM

  • Deep Tech Entrepreneurship Pillars of Pasadena Tech: See Details Here
    Innovate Pasadena, Pasadena SBDC, City of Pasadena

PLAYA VISTA

9:00 AM

12:00 PM – 2:00 PM

  • Vision to Venture - AI Media Showcase powered by Google AI: See Details Here
    Google

SANTA MONICA

7:00 AM – 8:30 AM

  • Signal Run : RTC x Wildwood VC: See Details Here
    Run Tech Club, Wildwood Ventures

7:30 AM

8:45 AM – 10:45 AM

9:00 AM – 11:00 AM

  • Slash Burn Rates & Scale Your Startup: See Details Here
    Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA)

9:00 AM

  • Driving a Digital Ecology Relay: What is at Stake: See Details Here
    The PORT GLOBAL, GLOBAL PORTAL INSTITUTE

9:30 AM – 11:30 AM

10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

  • The Enduring Value of Inclusive Capital: See Details Here
    Founders Registry. Nervana

10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

10:30 AM

11:30 AM – 1:00 PM

  • Advisors to Investors Lunch: Venture Capital for enterprise leaders: See Details Here
    Collinear Capital, Worlds

12:00 PM

  • Powerhouse Capital & a16z speedrun Investor Lunch Mixer: See Details Here
    Powerhouse Capital, a16z, speedrun

2:00 PM

  • Where Robotics Meets Heart - Embedding Family Values in a Future with AI: See Details Here
    Trove, Puerto Rico Blockchain Association, MindfulBytes

2:00 PM

3:00 PM

3:00 PM

3:00 PM

  • Workshop: Create An Enterprise Chatbot and Unlock the 70% of Data Data You’re Not Using: See Details Here
    Aparavi

4:00 PM

5:00 PM – 10:00 PM

5:30 PM

5:30 PM – 9:30 PM

6:00 PM – 8:30 PM

  • USC Alumni Founders & Investors: See Details Here
    USC Alumni Entrepreneurship Network, Techstars

6:00 PM

  • Social Currency Series/Greenlit presents PitchPop: See Details Here
    Social Currency Series, Greenlit

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

6:30 PM

6:30 PM – 10:00 PM

6:30 PM

  • Lets get the LA Bioeconomy brewing: See Details Here
    Founders, Friends & Fermentation, Saku Biosciences

7:00 PM – 11:30 PM

7:00 PM – 10:00 PM

7:00 PM – 10:00 PM

7:00 PM

7:00 PM

  • Liquid Equity 2: The Premiere Gathering for Founders, Creator
    Coeus Collective

7:00 PM

7:00 PM

  • For the Love of Tech | Speed Dating for Tech Professionals: See Details Here
    Feathr, Los Angeles Fun Events

7:00 PM

SOUTH LA

3:00 PM

TORRANCE

9:00 AM – 11:00 AM

  • The Future of Space & Security Panel: See Details Here
    Northwood Space, Anduril Industries, Impulse Space, Astranis

VENICE

9:00 AM – 10:45 AM

9:00 AM – 11:30 AM

11:00 AM

11:30 AM – 2:30 PM

12:30 PM

  • Creative Partners: Human + AI Storytelling: See Details Here
    Othelia, Primordial Soup

2:00 PM – 3:45 PM

5:00 PM

  • EarthHouse: Critical Minerals, Mobility & Modern Power: See Details Here
    The Strategye Group, Alpha Sierra One

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

6:00 PM

  • Pizza+Soda: *Invite Only*
    Schmoozd , The KINN

7:00 PM

VENICE BEACH

2:00 PM – 6:30 PM

5:00 PM

8:30 PM – 2:00 AM

VIRTUAL (LA)

2:30 PM – 4:00 PM

3:00 PM

  • Government of Alberta: ProcurementAsCode // Done in 60 Seconds: See Details Here
    Government of Alberta

4:00 PM

  • Stop Hitting Yourself 🥊: See Details Here
    Stop Hitting Yourself, HOWDY, Company Policy, Snowbird Global

WEST HOLLYWOOD

3:00 PM – 6:00 PM

6:00 PM

WESTSIDE

5:00 PM

5:30 PM – 8:30 PM


For updates or more event information, visit the official Tech Week calendar.

Enjoy LA Tech Week 2025!

Download the dot.LA App


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