I met Marshall Herskovitz in the middle of the pandemic. And by "met," I mean the digital way so many of us forged deep connections during that surreal, suspended time. Marshall's voice, his presence, came through the screen with gravitas and warmth, like a lighthouse in a blackout.
We built a few ads together with Gregg Hurwitz and Billy Ray during the 2020 elections and 2022 midterms. And when I hear myself say that out loud, it’s never lost on me. I grew up on Marshall’s work. Thirtysomething was an iconic creation that encapsulated that post-80s vibe we all thought would go on forever. It was my parents version of Friends. His directorial debut Jack The Bear was stunning. It caught me right in my senior year of high school and really spoke to the undercurrent of rage in my aging teenage heart. His next series My So Called Life ushered working-class Americans into our 20s. We went from leggings and lockers to 50-hours-a-week and raising a family and we needed all the escape we could get. Enter his work as a producer with Legends of the Fall, Traffic, I Am Sam, and then as a writer with The Last Samurai and Love & Other Drugs? This man’s work has been a through line in my life for decades. I’ve been watching Marshall’s words since before I was a mom. Before I was responsible for other people.
I think about that every time I see him.
We first collaborated on Future Majority’s Built Not Bought 2.0, a beautiful short film made at the height of American chaos: civil unrest, rising fascism, pandemic fear. And from the start, I knew this man saw the world like I did: Not just through a lens, but through a soul. For weeks, Marshall and I poured over every shot. Every cut. Every sway of the music. I learned more about editing and filmmaking in those sleepless nights than I had in my entire life. His eye for film and storytelling has a direct line to his heart. He draws you in with mastery, and then just when you think there is no hope, he inspires you to rise. He shares what he knows with generosity and purpose. Never for gain or glory. Always for the greater good. Always to lift the standard of humanity.
Built Not Bought 2.0
We had been talking for hours one day at his home that he shares with his amazing wife Landry and he said, “Yeah, but Tiffany, aren’t you ever afraid of being Eleven Films?” Did I realize the position I had put myself in because of the content that we make and the narratives we were setting? Did I truly understand that my voice is a target? And to be honest, it didn’t even dawn on me to be scared until he said that.
Of course I realized the implications. Of course I had run it through mentally a thousand times and planned all the exits and thought about every potential outcome. I had accepted the possibility of being a target. Of course I had thoughts of the national guard pounding on my front door and SWATTING me right out of my own house. Running to the microwave and throwing the hard drives in. Flushing all the thumb drives like they’re cocaine and I’m Elaine Brocco in Goodfellas. But it never felt real until he asked me to my face.
As a kid raised on a steady diet of homilies, hose water, and hip hop, my first thoughts went to faith and music:
If you scared, go to church.
You knew the job was dangerous when you took it.
Gen X never thought we’d live to get old. We’ve always lived like we’re already dead. No one ever makes it out clean, so now we’re just surviving on pharmaceuticals and yacht rock until our last good joint goes out (see what I did there). Our parents sold us the lie of the after-school special, and instead we got abandonment, recession, crack, and deregulated everything. We were lied to. When we were finally old enough to get into the club, last call was a decade ago, all the house lights were on and there was puke in the corner. When that truth landed, we didn’t get a golden parachute of real estate and 401Ks. We had to re-buy and update all of our music with a 9-5 boot on our necks and the kids in the back seat of our barely-driveable shitbox.
So when you approach activism from that lens, you walk tall in your fate. You accept the storm. You learn to stop waiting for the sun to come back out. You become very Portland about it all. You know you’re in for an extended period of dark days so you just wear the rain because there is no point in umbrellas when it’s coming down from all directions. You understand that hope is dangerous because those sunny days are wayyy too far into the future to even smell on the wind. The promise of daylight feels as cold as the east wind in February. But surrender? Fear? Surrender and Fear are even more dangerous than Hope. Surrender and Fear won’t just take you down. They will take everyone down with you. And the only way acceptable way to go down as an activist is pissed off and swinging.
I knew what we were doing at Eleven Films was dangerous. Not because we ever physically threatened anyone, but because we were threatening The Machine by waking up The People. We were stirring up something they couldn’t control. Oligarchs and authoritarians need a docile, obedient public. I knew that by broadcasting the truth in our content, it was going to muddy their elitist waters. They weren’t going to like anything we had to say. And when they don’t like you, they come for you. It doesn’t matter what your deal is. Immigration. Gun regulation. Women’s autonomy. LGBTQ+ rights. Even a comedian. If you’re anti-anything this regime is doing, you’re an enemy within. When they can’t control you, you become vermin.
As 2024 rolled on and Governor Tim Walz declared, "We’ll sleep when we’re dead!," that became my new campaign slogan. There was no quitting. There was no hiding. Our Republic, if we could keep it, was up to us to defend.
No one was coming to save us.
As Marshall sat in the studio today, I asked him about his new podcast, The Rising on The Dangerous Ones Network. After everything he has seen and created politically, is he scared?
And do you want to know what my friend, my mentor, my comrade-in-arms who taught me what a difference 12 frames makes when cutting a scene said?
“Fear is the point. We have to stand up to the fear. We have to transcend all of these forces trying to push us down. Because this is a playbook we’ve all seen before.”
No sugarcoating. No chaser. Just straight truth. That is Marshall’s through line. Truth. Honesty. Morality. Ethical things are not always the easiest to do, but they are the most necessary to stop the march of fascism in America. It ain’t pretty, but it’s mandatory. The beauty comes from the community we build while tearing authoritarianism down. The bright days come in the aftermath of the storm. But 2025 is The Crossroads. This is where decisions must be made. Fascism is here, folks. It’s wrapped in a half-mast American flag. The Rising Podcast with Marshall Herskovitz and Nick Knudsen is going to make you think. It’s going to make you see not only how far we have drifted from the greatness we all know America could be, it’s going to show you how close it all still is if we just come together and do the hard work. This is where we all must dig down deep inside of ourselves and ask ourselves what we are willing to do for Democracy, for freedom, for not just our rights but the rights of every American. For the soul of this nation. For the betterment of the entire planet.
No pressure.
“Love has never been a popular movement. And no one's ever wanted, really, to be free. The world is held together, really it is held together, by the love and the passion of a very few people. Otherwise, of course, you can despair. Walk down the street of any city, any afternoon, and look around you. What you've got to remember is what you're looking at is also you. Everyone you're looking at is also you. You could be that person. You could be that monster, you could be that cop. And you have to decide, in yourself, not to be.” - James Baldwin
There is something sacred about finding people to do the hard things with. About your lives intersecting at a certain point in history that is not just unavoidable as a country, but unavoidable as human beings. There is something that clicks in your soul when you are sharing a foxhole with people who have the same moral compass. Who seek justice without ego. Who lead with love but wield the truth like a blade. This moment demands those people. This moment was scripted by the Gods for those people. This moment, this country, us as Americans, we need you. Everyone. It’s time to come to the front.
If you’re scared, it’s okay. Our protip: The scared doesn’t go away, so get comfy with it. Lean into it and lock in. You’re going to have to do all of this scared. You’re going to have to march scared. Speak scared. Make art scared. This moment demands courage. Courage isn’t the absence of fear. Courage is what happens when you get sick and tired of being sick and tired.
Fear is the ore of courage. The Rising is the fire.
The truth is our weapon.
And The Dangerous Ones is not holding back.
Watch the latest episode of The Dangerous Ones with special guest Marshall Herskovitz:
Beautiful! Thank you for all that you do!
Beautiful