Wahl Street (2021–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - Start Up - full transcript

[distant clock ticking]

[clock ticking]

[phone ringing]

[phone button beeps]

- How're you holding up

in this time, my friend?

All right, listen.

Can you give me some stats

with Wahlburgers?

How many of our stores
are open?

- The thing that I'm really
worried about



is the individual franchisees.

You know,
this is their livelihood.

What are people gonna do?

You know, honestly,
I mean, I'm, like,

a super positive person,

but I don't know, it's just
all this doom and gloom

that's kind of got me down.

All right, let me
ask you a question.

Are we gonna get through this?

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- [laughs]
No, I'm good.

- Hey, yo,
look at that billboard

for the movie right there.
- "Spenser Confidential."



- Right here.
- Yeah, right there, yeah.

- There's another one
right here too.

- Where?
- Oh, there's two of 'em.

Two right there.

Four billboards on Sunset
all next to each other.

[phone ringing]

[phone beeps]

Adam?
Listen, we have to make sure

we figure out this
master franchise agreement.

Right?
So I can go and open up,

you know, 500 studios,
1,000 studios, whatever it is.

[phone rings]

[phone beeps]
Hey, buddy.

But I just wanna figure it
out because, dude,

if you--if you figure out

the value that I bring
in all the stuff that I'm doing

to not only promote
the studios,

but also the brand,

then that should offset
some of the cost.

Okay, and I promise you, Adam.

I know you've seen
what I can do,

but I'm telling you,
I'm just getting started.

Give me a Sharpie.
Give me a Sharpie.

Okay, great.
And I promise you,

what I can give in return
is going to be

fucking unprecedented.
Okay?

Give me the Sharpie.
- Here you go, I gotcha.

- Okay, all right, cool.
Let me go.

I'm at the premiere right now.

[crowd clamoring]

[cameras clicking]

[crowd chattering]

[spray paint can rattling]

[air whirring]

[slow saxophone music]

♪ ♪

I started in music,
and then I dabbled

in the underwear
modeling thing,

and certainly,
people always thought of me

as one thing.

And when I said that I wanted
to be an actor,

people thought
it was a practical joke.

And I had always had,
you know, a grind in me

and an interest in business,

so that's kind of
how it progressed.

Sometimes I feel like I should
just go back to making movies,

but I'm also doing things
that I'm passionate about

and that I believe in,
and that are really

kind of a direct extension
of who I am.

And I'm wanting to share
that and really inspire

other young entrepreneurs
to go out there

and be able to figure out
how to do it

and go out and make it happen.

♪ ♪

- Thank you.

We'll just do some of it.
I'll just pull the stuff out

that I have ready.
- Yeah, I've only got

a few minutes, let's go.
- Okay, perfect.

Maybe if you wouldn't mind
just signing--

this same person sent
all these top ones.

I have been Mark's estate
manager for seven years.

I'm managing all
the crazy stuff he does,

and as each year goes by,
I'm just seeing it

get busier
and busier and busier.

- You wanna move all this stuff
somewhere else

just to sign it?

- I was gonna maybe
put it in your office.

- Oh, hell no.
- [chuckles]

I think he feels
that he's getting older,

and his life as an actor
might slow down.

And, yes, he's got movies
back to back all the time,

but in between,
he's really opening doors

to businesses and stuff that I
would have never seen coming.

It's like nothing
is off limits.

- Ooh.
- [chuckles]

- What do you think, guys?

- It is what it is, bro.

- I don't know the answer!

That's what I'm trying
to find out!

- That's it.
I'm just gonna do that stack.

- Why don't we do
one more stack?

- You want to?
Awesome, thank you!

- Oh, this is a good pic
right here.

It's fantastic to be able
to make a living

making movies and acting,

having the luxury of being able
to have a great day job,

which I take very seriously.

It's allowing me to kind of
take these other bets.

We're leaving here
in eight minutes.

I mean, I think it's important
to really have a career

where you can do
different things

and not be put into a box.

[violin music]

How's it going?
- How's it going?

- Building a business

that, A, you can make
a lot of money,

but also changes
people's lives for the better,

is something that really,
obviously, appeals to me.

- Every color.

[laughter]
- "Every color."

- I have multiple businesses

that I really believe in.
We have

Closest to the Hole
Productions,

AQUAhydrate, Performance
Inspired Nutrition,

F45,
MUNICIPAL,

Mark Wahlberg Auto Group,

Unrealistic Ideas,

and Wahlburgers,

a family-owned
restaurant chain.

♪ ♪

But, you know,
there's so many downsides

and learning curves
and growing pains

and all of those things.

It's a process.

[laughter]
- "It's a process."

- I think, ultimately, at the
end of the day, I got the bug.

You know?
I got the bug for business.

And, you know, I got people
who are, like,

putting in parts
of their life savings

and betting their future
on me and us.

So I'm gonna work
twice as hard

to make sure that I am
bringing something

to the table that's beneficial
to other people.

So now, kind of being out
of my comfort zone,

being in place where I'm kind
of learning everything

as I go along,

I need big-picture advice
from real professionals

who I know I can count on

to give me good, solid,
sound advice.

- I'm Daymond John.
- Alli Webb.

- Janice Bryant Howroyd.
- Michael Eisner.

- UFC President Dana White.

- Having people who are
very experienced in business

helping me make
an informed decision.

- You ready for me?
- I am so ready.

- Here's something I think
a lot of people don't get.

Success is transferrable.

You can be highly successful
in one industry

and transfer
to a different industry

as long as you're prepared
to put the work in

and to honor
what you don't know.

♪ ♪

[jet engines whirring]

- Hey, how are you doing, sir?

[laughter]

Thanks again.
We appreciate you.

- All right, guys.

[soft music]

♪ ♪

- Hi, babe.

Grace wants to make
a video for you.

[chuckles]
- [giggles]

I love you.

And I miss you.

- And the first night
without you is really hard.

♪ ♪

- Shooting a movie overseas,
away from my kid, it's hard.

Not being there
for everything?

That's by far
the hardest part.

♪ ♪

But every film we do,
we try to make

the best version
of that movie possible,

and a lot goes
into everything that we do.

- Rolling!

all: Rolling!

- You know, we're there
to get the job done

and then get home
to our families.

- And three, two, one.
Action!

♪ ♪

[soft music]

♪ ♪

[TV blares]

- [groans]

♪ ♪

[groaning]

[straining]

[blender whirring]

[shouting]

- My doctor.
- Ah, yep.

Rip down.
Jay, you can do this.

You can just pull

as much as you can

and try to move this down.

Come on, Jay.

Come on, pull it down, rip it!
- I am.

[laughter]

- Making films usually

entails me being on location,

so it makes sense for all
of my business partners

to kind of come and visit.

We can have a little bit
more, kind of, face time

to grow and build
all these other businesses.

I get in business
with people that I like

and that I have
a real connection with.

Whether that's a good thing
or a bad thing,

it's just kind of
how I operate, so...

But, you know, they mostly
gotta have tough skin.

- Ah!
Hey, we have an agreement.

- I can't fight back
because you're filming.

So I came out of

General Nutrition Company, GNC.

Mark convinced me to work
with him on different deals,

and we became fast friends.

So now, you know,

I vet out other businesses

and review opportunities

that we're gonna get
involved in together.

And yeah, we talk
five times a day sometimes,

you know, if not more.
[chuckles]

- Down, down, down.
Down!

Come on, down, further.
- That's it!

That's down for me!
Come on!

- I usually call him
about 3:00 in the morning

every single day
and wake him up.

Sometimes it's to talk
about business.

Sometimes it's just
to bust his balls.

- I can do my--this
is my space!

You're in my space.

I can do whatever I want
in this space.

People don't understand,
you know,

the grind that it really is.

It pushes you to really
make things happen

and stay in there.

- And we have each other's
back, so it's like,

yeah, could we have
somebody else

who, maybe, on paper,
are more qualified?

Certainly, but do I have
that comfort

and that level of trust?

♪ ♪

[video call ringing]

- What's up, guys?

- What's up, Mark?
- Hello.

- Thanks for taking the time.

This is awesome for us
to be here

for the first time to look at

where we are in the inception

of Municipal.

- Lev and myself,

we were talking about

and wanting to be

in the apparel space

for a long time.

There were talks
with lots of brands,

but I remember
kind of thinking about

just doing on our own.

- The team's really excited
to go through

and show you where we are
at the start of this process.

I met Mark
almost 10 years ago.

I was an executive
at the Callaway Golf Company.

Clearly, his career is
a little different than mine.

But we really bonded over
making a brand

from scratch
that we could be proud of.

- Who's there
at this executive boardroom?

- So you got me,

you got Dave Ortley,
who's head of product.

Kim Dippel,
head of product design.

Roxanne Pedroza.
She makes the stuff for us.

Lev's over there in the corner.

- We're gonna start out
with our bomber.

I love this one so much.

- Can I ask you a question?
- Yep.

- You know, around the neck,
just gotta make sure

that that's, like,
strong, flexible fabric,

'cause I'd hate
more than anything

when the bomber
gets a little looser.

- We're super focused
on recovery

like you just said, Mark.

That's all of our pet peeves.

That's a good point.

- Oh, that's good.

So you know me?

You know my reputation.

- Yep.
- Yes.

- Um, okay.
I love this style.

So we're elevating the Henley.
- Hot guy shirt.

- It's the "hot guy shirt."
I love a Henley.

- That's all she needed
to say to me, Mark.

- Can't wait to see you
in it, Harry.

[laughter]
- Yes.

- Being in a place
that's starting

from scratch,
it's really cool.

This type of opportunity
doesn't come along

very often.

But, um, there's also

a lot of trial and error.

Municipal is aiming
for a June drop,

which is a big challenge

because if there's
disalignment,

things change, I have to go
back and change product.

You know, that affects
development and production.

- What are you feeling
so far, Lev?

- I'm digging it.
The materials are great,

so I think
it's looking awesome.

So when do we actually see
some samples?

- Fabric's already
being delivered today.

- I can't wait to touch it
and feel it and wear it.

- We'll have them
send you a package.

Thanks for making time.

- Bye, guys.

Okay, the initial idea
is like, "Oh, my God,

"this is fantastic, yeah,
we're gonna do this.

Oh, high fives all around."
And then all of a sudden,

like, reality sets in
and you're like, "Oh, God.

"These guys are literally
going to walk away

from their job."
You know?

"Their name on the door
and the parking spot

and--and do this thing."

So it's scary.

- I think that there's

a lot of people out there

who have great ideas

and would love

to build a business,

but are afraid to.

The answer is always,
"Believe in yourself,

"believe in your idea,

and dive in headfirst
and go for it."

It's that simple.

[soft music]

♪ ♪

- Ace!
Actually, Ace,

go right up there.
We're gonna do

a big video on promotion

for Ace Productions.

You stand right in the middle
of that fountain.

You want to make sure
you introduce the site,

tell 'em about the products,
give 'em a little taste,

and then, "Boom."
- Okay.

- Ace and Rasta Phil are my
best friends from childhood.

We have a spiritual bond
and a brotherhood

that has spanned
over 37 years.

- ♪ Come on, baby ♪

- You know, Rasta was one
of the biggest DJs,

and Ace was dancing
choreography.

- ♪ It's about that time ♪
- Yeah!

- So when putting together
the Funky Bunch

that consisted of me
being the front man

and the rapper in the group,
Ace became

an original member
of the "Funky Bunch."

- We got an L
in every state.

Going iller for real-a.

- Ace was always somebody
that we all

looked up to growing up.

That loyalty, that love,
that trust.

That goes a long way.

- And, action!

- Big Ace
in the building.

At the top of the world
here in London.

- What about the music?

- And we got
some music for you.

I got that hot heat

called "Clap" on all platforms.

- The clap?
- YouTube music--

[laughter]

- You download the clap?

[laughter]
- The clap.

- All right, ready?
Action!

- It's your boy, Big Ace
of Big Ace--

- What's the phone for?

- Oh.

- What the heck?

Action!
- Big Ace Productions

here in London
at the top of the world.

I got the queen over there,
but I'm the king.

- [chuckles]
When they go off to Hollywood,

a lot of people change.

It's good
that he stayed grounded,

he's keeping his friends
around him,

and it's going good so far,
you know what I mean?

Look at all the things
we've done.

We started with music.

Then we doing acting now.

Now he's doing businesses,

so he's giving everybody jobs

and he's not taking it all.

He's giving back.

[mid-tempo music]

♪ ♪

- My schedule
with working on set,

each individual business,
and taking care

of my family when I'm gone,
is pretty difficult.

- Yo, let's get a picture.

- So if I'm not working
on set,

I still have quite a number
of other projects to do.

This is gonna be great.

All right, everybody say,
"Hashtag, foxy falcon!"

Oh, this is gonna be great!

Everybody say,
"Hashtag, faxy--"

Foxy, faxy?
Fucksie, fucksie.

[laughter]
Sorry, no swearing.

- So this is the one where

Blue Falcon really becomes
Blue Falcon.

- Let's take a swing at it.

- There you are.
Brian,

what are you doing back here?

- I'm calling my dad.

- You don't need your dad.

- Yes, I do.
All right?

He's the hero.
I'm not.

I can't win this.

- Good, good.
- Hey.

- We're good.
- Everyone's gonna be--

- Thank you so much.
- Thank you so much.

- Bye.
- Safe travels.

- Thanks.
- You too.

[upbeat dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- So I had discovered F45
through some mutual friends,

which is
a global fitness chain.

I got curious enough
to go and visit a studio,

and when I walked
into the studio,

I saw a 50-year-old woman

just starting
her fitness journey,

working out
with a collegiate athlete.

Together, they were
high fiving each other.

There was a sense of community
and support system

that I had never seen
in a gym before.

It was the best gym concept
I had ever seen by far.

And there is where I met Ryan,

who is the owner
of that studio.

- Am I a fitness person?

Well, clearly I'm not.

I look more like

the "before" picture,

but I make everybody

feel comfortable.

I'm not intimidating anyone.

I'm the owner
of four F45 studios

in the Los Angeles area.

From what I've learned
about Mark is that the "why"

of what you're doing
really matters,

and I think that's where
we really see eye to eye.

He's got state-of-the-art gym

in the convenience
of his own home,

but he still chooses,
two, three, four days a week

to come and be a part
of that F45 community.

♪ ♪

Mark and I decided to partner

on a much larger rollout
of these fitness studios.

We've been working really hard
with F45 corporate

on a very aggressive
master franchise agreement.

- A master franchise
would be an opportunity for us

to buy a piece
of the parent company,

but then also to go
and open studios

and accelerate that growth.

I'm excited
about the opportunity for sure.

- [groans]
Oh, my God.

Oh, no.

- [laughs]

- Bye!

- Hopefully, we'll be

opening up studios soon.

I wanna be in
for the long haul.

I would say, 40,
50,000 studios

is what we think
we can do, you know?

We think we can have
more locations

than Starbucks, you know?

[cheering]

[violin music]

♪ ♪

One day, my brother Paul
came to me and said

he wanted to do
a burger joint.

And I was like, "Cool,"
and then he said

he wanted to call it
"Wahlburgers,"

and I said,
"Over my dead body."

I said, "I worked too hard
to kind of build my brand."

But I did believe
in my brother's talent.

And then, of course,
the entrepreneur in me

started thinking,
"This is a great opportunity

"to build a family business,

pass it on
to future generations,"

which is why I then
wanted to do

the "Wahlburgers" TV show.

In quite a while,
we're the fastest-growing

restaurant in the history
of franchises.

♪ ♪

My brother created
an amazing experience

for customers, but to be able
to duplicate that

and make sure that
the consistency is there

and it runs flawlessly--

it's not any easy thing to do.

- You know,
London is very expensive,

and this particular
Wahlburger,

since we opened six months ago,

there's been, really,

more than one challenge.

We had a couple issue
with service, with food.

You know, we're doing
a lot of things

to try to improve it.

♪ ♪

- Good evening, guys.
How's everybody doing?

[cheering]

This is a new territory,
and, you know,

you have to earn
people's respect,

and the respect comes
from the experience

that my brother provides.

[cheering]

The fact of the matter is,
we're in a bit of a funk

when it comes
to certain things.

We're having a lot
of growing pains.

Yeah, yeah.

That's why I keep
scratching my head here.

We're hoping
we can figure it out.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[phone ringing]

These guys aren't answering
the phone.

- Yep.

- This is a big one.
We've been working on this one

for a long time, you know.

- Hey, Mark.
- Hey, Mike.

So, can we talk
about where we're at

with the master franchise
agreement?

- [sighs]
- We've been dealing

with Luke forever,

and Luke has never been
on the same page with Adam,

and then he punts it to Chris.

And now it's gotten kicked
back to Luke?

- Yeah.
- Oh, my God.

The F45 deal is not done yet.

Everything is kind of--

kind of in flux,
and I'm continuously

pitching myself to them,

which is
a little bit frustrating.

I haven't had to do that

since I started out
in my career.

We should obviously
have the means

and the ability to go out there
and own, operate, build,

everything souped to nuts
when it comes to the studios.

- Uh, that's so complicated.

The optics and the fairness

and the potential pitfalls,
risks,

I highly doubt it.

♪ ♪

- "No" is something that

an entrepreneur gets to hear

more than anything else

in the world.

People love to tell you

what you can't do.

And I'll tell you why.

Because a lot of people

don't want you to win.

But that has to drive you.

- Okay, I've been
a good partner thus far.

- Yeah.
- For us,

we wanna open as many studios
as possible.

You know, sometimes you just
have to bite

more than you can chew
and then just chew like hell--

- And figure it out later,
right?

- Yeah.
- That's right.

- You know, if you
just look at the numbers

from what they were selling
per franchise

to what they started selling
after I got involved,

it's pretty astronomical.

So, this is--this
is pretty crazy.

We're all committed to it,
you know, on our end,

and we've got a great team.

Let's--let's lock this down.

- All right, sounds good.
Thank you.

- Bye.
Okay.

♪ ♪

- Thank you.
- Oscar, come with the key!

- I'm coming.
I'm right behind you.

[chuckling]

- The apparel business--
it's always difficult.

Lots of people out there who
have lots of different tastes,

and so making something
that appeals to the masses

is the most important thing.

- This is new for all of us,

and to get us to market

when we're going through this

for the first time, you know--

that could be super,
super stressful.

- I have to make
some serious hard decisions

on what product
we are going to focus on.

Thank you, guys.
- Thank you.

- You know, I have a lot
of respect

and a lot of love
for my partners.

I wouldn't be in business
with them if I didn't think

that they were great
at what they do.

But, you know, you have
to be able to tell each other,

you know,
when we've done a good job,

we did a not so good job.

That's just the nature
of business.

[mid-tempo music]

♪ ♪

- So we're working on a film
called "Infinite,"

directed by Antoine Fuqua.

[motorcycle engine humming]

- Does it feel
like it's faster?

So we can play
when we're switching gears?

- You know, it adds down time
from filming,

but during breaks, generally
we'll have people waiting

to sit and have meetings.

♪ ♪

- Nobody really does chowder,

so we want to see
how that goes.

The guys in the kitchen
seem very confident

that people
would be excited by it.

- Maybe they don't make it
because people don't like it.

- I think it's just more people
don't make it...

as opposed to people don't make
it because they don't like it.

- What--what's the problem?

- I'll be back there
Monday morning.

I'll do another tasting.

Some days,
I feel like, you know,

"this is what I'm meant
to do," and other days,

I'm like, "Let me kind of
focus on what I'm good at,"

what I thought was complicated
and stressful,

which is my--my acting
and producing business.

[zipper buzzes]

♪ ♪

[electrical buzzing]

- [straining]

Why do I gotta go?

[intense mid-tempo music]

♪ ♪