Yahoo Finance's reporter Brooke DiPalma speaks with actors Seth Rogen & Paul Rudd about their upcoming Super Bowl ad, how COVID-19 pandemic affected their individual businesses, and how streaming transformed the movie business.

Video Transcript

BROOKE DIPALMA: Lay's is returning to the primetime spot with a new commercial for the first time in 17 years. Dynamic Hollywood duo Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd will be starring in the primetime spot. And they both join me now. Welcome, guys.

PAUL RUDD: Hi.

SETH ROGEN: Hi, there.

BROOKE DIPALMA: Seth, I don't want to give the commercial away but it does throw viewers for quite the unexpected loop. What was the inspiration behind it? I mean, we were really just kind of making ourselves laugh and trying to think of something that we thought would be funny and interesting and maybe stand out a little bit, you know, the framework of kind of reminiscing and talking about all these memories that, you know, these-- Lay's had been there for in our past was kind of the jumping-off point. And yeah, I think, you know, in an attempt to just, you know, entertain ourselves and others, we thought of what-- where could this go? And-- and we landed where we landed. [LAUGHS]

BROOKE DIPALMA: And now, Paul, you-- you knew what to expect. You've done a Super Bowl spot with Seth in the past. You guys are longtime friends, worked together quite often. But what made you jump on this opportunity? And do you guys have anything else in the works together?

PAUL RUDD: I don't know if we have anything in the-- look, we-- I think Seth--

SETH ROGEN: We should.

PAUL RUDD: --like working, you know, with one another. And I don't think we have anything in the works right now. But that could change. Maybe it'll change on this Zoom call.

SETH ROGEN: Exactly. [LAUGHS]

PAUL RUDD: But yeah, I mean, when this-- when this thing came around, it was kind of a no-brainer. I mean, I love potato chips and I love Seth Rogen. I mean, what-- come on.

SETH ROGEN: [LAUGHS]

BROOKE DIPALMA: What better combo than that?

PAUL RUDD: A win-win.

BROOKE DIPALMA: A win-win, exactly. Now we are-- we are Yahoo finance, so I do you want to dive into the numbers a bit here. So guys, an ad spot for these huge, primetime Super Bowl commercials typically run about $6 and 1/2 million for a 30-second spot. Now, this Lay's commercial is one minute long. So that's a whole lot of money. So for Seth here, what sort of pressure did you feel to make it stand out, like you said, among the other commercials? And how is this far different than producing a film?

SETH ROGEN: I mean, it's a lot different than producing a film. The-- I'd say, yeah, when dealing with a company like Lay's versus a-- weirdly, people who produce films for a living seem to not like producing things to the degree that people who make potato chips for a living love producing things. And truthfully--

PAUL RUDD: They were awesome.

SETH ROGEN: Yeah, like, we had a lot more creative freedom and resources.

PAUL RUDD: And also, like, a ton of collaboration. They were all on board with, like, what do you think of this? And then when we were filming this, it was super fun and funny.

SETH ROGEN: Yeah. Overall enthusiasm-- movie studios generally have an attitude like-- like they don't want to be making movies, they don't want-- you should consider yourself lucky for giving-- for being given the opportunity to produce the product that they need. And that's not at all how this felt. This was great. This felt really-- it felt nice. They felt really psyched to have us there, which is not generally how a movie studio makes you feel.

BROOKE DIPALMA: A warm welcoming from the Lay's team for sure. Now, I do want to, you know, switch topics a little bit. You also co-wrote the script with the Lay's team alongside Evan Goldberg, Seth, your longtime partner, longtime friend there.

But I wanted to own topics a little bit, because you also recently became business partners with him when you co-founded Houseplant back in 2019. What would you say is your biggest lesson since you started your own venture in the cannabis space?

SETH ROGEN: I mean, I think it's a new-- it's an entirely new business and entirely new space. And I think just being very aware of that is something that I try to instill in the team, is that there really is no precedent for what we're doing. There are things from other industries that maybe we can kind of indicators from, but there's never been a moment exactly like this. And so to kind of really embrace that attitude and embrace that we're doing something new and different, and not try to rely too heavily on what other industries have done in the past with-- with kind of building their, you know, brand or whatever. Yeah.

BROOKE DIPALMA: So a whole new-- a whole new roadmap, essentially, for the cannabis space, for you. And I want to, you know, go, on that note, Paul--

PAUL RUDD: By the way, those two things combined are not so new for Seth.

SETH ROGEN: Yeah, exactly.

PAUL RUDD: [INAUDIBLE] the business world.

BROOKE DIPALMA: Seth, you've been a longtime supporter in the game, haven't you?

SETH ROGEN: And I would argue potato chips play a role in all that. [LAUGHS]

BROOKE DIPALMA: OK, Good. to know. Noted. Writing that one down.

PAUL RUDD: Stay golden, Seth.

BROOKE DIPALMA: [LAUGHS] Now, from potato chips to sweets, Paul, you also have your own venture. You co-founded Samuel's Sweet Shop in Rhinebeck, New York. A quick shout-out, I am a Marist College graduate. So I've been quite a few times. We saw this past pandemic really take a toll on small businesses across the nation and across the world. What sort of impact did COVID have on Samuel's Sweet Shop? And how did you guys have to pivot?

PAUL RUDD: Well, you know, because we serve coffee and food, we were an essential business. And the community really rallied around the store. But I think this was the case in a lot of small towns which was really nice is that the community really rallied around a lot of the small businesses as much as they could, and came together, and started trying to do fundraisers for a lot of the businesses that stayed open. I think a lot of people bought gift certificates for restaurants and things like that.

And the town of Rhinebeck was-- they were amazing, not just to-- to our store-- and we retained our staff, we paid-- we tried to do everything possible. And-- and I don't think it would have worked without, you know, the entire community's support. And thankfully the town was able to withstand these last few years, I think, as best they could.

BROOKE DIPALMA: Yeah. And another hot topic that we're covering here at Yahoo Finance is definitely the streaming wars that are ongoing, seems like for good now. So I'd love to get both of your takes, really quickly, on what sort of opportunity have platforms like Netflix and Amazon, Hulu, HBO Max, given Hollywood and Hollywood actors and producers in particular? Paul, I'll let you go first.

PAUL RUDD: Well, I mean, it's created a lot more content, and as a result, I mean, many more jobs. So you know, that's been great, and not just for actors, but for everybody, you know, working on crews. And all of that has been-- has been great, and challenging to try and figure out how to make all of that work during a pandemic, but I think that they've done an admirable job. You know, at the same time, it's-- there are now just-- there's just so much stuff that, like, I don't even-- there are shows, and I don't even know what they are, I don't know how to watch them, I don't know-- and so it's, like, all a bit deafening. And you know, so that's-- I think that's still being kind of figured out, but it can be a little noisy, I think.

BROOKE DIPALMA: And Seth, how about you?

SETH ROGEN: Yes, I very much agree with all that. And yeah, I think, from a creative side, it's-- it's interesting, I think, you know, when I was starting, you know, these studios and stuff were much smaller and, I think, less accountable to like corporate giants. You know what I mean? And-- and in some ways there's something that is nice-- that is an unexpected kind of bonus about now working for these companies that are held accountable to these corporate giants, is that they just have to release things at a certain time. And even if it costs them way more money to release them at that time, they will do it, which is not how, generally, a lot of, like, production worked.

Like, often, a movie studio or a TV studio would be like, well, we wanted to come out in May, but it'll be way too expensive to have it come out in May, and so we'll have it come out, you know, in January, instead of spending more money. But these big companies now, like, are accountable to have material be released in May. And if we're like, it's going to cost way more money to have it released in May, they'll be like, we will pay it. We need it to come out in May.

And that actually is, like-- it's interesting. Like, we are plugged into this, like, wheel that can't stop spinning now, at times, with these big streamers. And that's not how traditional studios were. They were wheels that could very easily stop spinning at any moment, and would love to remind you of that fact. And now, yeah, there's something nice about kind of being on, like, an unstoppable train at times, because--

PAUL RUDD: There's also, you know, I think, because of the competition and the fact that there are so many shows-- and audiences are pretty savvy. And they demand [INAUDIBLE]. And-- and quality is important, it feels like, more so-- more so than ever before. So a lot of these-- you know, they are on these deadlines. They will spend the money. But their interest in making their shows, or their movies, or whatever it is they're doing, be really good seems to be heightened.

SETH ROGEN: For sure. I'd say, over these last few years, we've had more resources and less oversight, like, with some of these streaming things we've been doing than-- than the years previous, you know.

BROOKE DIPALMA: All right. Well, we're looking forward to much more content from both of you, that's for sure. So excited to keep in touch on that front.

And I-- I have to ask. You're both obviously in LA often. The Super Bowl is happening there. Who are you guys rooting for?

SETH ROGEN: I'm going to say the Bengals for one reason and one reason only, is, like, when I was a kid, I just thought the name Boomer Esiason was cool. And so I had a Cincinnati Bengals poster on my wall, even though I have not or never have been a football fan at all. [LAUGHS]

BROOKE DIPALMA: And Paul.

PAUL RUDD: Yeah, I'm rooting for the Rams, because I would think it would be cool to see Matt Stafford go from Detroit for so many years to winning a Super Bowl. Plus I'm-- you know, I'm a diehard Chiefs fan. And the Bengals beat us twice this year. And it's-- I'm not over it.

BROOKE DIPALMA: OK, all right. So we'll see who wins. Definitely a competition between the both of you. But we're definitely looking forward to this Lay's commercial, that's for sure. So thank you once again. Seth Rogen--

PAUL RUDD: I will say-- I will say this, though, I do like a lot of those players on that Bengals team. I would be psyched--

BROOKE DIPALMA: OK.

PAUL RUDD: I would be psyched for the town of Cincinnati, but I'm still-- I think it'd be cool to see the Rams.

BROOKE DIPALMA: All right. Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, thank you both so much.

PAUL RUDD: Thank you.