#2015 An evening with Bryan Greenberg and Victor Rasuk of How To Make It In America

Last night's outing at the Apple store was so much fun that I decided to head back for tonight's entertainment: an evening with Julian Farino, Victor Rasuk and Bryan Greenberg – the executive producer and stars of How To Make It In America. Going was a good call. Before the trio came onstage, we were given a sneak screening of the second season's first episode. Without giving too much away, the boys are still on the grind, Rene is still pushing his Rasta Monsta, Crisp is growing at a steady rate, Rachel is still a giant emo, Leigh Lezark cameos as herself, and the cops show up. The event's highlight came when a young dude stood up to ask a question – and, in perfect Cam style, queried whether Greenberg and Rasuk would accept the tee shirts that he'd just happened to bring along from his own line 13 Maven. They laughed and said, "Definitely, you can't knock the hustle." Check below for quotes from the Q&A.

Brian Greenberg on his thoughts after seeing season two's first episode:

"I thought it was pretty dope – I'd watch this show if I wasn't on it so I'm just proud to be a part of it."

Victor Rasuk on shooting the first segment of episode one in Japan:

"We were there with one DP, and Bryan and I were both carrying cameras as well. We just ran around shooting with no permits. Running and gunning."

Julian Farino on the differences between season one and season two:

"A lot of season one was about the grind – getting $300 to pay for something. For this one it had to be about the movement, but we didn't want it to be aspirational. It had to be a journey."

Julian Farino on the difficulties associated with filming in New York:

"The practicalities of filming in New York are that you've got to embrace the chaos or else you'll die. You can't fight New York you've just gotta move with it."

Bryan Greenberg on the comparison between How To Make It In America and Entourage:

"A lot of people wanna compare it to Entourage and they ask us, 'Which celebrities are going to be appearing?' But we're not trying to stunt cast it we're just trying to get the right actors for the roles. We're not trying to distract from the world."

Julian Farino on the comparison between How To Make It In America and Entourage:

"I was there for the first three seasons of Entourage. When we did season one of How To Make It In America I thought it'd be disappointing if it was just called an East Coast Entourage. We shot the pilot the night Obama was elected, and it's very much about the quality of life within the American Dream [as opposed to the quality of life for guys who've already made it]. Our New York brand of nightlife and fun is very different. But it's a half hour verite style show on HBO so you can see why it happens."

Bryan Greenberg on the show's pop culture relevance:

"I see this show as ab log of sorts about what's happening – be it with the music or fashion or locations that are hot. It's very zeitgeist."

Julian Farino on filming sex scenes:

"The sex scenes are not real, there's a degree of nervousness, and there are two actors that are trying to respect each other. It's not quite as glamorous as it seems."

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