Danny McBride says the family move from Los Angeles to Charleston, South Carolina in 2017 changed how he works and how he parents. On Rich Roll's podcast, he said the shift gave him more creative freedom and made it easier to keep his children away from the pull of social media.
2017 in Charleston, South Carolina
2017 is the line McBride drew between two different work habits. He said that while he was shooting Eastbound & Down in Wilmington, North Carolina, the lack of a direct flight from Los Angeles meant executives never came to set, and that absence changed the pace of the job.
“When we were shooting 'Eastbound,' we were shooting in Wilmington, North Carolina, and the idea that there was not a direct flight, at that time, from L.A. to North Carolina, we noticed that the executives never came to set,” he said. “Oh, we just gotta choose cities that it's not easy to get to from L.A., and then we'll have more freedom.”
Gia Ruiz and two kids
McBride and Gia Ruiz share son Declan, 14, and daughter Ava, 10. He said Charleston fits the way he wants to raise them: with more time in the water, less noise from outside influences, and a home life he wants to protect from social media’s constant reach.
“In my house, I try to limit my kids having access to all this stuff,” he said. “I just try to be present in their lives.”
That is the tradeoff in his story: the move is not only about getting work done with fewer interruptions, but about changing the terms of family life so work does not crowd out the rest of it. McBride put it plainly when he said, “It was really easy to do this job when I didn't have kids,” before adding that once children arrived, he wanted to be there for them and be a good partner for his wife.
Why Charleston works
McBride said the neighborhood around him in Charleston makes that balance easier. He described living on a creek, where the kids nearby are into fishing and getting out in the water, and he added, “it's not as pervasive there, I guess.”
That is the practical takeaway for anyone watching how entertainers build a life around production: McBride is choosing distance, smaller scale, and less access as a working method. The move is already doing what he wanted, and he has no reason to reverse it if the goal is still the same — more room for the work, and more room at home.
