Creative Principles
560 episodes - English - Latest episode: 30 days ago - ★★★★★ - 51 ratingsWelcome to Creative Principles, I'm your host Brock Swinson. Here I'll be speaking with writers, directors, actors, musicians and more. We'll discuss the habits, routines, and methods of a creative life.
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Episodes
Ep389 - Jason Woliner, Director ‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’ & ‘Paul T. Goldman’
January 28, 2023 10:02 - 30 minutes - 47.6 MBAs a child actor, Jason Woliner knew he wanted to be a Director. He started with a mini DV camera and set out to make a feature for Sundance. He dropped out of college, convinced a few friends to join him, and ended up making a “long student film.” The 97-minute “terrible, horrorible” project taught him a great deal about filmmaking. Over the years, Jason has worked with Patton Oswalt, Aziz Ansari, and Jon Benjamin. He’s Directed Parks and Recreation, New Girl, Nathan for You, and Last Man ...
Ep388 - Mo Amer, Comedian ‘Mohammed in Texas,’ ‘Black Adam,’ & Netflix’s ‘Mo’
December 19, 2022 15:12 - 31 minutes - 51.6 MB“Most people don’t know stand up is an indigenous art form to the states,” said Mohammed Amer. “It’s jazz, hip hop, and stand up comedy, as far as I know, which are the three indigenous art forms to the states. I saw stand up live the first time when I was ten years old and that was a moment of complete clarity for me, what I was destined to do.” Amer, who goes by “Mo Amer,” said he didn’t understand how profound that moment was until years later. “That has truly helped me filter so much pai...
Ep387 - Gabe Liedman, Screenwriter ‘Big Mouth,’ ‘Kroll Show,’ ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’
December 17, 2022 12:03 - 29 minutes - 47.6 MBGabe Liedman got his start doing stand-up. Because people were familiar with his voice, he started getting writing jobs on shows like Inside Amy Schumer, Kroll Show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, PEN15, Broad City, and Big Mouth. In this interview, Gabe talks about branding yourself with sexuality, not being fearful about your comedy, how TV shows misrepresent the writers room, why movements are stretched in network television, and how there’s freedom in “hand-crafted projects.” Subscribe for video ...
Ep386 - Branden Jacob-Jenkins, Showrunner FX - Hulu Series ‘Kindred’
December 16, 2022 15:08 - 27 minutes - 42.3 MB“I’m pretty sure that what started me writing was reading,” said Branden Jacob-Jenkins. “I was always bookish and I remember a day when I read something and thought, ‘I don’t think that was good’ and realized maybe I could do it better. Maybe I could tell stories.” As a teenager, Branden wrote short stories, fiction, poetry, and everything in between. He entered some young writing workshops, then found his way to other “film nerds” who he thought were the “cool kids.” Through fiction, he sta...
Ep385 - Alex Bach & Daniel Powell, Co-Presidents Production Company Irony Point
December 15, 2022 12:28 - 30 minutes - 49.3 MBThe Peabody and Emmy winning production company has signed a multi-year production commitment overall deal with Netflix, with a first-look component for projects developed by Irony Point, encompassing stand-up comedy, sketch, variety, alternative formats and more. Alex and Daniel will serve as executive producers on all projects. In this interview, Alex and Daniel discuss their projects like Inside Amy Schumer, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, Ugly Americans, and That Damn Micha...
Ep384 - Darren De Gallo, Writer-Director Dustin Hoffman-Sissy Spacek Film ‘Sam & Kate’
December 15, 2022 11:46 - 28 minutes - 45.2 MB“I started as an artist,” said Darren De Gallo. “In the back of my mind, I wanted to be an animator, so I got a job at Dreamworks as a PA in the story department. I was thrown in the deep end of a company that was just starting.” Darren pursued acting not long after, then did some work as a storyboard artist, and then started writing. While pursuing these roles, he met his future wife Amy Adams (Arrival, Enchanted). “It was my wife that pushed me to write this script.” In Sam & Kate, “a son...
Ep383 - Brandon Dermer, Director ‘What Would Diplo Do?’ & ‘I’m Totally Fine’
December 05, 2022 15:13 - 29 minutes - 46.7 MB“I played in shitty scream-o bands. I was in the radio club in high school,” said Brandon Dermer. “My friends and I made comedy videos that played in the morning announcements. I always wanted to be creating.” Getting some attention from shorts in college, Brandon won with a fake trailer that led him to an internship and job in Los Angeles. Soon after, he was working on music videos for Major Lazer, Panic! At the Disco, and Diplo. Today, Brandon is best known for directing the series What ...
Ep382 - Clare Niederpruem, Director Justin Long-Brittany Snow Comedy ‘Christmas with the Campbells’
December 03, 2022 10:45 - 25 minutes - 41 MB“Having been in acting class for as long as I did, you learn the vocabulary, how different actors approach character and that gave me a foundation. One of the things I love about Directing is what actors respond to…” Clare Niederpruem is best known for directing holiday movies for the Hallmark Channel, such as You Light Up My Christmas, The Christmas Bow, Holiday for Heroes, One December Night, and A Royal Corgi Christmas. Because of this talent to show movies with “Christmas in every fram...
Ep381 - Alfred Gough and Miles Millar Return, Creators Netflix’s ‘Wednesday’
November 29, 2022 11:20 - 31 minutes - 50.1 MB“Wednesday, for us, from concept until now, has been a three and a half year journey,” said Alfred Gough. “We came up with the initial idea which was teenage Wednesday Addams in boarding school. We had to track down the rights and then we pitched it to the Addams Foundation.” As screenwriters, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar are known for Shanghai Noon, Smallville, I Am Number Four, Spider-Man 2 (2004), and Into the Badlands. Their latest creation is perhaps most similar to the creation of Sma...
Ep380 - Noah Segan, Actor ‘Blood Relatives,’ ‘Looper’ & ‘Star Wars The Last Jedi’
November 16, 2022 14:21 - 16 minutes - 25.8 MB“I loved movies. I wanted to be on set. I wanted to be in the mix,” said Noah Segan, who is perhaps best known for being in every Rian Johnson movie (Brick, The Brothers Bloom, Looper, Breaking Bad, Knives Out, Star Wars - The Last Jedi). Currently, Noah is the star-writer-director of Blood Relatives. The story follows “a vampire's loner lifestyle is thrown into disarray when a teenager shows up claiming to be his daughter, and she's got the fangs to prove it. On a road trip across America'...
Ep379 - Lorcan Finnegan, Director ‘Without Name,’ ‘Vivarium,’ & ‘Nocebo’
November 14, 2022 15:19 - 15 minutes - 25.9 MB“I made a fake trailer as a collage project — a remake of the shoemaker and the elves, with these evil puppets — and I think that’s when I realized I didn’t need to describe my process.” This led him to becoming a film director. Finnegan is best known for Vivarium (Imogen Boots, Jesse Eisenberg) where “a young couple looking for the perfect home find themselves trapped in a mysterious labyrinth-like neighborhood of identical houses.” His most recent project, Nocebo (Eva Green, Mark Strong)...
Ep378 - Harry Bradbeer, Director ‘Enola Holmes 2,’ ‘Killing Eve,’ & ‘Flea Bag’
November 10, 2022 11:30 - 18 minutes - 30.8 MB“I wanted to be an actor at first,” said Harry Bradbeer. “Then I was directed with some great directors in school and the way they would direct us on stage made me start to see things in frames and shapes, then I directed a play. One day I just took a left turn and made a film.” As a Director, Bradbeer is known for working on Killing Eve, Ramy, and Fleabag. But after he landed the job of directing Jack Thorne’s Enola Holmes screenplay, he fell in love with the character and started writing t...
Ep377 - William Indick, Author ‘Psychology for Screenwriters’
November 04, 2022 12:07 - 30 minutes - 52.6 MBPsychology professor William Indick was teaching theories of personality when he realized his students simply weren’t getting it, so he started doing film analysis in his classes to explain these dense topics with examples from the silver screen. This led to a handful of books including Psychology for Screenwriters, Movies and the Mind, Psycho Thrillers, and Ancient Symbology in Fantasy Literature. “I wrote a book about film analysis and then Ken Lee suggested I do the same thing, but flip ...
Ep376 - Mali Elfman, Producer-Writer-Director ‘Next Exit’
November 04, 2022 10:28 - 19 minutes - 32.2 MB“I used to be a professional horseback rider and professional horseback rider trainer,” said Mali Elfman. This all changed when one of her students — Missy Stabile (Ghostbusters, The Fault in Our Stars) — told her she would make a good Producer. These days, Elfman is known for being a producer, a writer, and director. In her feature debut, Next Exit, stars Katie Parker and Rahul Kohli. The plot follows “Two unhappy strangers find themselves on a road trip across the U.S. to partake in a sc...
Ep375 - Steve Blackman Returns, Screenwriter ‘Umbrella Academy,’ ‘Legion,’ & ‘Fargo’
November 02, 2022 21:17 - 28 minutes - 45.8 MB“My socialization was by television,” said Steve Black, “the television of the 70s and 80s. As a lawyer, Blackman really wanted to be a writer, so following the “write what you know” model, he wrote an original pilot called The Young Attorneys. Over the past two decades, Blackman has written for shows like Wild Card, Bones, Las Vegas, Private Practice, Fargo, Legion, and Altered Carbon. He’s also the creator behind Netflix’s Umbrella Academy. You can listen to our first conversation in Epis...
Ep374 - Thomas Jane, Actor ‘Slayers,’ ‘The Punisher,’ ‘Boogie Nights,’ & ’The Mist’
October 29, 2022 10:33 - 28 minutes - 48 MBThomas Jane got his start by working on sets in high school, when one particular teacher inspired him to step on stage and giving acting a shot. These days, he’s known for ‘The Punisher,’ ‘Boogie Nights,’ ’The Mist,’ ’Deep Blue Sea,’ ’The Thin Red Line,’ and ‘Hung.’ Most recently, he’s starred in two films under Director K. Asher Levin (Episode 368) called ‘Dig’ and ‘Slayers.’ In Dig, “A widowed father and his daughter whose house is up for demolition, are taken hostage by a dangerous couple...
Ep373 - Scott Adkins, Actor - Martial Artist ‘Accident Man - Hitman’s Holiday’ & ‘John Wick 4’
October 25, 2022 10:11 - 13 minutes - 22.8 MBAs an actor and martial artist, Scott Adkins is known for starring in Avengement, along with the Undisputed Series and the Accident Man series, including the latest film, Accident Man: Hitman’s Holiday. Adkins has also been featured in Day Shift with Jamie Foxx, the Ip Man series, American Assassin, and will soon be in John Wick 4 alongside Keanu Reeves. Adkins also hosts The Art of Action, a stuntman interview series on YouTube. In this interview, Scott talks about co-writing films he w...
Ep372 - David Weiner Returns, Director ‘In Search of Darkness’ Horror Trilogy
October 10, 2022 17:57 - 26 minutes - 41.7 MBDavid Weiner originally moved to Los Angeles to get involved with filmmaking, where he mostly worked as Assistant Director. Soon after, he started writing and found journalism, where he worked for Entertainment Tonight, The Hollywood Reporter, and he even ran the Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazine. There, Robin Block recruited him. Listen to the first chat with David back in Episode 294 of this series. In this episode, we talk about the third film in the Darkness franchise, lost horror ...
Ep371 - Kim Hudson, Screenwriter & Author ‘The Virgin’s Promise’
October 10, 2022 09:31 - 29 minutes - 45 MB“I started out as a field geologist and then I became a land-claim negotiator,” said Kim Hudson. “All of it very masculine, very linear, I would say, and then I had children and thought, ‘what do I authentically want? It was the 70s and women were doing ‘everything man can do’ but that changed when I had a child.” During this discovery phase, Hudson found a book by Julia Cameron called The Artist’s Way. The book, which was meant to “help people with artistic creative recovery” according to t...
Ep370 - ‘The Northman’ Screenwriters Robert Eggers & Sjón
October 07, 2022 15:56 - 32 minutes - 52.1 MB“Folk tales, fairy tales, mythology, the past…I’ve always been interested in that,” said writer/director Robert Eggers (The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman). “I don’t entirely know why. I’m more interested in that subject matter than I am in films, maybe, in the end.” The same is perhaps true for Robert’s writing partner, Sjón, an internationally acclaimed Icelandic author who published his first book of poetry at the age of 16. Sjón said, “When I was growing up in Iceland in the 70s, th...
Ep369 - Finn Jones, Actor ‘The Visitor,’ ‘Iron Fist’ & ‘Game of Thrones’
October 04, 2022 21:43 - 30 minutes - 51 MBFinn Jones has wanted to be an actor for as long as he can remember. “It’s inherently been a driving factor of my life,” he told me, along with his early journey into film and television. As an actor, Finn is best known for starring as Danny Rand in Iron Fist and on Game of Thrones as Loral Tyrell. He’s also been in Swimming with Sharks, Dickinson, and Sleeping Beauty. Most recently, Finn starred in a film for Blumhouse called The Visitor, which was directed by Justin P. Lange. The plot...
Ep368 - K. Asher Levin, Director ‘Dig,’ ‘Slayers,’ & ‘Helen’s Dead’
September 29, 2022 21:17 - 28 minutes - 42.7 MB“I’m a bit of a film brat,” said K. Asher Levin, who grew up in Los Angeles and has always had family in the business. Currently, he’s best known for screenwriting and directing, with films such as Dig, Slayers, and Helen’s Dead. In Dig, “A widowed father and his daughter whose house is up for demolition, are taken hostage by a dangerous couple, who won't stop until they retrieve what lies beneath the property.” In Slayers, “A group of superstar influencers are drawn to a reclusive billion...
Ep367 - Nicholas Stoller, Screenwriter ‘Bros,’ ‘Sex Tape,’ & ‘Yes Man’
September 26, 2022 19:37 - 35 minutes - 58.3 MB“I was obsessed with comedy writing as a kid,” said Nicholas Stoller. “I remember watching Saturday Night Live and not wanting to be the actors, but wanting to write the sketches. I don’t even know how I knew that was a job.” As a screenwriter, Stoller has credits for Fun with Dick and Jane, Yes Man, Get Him to the Greek, The Muppets, Sex Tape, The Carmichael Show, Night School and Bros, many of which he also Directed, including Neighbors and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. “I’m excited Bros is...
Ep366 - Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, Screenwriter ‘Thor - Love and Thunder’ & ‘Do Revenge’
September 14, 2022 14:16 - 31 minutes - 51.6 MB“I just love storytelling,” Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, in regards to how she got involved with screenwriting. “I loved writing as a kid. I wrote children’s books. I loved telling stories. I loved putting on shows in my living room. At more core, I love storytelling and the theater of it.” As a writer, Jennifer’s credits include the TV series Sweet/Vicious, and the movies Someone Great, Unpregnant, Do Revenge, and Thor: Love and Thunder. “I like playing in different genres, but what I do lean ...
Ep365 - Dennis Lehane, Author-Screenwriter ‘Black Bird,’ ’Shutter Island,’ ‘The Wire’
September 03, 2022 10:37 - 29 minutes - 48.4 MBDennis Lehane grew up in a storytelling, bar culture. For him, storytelling was in his blood. Family would gather every week, telling stories of the Old Country. “I think I just grew up in the thrall of that,” he told me. “I wrote my first novel when I was 15.” As an author, Dennis is known for Mystic River, Shutter Island, and The Drop, all novels that have been turned into films. In addition to novels, he’s written for The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, Mr. Mercedes, The Outsider, and most recent...
Ep364 - John Hamburg, Screenwriter ‘Me Time,’ ‘Zoolander,’ ‘Meet the Parents,’ & ‘I Love You, Man’
August 29, 2022 19:01 - 31 minutes - 52.7 MB“I was a comedy nerd kid,” said screenwriter John Hamburg. “Then I got a video camera for my 15th birthday, and I started making short films. In college, I started writing plays and monologues. Then I got serious about writing.” As a playwright, Hamburg said he learned the importance of writing and re-writing to the process. Eventually this led him to Film School and then a string of iconic comedies, like Meet the Parents, Zoolander, Along Came Polly, I Love You Man, Night School, and Me Tim...
Ep363 - ‘For All Mankind’ Creators Matt Wolpert & Ben Nedivi
August 26, 2022 16:26 - 31 minutes - 50.4 MB“I can’t recall what got me into screenwriting, other than just loving movies at a very young age,” said screenwriter Matt Wolpert, who recalls watching Singing in the Rain and Funny Girl with his mom. “I don’t remember wanting to do anything else.” This led Matt to NYU Film School, where he met Ben Nedivi in a Film Production Class. “I grew up in LA,” added Ben. “My father was a set decorator and he worked on Quantum Leap. Our garage was filled with props from that show,” he joked. “Every e...
Ep362 - Will Graham, Co-Creator Amazon Prime’s ‘A League of Their Own’
August 24, 2022 21:30 - 21 minutes - 35.2 MB“I was a queer kid and I didn’t really have a vocabulary for that — I don’t know what was ‘wrong’ with me — but I had this sense I wasn’t right for the world exactly as it was around me,” said screenwriter Will Graham. “So I think stories, movies, TV, comic books, novels…they were a place I could escape and process what was happening to me.” Graham continued, “I think that’s the impulse that brought me to making things. The idea of taking people somewhere outside the space of their normal li...
Ep361 - James Morosini, Writer-Director Patton Oswalt Film ‘I Love My Dad’
August 20, 2022 12:02 - 31 minutes - 50.3 MB“My dad used to take me to the movies every weekend,” said James Morosini, who is also the nephew of actor Christopher Reeve. You may have seen James as an actor in The Sex Lives of College Girls or American Horror Story, but he’s also known for writing and directing in films like Threesomething and I Love My Dad. About fifteen years ago, James and his dad were not really talking and when he got home one day, he had a friend request from a pretty girl. But, this girl turned out to be his da...
Ep360 - Chris Mundy Returns, Showrunner Netflix’s ‘Ozark’
August 16, 2022 11:26 - 25 minutes - 43.4 MB“There were always supposed to be four seasons,” said showrunner Chris Mundy. The final season of Ozark was originally going to be ten episodes, but when Netflix up’d the ante to fourteen episodes, there were several changes in the series. Normally, this interview series goes more into the habits of writers, but in this special episode, we really go into the weeds about Ozark Season 4, making heavy decisions in terms of plot and character, and what alterations were made in the final season....
Ep359 - Bisha K. Ali, Screenwriter ‘Loki’ and Creator ‘Ms. Marvel’
August 12, 2022 16:39 - 23 minutes - 37.9 MBWhen asked why she got into writing, screenwriter Bisha K. Ali joked it all started with a “teacher who gave [her] too much validation.” She said, “I wrote a short story when I was 8 and the teacher made me read it to the class. They were wondering who this kid was who had been sitting in the corner for the past six years.” This early validation, along with a family and cultural love for storytelling from her British-Pakistani background, is “fundamentally” a part of her. “Then, also the fac...
Ep358 - Andy Siara, Screenwriter ‘Lodge 49,’ ‘Palm Springs,’ & ‘The Resort’
August 08, 2022 18:11 - 30 minutes - 48.5 MB“I needed to make a change in my life,” said Andy Siara about the origin of his screenwriting career. “I was in a band with my brother for a while and we decided to call it a day in 2012. He was making responsible adult decisions, so I thought I had to do that too, so I applied to the only school that didn’t require the GRE.” Two weeks later, Siara was enrolled at AFI. “To hedge my bets, I applied to the producing program and the screenwriting program,” he joked. “I stayed up all night writi...
Ep357 - Joshua Sprague, Author & Creator The 30-Day Book Writing Challenge
July 29, 2022 17:50 - 32 minutes - 53.1 MBJoshua Sprague is an avid reader obsessed with mindset and productivity. In his first book, SMASH!, the author talked about breaking through productivity barriers thanks to advice he learned from six and seven-figure infopreneurs. We also discuss Joshua’s battle-tested 30 Day Book Writing Challenge, and a little about his upcoming book Create First, Consume Second, which is about a 25-minute daily ritual to make you richer, happier, and more creative. www.createfirstconsumesecond.com In ...
Ep356 - Hwang Dong-Hyuk, Writer-Director Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’
July 29, 2022 12:33 - 26 minutes - 39.9 MB“My dream was to become a film director,” said Hwang Dong-Hyuk, writer/director of Netflix’s Squid Game. “It’s a long story, but at first I wanted to write books or become a poet. I knew I wasn’t good enough for that, but in 1992, my mom bought a video camera so I could use it. I think that was the most fun thing I’ve done in my life, so I knew I wanted to become a film director.” Hwang Dong-Hyuk is also known for his work on The Fortress and Silenced. The Fortress takes place in 1636, when ...
Ep355 - Rick Dugdale, Writer-Director Anthony Hopkins Film ‘Zero Contact’
July 25, 2022 10:35 - 21 minutes - 35.9 MBRick Dugdale was a child actor in Canada who later found a path as a Producer, thanks to his work on The X-Files. Now, he’s a Producer and Director for the upcoming Zero Contact trilogy. The first film, shot in the pandemic, stars Anthony Hopkins, Sam Hart, and Trevor Williams. The thriller was produced in 17 different countries entirely virtually during 2020. Zero Contact will be followed up with Zero Contact: Pole to Pole and Zero Contact: The Reset. In this interview, Rick talks about “...
Ep354 - Karla R. Fuller, Author ‘Do the Right Thing Five Screenplays that Embrace Diversity’
July 14, 2022 16:58 - 32 minutes - 52.1 MB“I never saw myself as a writer per se,” said author Karla Fuller, “but I loved film and discovered film while I was an undergraduate. I was looking for books that were interesting to me and I couldn’t find them. I thought I was going to have to write it myself. I found that I had a lot of say about it.” And that’s exactly what she did. Karla R. Fuller is known for two books: Hollywood Goes Oriental: CaucAsian Performance in American Film and Do the Right Thing: Five Screenplays that Embrace...
Ep354 - Karla R. Fuller, Author ‘Do the Right Thing - Five Screenplays that Embrace Diversity’
July 14, 2022 16:58 - 32 minutes - 52.1 MB“I never saw myself as a writer per se,” said author Karla Fuller, “but I loved film and discovered film while I was an undergraduate. I was looking for books that were interesting to me and I couldn’t find them. I thought I was going to have to write it myself. I found that I had a lot of say about it.” And that’s exactly what she did. Karla R. Fuller is known for two books: Hollywood Goes Oriental: CaucAsian Performance in American Film and Do the Right Thing: Five Screenplays that Embrace...
Ep353 - Lenny Abrahamson Returns, Director ‘Conversations with Friends’
July 01, 2022 12:05 - 28 minutes - 44.7 MB“It kind of grew out of Normal People,” said Lenny Abrahamson about his new series Conversations with Friends. Both stories come from Irish author Sally Rooney. “It seemed very obvious having gone through the adaptation in episodic form. We learned how best to work with Sally’s material and we all felt like Conversations should be a series.” The series are listed as Normal People premiering in 2020 and Conversations with Friends premiering in 2022, but the process was a little more overlappi...
Ep352 - Molly Smith Metzler, Creator Netflix’s ‘Maid’
June 22, 2022 17:48 - 30 minutes - 50.8 MBMolly Smith Metzler spent 15 years writing plays before stepping into television work. Around 2015, she got a job on an HBO limited series from Director Steve McQueen, which unfortunately wasn’t picked up. As a writer, Metzler is known for working on Orange is the New Black, Casual, Shameless, and Maid, where she’s also the creator. In Maid, the story follows Alex Russell (Margaret Qualley) as she tries to flee an abusive relationship with Sean Boyd (Nick Robinson). As a young mother, she...
Ep351 - Jeremy Slater, Screenwriter Marvel’s Series ‘Moon Knight’
June 16, 2022 18:23 - 34 minutes - 57.8 MB“The answer always goes back to Jaws,” said Jeremy Slater, when asked about why he got into the business in the first place. A movie he saw too young, it changed the way he saw movies and he knew he wanted to grow up to play with “giant, rubber sharks.” Slater’s rubber sharks came in the form of The Exorcist, The Umbrella Academy, Fantastic Four, and most recently, Marvel’s Moon Knight for Disney Plus. In his latest project, a six-episode series starring Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke, “Steven...
Ep350 - Vanessa Bayer & Jeremy Beiler on ‘SNL’ & Showtime’s ‘I Love That for You’
June 03, 2022 16:23 - 29 minutes - 48.8 MBBoth Vanessa Bayer and Jeremy Beiler were involved with sketch groups at an early age. Working together at Saturday Night Live, Jeremy as a writer and Vanessa as a cast member, the two eventually found their way into their own lanes of comedy. In their latest collaboration, I Love That for You, the story follows Vanessa’s character, Joanna Gold, who overcomes childhood leukemia to achieve her dream of becoming an on-air host for a popular home shopping network. In this interview, the duo ta...
Ep349 - Judd Apatow, Screenwriter ‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin,’ ‘Knocked Up’ and ‘This is 40’
June 02, 2022 13:42 - 31 minutes - 48 MBJudd Apatow is perhaps best known for work in the film world, writing movies and television like The Ben Stiller Show, The Larry Sanders Show, Freaks and Geeks, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Pineapple Express, Funny People, and This is 40, among others. But he’s also known for mentoring rising stars, such as with Lena Dunham for Girls, Pete Holmes for Crashing, Amy Schumer for Trainwreck, and Pete Davidson for The King of Staten Island. Somehow, between all these projects, he’s also ...
Ep348 - Joby Harold, Screenwriter Star Wars ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’
May 25, 2022 21:31 - 35 minutes - 57.9 MBAs a kid in England, Joby Harold was obsessed with movies like The Magnificent Seven. The Great Escape. Star Wars. Jaws. These movies inspired him to find his way into Hollywood and “go for it” as a screenwriter. Today, he’s known for King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Army of the Dead, and he’s got credits on upcoming films The Flash and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. For this interview, we discussed the new mini-series, Obi-Wan Kenobi. In this interview, we talk about lanes of genre, ...
Ep347 - Riley Stearns, Writer-Director ‘Dual’ & ‘The Art of Self-Defense’
May 11, 2022 15:52 - 36 minutes - 59 MBOriginally, Riley Stearns wanted to be a musician, but as he started to visit sets, he knew screenwriting could be his “in” to filmmaking. Today, he’s best known for being the writer-director of ‘The Art of Self-Defense’ and ‘Dual.’ In ‘The Art of Self-Defense,’ Jesse Eisenberg stars as Casey, a young man who gets attacked on the streets and decides to join a local dojo. In ‘Dual,’ Karen Gillan stars as Sarah, a woman opts to clone herself after she receives a terminal diagnoses, but once ...
Ep346 - Gigi Gaston, Director Lena Headey Film ‘9 Bullets’
April 29, 2022 16:04 - 23 minutes - 38.3 MB“As a kid, I escaped into movies. Some movies inspired me to do something great. Some movies made me re-look at my life. Some movies made me long for love,” said Gigi Gaston. As a director, Gigi Gaston is known for her work on Rip It Off, The Nanny Murders, Fatal Memory, and most recently 9 Bullets, which stars Lena Headey and Sam Worthington. In this interview, Gigi talks about her mentorship with George Cukor (My Fair Lady, Gaslight) who told her “you will learn in the doing,” her early ...
Ep345 - Mike Roe, Author ‘The 30 Rock Book - Inside the Iconic Show from BLERG to EGOT’
April 09, 2022 12:01 - 31 minutes - 54 MBMike Roe always wanted to be a storyteller. Currently, he’s a writer for LAist, where he covers arts and entertainment. In one viral article, “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah from 30 Rock: an Oral History” Mike was approached to write a book on 30 Rock. In The 30 Rock Book, Mike interviews over 50 of the original cast members, crew, and critics. He discusses how the goofy show became an all-time classic, including who shaped the series like Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, and Donald Glover, who was a writer o...
Ep344 - Jimmy Soni, Author ‘The Founders - The Story of Paypal’
April 08, 2022 12:05 - 34 minutes - 56.2 MBThe son of Indian immigrants, Jimmy Soni grew up with his nose in a book. In high school, he was writing for the school paper. Today, he’s known as the former managing editor of The Huffington Post and is currently an author. Jimmy first published A Mind at Play about Claude Shannon, a mathematician and “the father of information theory.” His latest book, The Founders, uncovers the story of Paypal and includes interviews with Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, among others. In this interview, Jim...
Ep343 - Ric Prado, Author ‘Black Ops - The Life of a CIA Shadow Warrior’
April 06, 2022 17:32 - 25 minutes - 40.2 MB“When you see things that young, they tend to be tattooed on the brain,” said author Ric Prado. “The first firefight I saw, I was seven years old.” Black Ops is a memoir by “the highest ranking covert warrior to lift the veil of secrecy and offer a glimpse into the shadow wars America fought since Vietnam.” In this interview, Prado talks about his life as a legendary CIA officer, the responsibility he felt to America as an immigrant, how he went about publishing CIA secrets and his views on...
Ep342 - Ian O’Connor, Author ‘Coach K - The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski’
April 06, 2022 15:28 - 35 minutes - 59.1 MB“I found that I really liked writing about human beings. I found I could apply my approach to anything,” said author Ian O’Connor. “I don’t feel like I write about quarterbacks and center-fielders and shooting guards as much as I write about human beings.” Ian’s most recent focus is Coach K. Mike Krzyzewski is a five-time national champion at Duke, the NCAA's all-time leader in victories with nearly 1,200, and the first man to lead Team USA to three Olympic basketball gold medals. This book ...
Ep341 - Brian Petsos, Writer-Director Oscar Issac Film ‘Big Gold Brick’
April 05, 2022 16:02 - 26 minutes - 43.4 MB“It wasn’t until acting and improvising that I really started writing,” said Brian Petsos. As a performer, he transitioned into writing and directing. Brian met Oscar Isaac early in his career and Isaac has been in all three of his films, including Ticky Tacky, Lightningface, and most recently, Big Gold Brick. His first feature, Big Gold Brick, is a story about Samuel Liston and his experiences with an enigmatic middle-aged father of two who enlists the writer to write his biography. In...