Our guest today is the award-winning screen and television writer, professor, visual artist, and author, Pamela Douglas. Pamela is a member of the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild of America and a USC School of Cinematics Arts tenure professor for screenwriting. She is credited for her writing on shows/series such as Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), The Ghostwriter (1992), CBS Schoolbreak Special (1984), Frank's Place (1987), and A Year in the Life (1987). Aside from her awesome car...
Apr 07, 2021•1 hr 5 min
We have for you on the show today screenwriter and director, Boaz Yakin, The writer behind The Punisher, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, The Rookie, & Safe and directing, The Fresh, Remember the Titans and the comedy-drama, Uptown Girl among others. Growing up in a talented theatrical family, it was only natural for Yakin to pursue a life in film or some sort of performing arts. His dad, who was a teacher at Juilliard and a theater director enrolled Boaz into the famous Stell Adler script anal...
Mar 31, 2021•1 hr 25 min
On the show today veteran screenwriter, director, producer, educator, author, Paul Chitlik. Paul has worked on 80's show classics like the Twilight Zone, Small Wonder, Who's the Boss, and Perfect Strangers, among others. He spends his free time as a clinical assistant professor teaching Screenwriting at the Loyola Marymount University in Los Angelos. Small Wonder follows the zany adventures of a suburban family, their next-door neighbors, and an innovative robot designed to look like a human chi...
Mar 25, 2021•1 hr 16 min
We have been on a major roll lately on the podcast and this episode keeps that going in a big way. Our guest on the show today is writer, producer, and director Edward Zwick. Edward made his big shift from his childhood passion for theater to filmmaking after working as a PA for Woody Allen in France on the set of Love and Death. He then moved to California in the summer of 1976 and has since forged a respected name for himself in Hollywood. You can read Edward Wick's Screenplay collection here....
Mar 17, 2021•1 hr 33 min
Showrunning is a mysterious art form to many so I wanted to bringing he someone who can shine a light on what it takes to be one. Today on the show we have powerhouse show runner, writer, director, producer, and all-around good guy Steven Deknight. Best known for his work across the action, drama, and sci-fi genres on TV shows like Smallville, Spartacus, Daredevil, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Jupiter's Legacy. Realizing his strengths early on in his career, Steven is a jack-of-all-trade...
Mar 10, 2021•1 hr 58 min
Today on the show we have award-winning producer, film executive, educator, and industry story analyst Christopher Lockhart. Christopher is renowned for his script editing acumen. He has read over 60,000 screenplays. He is also an award-winning filmmaker and member of the WGA, PGA, and the Television Academy. Chris got his start at International Creative Management (ICM), where he worked as script consultant to legendary talent agent Ed Limato, who represented industry giants such as Mel Gibson,...
Mar 03, 2021•1 hr 18 min
This is Part 3 in a 3-Part Limited Series of conversations I'll be releasing between the legendary screenwriter James V. Hart, the writer of Hook, Contact, Bram Stroker's Dracula, and Tomb Raider and some of the top screenwriters in the game. Today on the show we have Bo Burnham, the director and screenwriter of Eighth Grade. It is a RAW and HONEST look at growing up as a young person today. The film was a run away hit and distributed by A24. Thirteen-year-old Kayla endures the tidal wave of con...
Feb 24, 2021•43 min
Today on the show we have author Pamela Jaye Smith. She is is a mythologist, international consultant-speaker, and award-winning writer-producer-director with 30+ years in features, TV, music videos, commercials, documentaries, web series, corporate and military films. She has worked at major studios and with wildly independent companies in Hollywood and around the world, always enjoying the process of bringing creative ideas to worldwide screens. Credits include Fox, Disney, Paramount, Microsof...
Feb 17, 2021•1 hr 11 min
This is Part 2 in a 3-Part Limited Series of conversations I'll be releasing between the legendary screenwriter James V. Hart, the writer of Hook, Contact, Bram Stroker's Dracula, and Tomb Raider just to name a few, and some of the top screenwriters in the game. Today on the show we have Damien Chazelle, the Oscar® Winning director and screenwriter of La La Land. He bursted on the scene with his debut film Whiplash. The film is about a young musician (Teller) struggles to become a top jazz drumm...
Feb 10, 2021•18 min
Today on the show we have award-winning screenwriter, actor, director, producer, sketch comedian Rick Najera. Rick is also an author, playwright, coach and national speaker with an expansive portfolio of credits in all forms of entertainment. From starring in films with Sidney Poitier, George Clooney and most recently Mario Lopez, to writing sketch comedy for Jim Carrey and Jamie Foxx, Najera is best known for starring on Broadway in his award-winning, self-penned stageplay, Latinologues, direct...
Feb 03, 2021•1 hr 21 min
Get ready to have your mind blown! I'll be releasing a 3-Part Limited Series of conversations between the legendary screenwriter James V. Hart, the writer of Hook, Contact, Bram Stroker's Dracula, and Tomb Raider just to name a few, and some of the top screenwriters in the game. First up is the screenwriter that took the world by storm with his Oscar-Winning screenplay Get Out, Jordan Peele. If you have been living under a rock for the past few years here is what the film is about. In Universal ...
Jan 27, 2021•21 min
Today on the show we have best-selling author and screenwriter Eileen Cook. She is a multi-published, award-winning author with her novels appearing in nine languages. Her books have been optioned for film and TV. She spent most of her teen years wishing she were someone else or somewhere else, which is great training for a writer. She’s an instructor/mentor with The Creative Academy and Simon Fraser University Writer’s Studio Program where she loves helping other writers find their unique story...
Jan 20, 2021•1 hr 11 min
Today on the show we have literary manager and producer John Zaozirny. He oversees the feature film production slate for Bellevue and the Literary Management Team. John and I discuss the raw truth of the film business, what he is looking for in a client, how screenwriters should approach a manager and he does some Hollywood myth-busting as well. If you are looking for representation in the film industry this is a must listen to episode. His clients’ writing and directing credits include INFINITE...
Jan 13, 2021•1 hr 3 min
The impact that Blake Snyder's Save the Cat® book series has had on Hollywood screenwriting is incalculable. Rarely does a book change the way screenwriters approach story and structure. In his best-selling book, Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies: The Screenwriter's Guide to Every Story Ever Told, Blake Snyder provided 50 “beat sheets” to 50 films, mostly studio-made. Now his student, screenwriter and novelist Salva Rubio applies Blake’s principles to 50 independent, auteur, European, and cult fi...
Jan 06, 2021•50 min
Well, 2020 has been one hell of a year. Our industry has been turned upside down and inside out. The way business is done in Hollywood has been changed forever. There has been so much pain and suffering this year. People lost their jobs. Legendary companies that were thought to be unbreakable filed for bankruptcy. The mear act of being on set became a highly dangerous occupation. So many beloved filmmakers and actors passed away. Film festivals closed their doors. Movie theaters giants shut thei...
Dec 31, 2020•13 min
Today on the show I bring you one of the most influential and iconic filmmakers in the history of cinema, three-time Oscar® winner Oliver Stone. Throughout his legendary career, Oliver Stone has served as director, writer, and producer on a variety of films, documentaries, and television movies. His films have been nominated for forthy two Oscars® and have won twelve. I hope this conversation inspires filmmakers and screenwriters to never give up. Oliver struggled for years taking jobs as a prod...
Dec 28, 2020•56 min•Ep. 100
Today on the show we have returning champion author K.M. Weiland. I wanted to bring her back on the show to discuss her new book Writing Your Story's Theme: The Writer's Guide to Plotting Stories That Matter. "Theme Is What Your Story Is Really About." Theme—the mysterious cousin of plot and character. Too often viewed as abstract rather than actionable, theme is frequently misunderstood and left to chance. Some writers even insist theme should not be purposefully implemented. This is unfortunat...
Dec 23, 2020•1 hr 19 min
I have a treat for the tribe today. Last week we had screenwriter Eduardo Cisneros on the show discussing his new film Half Brothers. Today we have his co-writer and producer of the film Jason Shuman. Jason is a writer and producer who has made over 20 motion pictures grossing more than $500 million worldwide as well as produced over 100 episodes of television. Shuman has produced four films that reached number one at the box office with Darkness Falls, The Messengers, Bangkok Dangerous, and the...
Dec 16, 2020•1 hr 13 min
Today on the show we have screenwriter, Eduardo Cisneros. He began his screenwriting career in his home country of Mexico. Working on countless television series including Saturday Night Live: Mexico. His career took an upward trajectory when he began working with one of the biggest comedy actor/writer/producer and director in the Latinx world, Eugenio Derbez. Eduardo help develop the massively successful crossover smash Instructions Not Included. Eduardo Cisneros's latest project hits close to ...
Dec 09, 2020•1 hr 2 min
Today on the show we have screenwriter and Emmy-winner Scott W. Smith. Scott is an OG in the screenwriting blogging space. His blog Screenwriting from Iowa has been around since 2008 and has been nationally recognized. His new book Screenwriting with Brass Knuckles is a bare-knuckle approach to the screenwriting process. Here's some info on his book. Every screenwriter faces fear and failure. The legendary screenwriter William Goldman once said he was “programmed to fail.” Yet he went on to have...
Dec 02, 2020•1 hr 3 min
Have you ever wondered how to format your screenplay so Hollywood would take you seriously as a screenwriter before they even read your script? Today's guest Christopher Riley can definitely help you with this. Christopher Riley is an American screenwriter whose first film, After The Truth, a multiple-award-winning courtroom thriller, sparked international controversy when it was released in Germany in 1999. Other credits include 25 To Life, a dramatic thriller written for Touchstone Pictures, T...
Nov 25, 2020•1 hr 25 min
I'm so excited to bring this episode to the BPS Tribe. Today we have legendary screenwriter James V. Hart. James is the screenwriter behind some of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters like HOOK, directed by Steven Spielberg based on an idea by Hart’s then 6-year-old son, Jake, BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND, directed by Brian Henson, and CONTACT, directed by Robert Zemeckis. MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN, TUCK EVERLASTING, SAHARA, LARA CROFT: TOMB RAID...
Nov 18, 2020•1 hr 27 min
Today on the show we have screenwriter and script doctor, John Winston Rainey. John is the co-author, along with legendary script consultant Linda Seger, of the book You Talkin’ to Me?: How to Write Great Dialogue. John has written 25 screenplays of which 3 have been produced and 10 have been optioned. He has been a script consultant since 1989 and is the author of Screenwriting Style That Sizzles: A Primer For Polishing. Enjoy my conversation with John Winston Rainey. Become a supporter of this...
Nov 11, 2020•1 hr 7 min
Today we have a special CROSSOVER episode of the BPS Podcast. Our guest is Derek Kolstad, the genius behind the extremely successful John Wick franchise. An ex-hitman comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters that took everything from him. With New York City as his bullet-riddled playground, JOHN WICK (Keanu Reeves) is a fresh and stylized take on the "assassin genre”. He is also the screenwriter of One in the Chamber, The Package (starring Steve Austin & Dolph Lundgren). This epis...
Nov 04, 2020•1 hr 12 min
Today on the show we bring the legendary story analyst and best-selling author Chris Vogler. Chris wrote the game-changing book The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. I read this book over 25 years ago and it changed the way I look at "story." Chris studied the work and principles of the late master Joseph Campbell. His book The Hero with a Thousand Faces was the basis for Star Wars as well as almost every other Hollywood feature film in the past 60 years using what Campbell called t...
Oct 28, 2020•1 hr 26 min
Today on the show we have screenwriter and director Jeffrey Reddick, who is best known for creating the highly successful Final Destination horror film franchise. The franchise has grossed over $650 Million world-wide. Not bad for an idea that was first conceived for an X-Files episode. Jeffrey also co-wrote the story for, and executive produced, Final Destination 2 (2003). Jeffrey made his first connection to the film industry at age 14 when he wrote a prequel to Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) ...
Oct 21, 2020•1 hr 5 min
Ever wonder how Pixar continuously puts out hit after hit? What is the story secret sauce that has created one of Hollywood's most amazing track records? Today's guest might be able to shed some light on the answer. On the show, we have screenwriter and author Dean Movshovitz. Dean wrote the best-selling book Pixar Storytelling: Rules for Effective Storytelling Based on Pixar's Greatest Films. PIXAR STORYTELLING is the first book to offer an in-depth analysis of the screenwriting techniques and ...
Oct 14, 2020•1 hr 23 min
Today on the show we have screenwriter, consultant, and studio executive, Jeff Willis. Jeff has been in the film business for over 15 years as a writer and executive working on films like Avengers: End Game, Spider-Man: Far from Home, Captain Marvel, and Black Panther to name a few. Around 30 minutes into the show we begin to discuss the business of screenwriting and more importantly what screenwriters can do to make money and get their stories out there. There are so many options out there for ...
Oct 07, 2020•1 hr 27 min
Today on the show we have one of the most popular guests to ever be on the Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast, the legendary John Truby. John is the author of The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller. John Truby is one of the most respected and sought-after story consultants in the film industry, and his students have gone on to pen some of Hollywood's most successful films. The Anatomy of Story shares all his secrets for writing a compelling script. Based on the lessons in...
Sep 30, 2020•2 hr 3 min
Today on the show we bring back author and Story Maps guru Daniel Calvisi. His last episode was one of the most popular in the history of the podcast. The concept of story mapping has been a huge help to so many screenwriters. This is why I wanted to bring him back to discuss how to use his story mapping technique on the television/streaming script. This is based on his best selling book STORY MAPS: TV Drama: The Structure of the One-Hour Television Pilot. Daniel Calvisi brings his Story Maps sc...
Sep 23, 2020•55 min
