Chris Riley is a screenwriter whose first film, After The Truth, an award-winning courtroom thriller written with his wife and professional partner, Kathy, sparked international controversy in 1999 when it was released in Germany. Other credits include 25 To Life, a dramatic thriller for Junction Entertainment and Touchstone Pictures; The Other White House, a political thriller for Sean Connery’s Fountainbridge Films and Intermedia; Aces, an action-adventure romance for Paramount Pictures; and a...
May 18, 2022•1 hr 15 min
Today on the show we have writer and director Stephen Karam. He is the Tony Award-winning author of The Humans, Sons of the Prophet and Speech & Debate. For his work he’s received two Drama Critics Circle Awards, an OBIE Award and is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist. Stephen recently directed his first feature film, a rethought version of The Humans for A24 films, to be released in 2021. He wrote a film adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull starring Annette Bening, which was released by Sony...
May 13, 2022•1 hr
Today on the show we go through the good, the bad and the ugly of being an indie filmmakers. On the show we have filmmaker Adam White. We discuss the making of his new film Funny Thing About. We discuss financing, casting, how he got Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) to say yes to a supporting role in a romcom, shooting an ensemble cast during the pandemic, how we were filming the movie without having all of the funding in hand, securing distribution and much more. It's a pretty insane story. Samant...
May 11, 2022•59 min
Today on the show we have film producers Jason Armstrong and Rob Goodrich. Armstrong and Goodrich founded Walk Like A Duck Entertainment, a film production company that develops and produces high quality scripted and non-scripted content. With a combined 30+ years in the entertainment industry, Armstrong and Goodrich have held positions in all aspects of production with a focus on IP acquisition, development, packaging and raising capital. The company has forced strong and supportive relationshi...
May 06, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as DANIELS, have been writing and directing together for over a decade, initially with a slew of viral music videos, commercials, and short films, then with feature films and TV directing. They've developed a reputation for combining absurdity with heartfelt personal stories. Oftentimes they incorporate a unique brand of visual effects, and visceral practical effects into their genre blending projects. They have directed music videos for Manch...
May 04, 2022•1 hr 6 min
Miranda Bailey is a prolific producer, actor and director, known for producing high quality independent films. Her passion for bringing compelling, well-crafted stories to the screen has been the driving force in her distinguished 15-year filmmaking career. Bailey has produced over 20 films, among them the Oscar®-nominated THE SQUID AND THE WHALE and the Spirit Award-winning THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL, as well as James Gunn’s SUPER, the Sundance hit SWISS ARMY MAN, the critically acclaimed NORM...
Apr 29, 2022•1 hr 2 min
Marta Kauffman is an Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning television writer, producer and showrunner behind the hit series Friends and Grace & Frankie. After graduating from Brandeis University, Kauffman got her big break alongside David Crane when their pilots Dream On (1990) and The Powers That Be (1992) were greenlit. The pair then launched Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions with Kevin Bright and became the trio that created the iconic sitcom Friends. Marta’s expansive and successful career incl...
Apr 27, 2022•1 hr 11 min
Today on the show we have legendary film producer Cary Woods. Cary Woods is a film producer best known for producing worldwide blockbusters such as Scream and Godzilla, the beloved independent films Kids, Cop Land, and Gummo, and modern classics like Rudy and Swingers. Woods is also responsible for producing the breakthrough features of such notable directors as James Mangold, Doug Liman, M. Night Shyamalan, Alexander Payne, Harmony Korine, and Larry Clark, as well as the screenwriting debuts of...
Apr 22, 2022•1 hr 16 min
Andrew Erwin and his brother Jon are the filmmaking team known by most as the Erwin Brothers. The Birmingham, Alabama born brothers grew up around college football and entertainment. Their father, a local news anchor introduced them to the television industry at a young age. As teenagers they began their career in sports television with ESPN as camera operators. After several years working in sports they transitioned into directing music videos and documentaries. They won music video of the year...
Apr 20, 2022•55 min
Today on the show we have writer, actor and director Sonja O'Hara. You might recognize here from my feature film On the Corner of Ego and Desire where she played an insane director at Sundance. Sonja O’Hara is an Emmy-nominated queer writer, director and actor represented by WME and Management 360. She was chosen as one of the “10 Filmmakers To Watch” by Independent Magazine, selected by a jury from MovieMaker Magazine, the Sundance Institute and Austin Film Festival. (Past recipients include Ba...
Apr 15, 2022•1 hr 11 min
Steven Kane is an American television and theater writer, producer and director. Personal Life: Steve Kane was born in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, where he graduated from Cherry Hill High School West as a proud member of the 1985 and 1986 New Jersey Knowledge Bowl Championship Teams. His rock band, Next Century, almost came in third in back to back "Battle of the Bands" contests (Kane played key-tar) but he did manage to win consecutive "Best Director" awards in the school's annual One Act Play fes...
Apr 13, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Today on the show we have maniac writers/directors The Nelms Brothers, and I say maniacs in the best possible way. Ian and Eshom Nelms, grew up in central California waging two hundred man G.I. Joe wars and dreaming in John Ford landscapes. They have written and directed numerous award-winning and critically- acclaimed films. The brothers are known for their unique ability to traverse from one genre to another, seamlessly and successfully, from drama to comedy to thrillers. Their film, LOST ON P...
Apr 08, 2022•1 hr 32 min
Today on the show, we have actor, writer, director Brian Petsos. Brian is the writer director of the new film, "Big Gold Brick" starring Andy Garcia, Oscar Isaac, Megan Fox and Lucy Hale just to name a few. After graduating from art school, Brian Petsos eventually began acting and improvising. While in the conservatory at Chicago’s famed SecondCity, he started writing; and later he began making films. Since leaving Chicago for New York City, he has carefully expanded his repertoire to include va...
Apr 06, 2022•46 min
Today on the show we have writer and director Krystin Ver Linden. She has always steered the course of her career and her life with her love for film, and it shows through her work. She was recently chosen as one of Variety’s2022 “10 Directors to Watch,” a coveted honor. Ver Linden’s script Ride sold to Lionsgate with Joey Soloway attached to direct and was featured on the Black List. She went on to sell numerous scripts as well as the pitch Love in Vain, an unconventional biopic centering aroun...
Apr 01, 2022•59 min
I have an epic conversation in store for you all today. Our guest is an Oscar-nominated screenwriter, filmmaker, John Lee Hancock. While working as a lawyer by day back in 1986, John moonlighted as a screenwriter, writing script after script. His spec script A Perfect World caught the eye of Steven Spielberg and eventually was directed by Clint Eastwood. After that success, he went on to direct the crowd-pleasing The Rookie. A true story about a coach who discovers that it's never too late for d...
Mar 30, 2022•1 hr 37 min
Today on the show we have returning champion RB Botto. For many, the holy grail of television has become Netflix. It’s a titan in the industry, and with over 200 million subscribers worldwide, no one can put out content quite like them. Just look at the recent hit show BRIDGERTON, which has already been seen by a massive 80 million households (!!) since its release. If you’re a writer or creator, getting your series onto Netflix’s platform can spell success in a big way. But first there’s the ma...
Mar 23, 2022•1 hr 42 min
Award-winning playwright and co-writer of Pixar’s TURNING RED, Julia Cho was born and raised in the arid suburbs of Southern California and Arizona. After a fairly uneventful childhood, she unexpectedly discovered theater as a teen and subsequently foiled her parents’ expectations of a life of respectability and normalcy. Instead, armed with an MFA in writing from NYU and a prestigious fellowship at The Juilliard School, Julia launched herself into the New York theater scene. She soon landed res...
Mar 16, 2022•59 min
You guys are in for a major treat. I'm always talking about those "lottery ticket" filmmaker stories that we all dream of happening to us one day. Well, today's guest's story is one of the mythological stories that come to life. We have a 90’s independent film icon, Scott Mosier. Scott is an indie film producer, editor, writer, director, actor, and podcaster of Smodcast, which he co-hosts with his long-term filmmaking partner, Kevin Smith. From Vancouver Film School to Hollywood, Scott's traject...
Mar 11, 2022•1 hr 38 min
Get ready for a crazy ride! On the show this week we have indie filmmaker and screenwriter, Kevin Lewis. He’s been active on the scene and directed several indie films between 1996 to the present. Kevin's vastest film is the trippy indie (soon to be a cult classic) feature, Willy’s Wonderland, starring the legendary Nicolas Cage. Lewis has definitely paid his dues. He started out making films in Highschool with his VHS and Super 8 comers. Between the short film releases amongst his peers earlier...
Mar 09, 2022•1 hr 18 min
Sitting down with one of the big names in this business this week was a really cool opportunity. I am honored to have on the show today, Academy Award-winning director, producer, and screenwriter, Taylor Hackford. Taylor's has directed films like An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), White Nights (1985), Proof of Life (2000), Dolores Claiborne (1995), Against All Odds (1984), Parker (2013), the iconic Ray Charles biopic, Ray of 2004, and The Comedian (2016) just to name a few. He also has served as...
Mar 02, 2022•1 hr 12 min
Today, we are hearing from one of the cultural influencers of the 90s film industry, and that’s non-other but Gary Goldstein, producer of the iconic rom-com, Pretty Woman, starring Richard Gere, and Julia Roberts. A man in a legal but hurtful business needs an escort for some social events and hires a beautiful prostitute he meets… only to fall in love. The film’s story centers on down-on-her-luck Hollywood sex worker Vivian Ward, who is hired by Edward Lewis, a wealthy businessman, to be his es...
Feb 25, 2022•1 hr 27 min
If you have ever been interested in directing television or a series on Netflix then this is the episode for you. Today on the show we have legendary television director Dan Attias. Dan has worked as a director in the film and television industry for 37 years. As a director of series television he has received the Directors Guild of America award for outstanding direction of dramatic television and has been nominated for multiple Emmy awards for his comedy directing. He continues to work on some...
Feb 23, 2022•1 hr 17 min
Get ready to have you mind blown. If you ever wanted to know the TRUE STORY on how the mythical El Mariachi, written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, then this is the conversation you want to listen to. Today on the show we have producer Elizabeth Avellán. Elizabeth Avellan was born in Caracas, Venezuela, where her grandfather, Gonzalo Veloz, pioneered commercial television. At thirteen, she moved to Houston with her family and later graduated from Rice University, where she had her first behin...
Feb 18, 2022•2 hr 12 min
Every once in a while I have a conversation on this show that blows my mind, this episode did just that. Today on the show we have Oscar® Nominated producer Chris Moore. He produced films like Good Will Hunting, American Pie, Waiting, The Adjustment Bureau, and Manchester by the Sea. Chris' profile grew from his appearance as the producer on the early 2000's filmmaker reality show Project: Greenlight. I have a short, and I mean short, history with Project: Greenlight. You can see below. After gr...
Feb 16, 2022•2 hr 3 min
Today, we are going to be talking all about one of my favorite topics; how to raise money to get our films made. I think every filmmaker wants to know how to make or get money for their films. But it becomes very challenging. My guest is an expert fundraiser, film financing consultant, facilitator, and author, Morrie Warshawski. He’s facilitated a lot of fundraising throughout his 35 years career and has authored Shaking the Money Tree: The Art of Getting Grants and Donations for Film & Vide...
Feb 11, 2022•1 hr 3 min
Today on the show we have Oscar® nominated filmmaker and screenwriter Joe Wright. Joe has established himself as one of Hollywood’s top directors with his rare ability to captivate global audiences through his extraordinary cinematic craft. Most recently, Wright directed the psychological thriller THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW, starring Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, and Gary Oldman. The film follows an agoraphobic psychologist whose life is turns upside down when a befriended neighbor suspiciously disapp...
Feb 09, 2022•56 min•Ep. 172
Today on the show we have writer, producer and director Brad Silberling. I had the pleasure of meeting Brad back in 2005 at my first Sundance Film Festival. He was very kind with his time and gave me some great advice. His feature films include City of Angels starring Meg Ryan and Nicholas Cage, Moonlight Mile, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon; Lemony Snickett’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, starring Jim Carrey and Meryl Streep; 10 Items of Less starring Morgan Freem...
Feb 04, 2022•1 hr 22 min
Today on the show we have author, filmmaker and screenwriter Mick Hurbis-Cherrier. Mick is an independent filmmaker and screenwriter. His works have been broadcast and shown around the country and have garnered prizes at many festivals including the Black Maria Film & Video Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Athens Film & Video Festival and the Cin(e) Poems National Film Festival. His work has also been featured at the Robert Flaherty Seminar, the American Film Institute’s National Video...
Feb 02, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 170
Get ready for on heck of a ride. Today on the show we have screenwriter Rich Wilkes. Wilkes’ major-studio debut was as screenwriter of the 1994 film Airheads. The story revolves around a group of loser musicians called The Lone Rangers who take a radio station hostage to get their song played on the radio. Airheads was directed by Michael Lehmann and distributed by 20th Century Fox. This was followed by a co-writer credit (alongside director James Melkonian) for the 1994 comedy The Stoned Age, s...
Jan 28, 2022•1 hr 19 min
As our Sundance Film Festival 2022 coverage we have on the show today writer Shaye Ogbonna. When not in pursuit of retro sneakers, Shaye Ogbonna can be found worshiping at the Temple of Story. His most recent feature project is the contemporary western feature GOD’S COUNTRY — starring the incomparable Thandiwe Newton. Based on a short story by acclaimed author James Lee Burke, God’s Country is a character-driven thriller set in the snowy wilderness of the American West. Thandiwe Newton plays San...
Jan 26, 2022•55 min
