From an early age, Nic Brown was interested in writing and playing the drums. If you listened to 90s alt rock, you’ve probably heard the song “What I Didn’t Know” from a band called Athenaeum, which Nic helped form while he was just in the 8th grade. These days, Nic is a professor at Clemson and the author of three novels. That said, somewhat haunted by his previous musical life, he decided to write about it in a new memoir called 'Bang Bang Crash.' The description reads, “A rock and roll drumme...
Apr 12, 2023•31 min
“I think if you’re a writer, you’re just hard-wired to be one,” said author C.J. Box. As a kid, C.J. said he would imagine his name on the shelves of the library as different Librarians gave him more and more difficult books to read. C.J. Box is the #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of more than thirty books, including the iconic Joe Pickett series. His latest book, Storm Watch, Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett investigates a mysterious death at a secret remote high-tech facility in this rivet...
Apr 11, 2023•23 min
Watching movies, reading graphic novels, going to DisneyLand… these things made a heavy influence on Chris McKay, the Director of films like Robot Chicken, The Lego Batman Movie, The Tomorrow War, and now, Renfield. Nicholas Hoult stars as Renfield and Nicholas Cage plays Dracula. The description reads, “Renfield, Dracula's henchman. and inmate at the lunatic asylum for decades, longs for a life away from the Count, his various demands, and all of the bloodshed that comes with them.” In this int...
Apr 11, 2023•30 min
'One Day as a Lion' stars Frank Grillo, Scott Caan, and J.K. Simmons. The plot reads, “Jackie Powers will stop at nothing to prevent his son from following him into a life of crime. With his mob employer in pursuit, a chance encounter at a roadside diner charts a new path.” In this interview, John talks about working with Frank Grillo on four films, what enticed him about his script from Scott Cann, how he gets movies made, why directors have to decide how much they’re willing to compromise, and...
Apr 10, 2023•15 min
Anna Katherine Clemmons has always loved writing. Anna Katherine (Clemmons) Clay is a freelance writer and an Assistant Professor of Practice in the Department of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. She is a 17-year veteran writer, reporter and producer for ESPN, where she wrote everything from 5,000-word features for ESPN’s Outside the Lines to technical breakdowns for ESPN the Magazine. In addition to her continued ESPN work, Anna Katherine has written stories for numerous publication...
Apr 04, 2023•30 min
“I was an economics major and I thought I was going to get into investment banking,” says Lee Sung Jin (who also goes by Sonny Lee). “Didn’t feel right at any point of my entire college career,” jokes the screenwriter. “I was really flailing about, unemployed, temping a lot, and I had gotten into the NBC page program.” If you’ve ever seen 30 Rock, this is somewhat the same job Kenneth the Page had, giving studio tours for $10 an hour. “That was my first glimpse into the entertainment industry. I...
Apr 03, 2023•24 min
“My father’s life was a very visible one,” says writer/director Timothy Scott Bogart, son of 1970s record producer Neil Bogart, the co-founder of Casablanca Records. “That was my playground. I grew up, literally backstage at these concerts.” Neil Bogart signed such artists as Donna Summer, George Clinton, KISS, the Isley Brothers, the Village People, and Gladys Knight. “The storytelling I saw being done as a child was infectious. Everything that they did was creating something beyond just the mu...
Mar 30, 2023•31 min
While working at a restaurant in Boston, as somewhat of a chef’s apprentice, Matt Ruskin decided he really wanted to pursue film. Coincidentally, the Manager of the restaurant knew Darren Aronofsky. One phone call later, Ruskin was interning on Requiem for a Dream. “It was the first movie I ever worked on it,” says Ruskin. “Just to be around such an incredible group of filmmakers and learn from them. After that, I was really bit by the bug and I knew I had to find a way to do this.” Thanks to hi...
Mar 22, 2023•28 min
Fascinated by Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, Tim Roth and a friend auditioned for Dracula Spectacula. Despite being terribly nervous during the first performance, Roth fell in love with the pursuit of acting. “I was utterly terrified and then I loved it,” said the actor. Known for Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Rob Boy, Lie to Me, and Planet of the Apes, Roth has starred in over 100 films and shows. His latest film, Punch, from writer-director Welby Ings, follows a young man preparing for hi...
Mar 20, 2023•17 min
“I was not destined to be a writer,” said author Annette Lloyd. She discovered the work of silent film star Harold Lloyd at age 17 and has since written about her “hero” in a multitude of books, including ‘Harold Lloyd - Magic in a Pair of Horn-Rimmed Glasses.’ Part of the description reads, “From birth to death, Harold grew and evolved because of the things that were happening around him, and he was always aware of the importance of those events, the turning points that fashioned the magic: the...
Mar 17, 2023•43 min
Michael Maren started his career as a journalist in Africa. Inspired by movies like The African Queen, Jason and the Argonauts, and Beau Geste, Maren followed an unclear dream, eventually learning to write, getting a book optioned by HBO, and then coming back to the US with a passion for filmmaking. Based on the book, Shriver, A Little White Lie stars Michael Shannon, Kate Hudson and Don Johnson. The description reads, “When a handyman living in New York City is mistaken for a famous and famousl...
Mar 11, 2023•35 min
Scott Andrew James is an instant poet. About ten years ago, Scott felt disconnected from the world, which led him to poetry, thanks to the advice of his wife. Now, he’s written over 10,000 instant poems in the last decade. In fact, in this episode, Scott actually creates an instant poem on the spot. The subject? We discuss an idea from Seth Godin about the Icarus Myth. Daedalus says to Icarus, "Don't fly too high, but more important, don't fly too low. If you fly too low, the waves will weigh yo...
Mar 09, 2023•34 min
When James Traylor and Max Collins found out that they were both writing a book about author Mickey Spillane, they decided to collaborate rather than compete. For the first time ever, Traylor and Collins have completed the first biography on Spillane. The description reads, “Beginning in 1947 with I, the Jury, and continuing with his next six novels, Spillane quickly amassed a readership in the tens of millions, becoming the bestselling novelist in the history of American publishing. Surrounded ...
Mar 08, 2023•40 min
“I was a rugby player and a ballet dancer,” said Lesley Paterson, triathlete and co-screenwriter of the Oscar nominated All Quiet on the Western Front. Dabbling in acting and producing, it wasn’t until she met her eventual writing partner Ian Stokell that she felt like screenwriting could be a path to a career in filmmaking. “To be able to act, you have to be able to write and produce your own films,” Stokell tells her. “Well that makes sense,” she says. “So that’s when I got into the writing si...
Mar 06, 2023•28 min
“Honestly, I pursued acting and standup at the same time, but I never really got as many opportunities in acting. In standup, you have a little more control over your own destiny,” said Jim Gaffigan, one of the most well-known comedians alive today. “But also, the most fulfilling characters to portray, end up being dramatic roles. So, over the years, finding creative fulfillment in stand-up, writing, or acting, I selfishly choose the things that are the most rewarding,” said Gaffigan. “The roles...
Mar 03, 2023•24 min
Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka met in the Graduate program at Columbia Film School. Gatewood says, “We weren’t friends. We didn’t really hang out, but we had our first screenwriting class together and we liked each others’ writing.” “We started to talk and found we had an uncanny similarities in terms of taste, what movies we liked, writers we liked, and in our second year, we started to write together.” Working on scripts and sharing beers, just for fun, the writers eventually found a pat...
Feb 24, 2023•31 min
“Growing up, I thought I would be either a professor of cultural anthropology or a non-fiction, long-form writer, but then I fell in love with cinema.” Combining these childhood dreams into one career, Sara found herself behind the camera on films like The Last Season, The Seer and the Unseen, and most recently, Fire of Love. In college, Sara was active in economic justice groups and saw a documentary about “the ravages of free trade in Jamaica” that combined “grandiose academic ideas” and deliv...
Feb 17, 2023•19 min
“I grew up watching horror films,” Christopher Landon said. “I started at a pretty early age, inappropriately so, probably when I was about six. And, I was just obsessed. It was never a doubt or question it was what I was going to do.” Landon followed the traditional route, making shorts in high school, working internships as a young adult, and pursuing the path to screenwriting. “The great benefit to the internship, which I would credit for the writing side of my career, is that I exposed to so...
Feb 13, 2023•32 min
Drew Birnie was in the middle of a PDH program in neuroscience when he started working with Mark Manson. “That came out of left field,” he told me. Manson initially hired Birnie as a researcher to help the author “synthesize” complicated ideas. These days, Mark Manson is one of the most famous authors alive thanks to 'The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck.' Birnie has been with him since the early days and currently overseas website content, SEO, and email. In this interview, we talk about being c...
Feb 03, 2023•31 min
As 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 on Ea...
Jan 28, 2023•31 min
“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 pain in...
Dec 19, 2022•32 min
Gabe 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 interv...
Dec 17, 2022•30 min
“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 started...
Dec 16, 2022•27 min
The 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 Michael Che...
Dec 15, 2022•31 min
“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 ...
Dec 15, 2022•28 min
“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 Would ...
Dec 05, 2022•30 min
“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 frame,” Cl...
Dec 03, 2022•26 min
“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 Smallvi...
Nov 29, 2022•32 min
“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's bla...
Nov 16, 2022•17 min
“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) is ab...
Nov 14, 2022•16 min
