“I moved out to LA in 1999 with my best friend from high school. Every summer in college, we would write a screenplay. We were waiters during the day and then at night we would write,” says Lee Eisenberg. “Primarily, we would write comedies, or at least what we were attempting to be comedies.” Eventually, the partnership dissolved. Eisenberg’s friend got a real job and he eventually landed a PA job on the film, Bedazzled. “I was the office PA and I met an intern named Gene Stupnitsky (No Hard Fe...
Nov 02, 2023•34 min
The son of an actor, Australian screenwriter Abe Forsythe grew up around creatives. “I spent a lot of time backstage as a kid,” he says. “Sitting in the green room, watching Dad perform. Subconsciously, it made me realize you can have a career following your creative path.” Outside of his immediate influences, Forsythe was influenced by the early work of Peter Jackson, specially a horror film called Bad Taste. “I became obsessed with it. There was something about the fact that he made that movie...
Oct 30, 2023•35 min
“You get to a point where it hurts more not to make than to make,” says author and writing coach Daniel Willcocks. “I know how I work best.” Daniel Willcocks is an international bestselling author and award-nominated podcaster of dark fiction. This is our second call, so make sure to also check out Episode 258 for more. In this interview, we talk about getting 11 million downloads, the making of Dream, fascinations with cosmic horror, his 50k writing challenge, creating communities where you ser...
Oct 29, 2023•29 min
“I met Stuart Gordon in high school,” began Dennis Paoli. “We overlapped in several ways. We had the same sense of humor and loved the same movies and books.” This led to sketch comedy in early years, but later in life, the duo focused on horror. In Paoli’s latest film, Suitable Flesh, Joe Lynch leads Heather Graham in the story of a psychiatrist who becomes obsessed with one of her young patients, who she later discovers is linked to an ancient curse. In this interview, we discuss adapting H.P....
Oct 28, 2023•32 min
“I spent most of my career in advertising,” says George Olson. “I had always wanted to write for movies and television, but I live in Colorado, not exactly the screenwriting mecca of North America, so I started reading scripts, screenplays, and just started writing.” As a former copywriter and creative director, Olson his start really came from “writing bad screenplays.” He continues, “That’s the only way to eventually write good screenplays.” He read all of the big books on the subject and many...
Oct 23, 2023•19 min
“I always had a camera growing up. I know that’s cheesy, but I didn’t know it could be a job,” says writer-director Anna Zlokovic. “I didn’t know what to do with that interest. No one in my family did film. No one I knew did film, so I ended up going to music school to study music-business.” While at USC, Zlokovic realized it wasn’t a fit. Across the street from music, she found Film School. She took a few classes and made a movie, but thought she might get into sound. Eventually, feeling out mu...
Oct 16, 2023•29 min
Scott McConnell is a story consultant and script developer who helps ambitious producers and screenwriters develop their concepts, themes and plots to create resonant scripts in order to advance their careers. Known as “the story guy,” Scott has over 30,000 followers of LinkedIn, where he frequently publishes advice on writing screenplays and producing films. In this interview, we talk about Scott’s love for visual storytelling, how most novice screenplays miss theme altogether, his secret for r...
Oct 15, 2023•34 min
The film ‘On Fire’ “follows a family who lives in a trailer home in the woods and are suddenly confronted by a wildfire. Survival becomes their main objective.” In this interview, director Nick Lyon and editor Don Money talk about the making of their new film, we go into the weeds about post-production, the importance of a good director-editor relationship, creating a short-hand with key team members, why speed is so important in independent films, and much more. Want more? Steal my first book, ...
Oct 10, 2023•38 min
Jennifer Hamady started her career as a professional singer. “There was no Plan B,” she said. “But I never fancied myself a writer.” She loved lyrics, started writing, and this is one piece of the puzzle that led to her writing books. “A lot of people had problems that seemed technical, but were actually emotional.” Known as “the Voice Whisperer,” she’s a coach, a counselor, a speaker, a singer, and an author. She’s recorded, performed, or toured with people like Stevie Wonder, Patti LaBelle, Ch...
Oct 07, 2023•30 min
Bitten by the acting bug in college, while teaching, Michael Jai White began auditioning for commercials and acting gigs on weekends and summer breaks. Michael landed the lead role of Tom Robinson in the first Off-Broadway adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird. Before long, Michael would go on to guest star on such hit television shows as Saved by the Bell, Martin, NYPT Blue, and CSI. Proving his acting ability, Michael would soon be cast for the lead role of legendary boxer Mike Tyson in the HBO ...
Oct 04, 2023•23 min
“Writing is always something I did for my own delight and enjoyment,” said Kate Holland. “I would have these stories playing in my head, a scenario or a world, maybe mentally writing episodes of favorite TV shows.” This led Kate to some writing partnerships in the world of theater. “Then I met Marlowe in a writer’s group online. He and I hit it off right away.” “I’ve just gotten started,” said Marlow Mitchell. “I’ve been writing since I was able to writing, writing stories. I grew up in Denmark ...
Oct 03, 2023•40 min
“I’ve always loved reading, so it started more with books than movies,” said screenwriter Ariane Hahusseau. “That’s how I developed a passion for stories. While in college, I watched a lot of BBC shows. Adaptations of my favorite novels. Coming from a literature background, I realized I could adapt my favorite novels, but also write my own stories.” Ariane, a French expatriate, embarked on her academic journey in the realms of literature, initially in Paris and later in London. She culminated he...
Sep 28, 2023•34 min
"I think it's very important that the film demonstrated that it was an effort not done by one individual who started working as a farm worker and became an astronaut, but rather it was an effort of a family, of community, and the importance of having that support structure. That's what allowed me to flourish," says José Hernández. A Million Miles Away is directed by award-winning filmmaker Alejandra Márquez Abella (Northern Skies Over Empty Space, The Good Girls) and starring Michael Peña ("Narc...
Sep 25, 2023•27 min
Alex Mandel began his career as a composer at Pixar by providing the score for the Ratatouille DVD short "Your Friend the Rat" and was later selected by Pixar creatives to write two songs for Brave: "Touch the Sky" and "Into the Open Air" - which became global hits. His work spans across film (East Side Sushi); streaming (Super Giant Robot Brothers); and radio (NPR's Snap Judgment LIVE, where he performed with The Roots' MC Black Thought). Recently, he composed the score for The Inventor in addi...
Sep 20, 2023•32 min
Paul Fairweather is a Brisbane-based, speaker, author, mentor, architect, and artist who believes we are makers at heart, and who is on a mission to get people to reconnect with their creative essence, and to clarify that artistry is not creativity, only a subset. Chris Meredith is a Sydney-based, business coach, innovation consultant, and award-winning photo artist, who utilizes this background to help people create, capture, and communicate great ideas, particularly through the art of storytel...
Sep 13, 2023•41 min
Jason Hellerman is an award-winning film and TV writer. His feature screenplay, Shovel Buddies, made the top ten of the annual Black List and was purchased and produced by AwesomenessTV. Since then, he's completed feature film and television work for a variety of producers and directors. Currently, he's writing an action comedy for Sylvester Stallone's production company called My Masterpiece, which is set to star Academy Award-nominated actress Maria Bakalova. His latest spec, Himbo, appeared o...
Sep 07, 2023•34 min
Sue Ellen Thompson’s poems have been read more than a dozen times on National Public Radio by Garrison Keillor, have been featured in U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser’s nationally syndicated newspaper column, and have received numerous awards, including the 1986 Samuel French Morse Prize, the 2003 Pablo Neruda Prize, and two Individual Artist’s Grants from the State of Connecticut. She is the author of six books, her most recent one being 'Sea Nettles: New & Selected Poems' where she explores r...
Aug 29, 2023•29 min
“I moved to New York fifteen years ago. Didn’t really have much interest in drawing at that time—vaguely interested, but when I found Threadless, this whole community of artists on the internet who help each other and bounce ideas off each other, and it was a way to make money,” says Nathan Pyle. In many of the episodes in Dan Harmon’s show Community, the character Abed is actually wearing a graphic tee from Threadless, a Chicago-based design company who crowdsource unique graphic tee shirt idea...
Aug 23, 2023•23 min
Melanie Figg has been writing poetry since college. Since then, her poems, essays, and reviews have been published in more than 70 print and online literary journals. Her poetry chapbook 'Hurry, Love', was published in standard & fine arts editions, and her full-length collection of poems 'Trace', won the Many Voices Project competition, and Kirkus Reviews not only gave it a prestigious Kirkus-starred review but also named it one of the Best Indie Books of 2020. She also has received six awa...
Aug 22, 2023•28 min
Rich Cohen is a New York Times bestseller writer best known for his books 'The Chicago Cubs: Story of a Curse', 'The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King' & 'The Adventures of Herbie Cohen'. His new book, 'When The Game Was War: The NBA’s Greatest Season', will be published on September 5th, by Random House. In this interview, Cohen talks about what inspired his writing style, why he doesn't stick to one topic, his new book 'When the Game Was War', his writing...
Aug 17, 2023•34 min
Jesse V. Johnson is a British film director, screenwriter, and stunt coordinator, who is most known for 'Triple Threat', 'Avengement" & 'Debt Collectors". In this interview, Johnson talks about why he started writing, what he looks for in a script, why he thinks the perfect ratio for action movies is reality plus %10 fantasy, why he doesn't like to have too many fight descriptions on his scripts, how to film action scenes the right way, and the most potent tool to have as a director. This is...
Aug 15, 2023•31 min
“One of the only real skills that I seem to have cultivated is patience,” jokes screenwriter Ed Solomon. “Once you realize nothing is going to happen at the pace you thought it was going to happen at, trying to rid yourself of this notion of time and rush, allows you to deal with the constant let down of it’s not ready, more notes, or actors not available, or turnaround.” “That’s part of why I started to develop that I need to work on more than one thing at a time. But once you’ve been doing it ...
Aug 11, 2023•46 min
Jordan Morris is an award-winning producer and director of films like Nintendo Quest and multiple festival Best Documentary winner, Missing Mom. He has worked on numerous films as an actor, production designer, art director, fabricator, location scout, set decorator, and screenwriter. Since 2013, Jordan has been creating and hosting popular seminars and workshops on screenwriting, and you can find his most recent programs and services on his website thescreenplayfactory.com. In this interview, M...
Aug 11, 2023•37 min
A former runaway teen mom is accidentally resurrected in her family's funeral home, giving her a second chance to raise her now-teenage daughter. This is the unusual plot behind Adult Swim’s series, Teenage Euthanasia. Alyson Levy and Alissa Nutting, the creators of the series, describe themselves as “late bloomers.” Both had roundabout paths in the business, exploring comedy and animation, until they had an opportunity to pitch the idea for this series. “This is the first show I’ve really owned...
Aug 09, 2023•29 min
Brooks Elms is a screenwriter and independent filmmaker who has written over 25 screenplays, including one with Brad Peyton as Executive Producer, and one started by an Oscar-winning writer. When he is not writing, he loves coaching fellow writers who have a burning ambition to deeply serve their audiences. To learn more about his programs, check out his website brookselms-coaching.com. In this interview, Elms talks about what made him get into film and screenwriting, his work as a life coach fo...
Aug 09, 2023•32 min
"I grew up playing soccer, basketball; multiple layer athlete, so I knew what I was able to learn, how coachable I was, the amount of teamwork I was able to give", says stunt woman Katelyn Brooke. "So I felt very confident that jobs were going to land, but I'm still a student. Always a student." In this interview, we talk about how she went from being in the music industry to doing stunts, how to train for certain stunts like getting hit by a car, the stunt community and the common misconception...
Aug 03, 2023•38 min
"My nursery teacher called my parents and said to them 'You know, you should really take this kid to a drama school because he has something'", says actor David Gyasi. "My dad said 'I did not come to this country for my son to do concept' and we were quickly sent away to another school." In this interview Gyasi talks about what his parents thought of him pursuing acting, what motivated him and why he didn't have a safety net, working with Christopher Nolan, and his role in Interstellar and The D...
Aug 01, 2023•32 min
Amy Johnston is a stuntwoman, actress, and motion capture performer, best known for her work on Deadpool, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Suicide Squad. In this interview, we talk about what inspired her to start her career, her work in video games, problems that women face in the stunt industry, the backlash she has gotten for wanting to act while being a stunt performer, being introverted while in the industry and her work in 'The Mother'. This is a special interview associated with m...
Jul 28, 2023•30 min
“When you are exploring with writing, particularly in the start, you don’t really know where your voice is going to go %100, so you gotta play around with a lot of things”, says author Olivia Hillier. “I’m obsessed with the female heroine, so that’s what all my stories are going to be like”. Olivia Hillier is an Australian Young Adult Author who writes Paranormal and Speculative fiction. She is mostly known for her ‘Shadow & Shifter Series’, the ‘Social Games Trilogy’, and for being the host...
Jul 25, 2023•34 min
Cheryl Lewis is a unique, multi-discipline performer on the stage and screen, member of SAG-AFTRA/AEA/AGVA/AGMA. She is a stunt performer, martial artist, fight choreographer, action designer, actor, dancer, circus aerialist, and puppeteer. In this interview, Cheryl Lewis talks about the difference between a stunt performer and a daredevil, how she actually instructs people to get hit by cars, the problem with diversity within stunts and stunt coordinating, and how to break into the industry tod...
Jul 19, 2023•29 min
