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BPS 491: The Screenwriting Advice Hollywood Writers Actually Use with Andrew Bloomenthal · Bulletproof Screenwriting™ Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: You are listening to the IFH Podcast Network.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: For more amazing filmmaking and screenwriting podcasts, just go to ifhpodcastnetwork.com.
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: Welcome to the Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast, episode number 491.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Assumptions allow the best in life to pass you by.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: John Sayles.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Broadcasting from a dark, windowless room in Hollywood, when we
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: really should be working on that next draft. It's the
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast, showing you the craft and business of
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: screenwriting while teaching you how to make your screenplay bulletproof.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: And here's your host, Alex Ferrari.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Welcome, welcome to another episode of the Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast.
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: I am your humble host, Alex Ferrari.
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: Now, today's show is sponsored by Bulletproof Script Coverage. Now,
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: unlike other script coverage services, Bulletproof Script Coverage actually focuses
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: on the kind of project you are, and the goals
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: of the project you are. So we actually break it
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: down by three categories, micro-budget, indie film market, and studio film.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: There's no reason to get coverage from a reader that's
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: used to reading tentpole movies when your movie's going to
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  Speaker 3: be done for $ 100, 000. And we wanted to focus on
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  Speaker 3: that at Bulletproof Script Coverage. Our readers have worked with
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  Speaker 3: Marvel Studios, CAA, WME, NBC, HBO, Disney, Scott Free, Warner Brothers,
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  Speaker 3: The Blacklist, and many, many more. So if you need
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  Speaker 3: your screenplay or TV script covered by professional readers, head
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: on over to CoverMyScreenplay.com. Enjoy today's episode with guest host,
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: Dave Bullis.
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: Joining me today is Andrew Blumenthal. Andrew is an entertainment
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: writer whose work has appeared in ScriptMag, Creative Script Writing Magazine, CNBC.com,
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: and Variety Magazine.
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  Speaker 5: How are you, sir? I'm doing great. Thanks so much
• 1:54
  Speaker 5: for having me on your podcast. I'm a big fan.
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  Speaker 4: Oh, my pleasure. And thank you for saying so. Andrew,
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: just to get started, a question I always ask everybody is,
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  Speaker 4: how did you get started as an entertainment writer?
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  Speaker 5: I've always been a journalist, primarily in finance. And it's
• 2:12
  Speaker 5: always been great. I've always paid the bills. But I've
• 2:15
  Speaker 5: always had a more passionate... love for film and filmmaking.
• 2:20
  Speaker 5: I'm a screenwriter myself. I made a film, independent feature,
• 2:24
  Speaker 5: a few years back. And so I've always been a
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  Speaker 5: fan of the art form of films and screenwriting, and
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: I revere screenwriters and I revere actors. And I had
• 2:36
  Speaker 5: this friend, we all have a nagging friend who tells
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: us what to do, and we protest even though they're
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: probably right. And she actually suggested that Andrew, you have
• 2:47
  Speaker 5: the skills. Why don't you put your journalism abilities to
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: interviewing screenwriters? I just kept protesting and saying, no, I
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  Speaker 5: have no interest whatsoever in talking to filmmakers because I
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: want to be the subject. I want people to interview me.
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  Speaker 5: It was kind of a jealousy thing. But she was
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  Speaker 5: absolutely right. One day, I did a Craigslist search for
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: entertainment writers, and Lo and behold, Creative Screenwriting Magazine was
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: looking for a journalist. Now, I did have one clip
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: in the realm of finance because I interviewed Oliver Stone
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: when Wall Street Part 2, Money Never Sleeps, came out.
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: I don't know if you saw that or if any
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: of your listeners saw that. It was Sheila Buff and
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: Susan Sarandon and Michael Douglas, you know, sequel to Monster Hit.
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  Speaker 5: So I interviewed him for the finance magazine that I
• 3:44
  Speaker 5: I wrote it for because, you know, the protagonist was
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: a greedy hedge fund manager. And so there was some
• 3:52
  Speaker 5: kind of a tie into that world. And so I
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: had that writing clip. And I also did an interview
• 3:59
  Speaker 5: with Michael Moore when he did a movie. And you're
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: going to have to forgive me because I forget the title.
• 4:05
  Speaker 5: But it was all about Wall Street corruption. So that
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: was another tie into finance. So I interviewed him. for
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: the Pinderstone magazine I worked for as well. So I
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  Speaker 5: had those two clips like in my back pocket and
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  Speaker 5: that was good enough to get the job ready for
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  Speaker 5: creative screenwriting. And it just, my friend, big shout out
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  Speaker 5: to her who will be listening to this. Hey, Wesley,
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  Speaker 5: I signed with your advice and it changed my life.
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  Speaker 5: It turned out to be a blessing because it really
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  Speaker 5: is a chance to commiserate with like people, screenwriters, you know,
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  Speaker 5: only writers understand what writers go through and the trial
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  Speaker 5: and tribulations and the ups and downs and the victories.
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  Speaker 5: So that's how I got into it. And it's been bliss.
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  Speaker 5: You know, I live in Los Angeles now and I
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  Speaker 5: get to go to all sorts of screenings and press
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  Speaker 5: events and have sit-downs, one-on-ones with well-known writers and directors.
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  Speaker 5: And so it just kind of happened organically. And next
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  Speaker 5: up for me, I'm going to be interviewing Don Cheadle,
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  Speaker 5: who is the writer and director for a Miles Davis
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  Speaker 5: biopic called Miles Ahead that he's writing and directing and
• 5:26
  Speaker 5: starring in as Miles Davis. So it's been a great ride.
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  Speaker 4: That sounds amazing that you get to interview all these
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: awesome people. I was looking at some of the people
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: that you've interviewed. The way we met was even when
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: you just interviewed the screenwriter for The Revenant. I was
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: just reading that in ScriptMag, and I'll link to that
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: interview in the show notes to everyone who's listening. But
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  Speaker 4: it's just, like you said, you understand what writers are
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: going through, how they sort of have to build this.
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  Speaker 4: And I think that's even more interesting because the writer
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  Speaker 4: for The Revenant, and I'm very sorry, I forget his
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  Speaker 4: name right now.
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  Speaker 5: Mark Elspeth.
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: That's right, Mark Elspeth. Because he had to adapt the
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: work from the book. And the person who wrote the
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: book actually works for Obama and the United States, I think,
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: Treasury Department. So he can't even promote the movie or anything.
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  Speaker 4: So I'm sure that whole process of creating that was
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  Speaker 4: probably pretty interesting because I don't even know if he's
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  Speaker 4: even allowed to contact the original author to ask him
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: if he just went in blind and just sort of
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  Speaker 4: made it his own without any input from the original writer.
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  Speaker 4: But again, you've interviewed so many awesome people. And, you know,
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  Speaker 4: one of the questions I always, you know, I wanted
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  Speaker 4: to ask you, Andrew, is, you know, with ScriptMag, any
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  Speaker 4: of these other magazines too, you know, when you actually
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  Speaker 4: see those job listings, like we're looking for new writers,
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  Speaker 4: you know, is there any tips you ever have for
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  Speaker 4: anybody that's, you know, submitting to those postings?
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, I definitely like there to be a certain level
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  Speaker 5: of transparency. There's no way that an entertainment journalist is
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: going to make a lot of money. That's not why
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  Speaker 5: we do what we do. So it's always important for
• 7:13
  Speaker 5: you to find out, you know, what they're paying per
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  Speaker 5: article so there's no surprises. And so you and the
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  Speaker 5: publication are kind of, you know, seeing eye to eye
• 7:26
  Speaker 5: and you have, you know, an equal expectation of what
• 7:30
  Speaker 5: the terms are. So I would say Nick Short that
• 7:32
  Speaker 5: there's an easy communication between you and the editor. Other
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: than that, I think it's about a slow build to
• 7:44
  Speaker 5: get your writing portfolio to escalate to higher and bigger
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  Speaker 5: films by starting out with whatever small assignments are offered
• 7:57
  Speaker 5: to you and just say yes to everything. That's how
• 8:00
  Speaker 5: I began um, with, uh, clear screenwriting, uh, I was
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: assigned certain stories and I just, I just ran with
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: them and I treated each one as if it was
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: like a huge studio blockbuster because the internet is forever.
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: So you got to put your best foot forward ever. Um,
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: and in every single case, because that's going to be,
• 8:22
  Speaker 5: every story is going to serve as a calling card.
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: So treat every story like it's of equal import. Um,
• 8:29
  Speaker 5: That's one thing I would say. In terms of doing
• 8:34
  Speaker 5: actual interviews, I think the important thing to do is
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  Speaker 5: overlook the blunt and obvious cliched questions like, you know,
• 8:47
  Speaker 5: what gave you the idea for the film? And what
• 8:50
  Speaker 5: was your experience writing? You know, like things like that
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  Speaker 5: that are just like obvious cliches you know, housekeeping questions,
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  Speaker 5: I call them. They're okay to ask, but I think
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: the real, the riches are in the niches, I've heard
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  Speaker 5: someone say. So I'm going to claim credit for that saying.
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  Speaker 5: And by that, I mean, get growing. You want to
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  Speaker 5: ask for real specific questions. That will wake somebody up.
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  Speaker 5: I'll give you an example. When I was interviewing Ray
• 9:21
  Speaker 5: Fine for The Invisible Woman, which is a really lovely
• 9:25
  Speaker 5: little biopic, Where he was playing Charles Dickens and it
• 9:29
  Speaker 5: was about his affair with an actress who was like
• 9:35
  Speaker 5: 30 years his junior. And this was like not done
• 9:39
  Speaker 5: in polite Victorian society.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor.
• 9:46
  Speaker 5: So he had to keep her in the shadows, hence
• 9:48
  Speaker 5: she was an invisible woman.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: And now back to the show.
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  Speaker 5: So, not going to throw other journalists under the bus,
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  Speaker 5: but during prep day, we were doing this roundtable, and
• 10:08
  Speaker 5: people were just asking him questions, you know, in his
• 10:11
  Speaker 5: capacity as the director. And they were saying, so, you know,
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  Speaker 5: you played... Charles Dickens. So what's harder, to act or
• 10:23
  Speaker 5: to direct yourself? Like, he's going to get asked that
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  Speaker 5: a million times. Or, you know, how did you do
• 10:29
  Speaker 5: research on someone who's dead? Like, someone actually asked that question.
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  Speaker 5: And I just want to roll my eyes. I just
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: felt so terrible for Ray Fines because he was like,
• 10:38
  Speaker 5: am I really here having to entertain these blunt questions?
• 10:42
  Speaker 5: So I sort of interrupted and I asked a very
• 10:45
  Speaker 5: specific question about a very specific scene. about this moment
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: where his girlfriend, this young woman in her family, she
• 10:56
  Speaker 5: had several sisters and her mother, they were a band
• 11:00
  Speaker 5: of traveling actors and they were unpacking into their house
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: after doing a touring show. And they broke out into
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: this lovely song. It was just almost like this kind
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: of lullaby that they were singing as they were unpacking
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: their clothes from their luggage. And the way it was
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: cut together, it was just beautiful, but they were singing live.
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: as opposed to singing to a pre-recorded track. So I
• 11:23
  Speaker 5: asked him about that scene. I said, how did you
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: cut that together? Did you get the sound mixer on
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: board with you when you shot it? Like a real
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: technical question. And he instantly perked up. He was like,
• 11:36
  Speaker 5: oh my God, someone's asking a question I haven't been
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: asked before. And just as I was leaving that day,
• 11:43
  Speaker 5: the PR person who coordinates these interview sheets She grabbed
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: me and says, Ray Fiennes wants you to do a one-on-one,
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: which is, you know, when it's just you and him.
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: So people, you know, a screenwriter, a director, they'll notice
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  Speaker 5: if you take the time to really watch the film
• 12:00
  Speaker 5: and really come up with very specific and very detailed questions.
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  Speaker 5: Because when you're making a film, when you're writing a film,
• 12:07
  Speaker 5: every bit of dialogue, the names you choose, every word
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: choice is very deliberate and purposeful. And there's a story
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: behind it. So that's my best advice when you're interviewing
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: someone who's come up with real specific granular questions. You know, say,
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: I noticed she had a bizarre hairstyle or, you know,
• 12:33
  Speaker 5: I noticed there was a, you know, this dialogue was
• 12:39
  Speaker 5: very one-sided where it felt like one person was talking
• 12:41
  Speaker 5: more than the other. Was that What were you trying
• 12:43
  Speaker 5: to get at in crafting a scene that way? And
• 12:48
  Speaker 5: they will respect you and they will give you interesting
• 12:51
  Speaker 5: things as opposed to, you know, very blunt, phony responses,
• 12:56
  Speaker 5: which happens if they're getting the same questions asked over
• 12:59
  Speaker 5: and over and over again, because that's what happens when
• 13:02
  Speaker 5: they give you these press junkets, is they're getting the
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: same questions over and over and over again and they
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: tune out. So if you can come up with something original, yucky.
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: You know, that's something I've seen too, Andrew, is when
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: the person is, you can see a lot of these
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: actors at the end of the press junkets because when
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: that same person has been asked the same question about,
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: you know, a thousand times, they physically look almost beaten down. Like,
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: they just, the answer is, it's not even, they don't
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: have to think about it anymore. It's just a reaction now. And,
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: you know, what was it like working with John? Oh,
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: you know, he's great and he's talented, you know, blah, blah, blah.
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: And that's why usually if I'm going to catch an
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: interview with somebody, like for instance, like Quentin Tarantino, he
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: always seems like he's upbeat. But I've noticed, I think
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: he's been more selective recently about all his interviews. Because
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: after the one interview he had where he sort of
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: got testy with the interviewer. And I think now when
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: he's doing the Hateful Eight, it's more like he had
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: Christopher Nolan interview him. And then he also had Chris
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: Hardwick of The Nerdist. He had Brett Easton Ellis interview him.
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: And I listened to all three of those interviews I
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: just mentioned, and not one question was the same in
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: any of those interviews.
• 14:22
  Speaker 5: Right, because these people, they know that there's more to
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: the story than the obvious things. I saw, I think
• 14:32
  Speaker 5: it was Entertainment Tonight or something, someone was interviewing Meryl
• 14:35
  Speaker 5: Streep about... you know, the role she played in, what's
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: it called, Ricky and the Flash. I didn't actually see it,
• 14:43
  Speaker 5: but there were things. And her daughter in real life
• 14:47
  Speaker 5: played her daughter in the film. And the question was,
• 14:51
  Speaker 5: what was it like to work with your own daughter?
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: And like, you know, what the fuck is she going
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: to say? It stops you like, oh, you know, it
• 15:02
  Speaker 5: was great. And what did you think when you first
• 15:04
  Speaker 5: did your first scene with her? And she was trapped.
• 15:07
  Speaker 5: She's trying to put on a smile. So it's deadly
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: for these actors, directors, writers, fill in the blank, to
• 15:17
  Speaker 5: be cornered with these trite questions. So if you get
• 15:25
  Speaker 5: in there with something original, you're going to wake them up. Also,
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: what's very important is you get press notes, production notes. notes,
• 15:37
  Speaker 5: which give you all these behind-the-scenes stories. So it's already there.
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: So once you know the questions like, you know, the
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: origin story, how they come up with something, then you
• 15:50
  Speaker 5: can ask slightly derivative questions. I know, you know, it's
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: well known that you, you know, got this story by
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: reading this novel, but what were some things that just
• 16:01
  Speaker 5: disgusted you with the novel that you had to eliminate
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: or that you struggled with? Like, you know, get the
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: questions that are beyond the obvious ones. And that makes
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: for a good interview, in my opinion.
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: You know, Andrew, you mentioned, you know, a couple of
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: things in this. And I wanted to tell you a
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: little funny story. And when I was shooting a film
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: about three or four years ago, we actually had a
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: student journalist. He was a senior at a local college,
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: and he came by the set.
• 16:31
  Speaker 5: And he.
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: He wanted to interview us all for the college newspaper.
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: And we said, sure. And, you know, he interviewed everybody.
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: You know, he asked some typical questions. And when we
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: finally got the copy, it was both online and it
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: was both, you know, we also got the physical version.
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: I don't think he could have done a worse job
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: if he had just made it up. And what I
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: mean by that is he misspelled everyone's name He got
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: the name of the production wrong. He gave credit to
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: people that... He credited other people as the director, other
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: people as the producer. He got everyone all mixed up.
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: And he also.
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: Basically, the whole last paragraph was basically talking about the
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: film that had nothing to do with the film. And
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: I was just looking at this and I was like,
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: what happened here? And his professor actually called me to
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: ask me about what I thought about the assignment. And
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: I actually asked him first, I said, did he give
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: you my number because this is for his credit? And
• 17:46
  Speaker 4: he said, yes, we have to do this and it's
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: due diligence and this and that. And I told him
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: flat out, I'm kind of torn. I don't want to,
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: I know he's a senior in college. I don't want
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: to throw him under the bus, but at the same time,
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: I was like, this whole thing's a mess. And the
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: professor heard me out and he's like, well, I'm very
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: sorry about that. I actually saved the copy for myself
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: just because I now use it as a laughing point
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: because one guy's name, he actually completely just butchered it.
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: And we had to go back and we're like, oh,
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: we think this is you. Because his name was Steve
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: and he called him like Chris Woodward or something. But
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: so you were like, oh, I guess he means you, Steve.
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: So it's just it's just stuff like that. You know,
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: I mean, I'm going to be honest with you, Andrew.
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: I'm guilty sometimes. Sometimes I mispronounce people's names on here.
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: That's just because I'm an idiot. But other than that,
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: I do my I do my best to to do
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: to get everyone's names right. And when I finally put
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: this up online.
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I know.
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: Great. You can do great preparation, which is, you know.
• 18:56
  Speaker 5: why I was enthusiastic about doing this interview or this
• 18:59
  Speaker 5: podcast because I've never done one before, but I, you know,
• 19:03
  Speaker 5: clearly your subject is in good hands and you do
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: do your homework. To be honest with you, I didn't
• 19:09
  Speaker 5: know where this story was going to go. I thought
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: you were going to be like, he was a wonder
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: kid and he did the best interview ever and it
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: was in his nature to be a star. But, you know, yeah,
• 19:19
  Speaker 5: getting someone's name right, that sort of, that kind of
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: goes without saying that's a, when you're in the field
• 19:26
  Speaker 5: of reporting. Like, especially when it's, there are a lot of,
• 19:34
  Speaker 5: like with Alejandro Iñárritu, like, there are so many accents
• 19:38
  Speaker 5: and kill days and weird little marks, you know, on
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: top of his name that, like, I just cut and
• 19:44
  Speaker 5: paste it from the press house to make sure I
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: didn't fuck it up. But you always, yeah, that's, I'm
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: not sure how much to say about that. But yeah,
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: you make sure you get everything right.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: And now back to the show.
• 20:09
  Speaker 5: And make sure you run a spell check and make
• 20:13
  Speaker 5: sure you read your stories out loud because sometimes your
• 20:17
  Speaker 5: eyes will trick you into overlooking mistakes because you know
• 20:20
  Speaker 5: what it's supposed to sound like. But until you read
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: it out loud, you won't catch all your mistakes. But
• 20:26
  Speaker 5: you have to forward me this story. I mean, don't
• 20:29
  Speaker 5: name the name of the journalist, but now you got
• 20:31
  Speaker 5: me curious.
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I actually forget the name of the journalist, but
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: I promise you as soon as we're off here, I will...
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: find it online, and I will forward it to you.
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: It is good for a laugh, now that you know
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: the story behind it. Maybe I should link to it
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: in the show notes, too.
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: Say again?
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: Maybe I should link to it in the show notes
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: as well.
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: Well, yeah, that would be interesting. As long as he
• 20:56
  Speaker 5: can put out some kind of redacted document so that
• 20:58
  Speaker 5: he doesn't get humiliated on the internet. I'm curious. Maybe
• 21:06
  Speaker 5: he'll hear this and he'll and it'll inspire him to
• 21:09
  Speaker 5: be more thorough moving forward. But.
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, it was about four years ago, so
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: I'm gonna... I mean, I know he's graduated by now,
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: so maybe he's working for some newspaper somewhere.
• 21:21
  Speaker 5: Maybe he's, like, the editor of the New York Times.
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: Maybe he turned it all around. Yeah. We shall see.
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: Because, you know, about pronouncing names right, you know, just
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: as another quick funny story, you know, there's only one person...
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: who I've ever interviewed, who I was incredibly nervous about interviewing.
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: And that was Cassian, Cassian Ilves, who is a A-list
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: producer out in Hollywood. He's done, you know, the Dallas
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: Buyers Club. And for some reason, I could not pronounce
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: his last name, which is odd because I have said
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: that last name 10,000 times and it came to interview him.
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: And I was like, Ilves? He's like, Dave, listen. It's
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: like pronouncing Elvis. But he's like, just put the W in.
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: He's like, just listen. It's very simple if you say
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: it right. And I was like, oh my God, this
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: guy is going to hang up on me and he's
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: going to be like, who is that Dave Bullis kid?
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: I never want to talk to him again.
• 22:19
  Speaker 5: That's a cute little hiccup because it's like you're tongue-tied
• 22:25
  Speaker 5: because you're like geeking out. I get that. It's like,
• 22:28
  Speaker 5: you know, in print when you have the chance to,
• 22:31
  Speaker 5: you know, double check. That's what it is. Those mistakes
• 22:34
  Speaker 5: are more unforgivable. But yeah, we all butcher it in
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: pronunciation from time to time. Ain't no big thing.
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah, he was very understanding. I mean, I was a
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: little elated. But yeah, I mean, he was a very
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: nice guy and a heck of an episode, too. As
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: we talk, Andrew, about interviewing people, you also, I mean,
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: you have done such an extensive, extensive portfolio of writing.
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: And I wanted to ask, has your business writing, because
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: I know you've written for CNBC and the financial sector,
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: has that helped a lot when you write for the
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: creative sector? Because I have a feeling that it actually
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: improves your economy of words.
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: Yeah, well, the short answer is I don't care what
• 23:24
  Speaker 5: you're writing about. whether it's expository writing, just pure information,
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: or whether it's writing a story, or whether it's an interview,
• 23:35
  Speaker 5: the same elements have to be in place for it
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: to be a success, and that is, it has to
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: be concise, it has to be interesting, you know, and
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: that flies across the board no matter what genre you're
• 23:53
  Speaker 5: dealing with. Especially when you have a chance to edit
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: something before it goes live. You've got to cut out
• 24:05
  Speaker 5: anything that's superfluous. Things like never repeating the same word
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: in a sentence or in a paragraph. Being very careful
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: to look up different words synonyms, you know, you make
• 24:23
  Speaker 5: your thesaurus be your best friend for things rhythmically found right.
• 24:29
  Speaker 5: So yeah, the subject matter may be wildly different, but
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: you know, you've always got to just, and there's no real,
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: you know, alchemy to doing it. It just means, you know,
• 24:40
  Speaker 5: for giving a damn and really concentrating. But yeah, so
• 24:46
  Speaker 5: that all writing, no matter what it is, it does
• 24:49
  Speaker 5: have to have a certain economy of words without too
• 24:53
  Speaker 5: many extra beats and it should be for god's sake
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: don't use like cliche things like this was an amazing
• 25:03
  Speaker 5: story there are a million other ways to say amazing
• 25:05
  Speaker 5: you know like so that's my recommendation is try to
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: use some all the take the road west take when
• 25:13
  Speaker 5: you can when it comes to choosing your your work
• 25:16
  Speaker 5: because you have the entire vocabulary at your disposal why
• 25:19
  Speaker 5: not why not strive to be interesting in its youth?
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: So when you, when you're writing Andrew, do you outline first,
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: like do you sort of outline whatever you're going to
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: write about or do you sort of jump right in?
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: Well, when it comes to, uh, that, that's a really,
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: really a question. Um, because when it comes to interviewing
• 25:40
  Speaker 5: people and, and, and I think that, you know, where
• 25:42
  Speaker 5: people are reading my interviews more than they might, you know,
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: business writing, um, But when you are interviewing people for,
• 25:51
  Speaker 5: you know, whether it's an investment person or a screenwriter,
• 25:55
  Speaker 5: be prepared to zig and zag by having that outline,
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: knowing the must-have questions. But when they say something that's
• 26:04
  Speaker 5: interesting and you can sense a more interesting hook that
• 26:09
  Speaker 5: you hadn't thought of, be prepared to, you know, go
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: off on that tangent with them. That's when the hook...
• 26:17
  Speaker 5: will find you and you didn't even expect it. I
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: struggle to think of a specific example, but if you
• 26:27
  Speaker 5: think you know what they're going to say and you're
• 26:32
  Speaker 5: usually wrong if your question is rooted in something that's
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: kind of interesting, usually they'll come up with something anecdotal
• 26:40
  Speaker 5: that you hadn't thought of. And then when you have
• 26:42
  Speaker 5: to follow a question, that's when you hit the money in.
• 26:46
  Speaker 5: hopefully get something that no other reporter has ever asked. Um,
• 26:50
  Speaker 5: but yeah, it's critical to do your homework. I never
• 26:53
  Speaker 5: show up at an interview without formulating, um, you know,
• 26:58
  Speaker 5: a list of typed out questions. And, you know, sometimes you,
• 27:02
  Speaker 5: when you're doing these press interviews, um, especially if you're
• 27:05
  Speaker 5: doing it in person during a press, a press junket,
• 27:10
  Speaker 5: you might get 15 minutes, you might get 10 minutes, um,
• 27:13
  Speaker 5: So you do have to sort of prioritize and jump
• 27:16
  Speaker 5: around and try to squeeze in as many things as possible.
• 27:22
  Speaker 5: You're always trying to tell a story. Hopefully a dialogue
• 27:28
  Speaker 5: starts to develop an organic rhythm and conversational. And I
• 27:35
  Speaker 5: know they're having a good time. And usually when they are,
• 27:39
  Speaker 5: what happens a lot of times when you're doing these interviews, person,
• 27:45
  Speaker 5: and let's say it's a 15-minute interview, at the 14th minute,
• 27:49
  Speaker 5: a PR person will sort of walk into the room
• 27:51
  Speaker 5: and put up a finger to signal we have time
• 27:54
  Speaker 5: for one more question. And so you know to wrap
• 27:57
  Speaker 5: it up and make sure you get the essentials that
• 28:01
  Speaker 5: you wanted. But more often than not, if the subject
• 28:04
  Speaker 5: is having a good time, they'll be like, oh, let
• 28:07
  Speaker 5: him go a couple more. And that happens more often
• 28:10
  Speaker 5: than it doesn't. So I guess I could get some,
• 28:13
  Speaker 5: you know, I can feel good about that. But yeah,
• 28:17
  Speaker 5: preparation is definitely key. Just have your questions typed out,
• 28:23
  Speaker 5: easy to read, big font, so you're not having to
• 28:27
  Speaker 5: squint and search for them. They're just right there in
• 28:29
  Speaker 5: your face. Get a highlighter pen and cross them off
• 28:33
  Speaker 5: as you go. And be frothy, be on your toes,
• 28:38
  Speaker 5: and get ready to just jump in and take it
• 28:42
  Speaker 5: into another direction. if you're prompted.
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: You know, Andrew, not to ask a cliche question, but
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: I guess I have to ask it. And that is,
• 28:50
  Speaker 4: you know, what is your favorite interview that you've ever done?
• 28:54
  Speaker 5: Oh, that's a really good question.
• 28:56
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 28:58
  Speaker 5: My favorite interview that I ever did, and this goes
• 29:02
  Speaker 5: back to when I was first starting and I was
• 29:05
  Speaker 5: just taking whatever assignments that were handed out to me.
• 29:10
  Speaker 5: It was for Kill Your Darlings. and um the guys
• 29:16
  Speaker 5: that wrote it it was written by a team of
• 29:19
  Speaker 5: guys and i forget their names um so that's gonna
• 29:24
  Speaker 5: sound bad but um uh they they wrote it together
• 29:29
  Speaker 5: they were college friends and they wrote it together and
• 29:31
  Speaker 5: then one of them took a directing credit and we
• 29:34
  Speaker 5: just sat down and just went for about half an
• 29:37
  Speaker 5: hour and it was almost like we were rapturizing. They
• 29:39
  Speaker 5: were completely, they didn't expect the questions to be so thoughtful. And,
• 29:47
  Speaker 5: you know, we did, there was a press conference beforehand
• 29:50
  Speaker 5: where everyone was in the room asking them questions. They
• 29:52
  Speaker 5: were sitting in front of the room at a table
• 29:54
  Speaker 5: and the questions were those mind-numbing questions.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: And now, back to the show.
• 30:07
  Speaker 5: Obvious ones, and they were just, like, they were just spent.
• 30:11
  Speaker 5: When it was time for my one-on-one, like, they both
• 30:15
  Speaker 5: perked up, and the answers were clever and informative. And so,
• 30:22
  Speaker 5: I think I would say the... team of guys who
• 30:26
  Speaker 5: did Kill Your Darlings. And by the way, that's the
• 30:27
  Speaker 5: movie that was a story of Allen Ginsberg, the beat poet.
• 30:35
  Speaker 5: They imagined his college days at Columbia University, just sort
• 30:39
  Speaker 5: of discovering himself and sexuality and, you know, meeting other
• 30:45
  Speaker 5: beat writers of the day. And, you know, Allen Ginsberg
• 30:48
  Speaker 5: was played by Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame. And
• 30:53
  Speaker 5: so I think that interview is my favorite. My second
• 30:57
  Speaker 5: one would be Nicole Hollis Center, who loaned directed Enough
• 31:00
  Speaker 5: Said with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini. Why? Because she
• 31:07
  Speaker 5: was hysterical and sardonic and witty and funny, and we
• 31:11
  Speaker 5: would have this banter going, and it just made for
• 31:16
  Speaker 5: a very lively discussion. So Kill Your Darlings and Enough
• 31:20
  Speaker 5: Said would be my two favorite interviews.
• 31:24
  Speaker 4: And I'll make sure to link to those in the
• 31:26
  Speaker 4: show notes as well, to everyone listening. But, uh, but,
• 31:29
  Speaker 4: but again, that, that I had to ask that question, Andrew,
• 31:33
  Speaker 4: even though it is very cliched. Um, cause usually, you know,
• 31:36
  Speaker 4: it's like, so what's your favorite color?
• 31:38
  Speaker 5: Um, you know, but you know, when I say like the, the,
• 31:44
  Speaker 5: the basic try questions, there's nothing wrong with them. It's,
• 31:47
  Speaker 5: they're good to get sort of like, uh, you know, they're, they're,
• 31:53
  Speaker 5: obligatory you have to ask them but just don't like
• 31:58
  Speaker 5: make the whole thing be sort of straightforward I'm unimaginative
• 32:02
  Speaker 5: you know blindside your interview subject with a question you
• 32:06
  Speaker 5: know that they haven't been asked because it's so arcane
• 32:10
  Speaker 5: and granular and unexpected like I said you've got your
• 32:15
  Speaker 5: job locked down or else I wouldn't be talking to
• 32:18
  Speaker 5: you I'm having a blast for sure And, and, and,
• 32:22
  Speaker 5: and I can say that having, you know, full disclosure that,
• 32:25
  Speaker 5: you know, I am slightly nervous to be doing my
• 32:29
  Speaker 5: first podcast, but you've, uh, you've clearly come to the
• 32:33
  Speaker 5: table prepared. So, you know, you've already got this locked
• 32:35
  Speaker 5: in for sure.
• 32:37
  Speaker 4: Well, thank you, Andrew.
• 32:37
  Speaker 5: Thank you.
• 32:40
  Speaker 4: I always try to keep this, I try to keep
• 32:41
  Speaker 4: this just fun and, you know, uh, like a positive,
• 32:46
  Speaker 4: you know what I mean? Like, I don't want to,
• 32:47
  Speaker 4: I always try to keep the show upbeat as much
• 32:49
  Speaker 4: as possible.
• 32:50
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and also you're listening to what I say and
• 32:52
  Speaker 5: then what you're doing, you know, because I'm, you know,
• 32:55
  Speaker 5: I do Q & As myself, you're also sort of
• 32:58
  Speaker 5: putting it in context of your own experiences. So it
• 33:01
  Speaker 5: becomes like a dialogue, not a monologue. And it puts
• 33:08
  Speaker 5: the interviewee in a very comfortable place. So no apologies.
• 33:15
  Speaker 5: You're kicking ass and taking names.
• 33:18
  Speaker 4: Oh. Well, you know, I try, Andrew. And, you know,
• 33:24
  Speaker 4: as we talk about, you know, interview skills and your
• 33:26
  Speaker 4: writing skills and everything, you know, one question I wanted
• 33:29
  Speaker 4: to ask you was, you know, about deadlines. And, you know,
• 33:32
  Speaker 4: George R.R. Martin recently missed a deadline for his latest book. And,
• 33:36
  Speaker 4: you know, he said, you know, in a blog post,
• 33:38
  Speaker 4: you know, I had deadlines. You know, I've never been
• 33:41
  Speaker 4: good with them. And, you know, what I wanted to
• 33:45
  Speaker 4: ask you was about, you know, your own personal experience
• 33:46
  Speaker 4: with deadlines. which is, do you feel that they help
• 33:51
  Speaker 4: or do you think that they maybe hinder? Just your
• 33:55
  Speaker 4: own personal experiences.
• 33:57
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I thrive under a deadline because when you do
• 34:05
  Speaker 5: your interview and you're preparing for it and you get
• 34:11
  Speaker 5: it and it's on the tape, then you don't have
• 34:16
  Speaker 5: to worry about scheduling or stressing out about whether I'm
• 34:21
  Speaker 5: going to get good answers or not, you've already got
• 34:24
  Speaker 5: your materials. And so then it's just quiet time, um,
• 34:29
  Speaker 5: between you and your keyboard. And that is like a
• 34:32
  Speaker 5: sort of a charm phase to the process. And you
• 34:36
  Speaker 5: just know when your deadline is going to happen and
• 34:38
  Speaker 5: manage your time accordingly. Um, so I, I'm, I'd like
• 34:44
  Speaker 5: to say I'm allergic to missing a deadline because, uh,
• 34:47
  Speaker 5: you know, when you're in the news field, like that'll
• 34:53
  Speaker 5: get you fired. So, you know, that trained me well. But,
• 34:58
  Speaker 5: you know, when it comes to submitting stories for their
• 35:02
  Speaker 5: consumption online, basically you sort of build a trust with
• 35:08
  Speaker 5: a PR firm and you ask them, when would you
• 35:12
  Speaker 5: ideally like this to run? Would you like this interview
• 35:14
  Speaker 5: to run you know, the same day the stone opens or, um,
• 35:20
  Speaker 5: you know, maybe a week before to give it some
• 35:25
  Speaker 5: build and some anticipation, or do you want to wait,
• 35:29
  Speaker 5: you know, two weeks after to sort of like maybe
• 35:32
  Speaker 5: get some exposure and give yourself some legs after it starts,
• 35:37
  Speaker 5: after it maybe started to die down after, you know,
• 35:40
  Speaker 5: it's opening week. So they'll tell you when it's good
• 35:43
  Speaker 5: for them. And, um, And then you sort of reverse
• 35:47
  Speaker 5: engineer it. You know, it's not a daily deadline when
• 35:52
  Speaker 5: you're doing an interview. There's a little bit of a
• 35:55
  Speaker 5: long wick to the process because, you know, you'd have
• 35:58
  Speaker 5: to go to a screening, obviously, and you're going to,
• 36:01
  Speaker 5: usually that happens on a studio lot. And you're doing
• 36:05
  Speaker 5: that well ahead of, you know, the film's release. So
• 36:09
  Speaker 5: you go to the screening, you get all your notes going,
• 36:12
  Speaker 5: you study the production notes that the PR team will
• 36:14
  Speaker 5: have given you. Usually it's like a 50 to 60
• 36:17
  Speaker 5: page PDF where they tell you everything that you know
• 36:23
  Speaker 5: not to repeat because, you know, going back to what
• 36:26
  Speaker 5: we said, you know, those are the obvious things. So
• 36:28
  Speaker 5: I think beyond what is contained in the production notes
• 36:31
  Speaker 5: and just use those as the launch point. So you
• 36:35
  Speaker 5: get your questions ready. Then you do the press day
• 36:37
  Speaker 5: either in person or sometimes it's a telephone interview. And
• 36:42
  Speaker 5: so usually you have, you know, you're looking a month out,
• 36:46
  Speaker 5: you know, when you're to, to, uh, get everything done
• 36:49
  Speaker 5: and get it done well and get it, getting it
• 36:51
  Speaker 5: done on time. So, you know, there, there, there's really
• 36:56
  Speaker 5: no good reason to miss a deadline. Um, and, um,
• 37:03
  Speaker 5: you know, when it comes out and the PR team
• 37:06
  Speaker 5: is thrilled with it, then they just want to work
• 37:09
  Speaker 5: with you again. So I think respecting the deadline is, is,
• 37:14
  Speaker 5: Is it given just like, you know, getting someone's name
• 37:17
  Speaker 5: spelled correctly?
• 37:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I concur, Andrew. You know, I've, even
• 37:23
  Speaker 4: if we give ourselves deadlines, you know, I feel that's
• 37:26
  Speaker 4: more of, you know, incentive to get it done. You know,
• 37:30
  Speaker 4: somebody once told me that goals without deadlines are just dreams.
• 37:36
  Speaker 4: And so basically, you know, if you, let's just say,
• 37:39
  Speaker 4: you know, uh, Sony wants to write a screenplay. And
• 37:42
  Speaker 4: if I just say, you know, Hey, one day I'd
• 37:44
  Speaker 4: like to actually write one. Well, if you, unless you
• 37:46
  Speaker 4: actually make sort of a deadline to actually start, you know,
• 37:48
  Speaker 4: actually building that screenplay, it's just, you know, it's just
• 37:52
  Speaker 4: a wish. It's just a, you know, a dream. It's,
• 37:54
  Speaker 4: you know what I mean?
• 37:54
  Speaker 5: Yeah. Now, now, now you're going to get a whole other,
• 37:58
  Speaker 5: you know, writer, you know, dilemma and, and, and that
• 38:01
  Speaker 5: for another podcast, but you're at, you're absolutely right. When you,
• 38:04
  Speaker 5: when you, when you're dealing with your own, um, projects,
• 38:11
  Speaker 5: you got to be extra resilient, you know, and you
• 38:14
  Speaker 5: got to be your own sort of guy who cracks
• 38:18
  Speaker 5: the whip on yourself. But when you're running for like,
• 38:21
  Speaker 5: you know, a news outlet, you know, you just gotta,
• 38:28
  Speaker 5: you gotta be compliant. So for sure.
• 38:34
  Speaker 4: And, you know, speaking of, of your own projects, Andrew,
• 38:36
  Speaker 4: you know, What projects are you working on now that
• 38:39
  Speaker 4: you can discuss right now?
• 38:40
  Speaker 5: Well, I'm glad we're doing this now because a couple
• 38:45
  Speaker 5: months ago, I wouldn't have had anything to say except
• 38:47
  Speaker 5: that I'm working on a screenplay. But now I'm actually
• 38:49
  Speaker 5: in pre-production on a musical. It's actually going to be
• 38:55
  Speaker 5: a short film, about 15 minutes long. And it's a
• 39:01
  Speaker 5: story that's based on a play that I saw in Manhattan. like,
• 39:07
  Speaker 5: I think in 2003. And I just, like, it moved me,
• 39:12
  Speaker 5: it stayed with me for all those years, and now
• 39:15
  Speaker 5: I'm finally doing something with it. I don't know if
• 39:20
  Speaker 5: I should give too much away, but it's singing. So
• 39:23
  Speaker 5: there's four songs, and I've cast the actors, and we've
• 39:28
  Speaker 5: already laid down the vocals for the musical tracks because
• 39:33
  Speaker 5: like any musical, you have to have the songs in
• 39:37
  Speaker 5: place so that the actors can listen to their own
• 39:42
  Speaker 5: audio playback. So it's going to be almost like a
• 39:45
  Speaker 5: long music video type thing. And It's an incredible story
• 39:51
  Speaker 5: that a lot of psychiatrists....
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor.
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: And now, back to the show.
• 40:05
  Speaker 5: And she's treating this patient who's been really destroyed and
• 40:09
  Speaker 5: distraught over a traumatic breakup with his girlfriend. And she's
• 40:13
  Speaker 5: trying to help him master... you know, the loss of
• 40:18
  Speaker 5: his girlfriend. And she puts him under, the psychiatrist puts
• 40:23
  Speaker 5: him under like a light hypnosis to get him to
• 40:25
  Speaker 5: revisit the past with his girlfriend. And then in doing so,
• 40:30
  Speaker 5: the psychiatrist sort of like falls in love with him
• 40:33
  Speaker 5: and crosses all sorts of professional and ethical boundaries. And
• 40:39
  Speaker 5: so I'll leave it at that. So it's more of
• 40:41
  Speaker 5: a surprise when it comes out as to what she
• 40:44
  Speaker 5: exactly does. But I've got the actors down, the songs
• 40:49
  Speaker 5: are mixed, and we're going to be shooting in about
• 40:53
  Speaker 5: three weeks. So I'm deliriously excited. There's just nothing like
• 41:01
  Speaker 5: planning out your own shots and getting props together and
• 41:06
  Speaker 5: scouting locations and casting the actors and all that good stuff.
• 41:12
  Speaker 5: I got to say, These are songs I can't sing.
• 41:15
  Speaker 5: I can't write a song. I can't play an instrument,
• 41:18
  Speaker 5: but I know good songs when I hear them. So
• 41:21
  Speaker 5: for me to be going into a studio and, you know,
• 41:24
  Speaker 5: with a drummer and the vocalist doing their thing, laying
• 41:29
  Speaker 5: down these tracks has been a new foray for me.
• 41:33
  Speaker 5: And it's been incredibly fun, incredibly fun. So that's what
• 41:38
  Speaker 5: I'm working on right now as I speak.
• 41:41
  Speaker 4: Oh, that's amazing, Andrew.
• 41:43
  Speaker 5: Congratulations. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
• 41:47
  Speaker 4: You know, again, like you were just saying, you have
• 41:50
  Speaker 4: this storyboard. And, you know, it's really great for a
• 41:52
  Speaker 4: writer when you can finally start seeing all this stuff
• 41:55
  Speaker 4: that it starts coming alive.
• 41:57
  Speaker 5: You know what I mean?
• 41:58
  Speaker 4: You start seeing all this stuff. You're like, wow, this
• 42:00
  Speaker 4: is actually real. Because, you know, as a writer, you know,
• 42:03
  Speaker 4: you spend so much time sort of, you know, in
• 42:05
  Speaker 4: the quote unquote cave, you know, writing and writing and
• 42:09
  Speaker 4: revising stuff.
• 42:10
  Speaker 5: And editing and everything else.
• 42:12
  Speaker 4: And then finally, when this creation, which didn't exist prior,
• 42:18
  Speaker 4: is finally done, and to see it actually come alive,
• 42:21
  Speaker 4: it's great to see how this process all works. And
• 42:26
  Speaker 4: just going through it, it's just a phenomenal time to
• 42:31
  Speaker 4: be a filmmaker right now. And, you know, and it's
• 42:34
  Speaker 4: a phenomenal, actually it's phenomenal time to pretty much being,
• 42:37
  Speaker 4: you know, in any, in sort of any, any fast,
• 42:39
  Speaker 4: whether it's, you know, it's TV, the stage film. So again,
• 42:43
  Speaker 4: you know, congratulations on that. And I know, you know,
• 42:46
  Speaker 4: I can hear, you know, how ecstatic you are about
• 42:48
  Speaker 4: this project.
• 42:49
  Speaker 6: It really is like, it, it, it wakes you up
• 42:52
  Speaker 6: in a way that's, it's like taking you to the
• 42:56
  Speaker 6: next level, you know, writing something, especially when you know you've.
• 43:00
  Speaker 5: Written something that's successful and, I feel like the allocation
• 43:03
  Speaker 5: of this play into this script, it definitely has a
• 43:08
  Speaker 5: great energy to it. But then when you start to
• 43:11
  Speaker 5: involve other people and it becomes this cult of perfection
• 43:16
  Speaker 5: where everyone's into it, it becomes almost transcendental. And I
• 43:20
  Speaker 5: think a lot of people empathize with making the film.
• 43:27
  Speaker 5: And you may feel like you're not ready or you
• 43:31
  Speaker 5: don't have the experience, but that's just, uh, that just
• 43:35
  Speaker 5: bout in your own head. It's just, it's indescribable. And I'm,
• 43:42
  Speaker 5: I just, uh, I can't wait to yell action again. And, uh,
• 43:47
  Speaker 5: you know, so I, I agree. Thanks for the sentiment.
• 43:51
  Speaker 4: Oh, uh, yeah, I, I know exactly how you, how
• 43:53
  Speaker 4: you feel. And, uh, you know, I'm always, always, always
• 43:56
  Speaker 4: down to support, uh, projects and, uh, you know, I,
• 44:00
  Speaker 4: I've been there myself and, you know, it's been a
• 44:02
  Speaker 4: gap since I've done anything, uh, where I've directed myself.
• 44:06
  Speaker 4: I know exactly what you mean when you just said,
• 44:08
  Speaker 4: I can't wait to do action again. And, um, again,
• 44:12
  Speaker 4: I wish you the best of luck, you know, uh,
• 44:14
  Speaker 4: with the project and, um, you know, you know, cause
• 44:17
  Speaker 4: we've been talking for, uh, you know, roughly about 30,
• 44:20
  Speaker 4: 35 minutes now. Um, you know, so in closing, Andrew,
• 44:24
  Speaker 4: is there anything that you wanted to say to sort
• 44:26
  Speaker 4: of put a, you know, a period at the end
• 44:28
  Speaker 4: of this entire conversation?
• 44:30
  Speaker 5: I just want to salute you for doing what you do.
• 44:32
  Speaker 5: This was, you know, an unexpected outreach. And suddenly when
• 44:38
  Speaker 5: I went from Creators Pre-Writing, which is a wonderful publication,
• 44:41
  Speaker 5: to Script Magazine, and they have such an incredible, you know,
• 44:50
  Speaker 5: social outreach function, that suddenly people are coming to me
• 44:54
  Speaker 5: and I've had a lot of opportunities to us. to
• 44:58
  Speaker 5: speak up and yours, your, your, your podcast, it just,
• 45:03
  Speaker 5: it was a no brainer for me. And, um, this
• 45:07
  Speaker 5: has been just like, and part of my journey. And I,
• 45:11
  Speaker 5: and I'm flattered to be that, uh, you were my
• 45:14
  Speaker 5: next step and allowed me to have this venue. So
• 45:18
  Speaker 5: that's my final word is just gratitude. Thank you so much.
• 45:22
  Speaker 4: Oh, again, it's my pleasure, Andrew. Uh, you are more
• 45:25
  Speaker 4: than welcome. And, you know, thank you very much for
• 45:27
  Speaker 4: coming on the show. You know, again, I've read some
• 45:32
  Speaker 4: of your articles through ScriptMag, and they're phenomenal. And everyone,
• 45:36
  Speaker 4: I will link to that in the show notes, by
• 45:39
  Speaker 4: the way. And speaking of which, Andrew, where can people
• 45:42
  Speaker 4: find you at online?
• 45:43
  Speaker 5: I just have a website that's pretty much a crude
• 45:48
  Speaker 5: online portfolio. It's just my name. It's andrewjblumenthal.com. And Blumenthal
• 45:54
  Speaker 5: is B-L-O-O-M-E-N-T-H-A-L. So that'll, uh, have like everything categorized. You
• 46:02
  Speaker 5: can tool around for a minute, procrastinate, and, uh, reach
• 46:08
  Speaker 5: out to me if you, if the spirit moves you
• 46:10
  Speaker 5: to do so. Excellent.
• 46:13
  Speaker 4: And, uh, everyone, I will link to Andrew's website in
• 46:15
  Speaker 4: the show notes. And, uh, I found out, Andrew, you
• 46:18
  Speaker 4: were on Twitter. I found you have one tweet, uh,
• 46:22
  Speaker 4: but I, so if you ever need.
• 46:24
  Speaker 5: Terrified, terrified, terrified, terrified. I, I, I'm so allergic to
• 46:28
  Speaker 5: like that kind of widespread, like expression. I, they made
• 46:34
  Speaker 5: me do it. I, uh, I, I don't, I feel
• 46:37
  Speaker 5: like I'm trying to get comfortable with it. And because
• 46:40
  Speaker 5: I sort of went to a new venue and they
• 46:43
  Speaker 5: had a big social outreach program, I felt like it
• 46:46
  Speaker 5: was important that I, you know, did my part as well. But, uh,
• 46:52
  Speaker 5: I'm confident that now this podcast will be the subject
• 46:56
  Speaker 5: of my second tweet. So, I mean, my theory is
• 47:00
  Speaker 5: that like, if you, for me, like, I don't know,
• 47:06
  Speaker 5: maybe this is a neurotic kind of thing, but if
• 47:09
  Speaker 5: I only keep it to more milestone events, it'll be
• 47:14
  Speaker 5: taken more seriously, my tweets. So, So how about that?
• 47:19
  Speaker 5: How about I agree that, you know, the announcement of
• 47:21
  Speaker 5: this podcast when it's ready will be tweet number two.
• 47:26
  Speaker 4: Oh, well, thank you. I, you know, I, I, I
• 47:28
  Speaker 4: will look forward to that. Uh, cause I followed you
• 47:30
  Speaker 4: and I, and I, if you ever need any Twitter tips,
• 47:33
  Speaker 4: please let me know. Cause, uh, anyone who listens to
• 47:35
  Speaker 4: this podcast knows, uh, Twitter is like my bread and butter.
• 47:39
  Speaker 5: Uh, don't, yeah, man, don't, don't write a check. Your
• 47:43
  Speaker 5: bank can't cash because I might call you on that.
• 47:45
  Speaker 5: And like literally, uh, like email you with most mundane
• 47:49
  Speaker 5: questions about tweeting culture. Because I got to, you know,
• 47:55
  Speaker 5: I got to embrace it and get over the fear.
• 47:59
  Speaker 3: Please do.
• 48:00
  Speaker 4: All right, man. I was actually approached one time to
• 48:04
  Speaker 4: teach a class online about Twitter. And I said, you know,
• 48:09
  Speaker 4: I said, why me? And they gave me all these reasons.
• 48:11
  Speaker 4: I said, no, thank you. Uh, I also was approached
• 48:14
  Speaker 4: to teach a screenwriting course through the same website. And
• 48:16
  Speaker 4: I also said, no, thank you. Um, cause I just
• 48:19
  Speaker 4: think there's a, there's, there's better people out there. I mean, I,
• 48:22
  Speaker 4: you know, but, uh, but Twitter, I've pretty locked down.
• 48:24
  Speaker 4: I mean, uh, so, uh, what, if you ever need
• 48:27
  Speaker 4: anything screenwriting, uh, you know, I'm okay. Um, but you know,
• 48:31
  Speaker 4: and Andrew, I want to say thank you. But, uh,
• 48:34
  Speaker 4: but Andrew, I want to say thank you very much. And, uh,
• 48:36
  Speaker 4: I look forward to seeing all your future work.
• 48:38
  Speaker 5: Thanks, man. It's been a pleasure. Good luck with everything
• 48:41
  Speaker 5: you're doing and keep up the great work.
• 48:44
  Speaker 4: Well, thank you very much.
• 48:45
  Speaker 5: Take care, Andrew. Okay, man. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.
• 48:48
  Speaker 3: I want to thank Dave so much for doing such
• 48:50
  Speaker 3: a great job on this episode. If you want to
• 48:51
  Speaker 3: get links to anything we spoke about in this episode,
• 48:53
  Speaker 3: head over to the show notes at bulletproofscreenwriting.tv forward slash 491.
• 48:59
  Speaker 4: Thank you so much for listening, guys.
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: As always, keep on writing no matter what. I'll talk
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: to you soon.
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to the Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast at bulletproofscreenwriting.tv.