Latest / Indie Film Hustle® - A Filmmaking Podcast / IFH 871: The Screenwriting Advice Hollywood Writers Actually Use with Andrew Bloomenthal

Transcript

IFH 871: The Screenwriting Advice Hollywood Writers Actually Use with Andrew Bloomenthal · Indie Film Hustle® - A Filmmaking 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.
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: Welcome to the Indie Film Hustle Podcast, episode number 871.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: You try to do it, and you do it honestly.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: You can't control people's responses, really.
• 0:21
  Speaker 4: Edgar Wright.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Broadcasting from the back alley in Hollywood, it's the Indie
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Film Hustle Podcast, where we show you how to survive
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: and thrive as an indie filmmaker in the jungles of
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: the film biz. And here's your host, Alex Ferrari.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: Welcome, welcome to another episode of the Indie Film Hustle Podcast.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: I am your humble host, Alex Ferrari. Today's show is
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: sponsored by Rise of the Filmtrepreneur, how to turn your
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: independent film into a profitable business. It's harder today than
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: ever before for independent filmmakers to make money with their films.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: From predatory film distributors ripping them off to huckster film
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: aggregators who prey upon them, the odds are stacked against
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: the indie filmmaker. The old distribution model of making money
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: with your film is broken and there needs to be
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: a change. The future of independent filmmaking is the entrepreneurial
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: filmmaker or the filmtrepreneur. In Rise of the Filmtrepreneur, I
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: break down how to actually make money with your film
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: projects and show you how to turn your indie film
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: into a profitable business. With case studies examining successes and failures,
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: this book shows you the step-by-step method to turn your
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: passion into a profitable career. If you're making a feature film, series,
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: or any other kind of video content, the Filmtrepreneur Method
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: will set you up for success. The book is available
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: in paperback, ebook, and of course, audiobook. If you want
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: to order it, just head over to www.FilmBizBook.com. That's FilmBizBook.com.
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: Enjoy today's episode with guest host, Dave Bullis.
• 1:55
  Speaker 5: Joining me today is Andrew Blumenthal. Andrew is an entertainment
• 1:59
  Speaker 5: writer whose work has appeared in ScriptMag, Creative Script Writing Magazine, CNBC.com,
• 2:05
  Speaker 5: and Variety Magazine.
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: Andrew, how are you, sir? I'm doing great. Thanks so
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: much for having me on your podcast. I'm a big fan.
• 2:15
  Speaker 5: Oh, my pleasure, and thank you for saying so. Andrew,
• 2:18
  Speaker 5: just to get started, a question I always ask everybody is,
• 2:21
  Speaker 5: how did you get started as an entertainment writer?
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: I've always been a journalist, primarily in finance. And it's
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: always been great. I've always paid the bills. But I've
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: always had a more passionate love for film and filmmaking.
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: I'm a screenwriter myself. I made a film, independent feature,
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: a few years back. And so I've always been a
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: fan of the art form of films and screenwriting, and
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: I revere screenwriters and I revere actors. And I had
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: this friend, we all have a nagging friend who tells
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: us what to do, and we protest even though they're
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: probably right. And she actually suggested, you know, Andrew, you
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: have the skills, why don't you, you know, put your
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: journalism abilities to interviewing screenwriters? And I just kept protesting
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: and saying, no, I have no interest whatsoever in talking
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: to filmmakers because I want to be the subject. I
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: want people to interview me. It was kind of a
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: jealousy thing. But she was absolutely right. So one day
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: I did a Craigslist search for entertainment writers, and lo
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: and behold, Creative Screenwriting Magazine was looking for journalists. Now,
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: I did have one clip. in the realm of finance
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: because I interviewed Oliver Stone when Wall Street Part II,
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: Money Never Sleeps, came out. I don't know if you
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: saw that or if any of your listeners saw that.
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: It was Sheila Buff and Susan Sarandon and Michael Douglas,
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: you know, sequel to Monster Hit. So I interviewed him
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: for the finance magazine that I wrote it for because,
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: you know, they... The protagonist was a greedy hedge fund manager.
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: And so there was some kind of a tie into
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: that world. And so I had that writing clip. And
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: I also did an interview with Michael Moore when he
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: did a movie. And you're going to have to forgive
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: me because I forget the title. But it was all
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: about Wall Street corruption. So that was another tie into finance.
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: And so I interviewed him for the Finderstone magazine I
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: worked for as well. So I had those two clips
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: like in my back pocket and that was good enough
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: to get the job ready for creative screenwriting. And it just,
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: my friend, I'll say a big shout out to her
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: who she'll be listening to this. Hey, Wesley, I finally
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: took your advice and it changed my life. It turned
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: out to be a blessing because it really is a
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: chance to commiserate with like people, screenwriters who, you know,
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: only writers understand what writers go through and trial and
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: tribulations and the ups and downs, um, and the victories.
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: So that's how I got into it. And it's been,
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: it's been bliss. You know, I live in Los Angeles
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: now and I get to go to all sorts of
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: screenings and press events and, uh, have sit downs one-on-ones with,
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: with well-known, uh, writers and directors. And so it just
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: kind of happened organically. And, um, And next up for me,
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: I'm going to be interviewing Don Cheadle, who is the
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: writer and director for a Miles Davis biopic called Miles
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: Ahead that he's writing and directing and starring in as
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: Miles Davis. So it's been a great ride.
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: That sounds amazing that you get to interview all these
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: awesome people. I was looking at some of the people
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: that you've interviewed. The way we met was even when
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: you just interviewed the screenwriter for The Revenant. I was
• 5:58
  Speaker 5: just reading that in ScriptMag, and I'll link to that
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: interview in the show notes to everyone who's listening. But
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: it's just, like you said, you understand what writers are
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: going through, how they sort of have to build this.
• 6:11
  Speaker 5: And I think that's even more interesting because the writer
• 6:15
  Speaker 5: for The Revenant, and I'm very sorry I forget his
• 6:17
  Speaker 5: name right now.
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: Mark Elspeth.
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: And the person who wrote the book actually works for
• 6:28
  Speaker 5: Obama and the United States, I think, Treasury Department. So
• 6:31
  Speaker 5: he can't even promote the movie or anything. So I'm
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: sure that whole process of creating that was probably pretty
• 6:40
  Speaker 5: interesting because I don't even know if he's even allowed
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: to contact the original author to ask him if he
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: just went in blind and just sort of made it
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: his own without any input from the original writer. But again,
• 6:50
  Speaker 5: you've interviewed so many awesome people. And, you know, one
• 6:56
  Speaker 5: of the questions I always, you know, I wanted to
• 6:58
  Speaker 5: ask you, Andrew, is, you know, with ScriptMag and any
• 7:01
  Speaker 5: of these other magazines, too, you know, when you actually
• 7:04
  Speaker 5: see those job listings, like we're looking for new writers,
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: you know, is there any tips you ever have for
• 7:09
  Speaker 5: anybody that's, you know, submitting to those postings?
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I definitely like... there to be a certain level
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: of transparency. There's no way that an entertainment journalist is
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: going to make a lot of money. That's not why
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: we do what we do. So it's always important for
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: you to find out, you know, what they're paying per article.
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: So there's no surprises. And so you and the publication
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: are kind of, you know, seeing eye to eye and
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: you have, you know, an equal expectation of what the
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: terms are. So I would say make sure that there's
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: an easy communication between you and the editor. Other than that,
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: I think it's about a slow build to get your,
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: I guess, writing portfolio to escalate to higher and bigger
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: films by starting out with whatever small assignments are offered
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: to you and just say yes to everything. That's how
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: I began with creative screenwriting. I was assigned certain stories
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: and I just ran with them and I treated each
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: one as if it was like a huge studio blockbuster
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: because the internet is forever. So you got to put
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: your best foot forward ever in every single case. Because
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: that's going to be, every story is going to serve
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: as a calling card. So treat every story like it's
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: of equal import. That's one thing I would say. In
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: terms of doing actual interviews, I think the important thing
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: to do is overlook the blunt and obvious cliche questions like,
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: you know, what gave you the idea for the film?
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: And what was your experience writing? You know, like things
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: like that that are just like obvious, you know, housekeeping questions,
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: I call them. They're okay to ask, but I think
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: the real, the riches are in the niches, I've heard
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: someone say. So I'm going to claim credit for that saying.
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: And by that, I mean, get granular and ask for
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: real specific questions because that will wake somebody up. I'll
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: give you an example. When I was interviewing Ray Fine
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: for The Invisible Woman, which is a really lovely little
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: biopic where he was playing Charles Dickens. And it was
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: about his affair with an actress who was like 30
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: years his junior. And this was like not done in
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: polite Victorian society.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: And now back to the show.
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: So he had to keep her in the shadows, hence
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: she was a visible woman. So not to throw other
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: journalists under the bus, but during press day, we were
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: doing this round table and people were just asking him questions,
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: you know, his capacity as the director. And they were saying, so,
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: you know, you played Charles Dickens. So what's harder to
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: act or to direct yourself? Like he's going to get
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: asked that a million times, or, you know, how did
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: you do research on someone who's dead? Like somebody actually
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: asked that question and, I just want to roll my eyes.
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: I just felt so terrible for Ray Fines because he
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: was like, am I really here having to entertain these
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: blunt questions? So I sort of interrupted and I asked
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: a very specific question about a very specific scene about
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: this moment where his girlfriend, this young woman in her family,
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: she had several sisters and her mother, they were a
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: band of traveling actors and they were unpacking into their
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: house after doing a touring show. And they broke out
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: into this lovely song. It was just almost like this
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: kind of lullaby that they were singing as they were
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: unpacking their clothes from their luggage. And the way it
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: was cut together, it was just beautiful. But they were
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: singing live and, you know, as opposed to singing to
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: a pre-recorded track. So I asked them about that scene.
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: I said, you know, how did you, how did you
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: cut that together? Did you you know, get the sound
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: mixer on board with you when you shot it? Like
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: a real technical question. And he instantly perked up. He
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: was like, oh my God, someone's asking a question I
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: haven't been asked before. And just as I was leaving
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: that day, the PR person who coordinates these interviews, she
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: grabbed me and says, Ray Fines wants you to do
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: a one-on-one. So, which is, you know, when it's just
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: you and him. So people, you know, a screenwriter, a director,
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: they'll notice if you take the time, to really watch
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: the film and really come up with very specific and
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: very detailed questions. Because when you're making a film, when
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: you're writing a film, every bit of dialogue, the names
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: you choose, every word choice is very deliberate and purposeful,
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: and there's a story behind it. So that's my best
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: advice when you're interviewing someone who's come up with real specific,
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: granular questions. You know, say... I noticed she had a
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: bizarre hairstyle or, you know, I noticed there was a,
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: you know, this dialogue was very one-sided where it felt
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: like one person was talking more than the other. What
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: were you trying to get at in crafting a scene
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: that way? And they will respect you and they will
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: give you interesting things as opposed to, very blunt, phony responses,
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: which happens if they're getting the same questions asked over
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: and over and over again, because that's what happens when
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: they do these press junkets, is they're getting these same
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: questions over and over and over again, and they tune out.
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: So if you can come up with something original, yucky.
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: You know, that's something I've seen too, Andrew, is when
• 13:28
  Speaker 5: the person is... You can see a lot of these
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: actors at the end of the press junkets, because when
• 13:32
  Speaker 5: that same person has been asked the same question about,
• 13:35
  Speaker 5: you know, a thousand times, they physically look almost beaten down. Like,
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: they just, the answer is, it's not even, they don't
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: have to think about it anymore. It's just a reaction now. And,
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: you know, what was it like working with John? Oh,
• 13:52
  Speaker 5: you know, he's great and he's talented, you know.
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: Blah, blah, blah.
• 13:56
  Speaker 5: And that's why usually if I'm going to catch an
• 13:59
  Speaker 5: interview with somebody, like, for instance, like Quentin Tarantino, he
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: always seems like he's upbeat. But I've noticed, I think
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: he's been more selective recently about all his interviews. Because
• 14:11
  Speaker 5: after the one interview he had where he sort of
• 14:14
  Speaker 5: got testy with the interviewer, and I think now when
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: he's doing The Hateful Eight, it's more like he had
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: Christopher Nolan interview him. And then he also had Chris
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: Hardwick of The Nerdist. He had Brett Easton Ellis interview him.
• 14:29
  Speaker 5: And I listened to all three of those interviews I
• 14:31
  Speaker 5: just mentioned, and not one question came was the same
• 14:34
  Speaker 5: in any of those interviews.
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: Right, because these people, they know that there's more to
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: the story than the obvious things. I saw, I think
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: it was Entertainment Tonight or something, and someone was interviewing
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: Meryl Streep about, you know, the role she played in,
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: what's it called, Ricky and the Flash? I didn't actually
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: see it, but there were things. And her daughter, in
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: real life, played her daughter in the film, and it said,
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: the question was, what was it like to work with
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: your own daughter? And like, you know, what the fuck
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: is she going to say? It sucks. You're like, oh,
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: you know, it was great. And what did you think
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: when you first did your first scene with her? And
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: she was like trapped, you know, she's trying to, you know,
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: put on a smile and, you know, so it's deadly
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: for these actors, directors, writers, you know, fill in the blank,
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: to be cornered with these types of try questions and
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: um but so if you get in there uh with
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: something original um you're gonna you're gonna wake them up
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: uh also what's very important is um you get press
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: notes production notes um which give you all these behind
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: the scenes stories so it's already there so once you
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: know the questions like um the origin story, how they
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: come up with something, then you can ask slightly derivative questions.
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: I know it's well known that you got this story
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: by reading this novel, but what were some things that
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: just disgusted you with the novel that you had to
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: eliminate or that you struggled with? Get the questions that
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: are beyond the obvious ones. And that makes for a
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: good interview, in my opinion.
• 16:25
  Speaker 5: Andrew, you mentioned a couple of things in this and
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: I wanted to tell you a little funny story. And, uh,
• 16:33
  Speaker 5: when I was shooting a film about, about three or
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: four years ago, we actually had a student film, uh, student, sorry,
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: student journalist. Uh, he was a senior at a local
• 16:42
  Speaker 5: college and he came by the set and he wanted
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: to interview us all for, for the, the college newspaper.
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: And we said, sure.
• 16:51
  Speaker 5: And, um, you know, he interviewed everybody. He, you know,
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: he has, uh, asked some typical questions and, uh, When
• 17:00
  Speaker 5: we finally got the copy, it was both online and
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: it was both, you know, we also got the physical version.
• 17:07
  Speaker 5: I don't think he could have done a worse job
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: if he had just made it up. And what I
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: mean by that is he misspelled everyone's name. He got
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: the name.
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: Of the production wrong.
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: He gave credit to people that took, like, he credited
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: other people as the director, other people as the producer.
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: He got everyone all mixed up.
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: And he also, basically, the whole last paragraph was basically
• 17:37
  Speaker 5: talking about the film that had nothing to do with
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: the film. And I was just looking at this, and
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: I was like, what happened here? And his professor actually
• 17:48
  Speaker 5: called me to ask me about what I thought about
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: the assignment. And I actually asked him first, I said,
• 17:56
  Speaker 5: did he give you my number because this is for
• 17:59
  Speaker 5: his credit? And he said, yes, he, you know, we
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: have to do this and it's due diligence and this
• 18:03
  Speaker 5: and that. And I told him flat out, you know,
• 18:06
  Speaker 5: I'm kind of torn. I don't want to, you know,
• 18:10
  Speaker 5: I know he's a senior in college. I don't want
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: to throw him under the bus. But at the same time,
• 18:14
  Speaker 5: I was like, this whole thing's a mess. And the professor,
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: you know, I heard me out and he's like, well,
• 18:20
  Speaker 5: I'm very sorry about that. I actually saved a copy
• 18:24
  Speaker 5: for myself Just because I now use it as a
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: laughing point because one guy's name, he actually completely just
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: butchered it. And we had to go back and we're like, oh,
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: we think this is you. Because his name was Steve
• 18:37
  Speaker 5: and he called him like.
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: Chris Woodward or something.
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: So we were like, oh, I guess he means you, Steve.
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: So it's just stuff like that. I mean, I'm going
• 18:50
  Speaker 5: to be honest with you, Andrew.
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: I'm guilty sometimes.
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: Sometimes I mispronounce people's names on here. That's just because
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: I'm an idiot. But other than that, I do my
• 19:00
  Speaker 5: best to get everyone's names right when I finally put
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: this up online.
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you did great preparation, which is why I was
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: enthusiastic about doing this interview or this podcast because I've
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: never done one before. But clearly your subject is in
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: good hands and you do do your homework. To be
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: honest with you, I didn't know where this story was
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: going to go. I thought you were going to be like,
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: he was a wonder kid, and he did the best
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: interview ever, and it was in his nature to be
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: a star. But, you know, getting someone's name right, that
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: kind of goes without saying when you're in the field
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: of uh, reporting. Um, like, it's, it's, especially when it's,
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: there are a lot of, like with Alejandro and Aritu, like,
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: there are so many accents and....
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: And now, back to the show.
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: And, and kill days and weird little marks, you know,
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: on top of his name that, like, I just cut
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: and paste it from, the, uh, the press house to
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: make sure I didn't fuck it up. But you always, yeah, that, that, that,
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: I'm not sure how much to say about that, but yeah,
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: you make sure you get everything right and make sure, uh,
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: you run a spell check and make sure you read
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: your stories out loud because sometimes your eyes will trick
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: you into overlooking mistakes because you know what it's supposed
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: to sound like, but until you read it out loud,
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: you won't catch all your mistakes. But, uh, You have
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: to forward me this story. I mean, don't name the
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: name of the journalist, but now you got me curious.
• 20:47
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I actually forget the name of the journalist, but
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: I promise you as soon as we're off here, I
• 20:52
  Speaker 5: will find it online and I will forward it to you.
• 20:56
  Speaker 5: It is good for a laugh now that you know
• 20:58
  Speaker 5: the story behind it. And maybe I should look to
• 21:01
  Speaker 5: it in the show notes too.
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: Say again?
• 21:04
  Speaker 5: Maybe I should link to it in the show notes
• 21:05
  Speaker 5: as well.
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: Nah, well, yeah, that would be interesting, you know, as
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: long as he can put out some kind of redacted
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: document so he doesn't get, like, humiliated on the internet. But, no,
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: I'm curious. Maybe he'll hear this and it'll inspire him
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: to be more thorough moving forward.
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, it was about four years ago, so
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: I'm going to I mean, I know he's graduated by now,
• 21:33
  Speaker 5: so maybe he's working for some newspaper somewhere.
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: Maybe he's like the editor of the New York Times.
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: Maybe he turned it all around. Yeah. We shall see.
• 21:45
  Speaker 5: Because, you know, about pronouncing names right, you know, just
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: as another quick funny story, you know, there's only one
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: person who I've ever interviewed who I was incredibly nervous
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: about interviewing, and that was Cassian, Cassian Ilves, who is a...
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: A-list producer out in Hollywood. He's done, you know, uh,
• 22:02
  Speaker 5: the Dallas Buyers Club. And for some reason I could
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: not pronounce his last name, which is odd because I
• 22:09
  Speaker 5: have said that last name 10,000 times and it came
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: to interview him. And I was like, it was, he's like,
• 22:16
  Speaker 5: he's like, Dave, listen, it's like, it's like pronouncing Elvis.
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: But he's like, just put the W in. He's like,
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: just listen. It's very simple if you say it right.
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: And I was like, oh my God, this guy is
• 22:28
  Speaker 5: going to hang up on me and he's going to
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: be like, who is that Dave Bullis kid? I never
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: want to talk to him again.
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: That's a cute little hiccup because it's like you're tongue-tied
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: because you're like geeking out. I get that. It's like,
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: you know, in print when you have the chance to,
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: you know, double check. That's what it is. Those mistakes
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: are more unforgivable. But yeah, we all butcher it in
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: pronunciation from time to time. Ain't no big thing.
• 22:57
  Speaker 5: Well, yeah, he was very understanding. I mean, I was
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: a little elated. But yeah, I mean, he was a
• 23:05
  Speaker 5: very nice guy and a heck of an episode, too.
• 23:09
  Speaker 5: As we talk, Andrew, you know, about interviewing people, you know,
• 23:12
  Speaker 5: you also, I mean, you have done such an extensive, extensive,
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: you know, portfolio of writing, you know, and I wanted
• 23:19
  Speaker 5: to ask, you know, has your business writing, because I
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: know you've written for CNBC and the financial sector, has
• 23:26
  Speaker 5: that helped a lot when you write for like the
• 23:28
  Speaker 5: creative sector? Because I have a feeling that it actually
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: improves your economy of words.
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, well, the short answer is I don't care what
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: you're writing about. whether it's expository writing, just pure information,
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: or whether it's writing a story, or whether it's an interview,
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: the same elements have to be in place for it
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: to be a success. And that is, it has to
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: be concise. It has to be interesting. You know, and
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: that flies across the board, no matter what genre you're
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: dealing with. Especially when you have a chance to edit
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: something before it goes live, you've got to cut out
• 24:19
  Speaker 4: anything that's superfluous. Things like never using the same, never
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: repeating the same word in a sentence or in a paragraph.
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: Being very careful to look up different words synonyms, you know,
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: you make your thesaurus be your best friend so things
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: rhythmically sound right. So, yeah, the subject matter may be
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: wildly different, but, you know, you've always got to just,
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: and there's no real, you know, alchemy to doing it.
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: It just means, you know, for giving a damn and
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: really concentrating. But, yeah, so that all writing, no matter
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: what it is, it does have to have a certain
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: economy of words without too many extra beats. And it
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: should be interesting. For God's sake, don't use cliche things like,
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: this was an amazing story. There are a million other
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: ways to say amazing. So that's what my recommendation is.
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: Try to use some of the take the road less
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: taken when you can when it comes to choosing your work.
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: If you have the entire vocabulary at your disposal, why
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: not want to strive to be interesting in its youth.
• 25:38
  Speaker 5: So when you're writing, Andrew, do you outline first? Do
• 25:41
  Speaker 5: you sort of outline whatever you're going to write about,
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: or do you sort of jump right in?
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: Well, when it comes to... That's a really, really good question.
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: Because when it comes to interviewing people, and I think
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: that's where people are reading my interviews more than, say,
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: my business writing... But when you are interviewing people for,
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: you know, whether it's an investment person or a screenwriter,
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: be prepared to zig and zag by having that outline,
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: knowing the must-have questions. But when they say something that's
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: interesting and you can sense a more interesting hook that
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: you hadn't thought of, be prepared to, you know, go
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: off on that tangent with them. That's when the hook...
• 26:31
  Speaker 4: will find you and you didn't even expect it. I
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: struggle to think of a specific example, but, you know,
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: if you think you know what they're going to say and,
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: you know, you're usually wrong if your question's rooted in
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: something that's kind of interesting, usually they'll come up with
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: something anecdotal that you hadn't thought of and then you
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: have to follow up questions. that's when you hit the
• 26:59
  Speaker 4: money and hopefully get something that no other reporter has
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: ever asked. Um, but yeah, it's critical to do your homework.
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: I never show up at an interview without formulating, um,
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: you know, a list of typed up questions. And, you know,
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: sometimes you, when you're doing these press interviews, um, especially
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: if you're doing an in-person during a press, a press junket,
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: you might get 15 minutes, you might get 10 minutes, um,
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: So you do have to sort of prioritize and jump
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: around and try to squeeze in as many things as possible.
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: But you're always trying to tell a story. Hopefully a
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: dialogue starts to develop an organic rhythm and conversational. And
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: I know they're having a good time. And usually when
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: they are, what happens a lot of times when you're
• 27:56
  Speaker 4: doing these interviews, in person, and let's say it's a
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: 15-minute interview. At the 14th minute, a PR person will
• 28:03
  Speaker 4: sort of walk into the room and put up a
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: finger to signal, we have time for one more question.
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: And so you know to wrap it up and make
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: sure you get the essentials that you wanted. But more
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: often than not, if the subject is having a good time,
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: they'll be like, oh, let him go a couple more.
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: And that happens more often than it doesn't. So I
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: guess I could get some, you know, I can feel
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: good about that. But yeah, preparation is definitely key. Just
• 28:34
  Speaker 4: have your questions typed out, easy to read, big font,
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: so you're not having to squint and search for them.
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: They're just right there in your face. Get a highlighter
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: pen and cross them off as you go. And be frosty,
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: be on your toes, and get ready to just jump
• 28:55
  Speaker 4: in and kick into another direction. if you're prompted.
• 28:59
  Speaker 5: You know, Andrew, not to ask a clichéd question, but
• 29:02
  Speaker 5: I guess I have to ask it, and that is,
• 29:04
  Speaker 5: you know, what is your favorite interview that you've ever done?
• 29:07
  Speaker 4: Oh, that's a really good question. Okay, my favorite interview
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: that I ever did, and this goes back to when
• 29:17
  Speaker 4: I was first starting and I was just taking whatever
• 29:19
  Speaker 4: assignments that were handed out to me, it was for
• 29:24
  Speaker 4: Kill Your Darlings. And, um, the guys that wrote it,
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: it was written by a team of guys and I
• 29:34
  Speaker 4: forget their names. So that's going to sound bad, but
• 29:42
  Speaker 4: they wrote it together. They were college friends and they
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: wrote it together and then one of them took a
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: directing credit and we just sat down and just went
• 29:50
  Speaker 4: for about half an hour and it was almost like
• 29:52
  Speaker 4: we were rhapsodizing. They were completely, they didn't expect the questions.
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: And now, back to the show.
• 30:08
  Speaker 4: To be so thoughtful and, you know, we did the
• 30:13
  Speaker 4: press conference beforehand where everyone was in the room asking
• 30:15
  Speaker 4: them questions. They were sitting in front of the room
• 30:18
  Speaker 4: at a table. And the questions were those mind-numbing, obvious ones.
• 30:22
  Speaker 4: And they were just like, they were just spent. But
• 30:25
  Speaker 4: when it was time for my one-on-one interview, like they
• 30:29
  Speaker 4: both perked up and it just, the answers were clever
• 30:32
  Speaker 4: and informative. And, um, so I think I would say the, the,
• 30:38
  Speaker 4: the team of guys who did kill your darlings. And
• 30:41
  Speaker 4: by the way, that's the movie that, that, that was, uh,
• 30:44
  Speaker 4: a story of Allen Ginsberg, the beat poet. Um, they
• 30:49
  Speaker 4: imagined his college days at Columbia university, just sort of
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: discovering himself and sexuality and, you know, meeting other beat
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: writers of the day. And, you know, Alan Goodrich was
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: played by Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame. And so
• 31:07
  Speaker 4: I think that interview is my favorite. My second one
• 31:12
  Speaker 4: would be Nicole Hollis Center, who lone directed enough set
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini. Why? Because she was
• 31:21
  Speaker 4: hysterical and sardonic and witty and funny. And we would
• 31:26
  Speaker 4: have this banter going. And it just made for a
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: very lively discussion. So, Kill Your Darlings and Enough Said
• 31:35
  Speaker 4: would be my two favorite interviews.
• 31:38
  Speaker 5: And I'll make sure to link to those in the
• 31:40
  Speaker 5: show notes as well to everyone listening. But again, I
• 31:45
  Speaker 5: had to ask that question, Andrew, even though it is
• 31:48
  Speaker 5: very cliched. Because usually, you know, it's like, so what's
• 31:51
  Speaker 5: your favorite color?
• 31:53
  Speaker 4: No, no, no. Let me say this. When I say, like,
• 31:58
  Speaker 4: the basic questions. There's nothing wrong with them. They're good
• 32:02
  Speaker 4: to get sort of like, you know, they're obligatory. You
• 32:08
  Speaker 4: have to ask them, but just don't like make the
• 32:13
  Speaker 4: whole thing be sort of straightforward. I'm unimaginative. You know,
• 32:16
  Speaker 4: blindside your interview subject with a question you know that
• 32:20
  Speaker 4: they haven't been asked because it's so arcane and granular
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: and unexpected. Um, like I said, you've got, you've got
• 32:29
  Speaker 4: your job locked down or else I wouldn't be talking
• 32:32
  Speaker 4: to you. I'm having a blast for, for sure. And, and, and,
• 32:36
  Speaker 4: and I can say that having, you know, full disclosure that,
• 32:39
  Speaker 4: you know, I am slightly nervous to be doing my
• 32:43
  Speaker 4: first podcast, but you've, uh, you've clearly come to the
• 32:47
  Speaker 4: table prepared. So, you know, you've already got this locked
• 32:49
  Speaker 4: in for sure. Well, thank you, Andrew. Thank you.
• 32:54
  Speaker 5: I always try to keep this. I try to keep
• 32:56
  Speaker 5: this just fun. And, you know, like a positive, you
• 33:00
  Speaker 5: know what I mean? Like, I don't want to, I
• 33:02
  Speaker 5: always try to keep the show upbeat as much as possible.
• 33:04
  Speaker 4: Yeah. And also you're listening to what I say and
• 33:06
  Speaker 4: then what you're doing, you know, because I'm, you know,
• 33:09
  Speaker 4: I do Q & As myself. You're also sort of
• 33:12
  Speaker 4: putting it in context of your own experiences. So it
• 33:15
  Speaker 4: becomes like a dialogue, not a monologue. And it puts
• 33:22
  Speaker 4: the interviewee in a very comfortable place. So. No apologies.
• 33:29
  Speaker 4: You're kicking ass and taking names.
• 33:32
  Speaker 5: Oh, well, you know, I try, Andrew. And, you know,
• 33:38
  Speaker 5: as we talk about, you know, interview skills and your
• 33:40
  Speaker 5: writing skills and everything, you know, one question I wanted
• 33:43
  Speaker 5: to ask you was, you know, about deadlines.
• 33:46
  Speaker 4: And, you know, George R.R.
• 33:47
  Speaker 5: Martin recently missed a deadline for his latest book. And,
• 33:51
  Speaker 5: you know, he said, you know, in a blog post,
• 33:53
  Speaker 5: you know, I had deadlines. You know, I've never been
• 33:56
  Speaker 5: good with them. And, you know, what I wanted to
• 33:59
  Speaker 5: ask you was about, you know, your own personal experience
• 34:01
  Speaker 5: with deadlines, which is, you know, do you feel that
• 34:04
  Speaker 5: they help or do you think that they maybe hinder?
• 34:08
  Speaker 5: Just your own personal experiences.
• 34:11
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I thrive under a deadline because when you do
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: your interview and you're preparing for it and you get it,
• 34:26
  Speaker 4: And it's on the tape. Then, you know, you don't
• 34:30
  Speaker 4: have to worry about scheduling or stressing out about whether
• 34:36
  Speaker 4: I'm going to get good answers or not. You've already
• 34:38
  Speaker 4: got your materials. And so then it's just quiet time
• 34:43
  Speaker 4: between you and your keyboard. And that is like a
• 34:46
  Speaker 4: sort of a charmed phase to the process. And you
• 34:50
  Speaker 4: just know when your deadline is going to happen. You
• 34:52
  Speaker 4: can manage your time accordingly. So I'd like to say
• 34:59
  Speaker 4: I'm allergic to missing a deadline because, you know, when
• 35:02
  Speaker 4: you're in the news field, that'll get you fired. So,
• 35:09
  Speaker 4: you know, that trained me well. But, you know, when
• 35:13
  Speaker 4: it comes to submitting stories for their consumption online, basically
• 35:21
  Speaker 4: you sort of build a trust with the PR firm
• 35:24
  Speaker 4: and you ask them, when would you ideally like this
• 35:27
  Speaker 4: to run? Would you like this interview to run, you know,
• 35:31
  Speaker 4: the same day the film opens or, you know, maybe
• 35:35
  Speaker 4: a week before to give it some build and some anticipation?
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: Or do you want to wait, you know, two weeks
• 35:44
  Speaker 4: after to sort of like maybe get some exposure and
• 35:48
  Speaker 4: give yourself some legs after it maybe started to die
• 35:53
  Speaker 4: down after, you know, the opening week? So they'll tell
• 35:56
  Speaker 4: you when it's good for them. And then you sort
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: of reverse engineer it. You know, it's not a daily
• 36:06
  Speaker 4: deadline when you're doing an interview. There's a little bit
• 36:09
  Speaker 4: of a long wick to the process because, you know,
• 36:12
  Speaker 4: you'd have to go to a screening. Obviously, you're going to,
• 36:15
  Speaker 4: usually that happens on a studio lot. And you're doing
• 36:19
  Speaker 4: that well ahead of, you know, the film's release. So
• 36:24
  Speaker 4: you go to the screening, you get all your notes going,
• 36:26
  Speaker 4: you study the production notes that the PR team will
• 36:29
  Speaker 4: have given you. Usually it's like a 50 to 60
• 36:32
  Speaker 4: page PDF where they tell you everything that you know
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: not to repeat because, you know, going back to what
• 36:40
  Speaker 4: we said, you know, those are the obvious things. So
• 36:42
  Speaker 4: think beyond what is contained in the production notes and
• 36:46
  Speaker 4: just use those as the launch point. So you get
• 36:49
  Speaker 4: your questions ready, then you do the press day, either
• 36:52
  Speaker 4: in person or Sometimes it's a telephone interview. And so
• 36:56
  Speaker 4: usually you have, you know, you're looking a month out,
• 37:00
  Speaker 4: you know, when to get everything done and get it
• 37:04
  Speaker 4: done well and getting it done on time. So, you know,
• 37:09
  Speaker 4: there's really no good reason to miss a deadline. And,
• 37:17
  Speaker 4: you know, when it comes out and the PR team
• 37:21
  Speaker 4: is thrilled with it, then They just want to work
• 37:23
  Speaker 4: with you again. So I think respecting your deadline is
• 37:28
  Speaker 4: a given, just like getting someone's name spelled correctly.
• 37:33
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I concur, Andrew. Even if we give ourselves deadlines,
• 37:39
  Speaker 5: I feel that's more of an incentive to get it done.
• 37:44
  Speaker 5: Somebody once told me that goals without deadlines are just dreams.
• 37:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 37:50
  Speaker 5: And so basically, you know, if you, let's just say,
• 37:53
  Speaker 5: you know, somebody wants to write a screenplay, and if
• 37:56
  Speaker 5: I just say, you know, hey, one day I'd like
• 37:58
  Speaker 5: to actually write one, well, unless you actually make sort
• 38:01
  Speaker 5: of a deadline to actually start, you know, actually building
• 38:03
  Speaker 5: that screenplay, it's just, you know, it's just a wish,
• 38:06
  Speaker 5: it's just a, you know, a dream, you know what
• 38:08
  Speaker 5: I mean?
• 38:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah, now you're getting into a whole other, you know, writer,
• 38:13
  Speaker 4: you know, dilemma, and that's for another podcast, but you're
• 38:17
  Speaker 4: absolutely right, when you're when you're dealing with your own, um, projects, um,
• 38:25
  Speaker 4: you gotta be extra vigilant, you know, and you gotta
• 38:28
  Speaker 4: be your own sort of, uh, guy who cracks a
• 38:33
  Speaker 4: whip on yourself. But when you're writing for like, you know,
• 38:36
  Speaker 4: a news outlet, um, you know, you just gotta, you
• 38:42
  Speaker 4: gotta be compliant. Um, so for sure.
• 38:48
  Speaker 5: And, you know, speaking of your own projects, Andrew, you know,
• 38:52
  Speaker 5: what projects are you working on now that you can
• 38:54
  Speaker 5: discuss right now?
• 38:55
  Speaker 4: Well, I'm glad we're doing this now because, like, you know,
• 38:58
  Speaker 4: a couple months ago I wouldn't have had anything to
• 39:00
  Speaker 4: say except that I'm working on a screenplay. But now
• 39:03
  Speaker 4: I'm actually in pre-production on a musical. It's actually going
• 39:09
  Speaker 4: to be a short film, about 15 minutes long. And
• 39:14
  Speaker 4: it's a story that's based on a play. that I
• 39:18
  Speaker 4: saw in Manhattan, like I think in 2003. And I
• 39:24
  Speaker 4: just like, it moved me, it stayed with me for
• 39:28
  Speaker 4: all those years. And now I'm finally doing something with it.
• 39:31
  Speaker 4: I don't know if I should give too much away,
• 39:35
  Speaker 4: but it's singing. So there's four songs and I've cast
• 39:40
  Speaker 4: the actors and we've already laid down the vocals for
• 39:46
  Speaker 4: the musical tracks because like any musical, you have to
• 39:51
  Speaker 4: have the songs in place so that the actors can
• 39:54
  Speaker 4: listen to their own audio playback.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: And now, back to the show.
• 40:08
  Speaker 4: So it's going to be almost like a long music
• 40:11
  Speaker 4: video type thing. And it's an incredible story that a
• 40:18
  Speaker 4: lot of psychiatrists And she's treating this patient who's been
• 40:23
  Speaker 4: really destroyed and distraught over a traumatic breakup with his girlfriend.
• 40:27
  Speaker 4: And she's trying to help him master the loss of
• 40:33
  Speaker 4: his girlfriend. And the psychiatrist puts him under a light
• 40:38
  Speaker 4: hypnosis to get him to revisit the past with his girlfriend.
• 40:43
  Speaker 4: And then in doing so, the psychiatrist sort of falls
• 40:48
  Speaker 4: in love with him and Crosses all sorts of professional
• 40:51
  Speaker 4: and ethical boundaries. And so I'll leave it at that.
• 40:55
  Speaker 4: So it's more of a surprise when it comes out
• 40:58
  Speaker 4: as to what she exactly does. But I've got the
• 41:02
  Speaker 4: actors down. The songs are mixed. And we're going to
• 41:07
  Speaker 4: be shooting in about three weeks. So I'm deliriously excited.
• 41:14
  Speaker 4: There's just nothing like planning out your own shots. And
• 41:19
  Speaker 4: getting props together and scouting locations and casting the actors
• 41:25
  Speaker 4: and all that good stuff. I got to say, these
• 41:28
  Speaker 4: are songs I can't sing. I can't write a song.
• 41:31
  Speaker 4: I can't play an instrument, but I know good songs
• 41:34
  Speaker 4: when I hear them. So for me to be going
• 41:36
  Speaker 4: into a studio and, you know, with a drummer and
• 41:41
  Speaker 4: the vocalists doing their thing, laying down these tracks has
• 41:45
  Speaker 4: been a new foray for me. And it's been incredibly fun,
• 41:49
  Speaker 4: incredibly fun. So that's what I'm working on right now
• 41:54
  Speaker 4: as I speak. Oh, that's amazing, Andrew. Congratulations. Thank you
• 41:59
  Speaker 4: very much. Thank you very much.
• 42:03
  Speaker 5: You know, again, like you were just saying, you have
• 42:04
  Speaker 5: this storyboard. And, you know, it's really great for a
• 42:07
  Speaker 5: writer when you can finally start seeing all this stuff
• 42:10
  Speaker 5: that it starts coming alive.
• 42:12
  Speaker 4: You know what I mean?
• 42:12
  Speaker 5: You start seeing all this stuff. You're like, wow, this
• 42:14
  Speaker 5: is actually real. Because, you know, as a writer, you know,
• 42:18
  Speaker 5: you spend so much time sort of, you know, in
• 42:20
  Speaker 5: the quote unquote cave, you know, writing and writing and
• 42:24
  Speaker 5: revising and, you know, editing and everything else. And then finally,
• 42:28
  Speaker 5: you know, when this creation, which, you know, didn't exist,
• 42:32
  Speaker 5: you know, prior, it's finally done, you know, and to
• 42:35
  Speaker 5: see it actually come alive, it's great to see how
• 42:38
  Speaker 5: this process all works. And, you know, I mean, and
• 42:41
  Speaker 5: just going through it and, you know, it's just a
• 42:45
  Speaker 5: phenomenal time to be a filmmaker right now. And, you know,
• 42:49
  Speaker 5: and it's actually a phenomenal time to pretty much be in,
• 42:52
  Speaker 5: you know, in any sort of any any fast, whether it's,
• 42:54
  Speaker 5: you know, it's TV, the stage film. So, again, you know,
• 42:58
  Speaker 5: congratulations on that. And I know, you know, I can
• 43:01
  Speaker 5: hear how ecstatic you are about this project.
• 43:04
  Speaker 4: It really is like it wakes you up in a
• 43:08
  Speaker 4: way that. It's like taking it to the next level,
• 43:12
  Speaker 4: you know, writing something, especially when you know you've written
• 43:15
  Speaker 4: something that's successful and. I feel like the allocation of
• 43:18
  Speaker 4: this play into this script, it definitely has a great
• 43:23
  Speaker 4: energy to it. But then when you start to involve
• 43:26
  Speaker 4: other people and it becomes this like cult of perfection
• 43:31
  Speaker 4: where everyone's into it, it becomes just almost transcendental. And
• 43:35
  Speaker 4: I think a lot of people fantasize about making the film.
• 43:42
  Speaker 4: And you may feel like you're not ready or you
• 43:46
  Speaker 4: don't have the experience, but that's just, uh, that just
• 43:50
  Speaker 4: doubt in your own head. It's just, it's indescribable. And I'm,
• 43:57
  Speaker 4: I just, uh, I can't wait to yell action again. And, uh,
• 44:02
  Speaker 4: you know, so I, I agree. Thanks for the sentiment. Oh, uh, yeah, I,
• 44:07
  Speaker 4: I know exactly how you, how you feel.
• 44:08
  Speaker 5: And, uh, you know, I'm always, always, always down to support, uh,
• 44:13
  Speaker 5: projects and, uh, you know, I, I've been there myself and,
• 44:17
  Speaker 5: you know, it's been a gap since I've done anything, uh,
• 44:20
  Speaker 5: where I've directed myself. And I know exactly what you
• 44:22
  Speaker 5: mean when you just said, I can't wait to yell
• 44:24
  Speaker 5: action again. And, um, again, I wish you the best
• 44:28
  Speaker 5: of luck, you know, uh, with the project and, um,
• 44:31
  Speaker 5: you know, you know, cause we've been talking for, uh,
• 44:33
  Speaker 5: you know, roughly about 30, 35 minutes now. Um, you know,
• 44:37
  Speaker 5: so in closing, Andrew, is there anything that you wanted
• 44:40
  Speaker 5: to say to sort of put a, you know, a
• 44:42
  Speaker 5: period at the end of this entire conversation?
• 44:45
  Speaker 4: I just want to salute you for doing what you do.
• 44:47
  Speaker 4: This was, you know, an unexpected outreach. And suddenly when
• 44:52
  Speaker 4: I went from Creative Screenwriting, which is a wonderful publication,
• 44:56
  Speaker 4: to Script Magazine, and they have such an incredible, you know,
• 45:05
  Speaker 4: social outreach function, that suddenly people are coming to me
• 45:09
  Speaker 4: and I've had a lot of opportunities to... to speak
• 45:14
  Speaker 4: up and yours, your, your, your podcast, it just, it
• 45:18
  Speaker 4: was a no brainer for me. And, um, this has
• 45:22
  Speaker 4: been just like, and part of my journey. And I,
• 45:25
  Speaker 4: and I'm flattered to be that, uh, you were my
• 45:29
  Speaker 4: next step and allowed me to have this venue. So
• 45:33
  Speaker 4: that's my final word is just gratitude. Thank you so much. Oh, again,
• 45:37
  Speaker 4: it's my pleasure, Andrew.
• 45:39
  Speaker 5: Uh, you are more than welcome. And thank you very
• 45:42
  Speaker 5: much for coming on the show. Again, I've read some
• 45:46
  Speaker 5: of your articles through ScriptMag, and they're phenomenal. And everyone,
• 45:51
  Speaker 5: I will link to that in the show notes, by
• 45:54
  Speaker 5: the way. And speaking of which, Andrew, where can people
• 45:57
  Speaker 5: find you at online?
• 45:58
  Speaker 4: I just have a website that's pretty much a crude
• 46:02
  Speaker 4: online portfolio. It's just my name. It's andrewjblumenthal.com. And Blumenthal
• 46:09
  Speaker 4: is B-L-O-O-M-E-N-T-H-A-L. So that'll, uh, have like everything categorized. You
• 46:17
  Speaker 4: can tool around for a minute, procrastinate and, uh, reach
• 46:23
  Speaker 4: out to me if you, if the spirit moves you
• 46:25
  Speaker 4: to do so. Excellent.
• 46:28
  Speaker 5: And, uh, everyone, I will link to Andrew's website in
• 46:30
  Speaker 5: the show notes. And, uh, I found out, Andrew, you
• 46:33
  Speaker 5: were on Twitter. I found you have one tweet, uh, But, uh,
• 46:37
  Speaker 5: so if you ever need to.
• 46:39
  Speaker 4: Terrified, terrified, terrified, terrified. I'm so allergic to, like, that
• 46:44
  Speaker 4: kind of widespread, like, expression. They made me do it. I, uh,
• 46:51
  Speaker 4: I don't... It's like, I'm trying to get comfortable with it,
• 46:54
  Speaker 4: and because I sort of went to a new venue,
• 46:57
  Speaker 4: and they had a big social outreach program, I felt
• 47:01
  Speaker 4: like it.
• 47:01
  Speaker 6: Was important that I, you know, did my part as well. But, uh,
• 47:06
  Speaker 6: I'm confident that now this podcast will be a subject
• 47:11
  Speaker 6: of my second tweet. So, I mean, my theory is
• 47:15
  Speaker 6: that like, if you, for me, like, I don't know,
• 47:20
  Speaker 6: maybe this is a neurotic kind of thing, but if
• 47:24
  Speaker 6: I only keep it to more milestone events, it'll be
• 47:29
  Speaker 6: taken more seriously, my tweets.
• 47:32
  Speaker 4: So, So how about that? How about I agree that
• 47:35
  Speaker 4: the announcement of this podcast, once it's ready, will be
• 47:38
  Speaker 4: tweet number two? Oh, well, thank you.
• 47:42
  Speaker 5: I will look forward to that because I followed you.
• 47:45
  Speaker 5: And if you ever need any Twitter tips, please let
• 47:48
  Speaker 5: me know because anyone who listens to this podcast knows
• 47:51
  Speaker 5: Twitter is like my bread and butter.
• 47:54
  Speaker 4: Oh, God. Hey, man, don't write a check your bank
• 47:58
  Speaker 4: can't cash because I might call you out on that
• 48:00
  Speaker 4: and literally... like email you with most mundane questions about
• 48:06
  Speaker 4: tweeting culture. I got to embrace it and get over
• 48:12
  Speaker 4: the fear. Please do. All right, man.
• 48:17
  Speaker 5: I was actually approached one time to teach a class
• 48:19
  Speaker 5: online about Twitter. And I said, why me? And they
• 48:25
  Speaker 5: gave me all these reasons. I said, no, thank you. Uh,
• 48:28
  Speaker 5: I also was approached to teach a screenwriting course through
• 48:30
  Speaker 5: the same website. And I also said, no, thank you. Um,
• 48:33
  Speaker 5: cause I just think there's a, there's, there's better people
• 48:35
  Speaker 5: out there. I mean, I, you know, but, uh, but Twitter,
• 48:38
  Speaker 5: I've pretty locked down. I mean, uh, so, uh, if
• 48:41
  Speaker 5: you ever need anything, screenwriting, uh, you know, I'm okay. Um,
• 48:45
  Speaker 5: but you know, and Andrew, I want to say thank you. But, uh,
• 48:49
  Speaker 5: but Andrew, I want to say thank you very much. And, uh,
• 48:51
  Speaker 5: I look forward to seeing all your future work.
• 48:53
  Speaker 4: Thanks, man. It's been a pleasure. Good luck with everything
• 48:56
  Speaker 4: you're doing, and keep up the great work.
• 48:59
  Speaker 5: Well, thank you very much.
• 49:00
  Speaker 4: Take care, Andrew. Okay, man. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.
• 49:03
  Speaker 3: I want to thank Dave so much for doing such
• 49:05
  Speaker 3: a great job on this episode. If you want to
• 49:06
  Speaker 3: get links to anything we spoke about in this episode,
• 49:08
  Speaker 3: head over to the show notes at IndieFilmHustle.com forward slash 871.
• 49:12
  Speaker 3: And if you haven't already, please head over to FilmmakingPodcast.com, subscribe,
• 49:18
  Speaker 3: and leave a good review.
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: For the show. It really helps us out a lot, guys.
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: Thank you again so much for listening, guys. As always,
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: keep that hustle going. Keep that dream alive. Stay safe
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: out there, and I'll talk to you soon.
• 49:31
  Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to the Indie Film Hustle Podcast at IndieFilmHustle.com.
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: That's I-N-D-I-E-F-I-L-M-H-U-S-T-L-E.com.