Act Two Podcast

Hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman sit down with Michael Kennedy, writer of Freaky, It's a Wonderful Knife, Time Cut and Heart Eyes, to talk about one of the hardest balancing acts in screenwriting: horror and comedy. Michael tells the story of how a table read in the Family Guy conference room, a cold email Jason Blum answered within the hour, and a lunch with Chris Landon turned into Freaky, then gets into the craft: how to write a jump scare that upends what the audience expects, when to trust silence on the page, why you should treat horror and comedy with equal respect, and why every character starts with who they were before page one. Plus, the first-ever Act Two rapid fire.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro and Michael's credits

02:44 From Cleveland to Scream

09:32 Moving to LA: Family Guy and Bordertown

12:19 How Freaky got made

24:36 Writing scares and jump scares

33:27 Slow burns and pacing

36:22 Balancing horror and comedy

40:07 Character first: final girls and identity

44:12 Rapid fire

47:28 Quote of the week

Your challenge: Take a STAB at your own jump scare and send us the scene. We'll post our favorites.

Movie Club: Join us on Patreon on Monday, Nov 30, 5:30–6:30pm PT, for Planes, Trains and Automobiles: how to construct a road trip movie and use holidays as IP. https://www.patreon.com/acttwowriters

Next week: Composer Emily Rice (Miss Juneteenth) on what a composer hears in your script.

More horror: Why Friday the 13th Became a Franchise (with Dave Levinson): https://acttwo.podbean.com/e/why-friday-the-13th-became-a-franchise-with-dave-levinson/

Questions/Comments: [email protected]

Follow: Instagram @act_two_writers · Tasha @storythursday · Josh @joshhallman

Hosted by Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman · Produced by Jessica Malanaphy · Edited by the GREAT Paul Lundquist · Social: Cecilia Tripp

It’s our annual Halloween episode, and friend of the podcast Dave Levinson (Welcome Home) is back to talk about the 1980 original Friday the 13th.

Hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman take a listener's questions about adapting an audio drama: Where to Start, How to Adapt a Series to a Feature, How to Approach Action Scenes, and How to Build a World Without Getting Overwhelmed. 

Questions/Comments: [email protected] 

Edited by the GREAT Paul Lundquist

Hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman kick off their new World-Building Series by discussing how to build your world within scenes. Whether writing high fantasy or just building tension, how you introduce or describe a scene and how your characters approach that scene can have a trickle down effect from engaging studio readers to steering production. Let's talk about that!

Questions/Comments: [email protected] 

Edited by the GREAT Paul Lundquist

Hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman discuss the Act Two of Steven Spielberg & David Koepp's Jurassic Park. What can a perfect Act Two teach us about tension, transitions, creating setups and building to better payoffs, and how to craft turning points that propel your movie forward in seamless and engaging ways. 

Questions/Comments: [email protected] 

Edited by the GREAT Paul Lundquist

Hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman discuss their favorite tips on how to build more unique action sequences that feel essential, tell story and character, and make your screenplay standout. Whether you write in the action genre or not, these storytelling do's apply to all Screenwriters who sometimes find themselves stuck in a cliche.

Questions/Comments: [email protected] 

Edited by the GREAT Paul Lundquist

Hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman discuss two real-life notes given to a TV writer: "After reading your pilot, I don't know what your series is about" and "You should start your story later". What do those notes actually mean and how do you address them?

Questions/Comments: [email protected] 

Edited by the GREAT Paul Lundquist

Hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman break down and go in-depth on screenwriter Tom Vaughan's viral post about the 10 random things he learned about having a Screenwriting career after 29 years of writing movies.

Questions/Comments: [email protected] 

Edited by the GREAT Paul Lundquist

Hosts Tasha Huo & Josh Hallman talk about their hot takes on this Summer's blockbusters and how this massive Summer for theatrical releases is actually a lesson in writing originals.

Questions/Comments: [email protected] 

Edited by the GREAT Paul Lundquist