Creative Principles

Michael Maren started his career as a journalist in Africa. Inspired by movies like The African Queen, Jason and the Argonauts, and Beau Geste, Maren followed an unclear dream, eventually learning to write, getting a book optioned by HBO, and then coming back to the US with a passion for filmmaking.

Based on the book, Shriver, A Little White Lie stars Michael Shannon, Kate Hudson and Don Johnson. The description reads, “When a handyman living in New York City is mistaken for a famous and famously reclusive writer, he's brought to a university where he is to deliver a keynote address to save the school's literary festival.”

In the interview, Maren talks about the connection between journalism and screenwriting, advice from Milos Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), how to find a narrative through line, working with Michael Shannon, and how he bought the rights to Shriver for only $100 dollars.

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

Scott Andrew James is an instant poet. About ten years ago, Scott felt disconnected from the world, which led him to poetry, thanks to the advice of his wife. Now, he’s written over 10,000 instant poems in the last decade.

In fact, in this episode, Scott actually creates an instant poem on the spot. The subject? We discuss an idea from Seth Godin about the Icarus Myth. Daedalus says to Icarus, "Don't fly too high, but more important, don't fly too low. If you fly too low, the waves will weigh you down and you will perish."

In this interview, Scott talks about advice from Chris Guillebeau (The $100 StartUp), how he wrote 1,000 poems in a year, why he prefers to use an old typewriter he inherited from his grandfather, the difference between the tortured artist and the playful trickster, and how to push yourself to that which is unexpected.

Note: since Scott is creating on the spot, this interview is more conversational in nature and less edited. Learn more about Scott here: https://www.scottandrewjames.com/

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

When James Traylor and Max Collins found out that they were both writing a book about author Mickey Spillane, they decided to collaborate rather than compete. For the first time ever, Traylor and Collins have completed the first biography on Spillane.

The description reads, “Beginning in 1947 with I, the Jury, and continuing with his next six novels, Spillane quickly amassed a readership in the tens of millions, becoming the bestselling novelist in the history of American publishing. Surrounded by controversy for the overt violence and suggestive sexual content of his iconic Mike Hammer private eye novels, Spillane was loathed by critics but beloved by his readers.”

In this interview, the writers talk about the ups and downs of Mickey’s life, how the Mike Hammer character led to Jack Reacher and countless other other characters like James Bond, some mysterious parts of Mickey’s life, the paperback revolution, and this forty year overnight success of writing this book.

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

“I was a rugby player and a ballet dancer,” said Lesley Paterson, triathlete and co-screenwriter of the Oscar nominated All Quiet on the Western Front. Dabbling in acting and producing, it wasn’t until she met her eventual writing partner Ian Stokell that she felt like screenwriting could be a path to a career in filmmaking.

“To be able to act, you have to be able to write and produce your own films,” Stokell tells her. “Well that makes sense,” she says. “So that’s when I got into the writing side of things.” Having read the novel in high school, she was intrigued by the idea of adapting the iconic novel.

It’s remarkable to think of Paterson writing an Oscar-nominated screenplay and training as a triathlete, but it’s because she views both as one and the same. “I get up early. I’m an early person. Not everyone is, but we do know that there is a neuroscience of the brain from training.”

Paterson, along with her husband Simon Marshall, PhD, have written extensively about these topics in their book, The Brave Athlete. “You have more motivation in the morning,” she says. “There’s a part of your brain that processes emotional and physical pain and that tires out later in the day.”

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

“Honestly, I pursued acting and standup at the same time, but I never really got as many opportunities in acting. In standup, you have a little more control over your own destiny,” said Jim Gaffigan, one of the most well-known comedians alive today.

“But also, the most fulfilling characters to portray, end up being dramatic roles. So, over the years, finding creative fulfillment in stand-up, writing, or acting, I selfishly choose the things that are the most rewarding,” said Gaffigan. “The roles I turn down, I know from experience, aren’t going to be as rewarding.”

Past the point of “dying to be in a movie,” Gaffigan has found his own niche as “a partner in the creative process.” This was perhaps most clear while working on The Jim Gaffigan Show in 2015 and 2016. That experience inspired him to know look for the type of person he needed to make each episode a success.

“It’s been an evolution. Obviously I love getting laughs, but playing Cameron and Kent in Linoleum, there’s a different level of fulfillment and complexity that is more rewarding than being in a screwball comedy.”

Linoleum, written and directed by Colin West and co-starring Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul), the story follows the host of a failing children’s science show who tries to fulfill his childhood dream of becoming an astronaut by building a rocket ship in his garage.

“This movie presents these questions, like what is success, what is the true meaning of life, what are we trying to accomplish? There’s part of me that thinks this movie is just a big love story. When we talk about other people, we can see selflessness and longevity as beautiful, but when we look at it ourselves, we don’t necessarily see that.”

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka met in the Graduate program at Columbia Film School. Gatewood says, “We weren’t friends. We didn’t really hang out, but we had our first screenwriting class together and we liked each others’ writing.”

“We started to talk and found we had an uncanny similarities in terms of taste, what movies we liked, writers we liked, and in our second year, we started to write together.” Working on scripts and sharing beers, just for fun, the writers eventually found a path to make a career out of their partnership.

“Slowly, we stopped drinking as much as started writing more,” jokes Tanaka. “That’s how our partnership evolved.” Today, they’re known for The Sitter, Comrade Detective, Dice, Superstore, and the new Apple film, Sharper.

Described as “a con film in reverse,” the new movie stars Julianne Moore, John Lithgow, Sebastian Stan, Justice Smith, and Briana Middleton. The mysterious description reads, “Motivations are suspect, and expectations are turned chaos, as a con artist takes on Manhattan billionaires.”

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

“Growing up, I thought I would be either a professor of cultural anthropology or a non-fiction, long-form writer, but then I fell in love with cinema.” Combining these childhood dreams into one career, Sara found herself behind the camera on films like The Last Season, The Seer and the Unseen, and most recently, Fire of Love.

In college, Sara was active in economic justice groups and saw a documentary about “the ravages of free trade in Jamaica” that combined “grandiose academic ideas” and delivered it in “human terms.” She said, “These emotional colors, so to speak, were the marriage of politics as well as art, that really moved me.”

This is also known as the Mother Teresa effect, which many charities think about today when creating messages for people to act upon. The idea comes from Mother Teresa herself, who said, “If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.” Research behind this shows us that people give me to a single person charity (emotional) than to a larger cause, where they are give stats (analytical).

Sara thinks about these types of things when sharping projects like Fire of Love. The description for her latest project reads, “Intrepid scientists and lovers Katia and Maurice Krafft died in a volcanic explosion doing the very thing that brought them together: unraveling the mysteries of volcanoes by capturing the most explosive imagery ever recorded.”

As a storyteller, she sees all of this as one job. “It’s kin to religion for me. Connected to the world. A feeling of humanity. The questions that ignite my mind. Different types of jobs in service of the same thing: creating meaningful stories of impact.” And for Sara, this means a deep passion for the work, but also a strong team of animators, writers, and editors around her.

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

“I grew up watching horror films,” Christopher Landon said. “I started at a pretty early age, inappropriately so, probably when I was about six. And, I was just obsessed. It was never a doubt or question it was what I was going to do.” 

Landon followed the traditional route, making shorts in high school, working internships as a young adult, and pursuing the path to screenwriting. “The great benefit to the internship, which I would credit for the writing side of my career, is that I exposed to so much material, both good and bad.”

This education eventually led Landon to write horror movies such as Disturbia, Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, Viral, Happy Death Day 2U, Freaky, and five films in the Paranormal Activity Franchise. 

“Script analysis inspired me to write. Any free time I had, I would sit and write and write and write. When I finally decided to step out into the world, I had spec scripts to show people. It was how I got my first job. I made a short, did a festival circuit, and a producer saw it and asked me if had anything.”

Landon gives this advice to anyone trying to break in today: “if you can write, write. That is you controlling your own IP. That is you having a ticket to getting in front of people and that’s critical.”

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

Drew Birnie was in the middle of a PDH program in neuroscience when he started working with Mark Manson. “That came out of left field,” he told me. Manson initially hired Birnie as a researcher to help the author “synthesize” complicated ideas.

These days, Mark Manson is one of the most famous authors alive thanks to 'The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck.' Birnie has been with him since the early days and currently overseas website content, SEO, and email.

In this interview, we talk about being curious by nature, blurred responsibility lines with small teams, why he enjoys being a generalist, how they set up Manson’s premium account for the website and the problem with today’s market encouraging creatives to “niche down.”

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

As a child actor, Jason Woliner knew he wanted to be a Director. He started with a mini DV camera and set out to make a feature for Sundance. He dropped out of college, convinced a few friends to join him, and ended up making a “long student film.” The 97-minute “terrible, horrorible” project taught him a great deal about filmmaking.

Over the years, Jason has worked with Patton Oswalt, Aziz Ansari, and Jon Benjamin. He’s Directed Parks and Recreation, New Girl, Nathan for You, and Last Man on Earth. Most recently, Jason has created the unusual mini series, Paul T. Goldman.

The description reads, “One man's efforts to uncover the truth thrust him into a labyrinth of fraud, deception, and criminality that transform him ‘from wimp to warrior.’” Like Borat, it’s a mixture of real and unreal, focused on one unusual character.

In this interview, Jason talks about his love for specific comedies, why he generally avoids “for hire” work, how he found a unique niche in the comedy industry, working for “real laughs” during a pitch, and how to execute on unique ideas to find the “best, funniest version.”

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If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!