Creative Principles

Moses Storm was doing a show in the back of a comic book store when he was discovered by one of Conan O’Brien’s booking agents. Moses, along with Chris Redd (Episode 334), was asked to come improv a special show with Conan O’Brien.

Over the years, Moses and Conan have become close friends where they’ve performed together and were Moses has done sets on the series. Currently, Team Coco are producing Moses’ new special for HBO MAX, ‘Trash White.’

In this interview, Moses talks about his background riffing with the audience, advice from Conan O’Brien, complications being a writer with dyslexia, how comedy is therapeutic, and how to find your voice as a comedian.

If it’s your first time listening, make sure to subscribe and visit my new website for information on the YouTube channel, the blog, this podcast, and my new book ‘Ink by the Barrel’ which takes advice from these 200+ interviews at the link below…

Follow us on Instagram: @creativeprinciples

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!

Christopher Riley and Kathy Riley met Coleman Luck, screenwriter of The Equalizer, who challenged them to an interesting idea: find the defining moment of a character.

As a screenwriter, Riley has spent his life creating these moments in characters for the big screen. Now, he’s written a book on The Defining Moment to help other writers uncover these wounds and gifts that create character.

In this interview, Riley talks about defining moment practices, how to start to discover yourself on an emotional level, what it means to write a satisfying story, and how to write “givens” for actors.

If it’s your first time listening, make sure to subscribe and visit my new website for information on the YouTube channel, the blog, this podcast, and my new book ‘Ink by the Barrel’ which takes advice from these 200+ interviews at the link below…

Follow us on Instagram: @creativeprinciples

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!

Mike Sielski began his career following the woman’s basketball team as a sports writer at La Salle University. As a sophomore, he realized he could write a sports story in the same way he wrote his English papers, and he was hooked.

Currently, Mike works for the Philadelphia Inquirer and has published books such as ‘How to Be Like Jackie Robinson,’ ‘Fading Echoes,’ and most recently, ‘The Rise: Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality’

In his latest book, the story follows Kobe Bryant’s origin story which actually began in Philadelphia. With a focus on Kobe’s early life, Mike pitched the book as “Batman Begins for The Black Mamba.”

In this interview, Mike talks about structuring sports stories for the newspaper, his lucky encounter with a mentor early in his career, how he uncovered never-before-heard interviews with a 17-year-old Kobe Bryant, and three pieces of advice for novice writers.

If it’s your first time listening, make sure to subscribe and visit my new website for information on the YouTube channel, the blog, this podcast, and my new book ‘Ink by the Barrel’ which takes advice from these 200+ interviews at the link below…

Follow us on Instagram: @creativeprinciples

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!

“Films from the 70s really stayed with me,” said Tim Kirkby, Director of ‘Last Looks,’ ‘Action Point,’ ‘Fleabag,’ ‘Veep,’ and ‘Brockmire.’

His latest film, ‘Last Looks,’ stars Charlie Hunnam and Mel Gibson. The story follows a disgraced ex-cop who has a quiet life until he’s forced to return to his former life as a private eye to investigate a murder.

In this interview, Kirkby talks about his fascination with storytelling, the difficulty of transitioning from television to films as a Director (particularly in England), commercials and music videos, what feeds you as a Director and the importance of good instincts.

If it’s your first time listening, make sure to subscribe and visit my new website for information on the YouTube channel, the blog, this podcast, and my new book ‘Ink by the Barrel’ which takes advice from these 200+ interviews at the link below…

Follow us on Instagram: @creativeprinciples

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!

Mike Sielski began his career following the woman’s basketball team as a sports writer at La Salle University. As a sophomore, he realized he could write a sports story in the same way he wrote his English papers, and he was hooked.

Currently, Mike works for the Philadelphia Inquirer and has published books such as ‘How to Be Like Jackie Robinson,’ ‘Fading Echoes,’ and most recently, ‘The Rise: Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality’

In his latest book, the story follows Kobe Bryant’s origin story which actually began in Philadelphia. With a focus on Kobe’s early life, Mike pitched the book as “Batman Begins for The Black Mamba.”

In this interview, Mike talks about structuring sports stories for the newspaper, his lucky encounter with a mentor early in his career, how he uncovered never-before-heard interviews with a 17-year-old Kobe Bryant, and three pieces of advice for novice writers.

If it’s your first time listening, make sure to subscribe and visit my new website for information on the YouTube channel, the blog, this podcast, and my new book ‘Ink by the Barrel’ which takes advice from these 200+ interviews at the link below…

Follow us on Instagram: @creativeprinciples

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!

“Films from the 70s really stayed with me,” said Tim Kirkby, Director of ‘Last Looks,’ ‘Action Point,’ ‘Fleabag,’ ‘Veep,’ and ‘Brockmire.’

His latest film, ‘Last Looks,’ stars Charlie Hunnam and Mel Gibson. The story follows a disgraced ex-cop who has a quiet life until he’s forced to return to his former life as a private eye to investigate a murder.

In this interview, Kirkby talks about his fascination with storytelling, the difficulty of transitioning from television to films as a Director (particularly in England), commercials and music videos, what feeds you as a Director and the importance of good instincts.

If it’s your first time listening, make sure to subscribe and visit my new website for information on the YouTube channel, the blog, this podcast, and my new book ‘Ink by the Barrel’ which takes advice from these 200+ interviews at the link below…

Follow us on Instagram: @creativeprinciples

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 met with a guy and he gave me a show that was terrible,” began Chris Redd. “I went back to my talented friends who don’t do terrible comedy and said, ‘We should make a version of this.’ We kept jamming on that shit and there were four different versions, but it eventually became Bust Down.”

Redd is known for his work on Saturday Night Live, Popstar, and Joker. His talented friends include Sam Jay (SNL, Pause with Sam Jay), Langston Kerman (South Side, Insecure), and Jak Knight (Big Mouth, Black-ish).

The show they created is called Bust Down, a Peacock original that follows four casino employees in a dead-end job in middle America who want to find self-worth within their bad ideas.

“This show, in a beautiful way, has also tracked our evolution as artists,” said Langston. “What would have been the show, years ago, would have been real bad. And now it’s pretty good.”

Combining comedy styles from shows like South Side, SNL, Big Mouth, and everything in between the writers found their own unique tone with Bust Down.

In this interview, the writer-performers talk about finding voice, misconceptions of comedy, the importance of story, their initial pitch for the show, and advice for writers trying to break in today.

If it’s your first time listening, make sure to subscribe and visit my new website for information on the YouTube channel, the blog, this podcast, and my new book ‘Ink by the Barrel’ which takes advice from these 200+ interviews at the link below…

Follow us on Instagram: @creativeprinciples

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!

Alice Wetterlund started her career with improv and stand-up. As a comedian, she’s performed on shows like Conan. As an actress, she’s best known for her roles on Space Force, New Girl, Silicon Valley, and most recently as D’Arcy Bloom on Resident Alien.

Resident Alien stars Alan Tudyk, Sara Tomko, and Corey Reynolds. The plot reads: A crash-landed alien takes on the identity of a small-town Colorado doctor and slowly begins to wrestle with the moral dilemma of his secret mission on Earth.

In this interview, she talks about finding her voice on stage, improv versus stand-up, her start in commercial acting, how luck factors into any career, acting within character, her private radio show for the cast, and how established archetypes can do anything.

If it’s your first time listening, make sure to subscribe and visit my new website for information on the YouTube channel, the blog, this podcast, and my new book ‘Ink by the Barrel’ which takes advice from these 200+ interviews at the link below…

Follow us on Instagram: @creativeprinciples

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 have been writing screenplays since I was 13 years old. I have been writing for a long, long time, back before there even were screenwriting books,” said Neal Marshall Stevens, who has 45 writing credits on IMDB (and many more unlisted).

“I think I bought an old Star Trek episode, which was totally inappropriate as a screenwriting guide,” he joked. “You could order screenplays back then, but they were written after the fact so they were not at all useful.”

Stevens is a graduate of NYU and began his career as a consultant and story editor for Laurel Entertainment. One of his first jobs included the pilot to the syndicated series Monsters.

The veteran writer is also known for working on The Vernon Johns Story, Precious Victims, Stephen King’s The Stand, the Puppetmaster series, Hellraiser: Deader, and Dark Castle’s remake of Thirteen Ghosts.

If it’s your first time listening, make sure to subscribe and visit my new website for information on the YouTube channel, the blog, this podcast, and my new book ‘Ink by the Barrel’ which takes advice from these 200+ interviews at the link below…

Follow us on Instagram: @creativeprinciples

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!

Weiko Lin’s writing comes from a place of pain, but also a place of fear. He was already a professional screenwriter when his mother passed away, but since this monumental moment, his work became more authentic as it changed his views on writing character.

In this interview, Lin talks about his new book ‘Crazy Screenwriting Secrets: How to Capture a Global Audience,’ how to write about duality, what it means to see characters through the lens of fear, and why writing is a way of life.

If it’s your first time listening, make sure to subscribe and visit my new website for information on the YouTube channel, the blog, this podcast, and my new book ‘Ink by the Barrel’ which takes advice from these 200+ interviews at the link below…

Follow us on Instagram: @creativeprinciples

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!