Creative Principles

Former Entertainment Weekly editor Mark Harris was an editor and journalist for publications like The New York Times, Fortune, The Guardian, and Slate, until he dared himself to submit a book proposal on his 40th birthday.

These days, he’s best known for his entertainment-based books, such as Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood, Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War, and his latest book, Mike Nichols: A Life.

In this interview, Harris talks about his career as an editor, how he chooses subjects worthy of a book such as Director Mike Nichols (The Graduate, Charlie Wilson’s War), how he uses the Bird by Bird approach, and how he and his husband Tony Kushner (Munich, Lincoln) encourage each other as writers of different mediums.

Currently, Harris is working with Turner Classic Film Festival to introduce Nichol’s first movie, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) and a documentary called Nichols and May, a story about Nichols’ life before he became a Director, as an improv comedy group.

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…

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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!

Emma Needell grew up on a solar-powered cattle ranch in Colorado. While they didn’t have television, they did have movies. “They had everything from Tora! Tora! Tora! to Do the Right Thing,” said Needell about her parents’ movie collection. 

“Rural Colorado is cowboy country and I’m a nerdy Jewish girl who is allergic to horses,” she joked. “I didn’t have a lot of friends growing up, but movies were proof that there was an outside world full of different people and different ideas.”

Needell eventually used this imaginative nature to create her own worlds. Most recently, she’s created The Water Man, about a boy who goes on a quest to save his ill mother by searching for a mythic figure said to have healing powers.

In this interview, the screenwriter talks about The Water Man and Songs of the Damned, why she loves collaboration, how to write grounded fantasy, how to avoid “shinecrafters,” and why sometimes the obstacles provide the best answers.

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…

Join the email list here: www.brockswinson.com

Follow us on Instagram for updates: @brockswinson

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!

Thanks to an early interest in film from his father, Nick Stagliano, went down a road of being a fan, then a creator of cinema. Focused on character-driven drama, Stagliano is known for The Florentine, Good Day for It, and most recently, The Virtuoso.

The latest film stars Anthony Hopkins, Anson Mount, and Abbie Cornish. In this story, “Danger, deception and murder descend upon a sleepy town when a professional assassin accepts a new assignment from his enigmatic boss.”

In this interview, the Director talks about why good actors are more important than big budgets, what makes him stop turning the page while reading a script, why juxtaposing characters are vital, and how to beef up side characters for a better film.

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…

Join the email list here: www.brockswinson.com

Follow us on Instagram for updates: @brockswinson

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!

George Gallo sold his first screenplay at age 19, despite not knowing anyone in the business. “The movie never got made,” he said about the lucky break, “but I had a possible vocation as a screenwriter. So then I just started writing a lot of scripts.”

Eventually, one of Gallo’s scripts did get made. The comedy-crime movie Wise Guys, starring Danny DeVito and Joe Piscopo revolved around two errand boys from the mob. This was the beginning of a string of action-comedies from the screenwriter/director.

Following the “tough movies with humor” category, Gallo eventually sold scripts for movies like Midnight Run, Bad Boys, The Whole Ten Yards, Middle Men, and most recently, Vanquish and The Comeback Trail.

In this interview, Gallo talks about how technology now influences heist plots, how to write action sequences, his lifelong relationships with Morgan Freeman and Robert DeNiro, and why it’s more challenging to get an original script made 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…

Join the email list here: www.brockswinson.com

Follow us on Instagram for updates: @brockswinson

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!

Craig Zobel got started by making shorts and videos for people like Iggy Pop. Now, he’s best known for films like Compliance, Z for Zachariah, and The Hunt. Currently, he’s the Director for HBO’s new series, Mare of Easttown.

Mare of Easttown stars Kate Winslet and Guy Pearce. In the naturalistic series, “A detective in a small Pennsylvania town investigates a local murder while trying to keep her life from falling apart.”

In this interview, Zobel talks about how television is similar to Indie films, how he shot The Hunt as a satirical horror film, how everyone wants you to succeed, and his philosophies on prepping a shot versus being spontaneous on set to find “the shape of the scene.”

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…

Join the email list here: www.brockswinson.com

Follow us on Instagram for updates: @brockswinson

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!

While his Central Saint Martins classmates were learning InDesign, Price James wanted to learn to shoot on 16mm Bolex and explore more tangible film effects.

Soon, he was working on dark comedy shorts like 'Action Man: Battlefield Casualties,' which stars Matt Berry, and music videos for bands like Incubus.

In his latest movie, ‘You Cannot Kill David Arquette,’ the Writer-Director partnered with David Darg (Body Team 12, Fear Us Women) for an unusual idea about the rocky return of actor David Arquette to the sport of wrestling, which nearly ruined his Hollywood career.

In this interview, Price talks about his roundabout path to DIY filmmaking, stop motion versus animation, how to create a heightened reality for a documentary, and how explore brutal ideas in filmmaking satire.

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…

Join the email list here: www.brockswinson.com

Follow us on Instagram for updates: @brockswinson

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!

Michael Jacobs and Joshua Z. Weinstein met on the festival circuit in 2008 where both were presenting original documentaries. Most recently, they teamed up for Marvel’s documentary, Behind the Mask.

The premise? Meet the writers and artists behind characters like Black Panther, Miles Morales, Ms. Marvel, Luke Cage, the X-Men, Captain Marvel, and many other characters in the Marvel Universe, highlighting their impact on pop culture and media.

In this interview, the duo talks about moving from film to digital, working with Barry Jenkins, shooting Blackballed for Quibi, how budgets change a documentary, and how to be ethical as a documentary filmmaker.

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…

Join the email list here: www.brockswinson.com

Follow us on Instagram for updates: @brockswinson

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!

Originally, Aaron Schneider wanted to work for ILM, or Industrial Light & Magic, the visual effects company founded by George Lucas in 1975. While taking a special effects class, his peers told him everything was going to computers, so he shifted his focus to cinematography.

Soon, he was working on music videos for Cypress Hill, then movies like Kiss the Girls and Simon Birch. In an effort to shift his career, his put his life savings into a short called Two Soldiers in 2003. The short won an Oscar in 2004 and made him a director.

These days, Schneider is known for Get Low (Bill Murray, Robert Duvall) and Greyhound (Tom Hanks). Get Low is somewhat of a folk tale about a Tennessee hermit and Greyhound is the true story of a U.S. Navy Commander in World War II.

In this interview, Schneider talks about discovering Two Soldiers as a short story, the romance of historical fiction, how to get slow burn movies made, and how they shot the amazing submarine battle for the new film Greyhound.

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…

Join the email list here: www.brockswinson.com

Follow us on Instagram for updates: @brockswinson

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!

Early in his studies, Drew Dernavich was bewildered by the many paths to become an artist, and the many interpretations of what makes art good or bad. This led him to a more simple path: creating humorous art such as a one-panel cartoon.

Recently, Drew’s work was featured in Seth Godin’s book, The Practice, which showcased his ability to be prolific, eventually becoming one of the most published cartoonists in The New Yorker in recent years, even though the majority of his submissions are often get rejected.

In this interview, Drew talks about the difference between a Jackson Pollock painting and a cartoon, how to balance creative work with paid work early in a career, how The New Yorker taught him to be funny, and how to make your daily work a practice to build a fulfilling career.

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…

Join the email list here: www.brockswinson.com

Follow us on Instagram for updates: @brockswinson

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!

A few years ago, when there were 12 Blockbusters still open, Director Taylor Morden (Here’s to Life: The Story of The Refreshments, Pick It Up! - Ska in the ‘90s) approached his friend Zeke Kamm (Dexter’s Laboratory, The Weird Al Show) about making a documentary on the dying Blockbuster franchise. Coincidentally, the true last Blockbuster was in Morden and Kamm’s town of Bend, Oregon.

In this interview, the duo talk about their four year journey to make the film, how their documentary outline accidentally predicted the future, the magnetism of Sandi Harding, how to cold call celebrities, and we get into the weeds a little on copyright law and the realities of making a documentary feature.

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…

Join the email list here: www.brockswinson.com

Follow us on Instagram for updates: @brockswinson

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!