Creative Principles

Lisa Dapolito started her career as an actress before she moved into commercial production. After meeting up with leaders of Gilda’s Club, the filmmaker decided to make a documentary about the iconic comedian and her cancer foundation.

In the film, comedienne Gilda Radner looks back and reflects on her life and career. Weaving together recently discovered audiotapes, interviews with her friends, rare home movies and diaries read by modern day comediennes, the movie offers a unique window into the honest and whimsical world of a beloved performer whose greatest role was sharing her story.

During our conversation, the director discusses Gilda’s ongoing presence at her foundation, how she acquired interviews with SNL alums like Amy Poehler, Lorne Michaels, Bill Hader, Chevy Chase, Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short, and countless more during this four-year project.

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Todd Berger wouldn’t describe himself as a comedy writer. Known for 'It’s a Disaster,' 'The Scenesters,' and a handful of Smurfs and Kung Fu Panda shorts, Berger’s latest film, 'The Happytime Murders,' has just cemented the screenwriter into a world of “writers who write comedy.”

Fifteen years in the making, the film somewhat follows Berger’s idea to remake Heat with puppets. According to the official description, “When the puppet cast of an '80s children's TV show begin to get murdered one by one, a disgraced LAPD detective-turned-private eye puppet takes on the case.”

Melissa McCarthy, Elizabeth Banks, and Maya Rudolph star in the film, which is led by Director Brian Henson. The son of Jim and Jane, Brian Henson has additional directing credits such as 'The Muppet Christmas Carol,' 'Muppet Treasure Island,' and 'Muppets Tonight.'

But, 'The Happytime Murders' is no Muppets movie. In fact, the marketing campaign focuses on the “Hard R” rating, just to make sure no parents accidentally take their children into the film.

In addition to this audio format, the print interview for this conversation is available on Creative Screenwriting Magazine’s website.

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From an early age, actor Chris Messina looked up to icons like Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, and Robert DeNiro. His fascination with flawed characters led to intriguing roles in films like ‘Away We Go,’ ‘Argo,’ ‘Ruby Sparks,’ ‘Live By Night’ ‘The Newsroom,’ ‘Damages,’ ‘Six Feet Under,’ and countless other titles.

In Messina’s latest project, HBO’s ‘Sharp Objects,’ he plays Detective Richard Willis, opposite Amy Adams (Arrival). The mini-series comes from ‘Gone Girl’ writer Gillian Flynn, Creator Marti Noxon, and ‘Big Little Lies’ Director Jean-Marc Vallée. The story follows a reporter down a path of psychological demons as she returns to her hometown to cover a violent murder.

In this interview, Chris Messina discusses lessons from Directors Sam Mendes and Ben Affleck, how to elevate as an actor, living a life of ridicule, creating your own work, taking your career in your own reins, and pursuing work that “scares the shit out of you…”

During this conversation, we also discuss past guests Marti Noxon (Episode 88) and Bryan Sipe (Episode 6). Stay up-to-date on other creative advice at www.creativeprinciples.live

For over 25 years, Jonathan Watson has been a fundamental assistant director and shepherd within Hollywood. After working on films like ‘Bad Boys,’ ‘The Amazing Spider-Man,’ ‘The Disaster Artist,’ ‘La La Land,’ and 'This Is the End,’ Watson finally received his big break thanks to Danny McBride.

The film, ‘Arizona,’ takes place during the 2009 housing crisis. The story follows Cassie Fowler (Rosemarie DeWitt), a single mom and struggling realtor whose life goes off the rails when she witnesses a murder.

In this interview, Watson describes his long haul to the director’s chair, his unique relationship with actor-comedian Danny McBride, changing his mindset from time management to storytelling, and the joy of making movies and television.

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Screenwriter Boaz Yakin has helped create films such as 'The Rookie,' 'Prince of Persia,' and 'Safe,' along with franchise films like 'Now You See Me' and 'Max.' These movies allowed for him to pursue passion projects as a screenwriter. In his latest film, 'Boarding School,' he’s developed a horror-inspired hero’s journey for adolescents.

“Those are writing jobs where you’re like one of twenty writers on any one of those movies. Maybe you contributed enough to have a screen credit, but none of those things that I have tried to make or been more personally [involved with] like 'Fresh,' 'A Price Above Rubies,' or 'Death in Love,'” said the screenwriter. “These are movies I wrote and directed that came from me.”

The writer-director would prefer to only make independent films, but the balance between projects allow for him to get the smaller films on the big screen. “In order to pay the bills—in order to pay for these movies—I’ve had to make more commercial movies and write things like that and put money back into these things..."

In addition to this audio format, the print interview for this conversation is available on Creative Screenwriting Magazine’s website.

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Nicole Stojkovich is a production executive at LD Entertainment with credits like the Oscar-nominated biopic ‘Jackie,’ starring Natalie Portman.

She began her career in Vancouver, working in physical production on feature films such as ‘Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer,’ ‘This Means War’ and ‘The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.’

As an Executive Producer, she has helped bring films like ‘Megan Leavey,’ ‘Forever My Girl,’ ‘The Miracle Season,’ and now ‘Dog Days’ to the big screen. In the most recent film, Ken Marino directs the story about interconnected people in Los Angeles connected by their canine counterparts.

In this interview, Stojkovich describes ‘Love Actually’ for dogs, her jump from miscellaneous crew to EP, how to organize an ensemble cast, and what LD Entertainment looks for in a human interest story, and knowing when to take the leap in filmmaking.

Listen to actor Alex Roe talk about the LD Entertainment Film ‘Forever My Girl’ in Episode 108 of the podcast. Stay up-to-date on other creative advice at www.creativeprinciples.live

‘The Crown,’ led by director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter Peter Morgan recently got a 10-year approval to build and expand period London streets with the aid of cinematographer Adriano Goldman (Jane Eyre, Sin Nombre, Xingu, Trash).

The Brazilian cinematographer helped create the film-like atmosphere on the television series. With Daldry the two have developed a creative partnership to inspire cast and crew. Goldman’s tone-setting work on “Smoke and Mirrors” episode swept the Emmys and Golden Globes, making him an ASC Award Winner.

In this interview, Goldman discusses how his career ambitions shifted from director to cinematographer, how he got involved with ‘The Crown’ on Netflix, how they created a realistic look and tone, dealing with time on set, and what fans can expect from new characters and a new look this season.

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Screenwriter Matt Leslie was involved in website design when he discovered the book, 'Story,' by Robert McKee. Soon, he went with a friend to see McKee at a seminar. Leslie’s writing partner, Stephen Smith, was originally interested in animation when he discovered screenwriting.

In 2011, the duo teamed up to start writing professionally, which consists of around eight spec scripts, a pilot, and “a million treatments.” In their new film, 'Summer of 84,' a group of teenage friends suspect their police officer neighbor is actually a serial killer. As the group starts to uncover the truth, their findings get more and more dangerous.

The film stars 'Mad Men’s Rich Sommer, along with newcomers Graham Verchere, Judah Lewis, and Caleb Emergy. In addition to the team of screenwriters, there was also a team of directors attached to this project. RKSS (Turbokid), made up of François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell, where they describe their hive mentality as directors as family.

In both collaborations, the screenwriter duo and the director trio understand that “everything you do should be for the good of the film.” This helped Matt Leslie and Stephen Smith pen the story and RKSS get in the right mindset to shape up this film.

In addition to this audio format, the print interview for this conversation is available on Creative Screenwriting Magazine’s website.

Stay up-to-date on other creative advice and watch our weekly YouTube series at www.creativeprinciples.live

In the Netflix hit, ‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before,’ a teenage girl’s secret love letters are exposed, which wreaks havoc on her life. Based on the YA Novel by Jenny Han, the film stars Lana Condor, Noah Centineo, and Israel Broussard.

Director Susan Johnson describes her process for the new film, in addition to insight from her directorial debut, ‘Carrie Pilby,’ from 2016.

In this interview, Johnson describes putting on blinders to become a director despite often hearing the word “No,” finding a way to tell the stories that speak to you, and what it means to be an old school director within the Zeitgeist of Netflix.

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In the film, 'Damascus Cover,' a spy navigates the precarious terrain of love and survival during an undercover mission in Syria. The film stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Olivia Thirlby, and John Hurt.

Writer-Director Daniel Zelik Berk discusses how to avoid a red herring, breaking rules for low-budget filmmaking, making a book adaptation personal, the key to great value and looks from shooting overseas, and how to solve things where you can’t throw money at the problem.

Finally, Berk discusses a touching final moment with actor John Hurt (The Elephant Man, 1984) before he passed away after this film was finished.

Stay up-to-date on other creative advice at www.creativeprinciples.live