DreamPath Podcast

Bryan and Jason discuss takeaways from Bryan's chat with writer, producer, and food critic Bill Oakley. They also talk about the overwhelmingly positive response to the Mark Lanegan tribute episode. Finally, Bryan and Jason talk about taking a break from podcasting so they can focus on family and other creative endeavors.  

Bill Oakley is a Portland-based writer and producer known for his work on The Simpsons (where, with partner Josh Weinstein, he was executive producer and showrunner for the 7th and 8th seasons), Futurama, Regular Show, and Mission Hill. He most recently served as a writer and producer on Portlandia, Disenchantment, Chicago Party Aunt, and Close Enough on HBO Max. Bill is also popular on Instagram and Twitter (@thatbilloakley), where he reviews fast food from the comfort of his car, and has been dubbed “The Gordon Ramsay of Fast Food" by The Wrap Entertainment News. He appears regularly on the History Channel’s “The Food That Built America” and will appear on Netflix’s travel cuisine documentary Somebody Feed Phil this season as well.

What you will learn:

• How Bill broke into the world of writing for animated television. 
• The advantages and disadvantages of writing partners.
• What it was like writing for and being a showrunner on The Simpsons in the 1990s.
• Strategies Bill implements as a writer to avoid distractions and enhance productivity. 
• Why writer’s rooms are overrated.
• How writers on animated shows were paid differently in the 80s and 90s vs. today. 
• How residuals work for television writers
• How Bill found creative freedom as a food critic. 
• How Bill hopes to parlay his food blogging success on social media into career opportunities. 

Resources:

• Bill Oakley’s Twitter, Instagram

Bryan and Jason discuss takeaways from Bryan's chat with Rayka Zehtabchi and Shaandiin Tome, who co-directed the documentary short Long Line of Ladies, which premiered at Sundance and is now showing at SXSW. Bryan and Jason also talk about the situation in Ukraine and Jason talks about the music he has been writing and recording, which will be available in May. 

Rayka Zehtabchi is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker who won the Academy Award for her film Period. End of Sentence in 2019. Shaandiin Tome is an Albuquerque-based filmmaker whose breakout, award-winning short film Mud (Hashtł’ishnii) premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2018. Rayka and Shaandiin co-directed the documentary short Long Line of Ladies, which premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, and will be featured at SXSW next week. Long Line of Ladies follows a girl and her tribal community as they prepare for her Ihuk, the once-dormant coming of age ceremony of the Karuk tribe of Northern California.

What you will learn:

• How Rayka and Shaandiin found the story for Long Line of Ladies and brought it to film. 
• What inspired them to tell the story of a tribe which resurrected a long-dormant coming of age ceremony for young girls. 
• How Long Line of Ladies thematically is very different from Period. End of Sentence. 
• Why they chose to lean into the positivity and lack of conflict they discovered in this story, as opposed to search for conflict as a story-telling device. 
• The challenges they faced co-directing with each other for the first time. 
• The choices they made before filming regarding what aspect of the story they wanted to tell, and what part of the story they chose to leave to the imagination of the audience. 
• The challenges they faced using 16 mm film as opposed to digital cameras. 
• Why they are excited to show the film at SXSW.
• What types of projects they hope to focus on in 2022.

Resources:

• Rayka’s website, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter
• Shaandiin’s website, Instagram,  Facebook, and Twitter
• Long Line of Ladies Trailer

Bryan and Jason talk about the loss of Pacific Northwest indie rock legend Mark Lanegan, paying tribute to him and playing clips from interviews with musicians Moby, Mark Pickerel (formerly of the Screaming Trees), and Jeff Fielder, all of whom worked closely with Lanegan at various points in his career. 

Bryan and Jason discuss takeaways from Bryan's chat with Josef Kubota Wladyka, who wrote and directed Catch The Fair One (now on VOD), as well as takeaways from Bryan's chat with film producer Sunil Perkash, who produced Last Survivors (now on VOD). Bryan also talks about a recent illness which humbled him and made him grateful to be alive, Bryan tells Jason about two HBO Max shows he watched recently (Peacemaker and Station Eleven), and Bryan talks about his upcoming interview with Bill Oakley. 

Film producer Sunil Perkash developed major studios hits like BLAST FROM THE PAST starring Brendon Frasier, Alicia Silverstone, Sissy Spacek and Christopher Walken, PREMONITION , starring Sandra Bullock, and Disney’s blockbuster hit ENCHANTED, starring Amy Adams, which grossed $340 million, and received multiple oscar and golden globe nominations. Sunil then produced SALT, starring Angelina Jolie and grossing $300 million. He is currently in post production on DISENCHANTED, a sequel to ENCHANTED for Disney Plus starring Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey. His most recent indie film is LAST SURVIVORS, starring Alicia Silverstone, Stephen Moyer and Drew Van Acker. Last Survivors is a dystopian thriller about a father and son living isolated, off the grid, in a frigid wilderness to keep safe from a decaying civilization. But their perfect mini-utopia is disrupted when the father is severely injured and his son must go on a hunt for life-saving medicine, where he encounters a mysterious woman, played by Silverstone. 

What you will learn:

• What it’s like producing films for major film studios vs. indie films.
• Why his passion is in independent film.    
• How seeing Dances With Wolves during his senior year at Stanford inspired him to drive to Hollywood to try to break into the film industry. 
• The challenges he faced making Last Survivors in the frigid hills of Montana during the pandemic. 
• Why Sunil likes to work with the same actors across multiple films. 
• How SALT, which was originally developed as a vehicle for Tom Cruise, evolved into a film starring Angelina Jolie. 
• How Sunil developed Enchanted “from scratch” and why he is so excited about the rollout of its sequel, Disenchanted, which he shot in Ireland recently. 
• What projects Sunil currently has in the hopper and whether a sequel to Salt may be in the works. 

Resources:

• Sunil Perkash’s IMDb, Instagram

Josef Kubota Wladyka is a screenwriter, director, and producer. His episodic television credits as a director include the netflix series Narcos, Narcos: Mexico, and Animal Kingdom, among others. Josef’s most recent feature film, Catch The Fair One, which he wrote, directed, and produced, was released in select theaters and on VOD on February 11 by IFC Films. Executive Produced by Darren Aronofsky and Produced by Academy Award winner Mollye Asher, Catch The Fair One stars Kali Reis, playing a former champion boxer who sets off on a dangerous quest into the criminal underworld of sex trafficking to find her kidnapped sister. Kali developed the story for Catch The Fair One with Josef over the course of several years. 

What you will learn:

• How Josef developed the story and script for Catch The Fair One with professional boxer Kali Reis over the course of several years. 
• How Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, The Fighter) became involved as Executive Producer on Catch The Fair One. 
• How Josef became the first American director of the Netflix series Narcos, and Narcos: Mexico. 
• What Josef learned directing multiple episodes of Narcos.
• How Josef balances the need to make money and pay the bills by working in episodic television, with his passion to make indie films, which take years to develop and are not always lucrative endeavors.  
• Bryan and Josef do a deep dive on some of the decisions Josef made in Catch The Fair One, regarding expository scenes (or lack thereof), call backs, and more.  
• Why Josef chose to disengage from social media after the pandemic began, and how this has helped him creatively. 

Resources:

• Josef Kubota Wladyka’s IMDb
• Catch The Fair One Trailer 

Zack Ford is a New York-based screenwriter who sold his first screenplay right out of New York University’s Tisch School of Arts. The screenplay, originally entitled Scribbleface, would become Scar 3D, the first stereoscopic 3D horror film. Zack’s film, Watcher, premiered at Sundance 2022 and was recently purchased by IFC Films for theatrical and VOD distribution. Directed by Chloe Okuno and starring Maika Monroe and Karl Glusman, Watcher is about a young American woman who moves into an apartment with her fiancé in Bucharest, Romania, only to be tormented by the feeling that she is being stalked by an unseen watcher in an adjacent building. This all happens while a serial killer is terrorizing the city. 

What you will learn:

• What first sparked Zack’s interest in screenwriting at age 6, how he wrote his first screenplay at age 12, entered a screenplay in the Nicholl screenwriting competition at age 16, and sold his first screenplay right out of NYU. 
• How Zack struggled in the industry after his first produced film, Scar 3D, was panned by critics, inspiring him to hack into Hollywood by creating a fake agency and submit screenplays under pen names. Zack’s Script Magazine article about this journey is linked under Resources below.
• How Watcher finally got produced, years after writing it, after being optioned multiple times, going into production, and then being shut down due to covid, before finally getting produced during the pandemic in Romania. 
• Zack describes his work flow and writing process, which typically results in six completed screenplays per year.  
• How Zack’s approach to outlining has evolved over the years. 
• Where Zack would like to see himself professionally over the next few years.  
• What projects Zack is working on and is attached to in 2022.  

Resources:

• Zack’s Website (Barbaric Media), IMDB, Instagram, and Twitter 
• Barbaric Media Instagram
• How I Hijacked Hollywood or: How To Sell A Screenplay: https://scriptmag.com/breaking-in/how-i-hijacked-hollywood