Film School

You're the golden girl, Tracey! . . . like Bea Arthur! Katherine Hepburn bounces between other legends Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart in this classic romantic comedy. But, does it hold up to modern ideals? Is it a timeless love story? We dive in, this week!

What keeps you showing up every day, or every week, or even sporadically coming back to something creative over and over? If you've found consistency, why did you find it, and if you haven't . . . why do you keep returning to it every so often? What's in it for you? And how can you use that to get done what you want to get done? This week, we get personal.

You're a low-down Yankee liar! This week, it's the film that just might be THE prototypical western, the template for so much that followed: the lone gunslinger who rides into town and tries to go straight. In this case, it's Shane, and he's taken in by a family terrorized by cattle owners who want their land. Will Shane stick to the straight and narrow? Or will he stand up for his new family when they can't?

Master storytellers: that's what we want to become. So, how are we going to get there? And how does 'Film School' factor into that? What exactly ARE we getting out of doing this podcast each week? What is it teaching us? A lot, it turns out. More than we could have possibly imagined . . . AND YOU CAN DO IT, TOO. The act of analyzing movies we love turns out to be a major, MAJOR piece of mastering storytelling, and it's a blast to boot. That, fellow storytellers, is 'Film School.' We need this. And so do you.

Thanks, professor! Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert star in the film that put Frank Capra on the map. It incidentally put Columbia Pictures, Gable and Colbert, and the "road trip" / "screwball comedy" on the map, too. A prototypical romantic comedy, this flick has inspired generations of love stories . . . but how does that love story hold up? How has this film aged? We dive into its influence and faults, this week!

"If I was asked 'what was the most important advice I could give an artist starting out,' it would be 'manage your life so that you will feel as good about the industry in fifteen years as when you first began.'" Is that true. If so...HOW do we do that? How do we manage our lives and our work so that we're as excited, energized and inspired as when we began? Is that possible? We talk about it today!

HEY, STELLA!!!! Marlon Brando explodes onto the silver screen as the alcoholic, abusive, barbarian of a man, Stanley Kowalski in the seminal play from Tennessee Williams. This play, and then movie, put both of those colossal talents on the map, which is crazy to think about given what household names they became. It all started here. So . . . does it live up to the hype? Why IS this film so famous? Let's find out!

Thou Shalt Know The Rules, and the Rules Shall Set You Free.

We hear this aaallll the time. But, isn't that just bullsh*t from people who just want power and authority? Can't I only be free, be original, be myself if I'm doing things MY way? WHO NEEDS THE RULES?

Old pal Jimmy Stewart is front and center to a possible MURDER. He's laid up with a broken leg with nothing to do, and there's a neighbor acting shady as sh*t whose wife is suddenly nowhere to be seen...so does Jimmy just have too much time on his hands? Or is there foul play? It's an absolute classic of a film, and truly Hitchcock at his finest. This week on film school!

It pissed you off. It went beyond just disliking the film, it went beyond being disappointed, it made you ANGRY. What movie pissed you off, and why? What was it about that movie that got under your skin? And what does that have to say about your own creative work? What was it in that film that you were reacting to? This week on the Cutting Room Floor, we get in touch with our fiery side.