Film & TV, The Creative Process: Acting, Directing, Writing, Cinematography, Producers, Composers, Costume Design, Talk Art & Creativity

“Every movie is different. Every story is different. We've been talking about Lady Bird, and you mentioned Francis Ha. So we made Francis Ha first, and there's an interesting relationship between her and her best friend that is almost like a romance, but it's not actually romantic, but the way the story is told, it's like two lovers, but they get into arguments and there's a lot of conflict. And then Ladybird, there's a lot of conflict between the mother and the daughter. And in some sense, I remember thinking, Well, I've made things before and with Greta where there's conflict and maybe there's some overlap here, but there wasn't. It's just every time you start from scratch, and you might think, Well, if we use a certain camera or if we use certain tools, maybe that will help. But that's really the last step. And then I think, you have to have a more, a sort of less practical approach in the initial discussions.

I find it helpful to speak with the director and all the collaborators on the project and just to have what I'd call a more dreamy conversation when you get together in a cafe or in the office and just talk through more emotional aspects of the story. There’s these very earthly concerns that making a film requires, and you have to really leave all that stuff for later. All the stuff is important, just like in any creative process or business where there's a finite amount of resources. But how do you show certain relationships? The fact is you just have to talk about them first and figure out what they are. It's really important to understand specifically what the emotional notes are of the story. And then, little by little, we just figure out the technique of like the brush strokes, if it were painting, or the notes, if it were music. In cinematography, it's a visual medium, so eventually, we're moving towards: What is in the frame or what isn't in the frame? And how will these frames transition to each other?”

Sam Levy studied film in Paris with French New Wave director Eric Rohmer and began his career as an apprentice to legendary cinematographer Harris Savides. Sam first gained recognition as a cinematographer when he photographed Wendy and Lucy for director Kelly Reichardt - voted “One of the Best 25 Films of the 21st Century” by The New York Times. He went on to shoot Frances Ha, Mistress America and While We’re Young for director Noah Baumbach, Changers and Frank Ocean's Blonded for Spike Jonze, Sermon on The Mount for Jerrod Carmichael, Maggie’s Plan for Rebecca Miller and Green Porno for Isabella Rossellini. Sam also photographed Lady Bird for writer/director Greta Gerwig - nominated for 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture and winner of The Golden Globe for Best Picture. Other new films include Mayday, which he also produced, Confess, Fletch, and She Came to Me.

https://samlevydp.com
www.imdb.com/name/nm1240085/
www.instagram.com/samlevydp/
www.creativeprocess.info
www.oneplanetpodcast.org
Instagram @creativeprocesspodcast

Sam Levy studied film in Paris with French New Wave director Eric Rohmer and began his career as an apprentice to legendary cinematographer Harris Savides. Sam first gained recognition as a cinematographer when he photographed Wendy and Lucy for director Kelly Reichardt - voted “One of the Best 25 Films of the 21st Century” by The New York Times. He went on to shoot Frances Ha, Mistress America and While We’re Young for director Noah Baumbach, Changers and Frank Ocean's Blonded for Spike Jonze, Sermon on The Mount for Jerrod Carmichael, Maggie’s Plan for Rebecca Miller and Green Porno for Isabella Rossellini. Sam also photographed Lady Bird for writer/director Greta Gerwig - nominated for 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture and winner of The Golden Globe for Best Picture. Other new films include Mayday, which he also produced, Confess, Fletch, and She Came to Me.

“Every movie is different. Every story is different. We've been talking about Lady Bird, and you mentioned Francis Ha. So we made Francis Ha first, and there's an interesting relationship between her and her best friend that is almost like a romance, but it's not actually romantic, but the way the story is told, it's like two lovers, but they get into arguments and there's a lot of conflict. And then Ladybird, there's a lot of conflict between the mother and the daughter. And in some sense, I remember thinking, Well, I've made things before and with Greta where there's conflict and maybe there's some overlap here, but there wasn't. It's just every time you start from scratch, and you might think, Well, if we use a certain camera or if we use certain tools, maybe that will help. But that's really the last step. And then I think, you have to have a more, a sort of less practical approach in the initial discussions.

I find it helpful to speak with the director and all the collaborators on the project and just to have what I'd call a more dreamy conversation when you get together in a cafe or in the office and just talk through more emotional aspects of the story. There’s these very earthly concerns that making a film requires, and you have to really leave all that stuff for later. All the stuff is important, just like in any creative process or business where there's a finite amount of resources. But how do you show certain relationships? The fact is you just have to talk about them first and figure out what they are. It's really important to understand specifically what the emotional notes are of the story. And then, little by little, we just figure out the technique of like the brush strokes, if it were painting, or the notes, if it were music. In cinematography, it's a visual medium, so eventually, we're moving towards: What is in the frame or what isn't in the frame? And how will these frames transition to each other?”

https://samlevydp.com
www.imdb.com/name/nm1240085/
www.instagram.com/samlevydp/
www.creativeprocess.info
www.oneplanetpodcast.org
Instagram @creativeprocesspodcast

"Scott [Kid Cudi] is the most beautiful, kind, goodhearted man, but also he's brilliant. He's a generator of ideas. I feel like by being next to him, your role is to take all of these concepts that he's crafting and ideating and bring them to fruition, so it's a really beautiful gift where you feel like you're paired with an artist who is the source of so much. Scott was also really important to me in a lot of ways from our very beginning."

"So the animated series Entergalactic tells the story of a black modern love story in New York City. It's simple in its core. Jabari, the character Scott plays, is a graffiti artist, and Cosmic Comics has decided to option his character and turn it into a comic book. So he's at this point in his life where he is moving into the loft apartment of his dreams, everything seems to be working for him when he meets Meadow, who's his neighbor. And she is this amazing woman, photographer, coolest cat on the planet. And essentially this show follows their meet-cute and their love story and the will they-won’t they of if they'll end up together. So there's something very warm in its aesthetic. But what's so interesting is that the love story is very nostalgic. It's, it just hearkens back to what a romance feels like.”

Karina Manashil is the President of Mad Solar Productions. She began her career in the mailroom at WME (William Morris Endeavor) where she became a talent agent. She represented notable clients including Scott Mescudi, known by his stage name, Kid Cudi, and built her career taking talent into new arenas.

In 2020, she partnered with Mescudi and Dennis Cummings to launch Mad Solar, which is backed by BRON Studios. Manashil then went on to Executive Produce SXSW fan-favorite X and its sequel, Pearl, directed by Ti West. Manashil is an Executive Producer on the Netflix animated series Entergalactic directed by Fletcher Moules. Entergalactic was created by Kid Cudi and features voiceover from Jessica Williams and Timothée Chalamet. It was released alongside its album of the same name from Kid Cudi on September 30th. Manashil is a native of Los Angeles and graduated from Chapman University with a BFA in Film Production.

Manashil www.imdb.com/name/nm3556462/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
www.kidcudi.com

Mad Solar https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?companies=co0831164 

Entergalactic www.netflix.com/title/81053303

Pearl www.imdb.com/title/tt18925334/

X www.imdb.com/title/tt13560574/?ref_=tt_trv_trv

www.creativeprocess.info

www.oneplanetpodcast.org

Karina Manashil is the President of Mad Solar Productions. She began her career in the mailroom at WME (William Morris Endeavor) where she became a talent agent. She represented notable clients including Scott Mescudi, known by his stage name, Kid Cudi, and built her career taking talent into new arenas.

In 2020, she partnered with Mescudi and Dennis Cummings to launch Mad Solar, which is backed by BRON Studios. Manashil then went on to Executive Produce SXSW fan-favorite X and its sequel, Pearl, directed by Ti West. Manashil is an Executive Producer on the Netflix animated series Entergalactic directed by Fletcher Moules. Entergalactic was created by Kid Cudi and features voiceover from Jessica Williams and Timothée Chalamet. It was released alongside its album of the same name from Kid Cudi on September 30th.

Manashil is a native of Los Angeles and graduated from Chapman University with a BFA in Film Production.

"Scott [Kid Cudi] is the most beautiful, kind, goodhearted man, but also he's brilliant. He's a generator of ideas. I feel like by being next to him, your role is to take all of these concepts that he's crafting and ideating and bring them to fruition, so it's a really beautiful gift where you feel like you're paired with an artist who is the source of so much. Scott was also really important to me in a lot of ways from our very beginning."

"So the animated series Entergalactic tells the story of a black modern love story in New York City. It's simple in its core. Jabari, the character Scott plays, is a graffiti artist, and Cosmic Comics has decided to option his character and turn it into a comic book. So he's at this point in his life where he is moving into the loft apartment of his dreams, everything seems to be working for him when he meets Meadow, who's his neighbor. And she is this amazing woman, photographer, coolest cat on the planet. And essentially this show follows their meet-cute and their love story and the will they-won’t they of if they'll end up together. So there's something very warm in its aesthetic. But what's so interesting is that the love story is very nostalgic. It's, it just hearkens back to what a romance feels like.”

Manashil www.imdb.com/name/nm3556462/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
www.kidcudi.com

Mad Solar https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?companies=co0831164 

Entergalactic www.netflix.com/title/81053303

Pearl www.imdb.com/title/tt18925334/

X www.imdb.com/title/tt13560574/?ref_=tt_trv_trv

www.creativeprocess.info

www.oneplanetpodcast.org

"It's a really exciting thing to make it all the way through and to have so many talented people work on your book, but TV is a different medium. And there's changes that are made that you're not necessarily a part of, but it does create another universe for your storytelling. And with season two, it was always going be difficult to use One of Us is Next because there's a time jump, and there's different characters. And then I think some of the changes that were made in season one really made it impossible. So now they're two separate paths. And I think that's fun for readers to not know what's going to happen, but I think they'll also know that I'm working on a third book for the One of Us series. And to me, that's how it all ends. 

I do use a beat sheet, which is a screenwriting tool, and I find it very helpful. When I start getting to that point where I think I understand the characters, and I'm trying to get into the nitty-gritty of the plot, I will start planning out those moments like what's the inciting incident? What's the midpoint? What's the next reveal? What's the climax? And then the interesting part for me is figuring out the character beats in between those. So what's happening internally with this character, and what's happening in the relationships between all of the main characters that are somehow related to either this reveal or this red herring or something that's moving the mystery along, but also is moving character development along as well."

Karen M. McManus is a #1 New York Times and international bestselling author of young adult thrillers. Her books include the One of Us Is Lying series, which has been turned into a television show on Peacock and Netflix, as well as the standalone novels Two Can Keep a Secret, The Cousins, You’ll Be the Death of Me, and Nothing More to Tell. Karen's critically acclaimed, award-winning work has been translated into more than 40 languages.

https://www.karenmcmanus.com

@writerkmc
on Twitter - Instagram

www.creativeprocess.info
www.oneplanetpodcast.org

Karen M. McManus is a #1 New York Times and international bestselling author of young adult thrillers. Her books include the One of Us Is Lying series, which has been turned into a television show on Peacock and Netflix, as well as the standalone novels Two Can Keep a Secret, The Cousins, You’ll Be the Death of Me, and Nothing More to Tell. Karen's critically acclaimed, award-winning work has been translated into more than 40 languages.

"It's a really exciting thing to make it all the way through and to have so many talented people work on your book, but TV is a different medium. And there's changes that are made that you're not necessarily a part of, but it does create another universe for your storytelling. And with season two, it was always going be difficult to use One of Us is Next because there's a time jump, and there's different characters. And then I think some of the changes that were made in season one really made it impossible. So now they're two separate paths. And I think that's fun for readers to not know what's going to happen, but I think they'll also know that I'm working on a third book for the One of Us series. And to me, that's how it all ends. 

I do use a beat sheet, which is a screenwriting tool, and I find it very helpful. When I start getting to that point where I think I understand the characters, and I'm trying to get into the nitty-gritty of the plot, I will start planning out those moments like what's the inciting incident? What's the midpoint? What's the next reveal? What's the climax? And then the interesting part for me is figuring out the character beats in between those. So what's happening internally with this character, and what's happening in the relationships between all of the main characters that are somehow related to either this reveal or this red herring or something that's moving the mystery along, but also is moving character development along as well."

https://www.karenmcmanus.com

@writerkmc
on Twitter - Instagram

www.creativeprocess.info
www.oneplanetpodcast.org

“First off meat-eating animals eat other animals. So, the meat-eating dinosaurs would be scary, but on the other hand, we should think of them more like an eagle or a hawk, rather than a Tyrannosaurus rex chasing jeeps around. The thing that Jurassic Park - and people didn't really realize it, but it's a Steven Spielberg thing. He makes animals that eat people, whether it be a shark or it be a dinosaur, these are animals that will break through a building just to eat a person rather than eat a Triceratops that's sick out laying out in the field.

If you remember Jurassic Park, there was a Triceratops out there that was sick, and it was just laying out there and nothing was eating it. But the dinosaurs, when they got loose, they were just chasing people around. We see one scene where a T-Rex takes down another dinosaur, but for the most part, they're just chasing people. And so, the general public's notion of dinosaurs is  that's how they would be.”

Jack Horner is a severely dyslexic, dinosaur paleontologist. He attended the University of Montana for 14 semesters without receiving a degree. He has since received two honorary doctorates of science and a plethora of awards including a MacArthur Fellowship. Jack was Curator and Regent’s Professor of Paleontology at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana for 34 years. He has more than 300 publications. He was the technical advisor for all of the Jurassic Park/ Jurassic World movies. At Chapman University where he now teaches, Jack encourages his honors students and dyslexic mentorees to challenge their preconceived ideas.

https://jackhornersdinosaurs.com

Horner Science Group

www.creativeprocess.info

www.oneplanetpodcast.org

Jack Horner is a severely dyslexic, dinosaur paleontologist. He attended the University of Montana for 14 semesters without receiving a degree. He has since received two honorary doctorates of science and a plethora of awards including a MacArthur Fellowship. Jack was Curator and Regent’s Professor of Paleontology at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana for 34 years. He has more than 300 publications. He was the technical advisor for all of the Jurassic Park/ Jurassic World movies. At Chapman University where he now teaches, Jack encourages his honors students and dyslexic mentorees to challenge their preconceived ideas.

“First off meat-eating animals eat other animals. So, the meat-eating dinosaurs would be scary, but on the other hand, we should think of them more like an eagle or a hawk, rather than a Tyrannosaurus rex chasing jeeps around. The thing that Jurassic Park - and people didn't really realize it, but it's a Steven Spielberg thing. He makes animals that eat people, whether it be a shark or it be a dinosaur, these are animals that will break through a building just to eat a person rather than eat a Triceratops that's sick out laying out in the field.

If you remember Jurassic Park, there was a Triceratops out there that was sick, and it was just laying out there and nothing was eating it. But the dinosaurs, when they got loose, they were just chasing people around. We see one scene where a T-Rex takes down another dinosaur, but for the most part, they're just chasing people. And so, the general public's notion of dinosaurs is  that's how they would be.”

https://jackhornersdinosaurs.com

Horner Science Group

www.creativeprocess.info

www.oneplanetpodcast.org

"It was a confluence of very fortunate events that this movie was produced, and it is a bit of an anomaly. It's quite unprecedented that, first of all, a major Hollywood film studio has produced a comedy in the year 2022. They don't get made very often anymore at this size or scale. And secondly, that movie centers a minority family of any sort, but specifically of a Filipino-American family with a Filipino-American leading man. All of these things add to the sort of historical nature of the movie, for lack of a better description. And that's not lost upon me, but also adds to the fact that it's such a crazy experience. Now having put the movie out into the world to see reactions and now that it's out of our hands, it's up to the world to receive it."

Ken Cheng is a writer/producer who has previously written for Wilfred, Betas, and Sin City Saints. Ken’s feature comedy Easter Sunday, which he co-wrote, and executive produced for Amblin Partners, Rideback, and Universal, is inspired by the life and comedy of standup comedian Jo Koy. Forthcoming projects include writing and executive producing the half-hour comedy series, House of Chow, for HBO, co-writing – along with his creative partners at Crab Club, Inc. - a feature film adaptation of the GQ Magazine article, “The Great Chinese Art Heist”, for Warner Bros., Conde Nast, and director Jon M. Chu, and writing/producing a feature adaptation of the New York Magazine article “Chateau Sucker” for Bound Entertainment.

www.crabclubinc.com

Ken Cheng IMDB

www.creativeprocess.info
www.oneplanetpodcast.org

Ken Cheng is a writer/producer who has previously written for Wilfred, Betas, and Sin City Saints. Ken’s feature comedy Easter Sunday, which he co-wrote, and executive produced for Amblin Partners, Rideback, and Universal, is inspired by the life and comedy of standup comedian Jo Koy. Forthcoming projects include writing and executive producing the half-hour comedy series, House of Chow, for HBO, co-writing – along with his creative partners at Crab Club, Inc. - a feature film adaptation of the GQ Magazine article, “The Great Chinese Art Heist”, for Warner Bros., Conde Nast, and director Jon M. Chu, and writing/producing a feature adaptation of the New York Magazine article “Chateau Sucker” for Bound Entertainment.

"It was a confluence of very fortunate events that this movie was produced, and it is a bit of an anomaly. It's quite unprecedented that, first of all, a major Hollywood film studio has produced a comedy in the year 2022. They don't get made very often anymore at this size or scale. And secondly, that movie centers a minority family of any sort, but specifically of a Filipino-American family with a Filipino-American leading man. All of these things add to the sort of historical nature of the movie, for lack of a better description. And that's not lost upon me, but also adds to the fact that it's such a crazy experience. Now having put the movie out into the world to see reactions and now that it's out of our hands, it's up to the world to receive it."

www.crabclubinc.com

Ken Cheng IMDB

www.creativeprocess.info
www.oneplanetpodcast.org