Martini Shot

There’s only one phrase a scriptwriter dreads more than “we love it, but we have some notes”: “we love it and have no notes.”

Rob discovers a WWII era psyops spy manual and realizes it is the perfect guide for disrupting the business practices of modern content companies. But —as a New Year’s resolution— he vows not to use the manual’s power for evil. For now.

Rob gives a master class in the unnecessarily complicated etiquette of wishing friends and family “Merry Chr…”, er, “Seasons Gree…”; uh, “Happy Holi…”. Well, you know what we’re trying to say.

Rob explains an immutable law of show biz physics: bad news travels slow because there’s no money in it, while good news travels fast --really fast-- turbo-charged by the notion that money is about to be spent.

Preston Beckman was a network programmer at NBC and Fox for over 30 years. He brought the country “Must See TV” at NBC and was witness to the the start of the reality revolution when he was at Fox.

Your podcast player has been Martini Shot-less for a while now, and Rob has a good reason for it.

Martini Shot Conversations is back with another chat with The Ankler’s Richard Rushfield. Rob and Richard cover the shifting sands of the TV business, CinemaCon pre and post COVID, the silly state of awards shows, and more. And yes, we will be returning with new episodes of Martini Shot very soon. Thanks for being patient as Rob gets […]

Rob considers a mid-life career change, inspired by a couple of pilots that didn’t go forward and fridge full of exotic meats gone bad.

This week, Rob explains a simple axiom of show business: if you want your agents to remain generous with free expensive bottled water and delicious mini chocolate cakes, you have to earn it. Or more accurately, you have to earn for them.

Rob explains how he once got roped into picking up a very large check and offers advice on how you can avoid making the same mistake.