March 22, 2020

Paul Schrodt - Los Angeles - Freelance

1 hour 33 minutes

"If you think it’s just fun, you’ve never interviewed Mick Jagger because that motherfucker will rip you into shreds." Freelance journalist Paul Schrodt (@paulschrodt) takes the podcast to a very different place, telling us what it’s like to report on the business of entertainment. He also got into digital journalism at a time when it was still the wild west but just starting to overtake print journalism, providing a window into that fascinating time.

Note: This is a special extended episode in light of coronavirus.

We talk about his transformation from "spacey kid" to journalist (5:25), our experience together in college when they were trying to teach "new media" (18:40), getting his start at Esquire.com when the online team had like 3 people (32:45), his turn at the pressure boiler startup Business Insider (40:00), striking out as a freelancer (50:13), deep thoughts on entertainment journalism (57:19), his story tracking down why movies you love might be nowhere on streaming (1:02:31), and we finish with the lightning round (1:15:43).

Here are links to some of the things we talked about:

The Chicago Reader website - https://bit.ly/2J3qQ7d

Business Insider - https://bit.ly/2WA9wiq

Paul's story on life insurance for Money magazine - https://bit.ly/3dnoG0b

His story on the horror streaming service Shudder - https://bit.ly/2QClN1Y

His story involving the Mick Jagger interview - https://bit.ly/2WyoghF

His story You Can't Stream Your Favorite Movie Anywhere - https://bit.ly/2y0A6qH

The movie Game Day on IMDb - https://imdb.to/3b93kBY

JustWatch.com - https://bit.ly/33E2SsE

FiveThirtyEight - https://53eig.ht/2y0Ag1h

Slate Political Gabfest podcast - https://bit.ly/2QC5MJd

Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking - https://amzn.to/3b93hpM