Screenwriters' Rant Room

By Hilliard GuessTV & Film

Screenwriters' Rant Room episodes

January 23, 2023 437 - TV Pitching PART 2!
Support the Rant Room for $1/month

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In this episode, writer/producers Hilliard, Chris, Saeed Crumpler and Rah Johnson pick up where they left off in last weeks teaser episode, continuing their conversation on "Elements of Pitching", performance/voice, creative ways to get the biggest bang and hopefully - a sale, and so much more!
Check out the ScreenWriterRR website at www.screenwritersrr.com for information, merch, or our Patreon!
Support the show via the Patreon link. Remember support is love! We invest countless hours per week to deliver the actionable content that goes into this podcast.
Connect with Us:
Chris Derrick on Twitter
Hilliard Guess on Twitter
Tracy Grant on Twitter
Saeed Crumpler on Twitter
Rah Johnson on Twitter
The Screenwriters Rant Room on Facebook
Theme Song by @ThinkDeP
2 hr 25 min
January 16, 2023 436 - So You Wanna Pitch?
Support the Rant Room for $1/month

In this episode, Hilliard, Chris and writers Saeed Crumpler and Rah Johnson talk about what it's like out there in the current climate to pitch tv and film, pitch decks, elements of a pitch that pop and lots of great gems dropped in this one y'all. You don't want to miss this one.

Check out the ScreenWriterRR website at www.screenwritersrr.com for information, merch, or our Patreon!
Support the show via the Patreon link. Remember support is love! We invest countless hours per week to deliver the actionable content that goes into this podcast.
Connect with Us:
Chris Derrick on Twitter
Hilliard Guess on Twitter
Tracy Grant on Twitter
Saeed Crumpler on Twitter
Rah Johnson on Twitter
The Screenwriters Rant Room on Facebook
Theme Song by @ThinkDeP
25 min
January 09, 2023 435 - Producing on the Set
Support the Rant Room for $1/month

In this episode, Hilliard, Chris, and Tracy Grant - Exec Producer of LACE on AllBlk - talk about producing network TV, keeping it on a budget, having an amazing team around you, production good and bad, a PA with the right attitude and so much more. We also talk about Will Smith's new film Emancipation and how (his Oscar mistake) will affect his award season on a film he probably deserves - at least a nomination... Then we go off on a rant on Social Media and Click Bait and some of the crazy stuff going on on those outlets from fans and sometimes, plain old haters.

Check out the ScreenWriterRR website at www.screenwritersrr.com for information, merch, or our Patreon!
Support the show via the Patreon link. Remember support is love! We invest countless hours per week to deliver the actionable content that goes into this podcast.
Connect with Us:
Chris Derrick on Twitter
Hilliard Guess on Twitter
Tracy Grant on Twitter
The Screenwriters Rant Room on Facebook
Theme Song by @ThinkDeP

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1 hr 33 min
December 26, 2022 434 - END OF THE YEAR RANT
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you Rant Room Heads across the globe...
In this episode, Hilliard, Chris, Lynelle and Juan Pablo Arias Munoz (Breakthrough Artist at BMP) talk about our favorite end of the year films and TV shows, directing shorts and episodic TV and some of our plans and goals for 2023!

Check out the ScreenWriterRR website at www.screenwritersrr.com for information, merch, or our Patreon!
Support the show via the Patreon link. Remember support is love! We invest countless hours per week to deliver the actionable content that goes into this podcast.
Connect with Us:
Chris Derrick on Twitter
Hilliard Guess on Twitter
Juan Pablo on Instagram
The Screenwriters Rant Room on Facebook
Theme Song by @ThinkDeP
2 hr 6 min
December 19, 2022 433 - FOX WRITERS INCUBATOR INITIATIVE - ALUMNI
In this episode, Hilliard sat down with alumni - women from the 2023 Fox Writers Incubator Initiative Program: Drama writers Michelle Lesley Johnson, Nicole Jones-Dion and comedy writers Allison Jackson (shout out to HaJ who wasn't able to make it)...

We talk about the groups different journeys to the program, how the initiative works: the submissions, the personal letter, staffing on shows, script coordinators duties and its importance of growth to becoming a future showrunner and so much more!

Check out the ScreenWriterRR website at www.screenwritersrr.com for information, merch, or our Patreon!
Support the show via the Patreon link. Remember support is love! We invest countless hours per week to deliver the actionable content that goes into this podcast.
Connect with Us:
Chris Derrick on Twitter
Hilliard Guess on Twitter
The Screenwriters Rant Room on Facebook
Theme Song by @ThinkDeP

1 hr 34 min
December 12, 2022 432 - Award-winning Filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir
In this episode, Hilliard chats with the award-winning documentary filmmaker behind films like "Black and Missing" on HBO and has just dropped her new film "Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power" which is streaming on Apple, Amazon and soon on Peacock!

We talk about making and producing documentary films, elements needed to get the best bang and production value, making the pivot to scripted and the
hurdles you have to overcome to reinvent yourself in another genre and so much more!
Check out the ScreenWriterRR website at www.screenwritersrr.com for information, merch, or our Patreon!
Support the show via the Patreon link. Remember support is love! We invest countless hours per week to deliver the actionable content that goes into this podcast.
Connect with Us:
Chris Derrick on Twitter
Hilliard Guess on Twitter
The Screenwriters Rant Room on Facebook
Theme Song by @ThinkDeP
53 min
December 05, 2022 431 - Filmmaker Aitch Alberto
In this episode, Hilliard and emerging writer/dir Anthony Alyassyi sit down with lovely and beautiful writer/director/filmmaker Aitch Alberto who recently finished writing on DUSTER, a 1970s-set crime drama series from J.J. Abrams and LaToya Morgan for HBO Max and Warner Brothers TV. She also served as a writer on AppleTV+'s critically acclaimed anthology series LITTLE AMERICA from Alan Yang, Kumail Nanjiani, and Emily V. Gordon. Aitch has adapted for film and directed the award-winning young adult novel, ARISTOTLE AND DANTE DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE, with Lin-Manuel Miranda executive producing and Eva Longoria and stars Eugenio Derbez. The film premiered at TIFF 2022 and will be out in 2023. Aitch was just named as one of Variety's 10 directors to watch for 2022.

In this don’t miss episode, some of the highlights we also talked about were -- being a fighter and putting down your dukes, leading with truth, breaking down stereotypes, navigating the film festival circuit, allowing yourself to have fun, connecting on a human level and so much more!

Check out the ScreenWriterRR website at www.screenwritersrr.com for information, merch, or our Patreon!
Support the show via the Patreon link. Remember support is love! We invest countless hours per week to deliver the actionable content that goes into this podcast.
Connect with Us:
Chris Derrick on Twitter
Hilliard Guess on Twitter
Follow Aitch Alberto on Instagram
Anthony Alyassyi on Instagram
The Undergraduate Film on Instagram
The Screenwriters Rant Room on Facebook
Theme Song by @ThinkDeP
1 hr 3 min
November 21, 2022 430: BREAKTHROUGH ARTISTS – UMAR AND KOBIE
In this episode, Hilliard chopped it up with Blue Monday Productions – Breakthrough Artist Award Alumni -- Umar White and Kobie Kiambu. These two writer/filmmakers hail from D.C and Maryland and are following their dreams on their journey to become showrunners. We go deep into their intense media backgrounds, meeting at college, making films, Umar becoming an editor -- Kobie working his way up in post, and their desire to relocate to Hollywood and follow their passion.

We go into how Umar moved to LA, quickly met showrunner Ben Watkins when he was on a panel and through some persistence, was encouraged to enter Ben’s Blue Monday Productions Breakthrough Artist Program. The program gives artists unfiltered access to the company for three months. Over those three months artists develop their talent while engrossing themselves in whatever part of the industry interests them… The partnership extends beyond the three months and continues to mentor and foster the artists by doing everything in their ability to accelerate their careers…

Soon after, Kobie also got into the program (while still living in Maryland), and as they say, the rest is history.

Tune in for this don’t miss episode y’all. So much inspiring game dropped throughout that you won’t want to miss!
Check out the ScreenWriterRR website at www.screenwritersrr.com for information, merch, or our Patreon!
Support the show via the Patreon link. Remember support is love! We invest countless hours per week to deliver the actionable content that goes into this podcast.
Connect with Us:
Chris Derrick on Twitter
Hilliard Guess on Twitter
Follow Umar on Instagram
Follow 295 Media on Instagram
The Screenwriters Rant Room on Facebook
Theme Song by @ThinkDeP
1 hr 16 min
November 14, 2022 429: CRAIG T. WILLIAMS - Writer/Producer
In this episode, Hilliard sat down with indie writer/producer Craig T. Williams while he's on his short trip to LA from NY -- they chopped it up about his journey, growing up in the Bronx New York, traveling the world, landing roles in indie films, producing over a hundred projects, using unorthodox methods of fundraising, hitting the festival circuit, realizing that sometimes you can make too many short films, selling yourself in showrunner meetings, building relationships on Clubhouse and so much more!

Check out the ScreenWriterRR website at www.screenwritersrr.com for information, merch, or our Patreon!
Support the show via the Patreon link. Remember support is love! We invest countless hours per week to deliver the actionable content that goes into this podcast.
Connect with Us:
Chris Derrick on Twitter
Hilliard Guess on Twitter
Red Wall Productions on Twitter and Website
The Screenwriters Rant Room on Facebook
Theme Song by @ThinkDeP
1 hr 38 min
November 07, 2022 428 - KEITH POWELL - Actor/Writer/Director
In this episode, Hilliard and Chris & Alex Derrick sat down with actor-writer-director Keith Powell (TOOFER on 30 Rock) to talk about his crazy journey growing up in Philly with a house filled with women, to acting/directing in theater in NY, to landing his career job on hit series 30 Rock for 7 years, to directing at least one short film a year and his amazing pivot to directing episodic television (Interview With a Vampire, Dickinson, A Holiday in Harlem etc) while continuing to land acting roles in major shows and films. We also talk a lot about Keith's directing for television, shadowing on set, expectations of the TV director, working on different kinds of shows, the director’s shooting schedule and so much more!
Check out the ScreenWriterRR website at www.screenwritersrr.com for information, merch, or our Patreon!
Support the show via the Patreon link. Remember support is love! We invest countless hours per week to deliver the actionable content that goes into this podcast.
Connect with Us:
Chris Derrick on Twitter
Hilliard Guess on Twitter
Keith Powell on Instagram
Alex Derrick on Instagram
The Screenwriters Rant Room on Facebook
Theme Song by @ThinkDeP
1 hr 44 min