This is a Metaphor

What do fragile dreams, public grief, and indie film have in common? More than you might think. Mo & Matt Lathrom (from the last guest episode) start with an unsettling “protect the tiny creature” dreams and move through the losses of cultural icons, asking what kind of space opens when giants leave—and who has the courage to fill it. Along the way, they talk illness, resilience, and why a single look in a scene can change how you feel about a character more than any speech ever could.

Matt, a visual effects artist, writer, and producer, joins Mo to unpack what really happens behind the Sundance mystique: submissions with unfinished shots, the quiet bravery of showing work-in-progress to people who can truly see it, and the unspoken rule of respecting the room. From there they wade into today’s biggest creative fault line—AI. They challenge the myth of “AI actors,” the promise of cheap, automated storytelling, and why those projects become expensive VFX pipelines the moment you ask for continuity, pores, light, and soul. Productivity without purpose is a trap; the point isn’t more output, it’s better outcomes.

They also get practical. Where AI can help—scaffolding ideas, clarifying structure, reducing noise—it’s a tool. Where it starts replacing performance, editing intuition, or the moral labor of choosing what to show and why, it’s a cost we shouldn’t hide. Film remains our best empathy engine, letting us sit with people we’d otherwise never understand. If you’ve been waiting to start your script, short, or show, consider this your nudge. Begin messy. Share early. Keep the room respectful. And keep showing up, because the space our legends leave won’t fill itself.

If this spoke to you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review—what part changed how you see the creative future?

Do you want to be on This is a Metaphor? Send Us a Text!

Instagram: @tiam.podcast &  @joyscout.mo 

For Guest Inquiries, collaborations, and questions:

Email Mo: [email protected]

“Don’t get Deterred, get Inspired” 

October has a way of shaking the dust off creativity. In this episode, Mo looks at how Halloween’s built-in weirdness gives people an excuse to show sides of themselves they usually keep hidden. It’s not about spells or candy — it’s about the rare moment when performance, play, and belonging overlap.

She traces that spark into the rest of the year, sharing small rituals that keep curiosity alive — Sunday-night cards, moon journaling, neighborhood costume swaps — the kind of repeatable moments that turn time into texture and help you craft a life that feels like your own.

Hit play, then tell us your favorite ritual or the tiny celebration you’ll start this week. If it lands, share it with a friend who loves a good theme, and leave a review so we can keep bringing a little make-believe to the everyday.

Do you want to be on This is a Metaphor? Send Us a Text!

Instagram: @tiam.podcast &  @joyscout.mo 

For Guest Inquiries, collaborations, and questions:

Email Mo: [email protected]

“Don’t get Deterred, get Inspired” 

They came for Visual Effects, but stayed for coffee shop politics. On this episode Mo chats with fellow creative, and friend, Matt Lathrom. Agencies thin out while indie film gets louder, scrappier, and—somehow—more fun.  Lathrom, a multi-hyphenate VFX artist and producer whose credits include HBO, Netflix, and a growing list of indie features aiming at Sundance. Together they get candid about the gap between plan and reality, the strange relief of admitting you’re done for the day, and the gravity of trust when deadlines tighten.

Mo & Matt pull apart what makes creative collaboration work: leaders who ask questions instead of prescribing, teams that reward taste over tweaks, and the difference between micromanagement and meaningful direction. Matt shares where he finds the most freedom on set and in post, why some shows invite you to invent while others reduce you to a cursor, and how letting go can unlock better work. They also look upstream, at the industry’s bigger shifts—studio consolidation, the indie boom’s artistic payoff but thinner paychecks, and the evergreen tug-of-war between art and business that dates back to Wenders, Lucas, and Spielberg.

This is part 1

TIMESTAMPS, BABY

0:00 – Matt

2:36 – Sundance

6:48 – Meltdowns

9:06 – Time vs Reality

15:10 – Perfectionism

18:10 – Client vs Personal

26:20 – Dry Spells

32:20 – Community

36:40 – Recession

52:12 – AI (The Horror. The Brilliance! The Audacity)

Do you want to be on This is a Metaphor? Send Us a Text!

Instagram: @tiam.podcast &  @joyscout.mo 

For Guest Inquiries, collaborations, and questions:

Email Mo: [email protected]

“Don’t get Deterred, get Inspired” 

In this episode, Mo talks about how she set out to have the perfect morning: coffee, art, beach plans, and a finished painting. Instead, she found herself twelve hours deep slowly slipping into the void of an unfinished project. Or worse, a sh*tty painting. Along the way, Mo unpacks what happens when the vision in your head doesn’t match reality, and why having a plan is really useless when it comes to doing something you’ve never done before. 

Made-up Time Stamps that might be kind of helpful: 

00:00 – Invocation

02:30 – Ambition

05:00 – Struggle

07:30 – Fracture

10:00 – Doubt

12:30 – Toil

15:00 – Collapse

17:30 – Reckoning

20:00 – Shadow

22:30 – Redemption

Do you want to be on This is a Metaphor? Send Us a Text!

Instagram: @tiam.podcast &  @joyscout.mo 

For Guest Inquiries, collaborations, and questions:

Email Mo: [email protected]

“Don’t get Deterred, get Inspired” 

Mo dives into Hopecore, meditation, and the strange joy of carrots. She confesses to endless scrolling, whispering mantras, napping like a pro, and discovering that sometimes doing nothing actually counts as progress. This episode is about showing up, staying chill, and weirding out your inner child. 

Made-up time stamps you might find useless, or recklessly accurate:

00:00 – 01:00 – Brain fried toast

01:01 – 02:00 – Scrolling spiritual crack

02:01 – 03:00 – Carrots shock me

03:01 – 04:00 – Crunch equals enlightenment

04:01 – 05:00 – Instagram is therapy

05:01 – 06:00 – Meditating like potato

06:01 – 07:00 – Visuals whisper secrets

07:01 – 08:00 – Nap equals genius

08:01 – 09:00 – Emails officially dead

09:01 – 10:00 – Meeting serendipity happens

10:01 – 11:00 – Abs cry silently

11:01 – 12:00 – Glutes demand respect

12:01 – 13:00 – Cortisol belly drama

13:01 – 14:00 – Meditation creates chaos

14:01 – 15:00 – Inner child panics

15:01 – 16:00 – Hopecore overload initiated

16:01 – 17:00 – Journaling like mad

17:01 – 18:00 – Laugh, cry combo

18:01 – 19:00 – Weird enlightenment snacks

19:01 – 20:00 – Yoga almost illegal

20:01 – 21:00 – Power nap rebellion

21:01 – 22:00 – Gratitude meets sarcasm

22:01 – 23:00 – Self-help chaos vortex

23:01 – 24:00 – Weirding inner child

Do you want to be on This is a Metaphor? Send Us a Text!

Instagram: @tiam.podcast &  @joyscout.mo 

For Guest Inquiries, collaborations, and questions:

Email Mo: [email protected]

“Don’t get Deterred, get Inspired” 

In this episode, Mo sits down with her friend Curtis to talk Hollywood: L.A. burning as a metaphor for creativity, the writers’ strikes, and America’s fast food–style approach to content. They dive into the concept of money fasting—when you go without, what is it that you really want? With humor, insight, and candid conversation, this episode explores the clarity that comes from going without.

If you’d like to see more on Curtis, or Jump Theory: Check out www.JumpTheory.com, and to learn more about community, check them out on Instagram. 

Full disclosure: Curtis’ audio sounds way better than MO’s. She tried real hard to fix this but the technicality of video recording was much kinder to Curtis. 

Do you want to be on This is a Metaphor? Send Us a Text!

Instagram: @tiam.podcast &  @joyscout.mo 

For Guest Inquiries, collaborations, and questions:

Email Mo: [email protected]

“Don’t get Deterred, get Inspired” 

This week’s episode is a ride through friendship, butt jokes, and the bizarre ways the universe answers when you ask, “Where’s the money?” Over coffee with her best friend, a Capricorn card told Mo to be patient, and Uranus reminded her that change often comes with a punchline. From the intimacy of long-distance rituals to the Bratz doll that showed up in her meditation, today’s musings explore discipline, pleasure, and what it means to let anger fuel momentum. Oh, and yes, there’s also a thermometer story you won’t see coming. This one’s about schedules, rebellion, and the unexpected places where creativity—and maybe money—likes to hide.

Made-up timestamps you could use for the episode:

0:00–2:15 → Thursday Morning Rituals 

2:15–4:30 → Pulling the cards, Capricorn + Uranus, initial reactions.

4:30–6:00 → Deep dive: “Where’s the money?” hilarity & cosmic metaphors.

6:00–8:20 → Meditation insights + brat doll reflection.

8:20–10:00 → Anger, discipline, and showing up in creativity.

10:00–13:00 → Meditation from your anus.

14:00–18:30 → Have the Audacity

19:30–22:00 → A story about a thermometer.

Do you want to be on This is a Metaphor? Send Us a Text!

Instagram: @tiam.podcast &  @joyscout.mo 

For Guest Inquiries, collaborations, and questions:

Email Mo: [email protected]

“Don’t get Deterred, get Inspired” 

In this episode, Mo dives into the complex relationship with her own name—how a childhood lisp, early speech therapy, and the shame of not being able to say “Morgan” shaped the way she felt about identity and worth. From journals full of doodles and affirmations to the weight of credit scores and financial pressure, Mo traces how core beliefs get written into us early and how brutal the tug must be to pull them up by the root.

Timestampish:

[0:00-2ish] Growing up unable to say my own name and finding comfort in “Mo.”

[2-4ish] Speech therapy folders, repetition drills, and the power tucked inside names.

[4-6ish] My journals: half affirmations, half doodles, always a little embarrassing.

[6-8ish] Credit scores and money stress tangling themselves up with self-worth.

[8-10ish] Core beliefs, and murky thoughts.

[10-12ish] Flipping that idea—if no one cares, then I’m free to find something to care about.

Do you want to be on This is a Metaphor? Send Us a Text!

Instagram: @tiam.podcast &  @joyscout.mo 

For Guest Inquiries, collaborations, and questions:

Email Mo: [email protected]

“Don’t get Deterred, get Inspired” 

We all have friends that bring out the best in us, and some of us are blessed to have friends that bring out the wit, the horror, and the delightfully deprecated allure of brutal honestly. Enter my very good friend, Joseph Witowsky. A deep thinker, avid dater, home designing, button pressing genius. We make fun of each other and reflect on our current dating lives.

4:01: Intro to Joe

9:24: Sex Lives

15:06: “High Value” (ehhh)

22:22: Mo is a catch—why nobody catching?

29:42: Intentions in Dating

46:00: Know who you are and attraction will happen.

48:31: Closing and a reflection on “The Fool” in Tarot

Do you want to be on This is a Metaphor? Send Us a Text!

Instagram: @tiam.podcast &  @joyscout.mo 

For Guest Inquiries, collaborations, and questions:

Email Mo: [email protected]

“Don’t get Deterred, get Inspired” 

This is a Metaphor isn’t about what you think it’s about. It’s never about what we think it’s about. It’s deeply introspective, wildly human, and definitely artful. As a multi-disciplined human, I’ve found that the greatest gift I’ve been given is the one that deeply desires to connect as often, and as genuinely as possible with the room I’m in, and the world I’m exploring. 

This podcast is part musings, part conversation, with much space left for iteration, contemplation, and integration. This is a metaphor, and it is not without its stories, it’s magic, and it’s humor. 

This podcast is another way to push art into the world—less refined and untethered to perfection, these are free words, brought to you by a full-bodied creative mind—me, Mo Houston. A writer, illustrator, athlete, friend, and lover. And. A bunch of other things that are so literal that they deflate the magnetism of this introduction. Listen, follow, and connect.  

1:00: A Flight from Hawaii

1:44: What are you doing?

2:33: Artist Magic

4:55: The More You Do…

7:06: Guest/People Themes

______

People Themes: Comedians. Artists. Writers. Yogis. Thinkers. Musicians. Editors. Innovative Mother F*ckers. 

Industry Themes: Art/Design/Performance/Stand-up/Film/Fitness/Spirituality/Mental Health/Creativity/Publishing/Entrepreneurship. 

Do you want to be on This is a Metaphor? Send Us a Text!

Instagram: @tiam.podcast &  @joyscout.mo 

For Guest Inquiries, collaborations, and questions:

Email Mo: [email protected]

“Don’t get Deterred, get Inspired”