You Can't Make This Script Up

Disclaimer: We love DC Comics! We just have… a lot of questions! 

Things we talked about in the episode include:

• The Batman spinoff TV series “Gotham Central” on HBOMax 
• The DC Universe - highs and lows
• Marvel Cinematic Universe versus the DC Cinematic Universe: an impossible but inevitable comparison
• The messy rights ownership of X-Men, Spider-man and Fantastic Four
• Chris Evans’ journey to becoming Steve Rogers aka Captain America (Listen to the story here in THR’s podcast “Awards Chatter”)
• End of credits scenes from the MCU
• The Batman (2021) with Robert Pattison and all the other batmans of our lifetimes (Christian Bale, Ben Affleck, etc.) 
• The new trailer for the Zack Snyder cut of Justice League
• Greg Berlanti, Dailyn Rodriguez and the new Wonder Girl series on The CW
• DC on The CW and the Arrowverse
• Other DC characters we love: Eve Coffin, Zatanna and Vixen.
• Looking for superhero inspiration in the public domain
• Our superhero project, Miss America and how to make an “universe” genre film in the vein of “Captain America: The First Avenger” 
• Creative executives and development ideas
• Creating a cohesive vision. What’s the… (dare I say it?) ....endgame?
• The endless storylines of different comic book superheroes
• The Nolan Batman trilogy and Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman films
• The Frozen documentary series - Into The Unknown: Making Frozen 2 (2020) on Disney+
• Jennifer Lee, CCO of Disney Animation Studios AND writer/director of Frozen and Frozen 2
• Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Frozen and Frozen 2 songwriters
• The Spanish Princess on STARZ (and Brittany’s overall love for historical limited series about famous princesses.) 

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Surprise! Nelly’s gonna play Chuck Berry... only in Hollywood! 

Things we talked about include: 

• Breaking on camera and Caitlin’s bad audition
• Ellen Chenoweth, casting director (True Grit, A Bronx Tale, Meet the Parents, Doubt - the list goes on!) 
• The Buddy Holly biopic “Clear Lake” with Colin Hanks, Ruairi O'Connor and Nelly
• That Thing You Do! (1996)
• Our endless ongoing discussion of Almost Famous (2000). 
• What a biopic? 
• Franklin Leonard and The Black List
• Elizabeth Shapiro, actress, writer, singer - multi hyphenate AF! 
• Impact Creative Systems, Imagine Entertainment’s incubator program 
• Walk the Line (2005) and Rocketman (2019)
• Actors who sing in music biopics versus ones who don’t. 
• Beyond the Sea (2004) 
• Ray (2004) and Jamie Foxx’s singing bits in his stand-up
• Selena (1997 movie) and Selena (2020 Netflix series) 
• John Llyod Young and the Jersey Boys (2014 musical film adaptation)
• Straight Outta Compton (2015)
• Guest appearance by Brittany’s cat, Boots - meow! 
• Love & Mercy (2014) and the Wrecking Crew, session musicians (Here’s a cool doc on them!)
• Are biopics better or worse with the artist and their families being involved?
• Elyse Hollander, screenwriter and her Madonna biopic screenplay “Blonde Ambition” 
• Madonna to direct and co-write her own biopic at Universal. Diablo Cody to co-write project (Juno, Tully, Young Adult)
• When are you being a control freak and when are you taking control of your narrative? 
• Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980)
• “13 Reasons Why” actress Ann Winters dresses up as Madonna to get the role in her biopic and... knocks it out of the park. (Instagram)
• Our music biopic “People Like Us” - the rise and fall of the Mamas and the Papas. 
• Telling the story of the band from the POV of Michelle Phillips and Cass Elliot. 
• Michelle Phillips autobiography (California Dreamin': The True Story of the Mamas and the Papas) and the Vanity Fair article 
• A Dolly Parton biopic - Megan Hilty, Reese Witherspoon or Scarlett Johansson? 
• Marilyn Monroe biopics - My Week With Marilyn (2011), SMASH (2012) and Blonde (2021)
• Jenna Evans Welch, author and her book series “Love & Gelato”, “Love & Luck” and “Love & Olives”
• Regina King’s directorial debut “One Night in Miami” (trailer here!)

Hey, what gives?! Why do creatives get boxed into corners of the industry? 

Things we talked about include:

• Deadpool 3 writers are Bob Burger’s Writer/Producers -  Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Loeglin aka The Molyneux Sisters.  
• Fox animated series - The Great North (coming 2021) and Bless the Hearts
• Jillian Bell, actress (Workaholics, Godmothered!, 22 Jump Street)
• Scriptnotes, John August and writing GO (1999) on spec
• Why aren’t comedies recognized at awards shows?
• Jim Carrey’s performance as “The Grinch”
• Why is it so hard to be known for multiple genres as creators?
• How we connect the lines from our “brand” to our body of work
• Lord and Miller switching to directing live action with 21 Jump Street (2012) after Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs (2009)
• Patty Jenkins, Monster (2003), Wonder Woman (2017), and Cleopatra (upcoming with Gal Gadot)
• TNT’s “I Am The Night” (2019) a series about a suspect in the infamous Black Dahlia murder.
• Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems (2019) and Mo’Nique in Precious (2009)
• Post-Mad Men Jon Hamm doing comedy in Bridesmaids, TAG, 30 Rock, Kimmy Schmidt, etc. 
• We hired a career coach! They asked us a lot of hard questions. Lol. 
• Are there more opportunities in streaming? Should you write tv over features?
• Netflix’s original programming in 2013 - OITNB and House of Cards (which is the first netflix original series.) And their investment in features like The Old Guard (2020) and Extraction (2020). 
• Brittany’s favorite Hollywood lingo - “Is there a world in which…” 
• Expanding a feature to a series
• The House of Mouse aka Disney 
• Quentin Tarantino got a book deal. (Also check out his movie theater in LA - The New Beverly Cinema.)  
• Phoebe Waller Bridge, creator and star of Fleabag. Also known for her acting, producing and writing - Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), BBC’s Killing Eve series and No Time to Die (2021). 
• Shocking! The Crown’s Emerald Fennell - scene stealing Camilla and ALSO the showrunner for the second season of Killing Eve. The talent!
• Lulu Wang, director (The Farewell)
• Shadowing directors and diversity programs 
• Rian Johnson sweatshirts 
• Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club YA selection - “A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow” by Laura Taylor Namey
• “Mexican Gothic” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel García Márquez
• Serial killer doc on HBO “Crazy, Not Insane” (2020)
• Helter Skelter, 1974 book by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry
• Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Murder She Wrote, Law & Order: SVU, Dateline

Yo, ho, yo, ho - let’s talk about sequels, reboots and spinoffs! 

Things we talked about include:

• STARZ's historical women anthology series
• The definition of “novel”
•  “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”, composed by Klaus Badelt
• The original Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy 
• “The Pirate King”, Gilbert and Sullivan and British operetta
• Hunter Harris - Instagram, Twitter and the Vulture article
• Super Yaki, the clothing brand that we always talk about
• The tweet about The Mummy 2 and masks
• Margot Robbie and Christina Hodson’s Pirates spin-off
• Craig Mazin's Pirates reboot
• The Shining tweet that makes fun of the Disney movie schedule
• Bob Iger, executive chairman of The Walt Disney Company
• WB asks Johnny Depp to leave Harry Potter prequels
• Lucky Exports Pitch Program: Margot Robbie and Christina Hodson’s incubator program for women-identifying writers in the action genre
• Millie Bobby Brown’s new project Damsel
• THR feature on Chloe Zhao (Nomadland and The Eternals)
• Dee Rees, director
• Carey Mulligan: If Dee Rees was a white man she'd be directing the next Star Wars
• Kathryn Bigelow winning her Oscar for The Hurt Locker (2010) (Correction!!)
• The Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland and it’s scent
• Wonderful World of Disney and the opening of Pirates in 1968
• Elizabeth Holmes, royal fashion writer 
• Not this Elizabeth Holmes though.
• Zendaya Essence cover story (NOTE: this is actually a recreation of Donyale Luna's 1965 Harper's Bazaar cover) 
• The Verge’s feature on Law Roach

Once upon a time… Our Origin Story!

Things we talked about in the episode include:

• Cedartown, Georgia (Brittany’s hometown)
• Pacific Palisades, California (Caitlin’s hometown)
• The baby born on the Mayflower (Oceanus, NOT Americus - sorry! #correction)
• The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA)
• YA aka the genre of Young Adult 
• Contact, the dance show
• Missed Connections on Craigslist
• Ripley Grier is OPEN! (Chelsea Studios however is closed.)
• The New School
• The OC and Gossip Girl - tv series
• Little Miss Sunshine (2006) and Brittany’s homework
• Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat (aka where to find the “Beat Sheet”)
• Theme in storytelling
• Malcom Gladwell and the 10,000 Hours theory
• Star Wars and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
• Wookieepedia
• The Ringer’s Binge Mode: Star Wars Podcast Series
• The Princess Bride (1987), Robin Wright and Wonder Woman (2017)
• Outlining a screenplay, writer’s block and world building
• Princess Leia - why do we love her? Why is her story so compelling? 
• What is Retcon?
• Harry Potter films and Daniel Radcliffe
• Adaption versus original material
• WW2 female stories and Pearl Harbor (2001)
• Super Yaki (@superyakistuff on IG) and the Prequels top
• The Artist’s Way and morning pages
• Fake deadlines and screenplay competitions 
• Getting notes
• Partnership/Collaboration
• Clone High, animated MTV series (2002-2003)
• Lord & Miller’s BAFTA Screenwriting Masterclass

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Twitter got into it re: Iron Man 2 versus Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Naturally, we had ~thoughts~! 

Things we talked about in the episode include:

• Hot tweets on the topic at hand
• A Tale of Two Marthas - The clip and the Zack Snyder BTS intel
• All the DC features are available on HBOMax - go watch em! 
• Kevin Feige, president and CCO of Marvel
• Correction: Caitlin called phase 1-4 of the MCU just phase 1... obviously that's wrong. 
• Wonder Woman (2017), Wonder Woman 1984 (2020), Black Widow (2020), and Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey (2020).
• Caitlin on the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki
• Chris Evans, his political website and the NY vs Boston rivalry
• Joss Whedon, writer/director of Avengers (2012)  and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
• The Russo Brothers, directors of Avengers: Infinity War (2018)  and Avengers: Endgame (2019)
• Scarlett Johansson - Black Widow (2021), Marriage Story (2019) and JoJo Rabbit (2019)
• Taika Waititi - BAFTA Masterclass, Star Wars and The Mandalorian season one 
• The top ranking DC movies in terms of box office
• Michael Shannon, beloved character actor - Revolutionary Road, Boardwalk Empire, and like, so many more amazing films. 
• Our Town, Off-Broadway production with Michael Shannon
• Cate Blanchett as Blanche Du Bois in A Streetcar Named Desire at BAM
• Scarlett Johansson and Liev Schreiber in The View From the Bridge
• The Ringer’s Binge Mode: Marvel series - available on Spotify
• Kevin Feige’s Origin Story on THR’s podcast “Awards Chatter” 
• Gwyneth Paltrow’s quote on balance and wellness

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Plucked from obscurity! An overnight success! But… not really!

Things we talked about in this episode include:

• Day jobs and being support staff in Hollywood (Here’s a pretty good idea of what a typical day as an assistant looks like.)
• Life after AMDA - actors in the wild. Classes, auditions, commercials!
• Being a casting assistant and a development/production intern
• Ronnie Yeskel, casting director (Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs) 
• Teri Weinberg, producer (The Office, The Tudors, Ugly Betty)
• Doing background acting for film, tv and commercials
• Reading scripts and writing coverage
• The Social Network (2010) and screenwriting icon, Aaron Sorkin
• The Second City LA, The Groundlings, Mikey Day and SNL
• Bridesmaids (2011) and Kristen Wiig & Anne Mumolo 
• Re-writes, punch-ups, improv - jokes!
• Superbad! (2007) and Seth Rogan & Evan Goldberg
• Working in film and TV in secondary markets (Atlanta, Canada, etc.) 
• Independent filmmaking and being adaptable 
• Optioning a book and adapting a screenplay
• The perks of being in LA
• Off-Broadway plays and self-producing theater in NYC
• Manhattan Movement and Arts Center
• Global ad agency, Leo Burnett and NY cultural institution, the Village Voice newspaper
• Hurricane Sandy in 2012
• Being an assistant aka “on a desk”
• Finding inspiration from your day job (Brit’s experience in development and pitching. Caitlin’s in talent management.)
• Bad bosses in Hollywood and toxic work environments (Read more on it here.)
• Be nice to other assistants! They will probably be in Hollywood for a long time!
• The death of Quibi
• Netflix, HBO and Writer/Creators owning their work (Taylor Swift and Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You.)
• The myth of being an overnight success
• Doing your dream job in the free time when you aren’t doing your day job
• Helena Bonham Carter’s performance as Princess Margaret on The Crown
• Ken Jennings, LeVar Burton and the future of Jeopardy! (RIP Alex Trebek)

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The Scorpion King reboot, monster movies and the Tom Cruise coconut cake!

Things we talked about in the episode include:

• Dwayne Johnson reboots The Scorpion King with Universal
• Stephen Sommers’ The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001)
• Jonathan Herman, screenwriter (Straight Outta Compton, F9, Scarface reboot)
• Tom Cruise’s The Mummy (2017)
• Universal Movie Monsters
• Earwolf’s How Did This Get Made “Van Helsing” Episode 
• Dwayne Johnson’s Tequila - Teremana
• Dwayne Johnson’s stylist, Ilaria Urbinati (@ilariaurbinati on IG)
• Mallory O’Meara’s “The Lady From the Black Lagoon” 
• The Ringer’s Binge Mode: Marvel “The Incredible Hulk” Episode 
• Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water (2017)
• Jake Johnson, Lauren Lapkus and the Jurassic Park/World franchise
• Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein 
• Cary Fukunaga’s Jane Eyre (2011)
• Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie and the MI franchise
• MI:6 Fallout BTS
• The MI:7 Train Viral Video
• Tom Cruise’s Coconut Cake (If you’re in LA, get it here at Doan’s Bakery in Woodland Hills, CA.) 
• The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix
• The Crown Season 4
• Diana, Princess of Wales and her casual outfits
• Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (book and 1997 film)
• Biden/Harris 2020
• Universal Healthcare
• The Black Sheep Sweater
• Katie Sturino and Super Size the Look (@KatieSturino on IG)

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We're Caitlin Gallo and Brittany Harris. We’d like to introduce our new podcast - You Can’t Make This Script Up. We’re two best friends, born worlds apart - brought together by a need for applause and strong coffee. 

We live in LA and have been working in various facets of the entertainment industry for the last ten years. We’ve been actors, interns, assistants, development execs, talent reps - the list goes on. But in 2018 we finally decided to go where... many, many have gone before - and turn our writing hobby into a writing career. 

As we navigated this new venture, we found a lot of advice about “breaking in” to the industry was dated and that most people talking about their experiences in film and television were A-list men.  So we thought - what the hell, let’s let the world know what it’s like to be a female writing duo in 2020 Hollywood. And thus - this podcast was born! 

Just keep in mind, we’re making it up as we go. From two up-and-coming screenwriters - a podcast about Hollywood.