It’s here. The first episode of the New Story Podcast is live, and I couldn’t have picked a better person to start with.
My guest is John Aboud — Co-creator and showrunner of ABC’s Home Economics, writer on Penguins of Madagascar and A Futile and Stupid Gesture, and someone who’s staffed multiple writers’ rooms and read more scripts than he can probably count. He’s also a friend, which meant this conversation got real fast.
We talked about what it actually takes to build a career in this industry — how he got started from humble roots in Brooklyn, NY and his collaboration with writing partner Michael Colton. Rejection, how you keep going after the no’s; how he staffs a writers room and what separates a script that gets him excited from the hundreds that don’t, and the stuff nobody tells you when you’re starting out. We also touched on his roots as a Lebanese-American and what it means to see more representation on our screens. Overall, this was a very inspiring, candid conversation with one of the best in the business.
🎧 The full episode is live now on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and right here on Substack.
If you’re building a writing or filmmaking career, this one’s for you. Hit play, and if it’s useful, send it to someone who needs to hear it too.
More episodes dropping monthly — and a reminder paid subscribers have access to my Monday and Thursday deeper dive articles, monthly Substack LIVE AMA, Subscriber Chat and announcements for new events and workshops.
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