No Set Path: Entertainment Break-In Stories – Details, episodes & analysis

Rebecca Doyle and Michael Ritter react to submitted career regrets and how to avoid them yourself!

EPISODE BREAKDOWN:

1:30 - Not coming to LA earlier

6:10 - Not avoiding drama

9:35 - Not taking digital seriously + creative PR for indie films and digital vs. traditional 

23:00 - Not begging for your job back? 

27:38 - Not saving more money 

29:30 - Not pursuing acting as a child 

31:44 - Leaving a TV assistant job to go write samples alone

34:12 - Picking the wrong gig 

 36:20 - Focusing too much on a day/high-paying job and not making time for personal creative projects with friends 

38:44 - Being convinced by an agent to turn down a conscripted writing job 

40:48 - Don’t burn bridges, even if the people suck 

41:35 - Accusation of interview questions

42:03 - Leaving an office job to pursue personal stuff + not seeking mental health support earlier 

43:18 - Focusing too much on personal projects and not taking more union high-level work early

44:25 - Getting an entertainment-related education

45:26 - Getting sidetracked in reality TV

46:20 - Allowing senior employees to create insecurity 

48:20 - Not making your own content 

48:30 - Not stealing Michael Eisner’s rolodex

50:55 - Worked with (bad) influencers

52:24 - Not doing corporate or agency time early on

54:14 - Not asking for help 

55:26 - Snippy comments / picking this industry at all

56:05 - Sign with ICM instead of CAA

57:05 - Choosing VFX as a career

57:55 - Hollywood is the hardest thing, so we got this! - But start your S-corp early 

KEEP U

EPISODE BREAKDOWN:

1:00 - The question: if you’re making six figures, how did you do it? 

1:40 - Have a good attitude 

4:38 - To diversify or not diversify?

14:08 - Freelancer —> tech / marketing / entrepreneur 

16:55 - $100k+ as a DP - with rates ##

19:16 - Have multiple projects in various phases + be careful of talker$

22:30 - Does having multiple projects help burnout? 

23:17 - Work on long-running shows

23:38 - Apply for government funding (Canada, Europe etc.)

26:08 - Pay bills with branded + build portfolio  

32:50 - A dissenting opinion!

33:30 - Meeting 2 of 3 criteria for taking a project

35:40 - Getting hired through DPs + good attitude ($500k+)

37:50 - Work insane hours + go out and get what you want

38:27 - Get referrals, the jobs find you 

39:20 - Cold email

39:58 - Music videos —> self-funded features?

41:10 - Union DIT

42:29 - Corporate videos

43:20 - Building a portfolio, following up on connections years later

KEEP UP WITH THE SHOW:

All Platforms: @NoSetPathShow

bio.site/nosetpath

www.NoSetPathShow.com

In this episode we dive into how you can be using A.I. today as a filmmaker, current WGA and SAG guidelines post-strike, right of publicity a la the Scarlet Johansson / OpenAI dispute, and the context around copyright (how do you protect your own and not violate anyone else's!). BREAKDOWN:

2:13 - Ways you can start using A.I. to help you as a filmmaker

22:10 - WGA & SAG guidelines for A.I.

29:42 - Right to Publicity (ScarJo x OpenAI)

35:51 - Copyright - who owns what you “made”?

MENTIONED MATERIALS: WGA on AI: https://www.wga.org/contracts/know-your-rights/artificial-intelligence SAG on AI: https://www.sagaftra.org/files/sa_documents/AI%20TVTH.pdf "The Town" Episode on Scarlet Johansson vs. OpenAI: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6s1j9JYviMUrRb8mcYeR3C?si=e160db88cf4c4537 When Photography Wasn’t Art by Jordan G. Teicher https://daily.jstor.org/when-photography-was-not-art/ How Photography Pioneered a New Understanding of Art by Eva Silva https://www.thecollector.com/how-photography-transformed-art/ Read with me: Intellectual Property in the New Technological Age 2023 Vol. II Copyrights, Trademarks and State IP Protections: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1945555254?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details CONNECT WITH THE SHOW: All platforms: @NoSetPathShow bio.site/nosetpath www.NoSetPathShow.com

Monisha Dadlani is a multi-hyphenate actress, writer, and director. As a writer, she's developed projects with Sony Pictures Television, Netflix Features Animation, Amazon Studios, and MRC. She was also a freelance writer for an animated show on Apple TV+ and voices a series regular on a Nickelodeon International animated series. =She's a member of the WGA and The Animation Guild, an alumni of Ron Howard and Brian Grazer's content acceleration program, Imagine Impact, and had one of her scripts featured on the 2020 Black List. 

Today we dive into developing original material versus adapting IP, pitching on open writing assignments, and finding your voice as a storyteller. 

3:06 - Original scripts vs. open writing assignments (OWAs)

5:20 - IP is king (or queen!)

10:35 - Studio being on board vs. not yet

14:50 - One producer vs. two producers - navigating conflicting notes

17:00 - faithfulness to IP with strong fandoms

21:45 - Monisha’s first OWA for MRC + the process

27:05-  When to turn down an OWA

28:22 - Being part of the Netflix Braintrust

30:28 - Blind script deal at Sony + “if-come” deals 

33:10 - Pitching a PG-13 vs. R-rated version of an idea depending on the distributor 

35:50 - How Monisha started pitching on OWAs + Imagine Impact

43:11 - How the first script Monisha ever wrote was “not great” but landed her in the fellowship that launched her writing career

48:46 - Meeting with managers + choosing one of the 10+ that was interested (David Baggelaar at Goodyear)

52:27 - Why your agent might be hiding in the mailroom 

54:20 - What you should have in your writing sample to attract reps + jobs

59:10 - Monisha’s Black List script “The Boy Who Died” + a pitch to Daniel Radcliffe

1:04:25 - What the Black List can do for a career

1:08:15 - How to make one sample work for both YA, sci-fi, romance AND four-quadrant projects

1:09:39 - Joining the Writers Guild of America

1:10:00 - Growing up in NYC, attending the “Fame” high school, choosing USC School of Dramatic Arts

1:17:00 - Shooting a feature film with $5,000

1:18:55 - Storytelling side hustles + shooting a passion project web series

1:20:43 - TIME CAPSULE

Andrew Nallathambi is a manager in Film & TV at Range Media Partners. Andrew began his career in the early days of Range as one of their first Associate Trainees in November 2020, fresh out of USC. He went on to work as an Associate for two years on the literary side, and then held the Coordinator of Film & TV position before being promoted to Manager in the Film & TV group in March of this year. Today Andrew and gets into how to navigate an uncertain time in the industry and advance into a career you love, what managers currently look for when signing new talent, and how to be comfortable with the uncomfortable.  EPISODE BREAKDOWN: 2:09 - Andrew’s journey to being a manager at Range 4:11 - Landing a first job in the mailroom at CAA, losing it to the pandemic  7:20 - Being accepted into Teach for America as an English teacher when covid shut the entertainment industry down before pivoting back to an entry-level job in management 8:50 - Landing a job through lateral connections and being intentional with your time  12:28 - Balancing planning ahead with being adaptable: being comfortable with the uncomfortable! 15:30 - The joy of letting go of control: no one is 100% self-made 18:18 - Pursuing a career as an agent vs. manager 19:20 - Why not liking something is a good thing 22:55 - Pursuing things that are true to you, not things that everyone else says you should do  24:50 - Can you be a rep if you’re not extroverted? 29:10 - What if you don’t see people like yourself in the position you want?** 31:00 - How to make rejection useful  34:28 - What managers look for in clients to sign 41:10 - What sample should a writer have? Are we entering an era of a tonal shift?  47:20 - What is Andrew’s Range connect up to now?! 48:38 - Questions in a Hollywood assistant interview 52:37 - Being true to yourself will put you in the right place  53:10 - Andrew’s journey from childhood: drums, immigrant parents, inclinations toward art over academics, Blockbuster Video —> studying Cinema-Media Studies USC School of Cinematic Arts 59:28 - Advice for aspiring managers and aspiring clients  1:02:30 - How to do outreach effectively! 1:04:06 - How people got jobs through sending Andrew a cold email 1:05:00 - How to keep going when things get discouraging  1:09:45 - TIME CAPSULE KEEP UP WITH THE SHOW: All Platforms: @NoSetPathShow bio.site/nosetpath www.NoSetPathShow.com

Sam Boyer is an Indonesian-American writer who won the Nicholl Fellowship in 2022, was featured on the 2023 Black List, was a 2020 CAPE New Writers Fellow, and has twice been featured on the Black List's CAPE List. He earned his MFA from UT Austin’s Michener Center for Writers and his BA from USC's film school. In this episode, Sam dives into his process in landing a spot in each of these programs, how to face and overcome rejection, tips for making time and space to write, and why his hypothetical presidential platform would include free chips & salsa at every restaurant.  BREAKDOWN: 3:35 - Getting on the Black List 7:24 - Black List 2023 script - “Foragers” 14:00 - Getting the NIcholl Fellowship 25:25 - CAPE Writers Program 31:17 - Getting into Michener  at UT Austin 36:09 - Becoming an Academy Gold member 40:05 - Balancing work when you start out with a day job, making time to write, getting past writers’ block 50:57 - Tips for general meetings 55:43 - Getting initially rejected from SCA 1:00:26 - Rejection is normal 1:09:55 - Personal connection to stories 1:12:33 - Navigating management / reps 1:19:25 - Advice for people starting out / pivoting 1:26:39 - How he persevered through hard times 1:32:27 - The myth of the Overnight Success 1:34:19 - TIME CAPSULE CONNECT WITH SAM:  IG @samboyer  CONNECT WITH THE SHOW:  All platforms @NoSetPathShow  bio.site/nosetpath www.nosetpathshow.com

Rebecca Doyle and special guest Michael Ritter read and react to some anonymously submitted horror stories from Hollywood Assistants - complete with ranking the circle of hell each story's villain belongs to.

CONNECT WITH SPECIAL GUEST CO-HOST MICHAEL RITTER:

Instagram: @mkritter / @29goingonbreakdown LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-ritter-filmmaker IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5778236/

CONNECT WITH THE SHOW:

All platforms: @NoSetPathShow

www.NoSetPathShow.com

Ryan is a story editor on CSI: Vegas (check out his next episode coming out 4/21/24!) In 2018, he participated in the CAPE New Writers Fellowship, and in 2021 he part of the Paramount Writers Mentoring Program. Today we’re getting into how Ryan turned his day job into the final thing that made the showrunner of CSI Vegas want to hire him, Ryan’s final application strategy on the time he was accepted into the Paramount Writers Program, how to be prepared for an interview with a showrunner for a TV writer position, how to deal with burnout, and so much more. BREAKDOWN: 1:41 How Ryan got a job on CSI: Vegas 7:21 What makes a good director for a writer to work with 8:41 How to communicate with other departments as a staff writer 10:11 Are Zoom (Writers) Rooms the future of TV? 11:41 Getting hired on a show you’ve never watched 12:53 Should you work on procedurals? 15:31 Writing features vs. TV 18:40 Rejected from the Paramount Writers Program seven times before getting accepted 20:54  Cape New Writers Fellowship 25:20 Interview questions for a TV writer (CSI: Vegas) 27:10 How day jobs in writing contributed to landing a job in TV writing  30:20 Working through burnout  34:00 Write a procedural, not a Succession spec  37:10 - Don’t get precious, you need many scripts 40:20 Day jobs for writers 52:53 - Getting your first rep while still in college 55:15 - Decision to not have a manager 59:40 - Ryan’s “A story”! Example of how to pitch yourself in a TV writer interview  1:02:40 - Deciding: USC vs. NYU 1:05:20 - Advice 1:09:57 TIME CAPSULE

BREAKDOWN:

3:29 - Overview Recap: Ideating, buying gear, launch, frequency/release cadence, top 5 episodes

6:05 - Finding guests - do guests’ audiences matter?

8:56 - Analytics: Gender split!

9:10 - How to get on the charts worldwide as a small podcast

11:30 - Spotify Labs

12:29 - Getting monetized through Spotify for Podcasters’ Ad Ambassador program

14:13 - Going viral on TikTok with a podcast clip

16:35 - Top 5 Mistakes to Avoid in First Year of Podcasting - #1: Not having clear goals

18:10 - #2 Not seeing out advice from people actually executing at your level 

25:54 - #3 Not finding the balance of researching/preparing and starting/executing

28:17 - Avoiding tech issues + what gear I use

30:50 - Picking a hosting platform

31:35 - Total gear cost

35:19 - #4 Having unrealistic expectations about growing listenership 

38:00 - how to optimize other platforms to get listens on your podcast

39:20 - hot take: maybe don’t start a podcast

42:47 - #5 Not having realistic expectations for podcasting as a networking tool 

45:50 - Episode recap

CONNECT WITH THE SHOW:

All platforms: @NoSetPathShow

www.NoSetPathShow.com

David Gutel’s theatrical directorial debut “Forty-Seven Days with Jesus” hits over 900 theaters this March! In this episode, we get into how David set his feature up for success through casting from similar popular series “The Chosen”, distribution resources and tips for independent films, how he used real estate tech to pre-viz musical numbers, why he decided to do a faith-based film after initially being hesitant and how he transitioned to directing after 8 years as a 1st Assistant Director.

BREAKDOWN:

6:00 - Pre-viz for a musical: Lidar mapping (real estate tools?!)

13:34 - Challenges: strikes, Texas heat, mechanical failures of picture vehicles (sinking boat!)

18:08 - Getting theatrical distribution partly through casting actors from “The Chosen” 

24:10 - Distribution resources - Fathom Events & Pinnacle Peak as a resource for independent films, getting distribution abroad through hitting minimums at home

26:30 - Getting distribution tips recap + David’s initial connection to distributors 

29:10 - Market festivals vs. competition film festivals

30:25 - From 1st AD to director

41:03 - First job as second unit director

45:19 - Challenging shoots: When to rise to a challenge vs. abandon impending disaster

55:30 - Recap of David’s path in the industry

58:30 - Is film school worth it? David’s experience paying $24k for CSULB

1:04:00 - TIME CAPSULE

CONNECT WITH DAVID: Instagram @davidmgutel / @fortysevendaysfilm 

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/DeadMediaStore

CONNECT WITH THE SHOW

All platforms: @NoSetPathShow 

www.NoSetPathShow.com / bio.site/nosetpath