Explore every episode of the podcast The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast

THE BLURB: There’s a difference between writing movies and TV shows about the PARANORMAL and living it. KYLE YATES is a PARANORMAL INVESTIGATOR whose investigations overwhelmed his own initial skepticism. Meet a man whose willingly stood toe to toe with things that go bump in the night while they’re bumping in the night! SHOW NOTES I tackled the paranormal more than a few times while I was making Tales From The Crypt and The Outer Limits and various other TV and movie projects. But I never went at it from the perspective of Paranormal Investigator Kyle Yates. Though a skeptic […]

So – why do I say my friend Colman DeKay knows everybody? Because, as you’ll hear, HE KNOWS EVERYBODY! And, he’s so used to knowing everybody that he doesn’t even realize that he knows everybody. As you’ll also hear, Colman doesn’t drop names. But names – ones you recognize cos lots and lots of people know who they are – they come up in conversation because Colman was having a conversation with that person just last week. You know, like he’s having a conversation with you right now. An A List Literary Salon It’s been like that since Colman was […]

If ever there was a metaphorical “field of dreams”, it’s Hollywood. And, in order to get anywhere near that field of dreams, you’re gonna need either an agent, a manager or a producer. Hey – what if you could get all three in one person! In this episode I chat with JEFF FIELD – the man who manages my entertainment career. As you’ll hear, “manager” describes only one of the three Hollywood jobs Jeff’s held. Before he became a manager (mostly of writers, producers and directors), he was a topflight agent at THE WILLIAM MORRIS AGENCY (which became William Morris […]

Oscars-Schmoscars! It may be Academy Awards time in the rest of Hollywood, but here at The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast, we’re celebrating The HACK-CADEMY A-WEIRDS instead! It’s our bad-attitude approach to a business fast going down the creative toilet. As a matter of fact, GIL ADLER (producer of studio tentpole movies like SUPERMAN RETURNS, VALKYRIE and CONSTANTINE) is a VOTING MEMBER of THE ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS & SCIENCES. So, Gil will tell us how at least part of the Academy is thinking! But, before we get down to Oscars business, we have some catching up […]

This episode is part five of the BORDELLO OF BLOOD SAGA. The story will still make sense if  you haven’t heard the first four episodes, but you really do owe it to yourself to listen if you haven’t. Either way, you’ll agree: endings are NEVER pretty. Ever, ever EVER! As the production of “Bordello Of Blood” headed toward its climax, we knew we’d leave Vancouver with an unfinished movie in hand. That was ironic because our unfinished movie had finished one relationship (between Sly Stallone and Angie Everhart) and was on its way to finishing another – the decade-long creative […]

THE BLURB: What do SYLVESTER STALLONE, JOEL SILVER, DENNIS MILLER, ERIKA ELENIAK and ANGIE EVERHART have in common? They all contributed to making Bordello Of Blood a horrible, soul crushing experience. As things go from bad to worse, our local makeup special effects team wonders how to make blood, the whole cast and crew turn on Dennis Miller, Erika Eleniak decides she doesn’t want to do movies like “Bordello Of Blood” anymore,  Angie complains to Joel Silver about Gil, and we hear an infamous story about SYLVESTER STALLONE, a wireless mic and a blow job from the Assassins set. Never […]

THE BLURB: Location, location, LOCATION!!! Where you shoot your movie or TV show makes a huge difference. One surefire way to turn all your craftsmanship into pure crap is to shoot your movie or TV show somewhere it has no organic reason to shoot. For “Bordello of Blood“, that location was Vancouver, BC. Show Notes Vancouver is a fantastic place to shoot a movie. It’s a fantastic place to visit and live. I can’t recommend it highly enough! But, we didn’t go to Vancouver for any of the local scenery, culture or because of its movie-making chops; we didn’t go […]

Show Notes In this episode – part two of our five part retelling of the Bordello Of Blood saga – we’ll get into how and why we cast Bordello the way that we did. Spoiler alert – it was sheer fucking stupidity. But, hey – the story of Bordello’s tortured making earned this story a “BEST FILM PODCAST OF 2022”! Here’s a basic rule of thumb for anything where you’re going to hire actors. Get the casting wrong and you’re screwed. You can’t undo bad casting – except maybe by firing the actor. But, sometimes, that choice isn’t on the […]

SHOW NOTES Time flies when you’re having fun and, it turns out, especially when you do it while podcasting. As this podcast enters its fourth season – and fourth year in existence – I do it looking both backwards and forwards. The backwards part has to do with our origin story – the story we told when this podcast’s first episode dropped in March 2022. That would be the making of Bordello Of Blood. From my POV, the primo example of How NOT To Make A Movie. If you haven’t heard the origin story episodes (we repackaged them all together […]

When human beings began criss-crossing the globe, they took more than just strange and exotic products with them from place to place. They took stories, too. And despite sometimes vast cultural differences, very very often, those stories translated perfectly well. Different cultures might appreciate stories differently or for different reasons, but the essence of those stories translated and translates just fine. Great stories do not get lost in translation. In this episode, we’re going to talk about cinematic storytelling as an international language. Which, really, it is. Early moviemakers like Edwin Porter and D W Griffith more or less invented […]

Making a return visit to the podcast is my very good friend – and former agent – NICK MECHANIC. If you enjoyed Nick’s first visit, you’ll love his second. And if you haven’t met Nick yet, prepare to be blown away by the INSIDE LOOK you’re about to get into the film and TV business. At the DEAL-MAKING level. Where the rubber of creativity hits the road of commerce. As Nick’s great stories reveal, it’s a world brimming with both princes and thieves. How I Met Mechanic I first met Mechanic during the down years after “Tales From The Crypt“, […]

In this episode, we’re finally standing up for standing in. Well, our guess RON OSTROW is standing up for standing in. And it’s about bloody time someone did! Ron’s been acting for more than 45 years – on BROADWAY, in TV SHOWS and in FEATURE FILMS. You’ll find him in A FEW GOOD MEN, SPORTS NIGHT, THE WEST WING and THE INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONE. One of the appeals – to me – about the TV and movie business is how incredibly collaborative it is. It really takes a village of people to put on a show. No Small Parts When […]

Way, way back in season two, we sat down with screenwriter extradordinare, our good friend STEVE DE SOUZA. Steve kinda invented the MODERN ACTION MOVIE. He wrote the scripts for 48 HOURS, COMMANDO, STREET FIGHTER and, of course, DIE HARD. Die Hard set a new gold standard for action movies. If ever a movie, its hero and the actor hired to play them achieved perfection together, Die Hard did it That was almost in spite of itself.   Bruce Willis Like Bogie getting Rick in CASABLANCA, BRUCE WILLIS getting cast as John McClane was a happy accident. Die Hard was […]

Earlier this season, we had the absolute pleasure of chatting with SEAN CASSIDY, the son of actor TED CASSIDY and keeper of his dad’s flame. Sean does the horror convention circuit as SON OF LURCH. He really and truly does his dad proud! Ted Cassidy did something only a handful of actors can ever hope to achieve. Not only did Ted appear in iconic movies and TV shows (“BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID” and “THE ADDAMS FAMILY”), he got to speak iconic lines in both! Going in reverse order, Ted made his name playing the Addams Family butler LURCH. […]

There’s a bit of common wisdom that says, be careful when you meet the people you admire most. They can disappoint you profoundly and break your heart. Or they can exceed even your most heightened expectations and become gods in your mind. Or just plain old “God”. The creator of everything that matters. That’s how I felt about WILLIAM M. GAINES – publisher of EC COMICS and MAD MAGAZINE. I was one of those kids who read Tales From The Crypt and Mad under the covers. Not cos I had to, but because Bill Gaines’ oeuvre was so clearly subversive […]

The short answer is “The Dads From the Crypt Podcast“. One of the main reasons there’s a “How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast” is because there’s a Dads From the Crypt Podcast. I’ll dive into the story below, but one of the pleasures of podcasting – for me anyway – is watching other podcasters (especially ones I know) succeed. There are myriad reasons why podcasting is exploding right about now. And, one of those reasons is because podcasts can have horror, parenting and podcasting itself in common. The Dads From The Crypt I first met Jason Stein – one […]

Our good friend Brandon Routh is one of those “thoughtful actors”. Some, by contrast, are more intuitive. They let their guts and gut instincts guide them and their creative choices. In most cases, their life choices, too. But, that’s another conversation for another day and another podcast. I’ve no doubt that had Brandon become anything else – a doctor, a teacher, a businessperson – he’d have been just as thoughtful. But he’s a storyteller by trade. Being “thoughtful” is part of the gig. Maybe that’s why he’s so good at it. An Excellent Superman It’s why Brandon made and still […]

Today we’re talking about criticism – and why REAL movie critics really do matter. Here’s the thing about criticism. If you can’t take it, you have no business being in show business. Show business is all about getting and taking criticism. There WILL Be Criticism! From the moment you put any sort of creative idea on the table – whether in the form of a pitch or a script or a concept package – whether it’s the people you’re working with or the people you’re trying to sell it to – there will be criticism. First thing? You cannot take […]

Don’t ya just hate it when soap gets in your eyes? Nothing burns quite like it. Today, we’re going to talk about ACTING – but a very specific kind of acting. The kind they do in SOAP OPERAS like THE GUIDING LIGHT, GENERAL HOSPITAL, ALL MY CHILDREN, AS THE WORLD TURNS. Or like in the one soap opera aimed at people like me, DARK SHADOWS. It really is a particular kind of acting. And it requires a particular skill set to pull it off. Not every actor can. They get self conscious about it. Or they judge it. More fool […]

It turns out starting The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast set a lot of things in motion and opened a lot of damned doors. The most exciting of those newly opened doors is the opportunity to tell some mind-blowing stories in this medium that I have truly come to love. So, I started a little podcasting company. Costard & Touchstone Productions. The first C&T original production is a podcast called “The Donor: A DNA Horror Story“. I really and truly hope that you’ll check it out. If you’re a fan of Tales From The Crypt – or horror […]

How to write like a genius… sounds easy enough! And the way our guest CHARLES FLEISCHER writes, he makes writing like a genius seem easy. Spoiler alert: it’s not. You probably know Charlie as the voice of ROGER RABBIT. He’s also in the TALES FROM THE CRYPT feature film DEMON KNIGHT and a kajillion other movies and TV shows. Or, you may know Charlie as a stand up. Or an artist. or from his scientific work (he’s published actual scientific papers and done extensive research on MOLEEDS). But, you probably don’t know Charlie as a writer of short stories. Charlie […]

If you’re a regular listener to this podcast – or, if you catch us regularly on our YouTube channel – and, by the way, we’ll never turn down a “like” there – you know that we’ve always got our finger on the movie and TV business’s pulse. Cos we always want to know. Is it alive? Is it dead? Is it dying? Between the pandemic and then the WGA and SAG strikes – on top of the financial impact of the streaming wars on everyone but Netflix and Disney – the movie and TV business in Los Angeles at least […]

How can you not love movies? I grew up a movie lover. Movies – and the people who make them and appear in them – have shaped my life and the directions my life’s taken. Hell, one of the greatest joys of working on TALES FROM THE CRYPT was getting to work with some of the very people whose movies I adored. Like MALCOLM MCDOWELL, TOM HANKS, BUCK HENRY, KIRK DOUGLASS, BOB ZEMECKIS, JOHN FRANKENHEIMER, MICHAEL J FOX and WALTER HILL to name but a very few. I really do love movies! There are some – if I haven’t seen […]

One of the things we care about deeply here at the How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast is the future of movies and the MOVIE BUSINESS. Spoiler alert: it’s not in a very good way right this second. Nonetheless the next wave of filmmakers – like Leah N. H. Philpott and Jacob Leighton Burns, our guests in this episode – are looking for the swell that will bring them in – and bring them success in this insane business. The kid of hockey legend Ed Philpott, Leah’s from Newfoundland, Canada. She went from being a quiet kid to a […]

Join Gil and I as we catch up! In fact, this episode’s pretty much Gil and I just shootin’ the shit. But, to be perfectly honest, it’s some pretty interesting shit we shot! As you’ll hear, Gil is working on some extremely compelling projects. In The Beginning… When we started this podcast – three years and a hundred twenty-five plus episodes ago – we wanted to tell the story of how making a dumb little horror movie – Bordello Of Blood – wrecked not just a great creative partnership, but a friendship. As we’ve told it here, we weren’t even […]

We’ve met a lot of talented film makers over the years. My friend ART SEVADA has made some remarkable shorts. His first was nominated at the CANNES FILM FESTIVAL! Art grew up outside of YEREVAN, ARMENIA as the Soviet Union wound down. Since moving to America (when he was a teenager), Art’s made movies, music, art and all sorts of artfully designed products. He really is a style meister! As I’ve detailed on this podcast, part of my story was a two decades-long writer’s block. I had convinced myself I had no more stories to tell. That was a crazy […]

I have a confession: My freshman year of college, I was a bad roommate. I wasn’t trying to be one, I just was. My roommate – BRETT GOLDSTEIN – and I were both “dramaramas”. Drama majors. We came from similar backgrounds. We had a shit-ton in common. The one difference? I was very social and Brett was shy. Whereas I could have tried to help him cure his shyness by including him in my social life, I just went out and had my social life. In time – a couple of months – it created a wall between us. Unfortunately […]

Forgive me if I plant an earworm in your head: Steely Dan’s “My Old School”. In honor of it being September (as this episode drops), I’ve chosen to haunt that part of my long distant past, back when I was a student at VASSAR COLLEGE. Or, as I think of it sometimes, “My Old S’Ghoul”. Actually, I enjoyed the hell out of college. It was the mid to late 1970s. Far simpler in a kajillion ways. For me, it was a very good time socially. Even better creatively. I was in the drama department – a few years after an […]

In the mood to get “Booped?” You’ve come to the right place!

In this episode, we deep dive into all things FLEISCHER STUDIOS with our guest MARK FLEISCHER. While WALT DISNEY captured an idealized, orderly pastoral world that flowed from Disney’s Midwestern roots, Mark’s father MAX FLEISCHER and his uncle DAVE FLEISCHER reveled in the Urban America into which they emigrated – filled with oddballs and idiosyncrasies. Instead of MICKEY MOUSE, they created BETTY BOOP and KOKO and GRAMPY. And then they made POPEYE THE SAILOR a star and put SUPERMAN on the screen.  

Along the way, Max Fleischer invented the ROTOSCOPE – a way to project images onto a screen so as to trace them and use the traced images as the basis for the animation.

Fleischer v Disney

In the 1930’s and 40’s, Fleischer Studios and Walt Disney were the two big animation companies in Hollywood – and they very much competed with each other. Success in show business is never simple alas – and it wasn’t simple for the Fleischer’s either. And it didn’t necessarily produce happiness all around. We’ll talk about that, too.

We’ll also talk about Mark’s father RICHARD FLEISCHER who was one of Hollywood’s most versatile, talented and successful directors ever.

He directed movies like 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, FANTASTIC VOYAGE, COMPULSION, NARROW MARGIN, SOYLENT GREEN (“Soylent Green is people!”), AMITYVILLE 3-D and CONAN THE DESTROYER across a very long career.

Boop Happens

As this episode demonstrates, Boop happens. And a good thing, too. Because Betty Boop’s pretty much eternal. In fact, the first ever REAL LIFE BETTY BOOP is coming! Betty Boop is GOING TO BROADWAY in “BOOP: THE MUSICAL” – opening in 2025.

We’re going to talk about that, too.

So – if you’re in the mood to get Booped? Even if you’re not – don’t sit here reading this, hit play – and Get Booped!

Here’s a stone cold fact: it is really, really, REALLY hard to create an iconic character like Tales From The Crypt’s iconic Crypt Keeper.

For one thing, you can’t set out to create a character that will become iconic. That’s because it’s not up to the character’s creators, it’s up to you – the audience.

It’s your embrace – how warm it is – how long it lasts – that determines whether a character can even enter the “iconic” conversation.

With the Crypt Keeper, we ticked off all the boxes.

We created a character that a wide and widening audience still embraces – thirty some odd years after its creation.

But, HOW do characters like the Crypt Keeper GET created? Don’t they just spring fully formed – more or less – from one person’s fertile imagination?

Well, not really…

Every horror icon’s creation is complicated in its own way. And more than one person played a significant part.

Take The Frankenstein Monster.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly – Frankenstein’s author –

and her husband – the Romantic poet Percy Bysse Shelly –

were traveling with friends through Germany down the Rhine River in 1816.

At night, the travel party told each other ghost stories. Mary and her friends were all intrigued by the latest science: using electricity to spark dead limbs to life.

And, as they traveled down the Rhine through Germany, they heard local stories about a crazy local alchemist named Johann Konrad Dippel.

Dippel robbed graves and experimented on corpses at a very real place called Frankenstein Castle.

And then Mary Shelley – all of 21 – filled in the blanks – and published her book anonymously. She put her name on the second edition though.

In time, Mary Shelley’s character found a literary audience. But then a guy named James Whale directed the movie version of the book in 1931. And whatever the character had been on the page became the character in the movie.

And that’s the Frankenstein monster most people think of when they hear the name “Frankenstein”.

Remove any of those elements from the Frankenstein equation and there is no equation.

As you’ll hear – if you haven’t already heard this episode – it took puppeteer Kevin Yagher to create the Crypt Keeper puppet plus John Kassir to create the Crypt Keeper’s voice plus me to create the Crypt Keeper’s inner life plus Gil Adler – who directed and produced the Crypt Keeper segments.

Take any of us out of the Crypt Keeper equation – and this equation isn’t happening either.

When Kevin and John and Gil and I got together for that very first time, we  had never had this conversation before – about the Crypt Keeper’s creation story.

None of us knew the whole story ourselves – until we shared...

When Gil Adler and I took over HBO‘s iconic TALES FROM THE CRYPT at the start of its third season, one of our tasks was to reignite the series – or see it get cancelled. Crypt was a strange, hybrid creature. Today, talent moves easily from film projects to streaming TV projects and back. That didn’t happen in the mid-1990’s, when we made Crypt. The feature film world and the TV world didn’t mingle much (except for JOHNNY CARSON doing THE OSCARS). It wasn’t easy, but Crypt broke that rule. We merged features and TV every episode. So, it was both gratifying and instructive that we were able to attract a screenwriter like LARRY WILSON who had BEETLEJUICE and THE ADDAMS FAMILY to his screenwriting credit.

We had plenty of other feature film writers write scripts for Crypt. Few, if any, understood the show as intrinsically as Larry.

Larry grew up a huge fan of the EC Comics. His favorite movie was (and still is) the original BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. He loved it because it wasn’t just scary, it was funny, too. Like Crypt.

With Beetlejuice Beetlejuice about to drop, Larry’s a wanted person! But, as he points out in the interview, Crypt was an important part of his career. That was the case for almost everyone who worked on Crypt. That means we’ll have Larry not once, but twice. In this episode, Larry will “stick to the “scrypt”. We’re going to talk pretty much Crypt from start to finish.

Larry will revisit us in a few episodes to talk about the great book he’s writing – a history of making Beetlejuice and a screenwriting textbook all rolled into one terrific entertainment! But, that’s the future. We’re here to talk about the past today – about Tales From The Crypt – and Beetlejuice’s co-creator, Larry Wilson!

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Our good friend Roger Nygard makes his bread and butter editing and directing TV. Shows like Grey’s Anatomy, The League, Who Is America, Veep and Curb Your Enthusiasm. But, Roger’s passion – the thing that drives him creatively – is making documentaries. That’s part of what motivated him to write his new book “THE DOCUMENTARIANS: The Way to a Successful and Creative Professional Life in the Documentary Business“. Roger’s first documentary out of the gate was the raging success “TREKKIES” about, well, Trekkies.

From there, he went on to make Trekkies 2 and documentaries about The Nature Of Existence, The Truth About Marriage and The Comedy Store.

Roger’s interviewed an incredibly wide range of people for his movies. He’s tackled deep, provocative subjects. Throw in the DIY nature of making documentaries and you have to figure that when Roger sat down and wrote a book about how to make documentaries? Inevitably it was going to be not just meticulous, thorough and exhaustive, but entertaining-as-hell, too.

A lot of the stories Roger uses for illustration come from the making of “Trekkies”. As you’ll hear, Roger has always been a note-taker. It’s one of his suggestions about how to be a successful documentarian.

In fact, Roger is filled with great suggestions about how to make documentaries or even just movies and TV shows in general. And every single lesson he learned, came with a great story to go with it.

And it’s all right there on the page.

If you live in LA or will be in LA on Monday September 23 at 7:00 pm? Roger’s having a book launch party at West Hollywood’s BOOK SOUP!

And all you have to do be part of it? Just show up! If only the rest of life was that easy…

Welcome to another in our series of “TALES FROM THE CRYPT” reunions. This episode’s guest – JOHN LEONETTI – isn’t just a great director of photography and director, he’s from one of HOLLYWOOD’S LEGACY FAMILIES. His dad FRANK LEONETTI was a sought after gaffer who helped light THE WIZARD OF OZ and SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN. John’s brother MATT LEONETTI DP’d movies like POLTERGEIST, FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, COMMANDO and JAGGED EDGE. While John would go on to DP and direct movies like THE CONJURING and ANNABELLE, John’s really here to celebrate the thing we all have in common: TALES FROM THE CRYPT.

We’ve said on the podcast repeatedly what a remarkable experiencing it was making Crypt.

How Crypt Changed TV

With hindsight, we can now see all the many ways in which Crypt really was remarkable. And remarkably influential. Crypt changed television because Crypt changed HBO.

Before Crypt, back in the 1990’s, the feature film world and the TV world were two separate things.

One could – like Robin Williams or Tom Hanks – go from TV into features. But, if you were going from movies into TV? Your career was dying.

The first two original series at HBO – First And Ten and Dream On – were basically regular TV shows but with tits and the word “fuck” thrown in.

Then Crypt executive producers – Joel Silver, Dick Donner, Walter Hill and Bob Zemeckis approached HBO with an idea to do little horror movies every week as a TV show – all based on a classic comic book from the 1950’s.

How Crypt Changed HBO

John Kassir – the voice of the Crypt Keeper – tells a story (he told it, in fact, on this podcast) about the cast and crew screening of the first three episodes just before the show premiered.

Some crew guys – having just seen the first episode – were talking amongst themselves. “Wow,” says one, “That’s great TV!”

“It’s not TV,” says the crew guy next to him, “It’s HBO”.

The two HBO executives in the row ahead suddenly turn and look back. They just heard HBO’s new ad slogan – and HBO’s new way of seeing itself.

When it comes to how Crypt “saw” itself, one of the key people responsible was JOHN LEONETTI. He was director of photography on eleven episodes including some of the very best.

In fact, John Leonetti DP’d Season One, Episode One, the very first Crypt episode ever: Walter Hill’s amazing “The Man Who Was Death”.

Conjuring Annabelle

After Crypt, John made a name for himself as both a DP and a director of horror. His success putting James Wan’s vision onto the screen in THE CONJURING got John the gig directing ANNABELLE.

As you’ll also hear, John grew up living and breathing the movies – cameras especially. His family’s been in the movie business almost from its start.

Remember how John’s dad Frank (before he opened a hugely successful film equipment rental house) was a gaffer at MGM.? He worked on movies like WIZARD OF OZ and SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN. Well, ironically, one of the Crypt episode’s John DP’d was “STRUNG ALONG” which starred DONALD O’CONNER. From SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN.

See? It comes full circle.

The guy’s not just a Tales From The Crypt Alum, he’s a movie legacy.

Here’s John – and our Crypt reunion…   

Our guest today is both a friend and a co-worker. John Kiriakou is a former CIA officer. After 9-11, John was part of the CIA’s covert team tasked with tracking down Al Qaeda’s leadership.

Abu Zubaydah

In March 2002, Pakistani forces with CIA support captured the man we thought was Al Qaeda’s number three: a man with the nom de guerre ABU ZUBAYDAH.

For the first 60 hours that we had Abu Zubaydah – as he recovered from severe wounds suffered during his capture, John Kiriakou was his handler.

He built up a relationship with Abu Zubaydah. A degree of trust.  

Ultimately, Abu Zubaydah provided significant intelligence though, in the end, he wasn’t the number three at Al Qaeda. Despite those two facts, we waterboarded Abu Zubaydah 83 times.

John deplored the Agency’s turn toward torture. Heart sick over it, he ratted out the program. And then spent 18 months in federal prison for doing it.

John’s written a number of books about his CIA experiences. He’s made TV shows. And (here’s where the co-worker part kicks in) he and I are about to drop a new podcast together called PRISONER EX.

“Prisoner Ex” is about people who are in prison – here in America and around the world – but who shouldn’t be. The podcast’s mission is to tell all these stories, but, more importantly, its mission is to empower the audience and tell them specifically what they can do to help make these prisoners ex ex prisoners.

A Quick Note

A quick note for those who watch us on our YouTube channel – Alas, our visual elements this week – beyond this intro – are gonna be kinda sparse merging on non-existent.

We only ever think we have the technology. In point of fact, the technology always has us.

But. hey – on the bright side, if you experience this podcast sonically, you’ll never know the difference.

So – if you like spies and spy stuff, boy, is this episode’s right in your wheelhouse.  Even if you don’t, this episode will open your eyes.

Here’s John…

We hereby call to order the first meeting of the How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast’s SHAUN OF THE DEAD FAN CLUB! How’s that for a SLICE OF FRIED GOLD? Leading today’s meeting will be our guest writer and entertainment journalist CLARK COLLIS author of the definitive (and only as far as we know) book about the making of Shaun Of The Dead, “YOU’VE GOT RED ON YOU“.

While we’re on the subject, Clark’s book is terrific! It’s chock-a-block with incredible detail about not just a seminal horror-comedy (not a crowded field) but it’s auteur – EDGAR WRIGHT.

This could just as easily be the first meeting of the Edgar Wright Fan Club, too. Synthesizing the COEN BROTHERS (especially RAISING ARIZONA), MARTIN SCORSESE and QUENTIN TARANTINO, Wright walks onto a movie set the movie already envisioned inside his head. His task: convey that vision to the craftspeople collaborating with him. Clearly, he’s figured out how to do that (and it took figuring out as our conversation will detail). Wright has a distinct visual style that’s visceral, driven and irresistible.

His film making finger is always measuring the movie’s pulse.

Or showing us a character’s literal thought process as they puzzle out a solution to the zombie problem bearing down on them.

So, if you’re already a hard core Shaun Of The Dead fan, or just a casual admirer, grab a chair and settle in. This one bites deeply into the flesh.

But, you know what they say: “Safety first, Shaun!”

The idea seemed so natural. Get WILLIAM FRIEDKIN – director of “THE EXORCIST” – to direct an episode of our little horror anthology TV show – “TALES FROM THE CRYPT“. It just so happened that RICHARD DONNER – director of another great contemporary horror classic, THE OMEN – was one of our illustrious executive producers. It made hiring Friedkin a no-brainer to us.

But then, another of our EP’s – the mercurial JOEL SILVER – told us (or, rather, screamed at us) that we were crazy.

“He’ll kill you! He’ll fuckin’ kill you!” is how Joel put it.

Now, remember: that was Joel Silver talking and Joel was notorious for being someone who “fuckin’ killed’ other people as easily as he breathed. But, Gil and I persisted.

We figured, compared to Joel, how fuckin’ crazy could Billy Friedkin be?

Have We Got STORIES!

As you’ll hear in the episode, Gil went right at that question and invited Billy to lunch where Gil read Billy the riot act right up front. He put Billy on notice that we shot every episode in five days – even Zemeckis! – so Billy wasn’t getting a sixth day no matter what, so he better toe the line right fucking now!

For a moment, Gil was convinced that Billy was going take a swing at him. But, then Billy laughed instead. He had come out of guerilla filmmaking, so this – using our wits more than our wallet – felt familiar in the best ways.

Billy had no issues whatsoever playing by Crypt rules. And his episode – “On A Dead Man’s Chest” is a classic.

Our Panel

Helping us reminisce about our collective experience working with this iconic, mercurial, driven but deeply collaborative talent will be Randall Thropp (Crypt’s wardrobe supervisor), Todd Masters (Crypt’s make up special effects guru), Sherrie Rose (one of the episode’s actors), Ed Tapia (Gil & Alan’s executive assistant) and Jason Stein (one of the Dad’s From The Crypt – who co-executive produce this podcast).

One of the joys of doing Crypt was getting to work with some iconic filmmakers. With some – like director Billy Friedkin, it was both a joy and a Master Class. Quick note – we recorded this confab a few days after Billy died August last year.

To mangle Shakespeare, we did not come to bury Billy, we came to praise the hell out of him!

As we’ve said here before, one of the very best parts of doing Tales From The Crypt (and there were lots of best parts) was getting to work with incredibly talented people. This episode features another TALES FROM THE CRYPT reunion – this time with comedian RITA RUDNER who starred (alongside her friend RICHARD LEWIS in the episode WHIRLPOOL (directed by MICK GARRIS).

Rita didn’t start out as a standup. She started out as a dancer (which she started doing at three). One of the things we spend some time talking about – in our sit down with Rita – is the journey that took her – via dancing and Broadway – to comedy.

How did a nice, gentle person like Rita survive the very male, very rough-and-tumble world of standup comedy?

How has Rita survived as long as she has doing comedy?

One way is by being multi-talented. She writes as funny as she speaks – which made Rita (and her husband Martin Bergman) one of the most sought after re-write teams in the business for a while. Together they wrote PETER’S FRIENDS for Martin’s college friend group (you know, people like KENNETH BRANAGH, EMMA THOMPSON and STEPHEN FRYE).

And, we talk about what it takes to still be funny in a world as deadly serious as ours. There are ways to do it!

So, join us for the reunion!

You know how you meet someone – on the set of a movie – say TALES FROM THE CRYPT PRESENTS DEMON KNIGHT, and the first thought that hits you (after “wow, he’s a nice guy”) is “Wow – that guy is smart, too!”? That’s Charlie Fleischer!

Being smart – especially that smart – has a lot of the same hallmarks as being nuts. Those kinda people tend to focus with manic intensity on things.

And when they do, they kinda look like they know things no one else does.

Yeah – that, too, is what it’s like meeting and knowing Charlie Fleischer.

Most people know Charlie as THE VOICE OF ROGER RABBIT.

CHARLIE AS ROGER

But that was hardly Charlie’s first time at the rodeo.

Since the 1970’s, he’s appeared regularly in human form as an actor and standup, on TV and movies.

He was a regular on “Welcome Back Kotter” and “Laverne & Shirley”. He appeared on “Laugh-In” and “The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson”. The second time Charlie did the Carson show, he did panel. Sitting beside Johnny was the point of the exercise. Charlie had – and has – a solid body of acting work to his name and credit.

But, Charlie Fleischer is way , waaaaay more than just an actor and comedian. He’s a Renaissance Person who paints, creates music – and writes scientific papers.

We’ll get into all of it as we try and answer the question we posed in the episode’s title.

Is Charlie nuts? Or is he just smarter than everyone else?

You be the judge…

Here are the art pieces we reference in the podcast –

The Rhythmnic shimmer Of Glimmer Waves Museum Of Self Reflection Monroe Boat

Here is a link to one of Charlie’s Ted Talks –

Dirty little secrets… Show biz is filled to the brim with em. And Tobe Hooper’s dirty little secret? It might just could blow your mind…

One of the greatest things about doing TALES FROM THE CRYPT – and there were lots and lots of great things about it – was getting to work with all the talented people we got to work with. There were a lot of pinch me moments because of it.

Kirk Douglass, Tom Hanks, Daniel Craig, Billy Friedkin, John Frankenheimer – our executive producers Dick Donner, Bob Zemeckis and Walter Hill – see?

Pinch me!

And, prominent in the Pinch Me Club experience was working with horror meister TOBE HOOPER. Tobe wasn’t just another horror director ffs, he was one of the inventors of the modern independent horror movie! He was also a terrific movie-maker (in the most serious sense) to begin with.

And a terrific person on top of it all!

Tobe’s Dirty Little Secret

Spoiler alert – that’s Tobe Hooper’s big, dirty secret. For all the blood and gore and horror he envisioned, the man himself was absolutely lovely. A real pleasure to know.

In this episode, in addition to sharing our own stories about working with Tobe – and, in Gil’s case, knowing Tobe as a friend – we’ll talk to KIM HENKEL – cowriter with Tobe of the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE screenplay – and a longtime friend of Tobe’s.

We’ll talk to LEVIE ISAACKS.  Levie was one of Tobe’s regular directors of photography. He has an uncredited voice role in Chainsaw.. And, of course, Levie was a long time DP on Tales From The Crypt.

Finally, we’ll talk to the DADS FROM THE CRYPT – Jason, Jody and Mando – all huge Tobe Hooper fans – fand get their insights into Tobe and his considerable body of work.

So – if you’re a Tobe Hooper fan, you’re in very, very good company with a lot of other Tobe Hooper fans.

Now, you can keep a secret, right?

Killer Klowns v Crypt Keeper

In this one, we talk CREATIVE SYNERGY. In this case, the remarkable synergy between our guests THE CHIODA BROTHERS, creators of KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE (celebrating its 35TH ANNIVERSARY). The Chiodas also create lots of other great MOVIE & TV work including some brilliant stuff for TEAM AMERICA, the SIMPSONS and MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON.

Synergy is a remarkable thing. It’s the spark that ignites when a collaboration between two people suddenly takes wing.

That spark can also ignite between lots more than just two people. And, when it does – and the synergy starts to flow – there’s nothing like it.

Gil and I had to find each other in order to become a creative team. The Chiodas had an advantage because they were brothers.

Now, not all family acts become THE MARX BROTHERS. Plenty turn into the MURDOCHS or the REDSTONES.

But, the Chiodas – Stephens, Edward and Charles – had synergy from the drop.

You can feel it in their puppetry and their puppet creations – everything from MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON, work they’ve done on THE SIMPSONS and for TEAM AMERICA (among many, many others).

And, of course, you can witness it in all its glory in the Chioda’s masterpiece, the B movie classic “KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE“, now celebrating its 35th anniversary.

When Gil and I were doing Crypt – all those years ago – our management (ours and the Chioda’s) – thought there’d be synergy between the five of us.

The whole idea was the KILLER KLOWN guys plus THE CRYPT KEEPER guys equals movie or TV series gold! Back up the Brinks truck, brother!

Alas, we never got that far down any creative roads together.

Or, should I say, we haven’t yet. Who knows what creative “mischief” a bunch of Killer Klowns and the Crypt Keeper could get up to together…

Everybody needs a good mechanic, am I right? Someone who understands what you have and what you might could do with it. Alas, not all mechanics are created equal.

For a decade or so, I had a GREAT mechanic.

Well, he wasn’t actually a mechanic, he was my agent. His name is Nick Mechanic but, most people called him just “Mechanic”.

Willie Mo, Parts 1 & 2

For a long time, I was repped by the iconic William Morris Agency (back before they joined with the iconic Endeavor agency to become the super-duper iconic WME agency). During my first stint at Willie Mo, my agent Carol Yumkas (a friend to whom I still owe an apology), scored me a couple of feature gigs. During my second stint – after I’d partnered with Gil Adler, after we’d been running Tales From The Crypt – got us all kinds of cool action.

One things agents and managers do a lot is mix clients together to try and create both synergy and an additional paycheck. Our agent at the time – Mark Itkin – scored us lots of cool stuff: a pay or play development deal at ABC Productions (which we squandered alas!) and a project in development with STAN LEE (who they also represented at the time).

Eventually, Gil and I parted ways with William Morris… then I parted ways with Gil and spent some time in the representation wilderness. Until my friend and occasional co-writer Scott Nimerfro suggested I meet with a young buck who was tearing it up at a boutique talent agency called “The Agency”.

Enter The Mechanic

From the moment we first sat down together – or prowled around the desk at each other – Nick and I bonded. He got me, I got him. We got us. Nick got me onto The Outer Limits as a co-executive producer – a great gig at a moment when I most needed it.

If that was the only thing that ever happened between us, I’d be eternally grateful to the guy. Ah, but there’s so very much more!

If I tell you he’s a character, I’m underselling him. Nick was and is a force of nature. And his story – like his stories – will blow your mind.

In addition to being a great agent and living The Hollywood Life on a knife’s edge, Nick also has been a drug addict, a fall-down-pass-out-take-him-to-the-ER drunk, a convicted criminal and, now – THANKFULLY – a person in full recovery, fighting that good fight (to stay recovered) every damned day. And succeeding!

Not your average Hollywood story, Nick Mechanic.

Not even remotely. But so very worth a listen!

Join us as we revisit a perfect example of How NEVER To Make A Movie, perhaps the worst dirty movie ever, CALIGULA (Roger Ebert certainly thought it was and who are we to argue?). How did this immortal fiasco happen? Didn’t all those famous actors like JOHN GIELGUD, PETER O’TOOLE, HELEN MIRREN and especially MALCOLM MCDOWELL know what they were signing onto? Why did the movie’s author, GORE VIDAL, take his name off the movie entirely (when it was supposed to be called “Gore Vidal’s Caligula”)?

Our mission with The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast has always been to give our audience a truly inside baseball, nuts-n-bolts view of the process that goes into making movies and TV shows with an especial focus on what happens when all that film-making craft turns to crap.

It’s easy to be mediocre. Hell, anyone can do that.

Excellence v Suckage

Excelling at things is much harder. It requires work – and that’s regardless of whether the work product being produced is good or bad.

I speak from painful experience.

I worked my ass off making Bordello Of Blood – and I knew it was going to suck even as I made it.

Okay – I think it sucks. Its audience doesn’t.

But, making that movie was an unpleasant, unsatisfying and unrewarding experience in every way up until the moment we started making this podcast about it.

As I think about other examples of “How Not To Make A Movie”, plenty spring to mind.

Mediocrity Is EVERYWHERE!

Like I said – mediocrity is everywhere. Good thing, too.

If everyone was excellent all the time?

Excellence would be the new mediocrity and who needs to work that hard?

There have been plenty of bad film-makers who wanted to make GOOD movies but… simply lacked the talent – or any grasp whatsoever of the cinematic language.

And there have been and are film makers who don’t actually speak it.

Guys like ED WOOD – a man who couldn’t even achieve mediocrity he was so untalented – made nothing but bad movies.

It’s perfectly understandable that Ed Wood and his movies define suckage. And that’s why – to me – guys like Ed Wood can’t possibly count here.

There’s low hanging fruit and then there’s them. Even the bugs and mold don’t want them.

How NOT To Make A Porno

A year ago, we published this episode about the making of Caligula – How NOT To Make A Porno”.

It’s been a very popular episode.

If you’ve heard or seen it already – I’m biased of course – but, I think you’ll find it’s worth another listen.

The story of how Caligula got made is that batshit crazy.

If you haven’t heard it yet, you’re in for an even bigger treat.

It’s the story of a man and a vision. And a lot of very talented people. And a disconnect.  The result?

A movie so stunningly bad, it takes your breath away.

And, while you’re watching it? The will to live.

Anyone Can Do It…?

These days, anyone can make a movie. Anyone can make a porno.  Lots do!

Audiences...

The CRYPT KEEPER – the iconic host of HBO’S iconic TALES FROM THE CRYPT TV series – was just an animatronic puppet of course. But he completely represented everything about the show. He was and is the show’s “franchise”. But, if there was a “real” Crypt Keeper – a kind of Ground Zero for everything Tales From The Crypt –  it was EC COMICS publisher WILLIAM M. GAINES (Bill Gaines – who also created MAD MAGAZINE).

In creating the Crypt Keeper (he only exists in the show; he appears nowhere in the EC comic books), what we were really trying to capture was the very essence of Bill Gaines himself.

MAD & EC COMICS

I grew up a huge fan of Mad and the EC Comics that preceded it – like Tales From The Crypt.

Just reading Mad was like getting a Masters Class in comedy.  At Mad, they celebrated Bill Gaines – the man they worked for – even as they made fun of him.

Now, while Bill Gaines didn’t write or draw anything himself, he was the writing and the artwork’s organizing principle.

It may not have flowed from him literally, but it flowed from him nonetheless.

EC and Mad both represented the world as Bill Gaines saw it.

Working For THAT Man

Back when I was huddled under the blankets with a stack of Tales From The Crypt comic books? It would have seemed a total impossibility that one day, I would write and produce the TV version of one of Bill Gaines’ creations.

It would have seemed an even bigger impossibility that I would get to meet him – and get his blessing for my TV version – as part of the bargain.

And yet, that happened.

With one or two exceptions, I have never been a starfucker. God, I don’t care about stars. But Bill Gaines was one of those exceptions.

Meeting him – and I say this as a devout atheist – was like meeting God. And it definitely lived up to the moment.

Yeah – Bill Gaines inspired me.

Wanna color outside the lines? Go ahead!

Wanna point at the emperor and the fact that he’s not wearing any clothes? Point away – and make sure to laugh extra loud at the emperor’s microscopic schween.

What, me worry?

No, Alfred E – I ain’t worrying. Cos you ain’t worrying.

Let’s revisit our friend “The Reluctant Vampire”. MALCOLM MCDOWELL. When I was a kid, just beginning to acquire a “taste for cinema”, one of the first movies that gave me that taste was STANLEY KUBRICK’s “A CLOCKWORK ORANGE”. But, there was another Malcolm McDowell movie that struck me even more round about the same time: Lindsey Anderson’s “IF” (that’s the old “If“, not the new “If”).

When I was 16, I took part in a little research study. A group of the smart kids from my high school were shown “If” and then asked a bunch of questions about it.

The movie’s about a boy’s military school in England and what happens when one of the students – Malcolm’s character – begins to plot against the uptight upper class toffs who run the place.

Malcolm’s entrance is fantastic! So’s the rest of his performance. In fact, his work in “If” is what got him cast in Clockwork Orange.

As Stanley Kubrick said when he saw If – We found our Alex!

As I’ve said here frequently, one of the great thrills of making TALES FROM THE CRYPT for HBO was getting to work with actors and directors and everyone in between from all those movies I’d fallen in love with while I was falling in love with the movies.

Clockwork Orange was a double header. I also got to work with – and became quite close with AUBREY MORRIS. He plays Mr Deltoid, Alex’s counselor-slash-parole-officer. Aubrey appeared in Bordello Of Blood.

Malcolm epitomized our approach to casting Crypt. We always wanted to cast against type – especially with our stars. Malcolm was still building a career playing dark characters and villains when we met him.

Later in his career, he went on to play Sauron in Star Trek: Generations – that’s the guy who kills Captain James T. Kirk – you can’t get more villainous than that.

We cast Malcolm as THE RELUCTANT VAMPIRE. A vampire who, frankly, hates killing people. So he gets a job as a night watchman in a blood bank.

It’s a very sweet episode.

In addition to talking Crypt and Clockwork and If, we’ll touch on another part of Malcolm’s canon:

CALIGULA.

Here on the podcast, we’ve focused on Caligula as an example of both how not to make a movie and how not to make porn.

Boy, does Malcolm have Caligula stories!

But, first, we’re gonna talk a little footie…

This very definitely is a “special episode” of the How NOT to Make A Movie Podcast. In the TV business, calling things “Special” has a long, rich history. “Special Episodes” are usually “relationship” episodes tied to family. Well, that’s exactly how we feel here at The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast – about our new SISTER PODCAST – THE DONOR: A MODERN HORROR STORY.

https://videopress.com/v/XJf8u7Al?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true The Donor Is Great Storytelling…

We’re also fans of great storytelling here – of course – and one thing I can tell you about The Donor: A Modern Horror Story is that it tells a story you probably haven’t heard before. And in addition being a great story? It’s absolutely TRUE!

It’s about a guy named HAL who worked his way through medical school in the mid 1980’s as an anonymous sperm donor.

Jump forward 25 years.

Now a successful radiologist, Hal was one of personal genomic company 23AndMe’s very first customers – interested in learning about his health genes.

But there were ramifications to adding his DNA to 23AndMe’s growing DNA database. The biggest? Hal the anonymous sperm donor lost his veil of anonymity.

Suddenly seven total strangers found “daddy”.

That was surprising enough for daddy. But, it was way, WAAAAAY more surprising to Hal’s donor kids – all now adults. Six of them had no idea whatsoever that they were the product of a sperm donation.

It’s a rollercoaster ride of a story. And you’ll learn about a world you probably didn’t even know existed.

…And It’s A TRUE Horror Story, Too!

As for it being “A Modern Horror Story” – well, there are definitely a few monsters.  

We really are proud of The Donor here at Costard And Touchstone Productions. So – please – check out episode one: “Who Am I?”

We hope you enjoy it and want to hear more of this limited, 7-part series.

While episode one will be available everywhere podcasts can be found, the rest of the podcast will only be available at our website – thedonorpodcast.com.

Better yet, save your fingertips and point your phone at the QR code.

But, first – here’s episode one of “The Donor: A Modern Horror Story – Who Am I?” for your listening pleasure.

We talk a lot here about ACTORS and ROLES. How to cast certain roles and how to play them. When the role in question is a SUPERHERO (or a super hero), it changes the equation for actor and whoever’s hiring them. Some actors – like BRANDON ROUTH – seem almost fated to play certain roles – in Brandon’s case SUPERMAN.

As a kid, he dreamed about playing Superman – while growing up in IOWA – in the MID-WEST – in the middle of the corn belt. You know, just like Clark Kent and Superman.

When Brandon got to LA, he learned that WARNER BROS was planning a Superman reboot.

Equal parts hustle, circumstance and luck got him not just an audition for Superman, but the role itself in SUPERMAN RETURNS. What was it like pup on the red cape that other actors – some of them legendary – have put on as well?

Brandon has found peace with Superman. Since Superman Returns, Brandon has donned the cape for LEGENDS OF TOMORROW and the BATWOMAN TV series.

He plays another superhero – RAY PALMER/THE ATOM on CW’s ARROW. Of course, Brandon’s done lots of other things, too.

That’s really what this interview’s about. That and learning how to be super when NOT wearing the cape.

Ultimately, that’s where this conversation leads.

Ever been haunted by a movie? “Tales From The Crypt Presents Dead Easy” is a movie that, to this day, still haunts us.

The Harlequin character we created for “Dead Easy” had ‘franchise!” written all over him! He had “Great Movie!” written all over him, too.

“Dead Easy” is the movie we should have made instead of “Bordello Of Blood”. It was the movie we started to make. Hell, we spent six weeks in New Orleans prepping the movie, scouting locations and setting up shop. Then Universal Pictures (our studio) pulled the plug and the rest is history.

But, our loss is now your gain! The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast presents a TABLE READ of the unproduced second TALES FROM THE CRYPT branded feature film DEAD EASY. The one that “got away”… .

Our cast for the table read: SEAN ASTIN, JAKE BUSEY, TIA CARRERE, BRETT CULLEN, JOHN KASSIR, CHELSEA REBECCA and LESLIE ZEMECKIS. As the CRYPT KEEPER might put it, it’s an entertainment SPOOK-tacular!

Unmade Classics

Some movies become “Unmade Classics” because they go unmade. They become the cinematic equivalent of zombies.

DEAD EASY is one of those movies. We set out to make it as the second “TALES FROM THE CRYPT” feature film (after the very successful first feature “DEMON KNIGHT”:”). Alas, three weeks before the start of principle photography, our studio – UNIVERSAL PICTURES – cancelled “Dead Easy”. Instead, they had us make a movie we didn’t want to make – BORDELLO OF BLOOD. And therein lies not just a tale, but the basis for this whole podcast!

As our first season wound down in 2022, we wanted to 1) celebrate and 2) raise some money for a charity we feel strongly about – the Motion Picture Home. Crypt fans had been asking for years about Dead Easy. In particular, they wanted to read the script. They wanted to know – did a hard copy of the script even exist?

The answer was – yeah – a copy of Dead Easy’s production draft did exist – and, so, we decided to let the fans experience it – for better and/or worse. And, so, we put together a table read. Our casting director VICTORIA BURROWS did some more of her Cryptian magic and pulled together a great cast. Sean, Jake, Tia, John and Leslie all have Crypt connections. Brett and Chelsea were new to the Crypt fold.

As it’s a table read, it’s technically rough in places. We apologize for the audio quality – and the occasional sound of trains passing. Hopefully, you’ll get seduced by the story we wanted to tell – and all the coulda-shoulda-woulda’s had we made “Dead Easy”.

We first met comedian and podcast host Ken Reid when he invited us onto his podcast, the terrific TV GUIDANCE COUNSELOR.

In addition to being a big “TALES FROM THE CRYPT” fan, Ted is a BOSTON-BASED STAND UP and a fantastic STORYTELLER.

His approach to comedy is via story rather than jokes. That, I suspect, is where our minds all come together.

Ken also has a great sense of the absurd! That also is where our minds come together.

Gil and I have done a fair number of podcasts… we talk to people every week on our podcast – same as Ken. But… I don’t know – when we first sat down and talked to Ken on his podcast? Something sparked.

We really liked talking to Ken.

So, it was natural to return the favor and have Ken on our podcast.

But, wouldn’t ya know it – that same spark showed up again! What can I tell ya? We just love talking to this guy – and the conversation feels like it.

In this one, we talk a lot about comedy. Ken was deeply inspired by punk rock (and bands like The Damned), filmmaker JOHN WATERS and shows like THE YOUNG ONES. We’ll also discuss what makes things funny, how to convey funny, how to be funny.  

And what does it even mean to even have “a sense of humor”?

Does everyone have one? The answer may not be “yes”…

As you’ll see – with plenty of laughs along the way – being funny is some serious shit.

And Ken Reid is a stand up guy in every way there is!

Quick Note – we talk about a great story Ken tells about he and his dad finding an elderly neighbor dead in his house. Now you know where to find it!

There are cultural icons and then there’s BARBIE. GRETA GERWIG and MARGOT ROBBIE’S movie is a brilliant reconsideration of that icon. But, a storyteller you’ve probably never heard-of helped shape our whole perception of that icon. Before there was Gerwig and Robbie, ANDREW GALLERANI was BARBIE’S BFF.

From 1988 – 2015 (that’s 27 years!), Andrew directed most of the Barbie ads seen around the world. There was a patch in between where he directed for Barbie’s competition – BRATZ among others – but, that’s what motivated MATTEL to bring Andrew back.

As you’ll hear, it takes more effort to stay on the mountain than it ever does to climb the mountain.

A Study In Going For It

Andrew’s story is a study in just going for it.

Take his rock-n-roll career. Andrew’s band (he was their drummer) opened for acts like CHUCK BERRY and THE J. GEILS BAND. Or how his career as a filmmaker began. Andrew “stumbled into” a commercial production house. They hired him and taught him the nuts and bolts of storytelling in an audio-visual medium.

Then it was a matter of chutzpah. Andrew approached movie producer JOSEPH E. LEVINE on a New York City set one day and brashly told Levine he, Andrew wanted to do what Levine did. Levine must have liked something about Andrew – and his cajones – because several months later, he invited Andrew to be a guest on the set of another movie (Levine was producing).

Andrew will tell you about how he took that opportunity and turned it into a career.

But, There’s MORE!

We’ll also talk about a few movies and shorts Andrew’s done that deserve your attention. There’s THE ROLE OF DELLA, KILLING GEORGIA JONES, LOST and GET WRITE. Lost is a compelling short about suicide. It’s a great “conversation starter” kind of piece. Get Write is a ROMANTIC COMEDY starring Jeremy Piven, Sherilyn Fenn, JoBeth Williams and Wallace Shawn.

But, we talk a lot about Barbie – and how you help create a cultural icon. Is Andrew Gallerani BARBIE’S BFF? In a lot of ways, he just may be…

The last thing you’d ever think – if you read my friend TOM SULLIVAN’S bio – is that he’s blind. In fact, Tom is one of America’s most famous blind people. He’s written and produced movies & TV shows, sung THE NATIONAL ANTHEM at THE SUPER BOWL, and written more than a dozen books including IF YOU COULD SEE WHAT I HEAR and LEADING LADY. Tom wrote Leading Lady with his dear friend BETTY WHITE. When he’s not SKIING or PLAYING GOLF or RUNNING MARATHONS, Tom’s uplifting people as one of America’s most sought after MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKERS.

Prepare to feel uplifted by this episode. That’s pretty much its headline.

Though blind since just after birth, Tom never wanted blindness either to define him or limit him. . And it hasn’t!

Some pretty remarkable people have mentored Tom along the way – including DR. MARTIN LUTHOR KING, JR and actor MICHAEL LANDON.

We also talk a lot about writing – and what it takes to be successful as writing partners. It’s not the case that good writing partnerships demand equal typing time. Some writing partners contribute intangibles – like the unique way they experience the world.

If you’re in need of a spiritual lift, a brain cleanse or even just a few minutes of something positive, spend some time with Tom. You may even find that what he says opens your eyes.