Creative Principles

Originally, Riley Stearns wanted to be a musician, but as he started to visit sets, he knew screenwriting could be his “in” to filmmaking. Today, he’s best known for being the writer-director of ‘The Art of Self-Defense’ and ‘Dual.’ In ‘The Art of Self-Defense,’ Jesse Eisenberg stars as Casey, a young man who gets attacked on the streets and decides to join a local dojo. In ‘Dual,’ Karen Gillan st...

“As a kid, I escaped into movies. Some movies inspired me to do something great. Some movies made me re-look at my life. Some movies made me long for love,” said Gigi Gaston. As a director, Gigi Gaston is known for her work on Rip It Off, The Nanny Murders, Fatal Memory, and most recently 9 Bullets, which stars Lena Headey and Sam Worthington. In this interview, Gigi talks about her mentorship wit...

Mike Roe always wanted to be a storyteller. Currently, he’s a writer for LAist, where he covers arts and entertainment. In one viral article, “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah from 30 Rock: an Oral History” Mike was approached to write a book on 30 Rock. In The 30 Rock Book, Mike interviews over 50 of the original cast members, crew, and critics. He discusses how the goofy show became an all-time classic, inc...

The son of Indian immigrants, Jimmy Soni grew up with his nose in a book. In high school, he was writing for the school paper. Today, he’s known as the former managing editor of The Huffington Post and is currently an author. Jimmy first published A Mind at Play about Claude Shannon, a mathematician and “the father of information theory.” His latest book, The Founders, uncovers the story of Paypal...

“When you see things that young, they tend to be tattooed on the brain,” said author Ric Prado. “The first firefight I saw, I was seven years old.” Black Ops is a memoir by “the highest ranking covert warrior to lift the veil of secrecy and offer a glimpse into the shadow wars America fought since Vietnam.” In this interview, Prado talks about his life as a legendary CIA officer, the responsibilit...

“I found that I really liked writing about human beings. I found I could apply my approach to anything,” said author Ian O’Connor. “I don’t feel like I write about quarterbacks and center-fielders and shooting guards as much as I write about human beings.” Ian’s most recent focus is Coach K. Mike Krzyzewski is a five-time national champion at Duke, the NCAA's all-time leader in victories with near...

“It wasn’t until acting and improvising that I really started writing,” said Brian Petsos. As a performer, he transitioned into writing and directing. Brian met Oscar Isaac early in his career and Isaac has been in all three of his films, including Ticky Tacky, Lightningface, and most recently, Big Gold Brick. His first feature, Big Gold Brick, is a story about Samuel Liston and his experiences wi...

Courtney Lilly’s writing credits include Invader ZIM, Arrested Development, Everybody Hates Chris, My Boys, The Cleveland Show, and Black-ish. In this interview, we go Ito the weeds about writing comedy, uncover the rhythms of a television, talk about universal needs in stories, discuss the writer’s room, and talk about the legacy of Black-ish as the series wraps up. You can also find more info on...

Ep339 - Chris Sheridan, Creating SYFY’s ‘Resident Alien’ “I always wanted to be a writer, but I didn’t know what type of writing I wanted to do,” said Chris Sheridan, who originally thought he wanted to be a journalist until he discovered screenwriting in college. “It immediately clicked.” Sheridan’s writing credits include shows like Living Single. Titus, Yes Dear, Family Guy, and most recently R...

Moses Storm was doing a show in the back of a comic book store when he was discovered by one of Conan O’Brien’s booking agents. Moses, along with Chris Redd (Episode 334), was asked to come improv a special show with Conan O’Brien. Over the years, Moses and Conan have become close friends where they’ve performed together and were Moses has done sets on the series. Currently, Team Coco are producin...

Christopher Riley and Kathy Riley met Coleman Luck, screenwriter of The Equalizer, who challenged them to an interesting idea: find the defining moment of a character. As a screenwriter, Riley has spent his life creating these moments in characters for the big screen. Now, he’s written a book on The Defining Moment to help other writers uncover these wounds and gifts that create character. In this...

Mike Sielski began his career following the woman’s basketball team as a sports writer at La Salle University. As a sophomore, he realized he could write a sports story in the same way he wrote his English papers, and he was hooked. Currently, Mike works for the Philadelphia Inquirer and has published books such as ‘How to Be Like Jackie Robinson,’ ‘Fading Echoes,’ and most recently, ‘The Rise: Ko...

“Films from the 70s really stayed with me,” said Tim Kirkby, Director of ‘Last Looks,’ ‘Action Point,’ ‘Fleabag,’ ‘Veep,’ and ‘Brockmire.’ His latest film, ‘Last Looks,’ stars Charlie Hunnam and Mel Gibson. The story follows a disgraced ex-cop who has a quiet life until he’s forced to return to his former life as a private eye to investigate a murder. In this interview, Kirkby talks about his fasc...

“I met with a guy and he gave me a show that was terrible,” began Chris Redd. “I went back to my talented friends who don’t do terrible comedy and said, ‘We should make a version of this.’ We kept jamming on that shit and there were four different versions, but it eventually became Bust Down.” Redd is known for his work on Saturday Night Live, Popstar, and Joker. His talented friends include Sam J...

Alice Wetterlund started her career with improv and stand-up. As a comedian, she’s performed on shows like Conan. As an actress, she’s best known for her roles on Space Force, New Girl, Silicon Valley, and most recently as D’Arcy Bloom on Resident Alien. Resident Alien stars Alan Tudyk, Sara Tomko, and Corey Reynolds. The plot reads: A crash-landed alien takes on the identity of a small-town Color...

“I have been writing screenplays since I was 13 years old. I have been writing for a long, long time, back before there even were screenwriting books,” said Neal Marshall Stevens, who has 45 writing credits on IMDB (and many more unlisted). “I think I bought an old Star Trek episode, which was totally inappropriate as a screenwriting guide,” he joked. “You could order screenplays back then, but th...

Weiko Lin’s writing comes from a place of pain, but also a place of fear. He was already a professional screenwriter when his mother passed away, but since this monumental moment, his work became more authentic as it changed his views on writing character. In this interview, Lin talks about his new book ‘Crazy Screenwriting Secrets: How to Capture a Global Audience,’ how to write about duality, wh...

As a literary agent early in her career, Jandy Nelson was attracted to “voice-driven work.” A poet and YA reader, she saw a path for herself in the subgenere of verse novel. “That’s when I wrote The Sky is Everywhere and fell in love with fiction.” In The Sky is Everywhere, the story follows a shy, teenage musician who tries to keep things together after the death of her older, outgoing sister. Ne...

Since elementary school, Dana Schwartz has been writing full-length books. Today, she’s known for her work as a writer, author, and podcaster. Most recently, Dana published the book Anatomy: A Love Story, which was recently chosen as a pick for Reese Witherspoon’s book club. Set against the backdrop of 1830’s Edinburgh, this is a gothic tale full of mystery and romance. Inspired by grave robbers a...

At age 25, Mike Mills found filmmaking through music videos, following the path of Spike Jonze, and eventually working with musicians like Moby and The Beastie Boys. Mills launched his career with Thumbsucker, an adaptation of Walter Kirn’s novel by the same name, followed by Beginners, and most recently, C’mon C’mon. The plot follows a woman who asks her radio journalist brother to help look afte...

Screenwriter James Vanderbilt returns for the third time to talk about his new film Scream. Look for James in Episodes 50 and 163 of the podcast for more great advice. In the new film, Scream, the plot reads, “Twenty-five years after the original series of murders in Woodsboro, a new Ghostface emerges, and Sidney Prescott must return to uncover the truth.” In this interview, James talks about writ...

Rebecca Sonnenshine “came to screenwriting last,” after making short films, capturing images, and attending Film School. After trying her hand at screenwriting, she discovered she loved the process. As a writer-producer, she’s best known for working on The Vampire Diaries, Outcast, The Crossing, The Boys, and now, James Wan’s Archive 81 for Netflix. In her new series, the description reads: “An ar...

“As a kid, I was so moved by these things,” said author Christopher Vogler about the world of cinema. “What made stories so exciting? I followed that trail to Film School at USC, where I encountered some of the ideas of Joseph Campbell.” Vogler’s Professor encouraged him to further explore the mythological signs that stood out to him, which led him to Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Thi...

“Necessity,” said Bashir Salahuddin, about his path to screenwriting, as he and his writing partner Diallo Riddle were limited in which roles they were given, even in sketch comedy performances in LA. The duo felt like there had not been a “boisterous black sketch comedy show in LA” since Keenen Ivory Wayans’ In Living Color (1990-1994). “We had goofy sketches, like Malcolm X doing stand-up and th...

Andrew Herr spent the bulk of his childhood playing hockey, until he moved senior year, and got involved with acting and theaters in the new environment. Herr is best known as Jonesy on ‘Letterkenny,’ where he plays one of two bumbling hockey players in a small town in Canada. The character-based series is made up of “hicks, skids, hockey players and Christians.” In this interview, Herr talks abou...