Past Due with Ana Marie Cox and Open Mike Eagle

Ana and Mike dig into the new Spider-Man as a movie about depression disguised as a blockbuster and what it says about a summer full of angry, lonely men on screen. Plus: Tom Holland praise, mourning the Facebook video scam that gutted journalism, and a genuine question about whether any view count anywhere is real. Get more at http://patreon.com/pastdue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit meg...

Journalist and 404 Media co-founder Jason Koebler joins us to talk about what it takes to build an independent newsroom. From the cost of defamation insurance to the weight of mailing your own merch, we get into the invisible math of staying scrappy without burning out—and the true cost of reader-supported journalism. Get more at http://patreon.com/pastdue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit m...

Mike opens up about the emotional toll of promoting his most personal album yet, while Ana shares about her new gig at Mediaite. The two compare therapy approaches, swap creative struggles, and discover Ana's memoir might be more haunted than she realized. Get more at http://patreon.com/pastdue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wrestler and podcaster Colt Cabana joins Ana and Mike to talk about building a life in wrestling. From getting fired by WWE to becoming a blueprint for sustainable DIY success, Colt breaks down the real economics of creative work—merch tables, mattress money, and all—and why betting on yourself might be the best decision you ever make. Get more at http://patreon.com/pstdue Learn more about your ad...

Comedian and writer Joey Clift returns to talk about first book deal money, the evaporation of publisher marketing, self-financing a 22-date tour, and why tribal casinos are actually closer to socialism than capitalism. Get more at http://patreon.com/pastdue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stand-up comedian and former NPR host Ophira Eisenberg joins us to talk about what happens after the salary ends. We get into public radio money, Sirius XM royalties, and the Gen X guilt of making content. Get more at http://patreon.com/pastdue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Malcolm Barrett joins us to break down exactly how streaming, with it's shorter seasons, invisible metrics, and evaporating residuals, might be breaking the working actor.  Get mote at http://patreon.com/pastdue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Comedian, writer, and union organizer Nato Green joins us to talk about 30 years of building worker power by day and doing stand-up by night, and why he's made peace with the fact that comedy will never be his primary income. Plus, how to negotiate any creative contract without getting screwed. Get more at http://patreon.com/pastdue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Actor, writer, and registered ER nurse Ambar Martinez joins us to talk about building a life out of two careers that are both all-consuming... and refusing to pick just one. We get into the economics of nursing your way through an acting career, how medical advising became its own income stream, and what it costs to keep proving yourself in two industries that each assume the other one is your rea...

Journalist and podcast host Sam Sanders joins us to talk about what happens when the thing you thought you wanted turns out to be too small. We get into the emotional and financial cost of walking away, what it means to do it yourself in a collapsing industry, and how to balance ambition with reality. Get more at http://patreon.com/pastdue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adcho...

Jamie Feldman and Rachel Webster, the duo behind the award-winning podcast Debt Heads, join us to talk about the 1978 Supreme Court decision that quietly eliminated interest rate caps and created the modern credit card crisis, why shame is the most profitable tool the financial industry has, and why the answer to "how did we all end up here" is never as personal as we've been told. Get more of thi...

Mike's running at full speed with no room to breathe, Ana's navigating the gap between making art and making rent, and together they unpack why showing up, week after week, broke or not, might be the only honest answer left. Get more at patreon.com/pastdue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer and author Rainesford Stauffer joins us to talk about what happens when you've spent your whole life working your way into worthiness and it still doesn't feel like enough. We get into the real economics of freelancing plus nonprofit work plus mentoring student journalists in Kentucky, what OCD has to do with financial anxiety, and what she actually tells young people entering the worst job...

Comedian Adam Conover joins us to unpack the real costs of the so-called "creator economy" from algorithmic gatekeeping to the crumbling of stable creative jobs. Get more at http://patreon.com/pastdue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex Goldman, co-creator of Reply All and current host of Hyperfixed joins us to talk about what it actually looks like to start over. We get into 18 months of floundering and how he ended up funding Hyperfixed with a $200,000 loan he's still paying back. Get more at patreon.com/pastdue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Actor, comedian, and podcaster Connor Ratliff joins us to talk about building a creative life out of the parts you can actually control. We get into SAG insurance that resets every year and what it actually means to lose a Spielberg role and feel genuinely okay about it. Hear more and support the show at http://patereon.com/pastdue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stand-up comedian Jackie Kashian joins us to talk about 40 years on the road and what it actually takes to stay in love with a job that never stops moving. We get into the real math of touring across four decades, why a 20-year-old podcast might be her smartest business decision yet, and what it costs to keep choosing the road over almost everything else. Hear the bonus version at http://patreon.c...

Mike Draper, founder of Raygun, the greatest store in the universe, joins us to talk about what it costs to stay in control of something for 21 years. We get into the real math of brick-and-mortar retail, the night he was $800,000 underwater with a hospitalized wife and a newborn at home, and what it actually means to build a business around "enough." Plus, a bonus conversation at http://patreon.c...

Musician and writer Rhett Miller joins us to talk about staying creative in an industry that keeps changing. From fronting the Old 97’s to writing children’s books, Rhett opens up about the financial rollercoaster of life on the road, the loneliness of independence, and the challenge of keeping faith in your work when the world stops clapping. Get more at http://patreon.com/pastdue Learn more abou...

Journalist Gillian Brockell spent a decade at the Washington Post, took a buyout thinking she'd be back in two years, and watched the place fall apart from the outside. She joins us to talk about what it actually cost to leave, why the buyout money wasn't Bezos being generous, what happened when she filed a major Emmett Till story and the new editors tried to make the bad guy look less bad, and ho...

Technologist, writer, and self-described "big fan of being a big fan" Anil Dash joins us to talk about what it looks like to spend 25 years watching tech eat everything from journalism to musict to blogging, and now the jobs of the people who built it. We get into 750,000 tech layoffs and counting, why the "learn to code" safety net is gone, and what happens to the creative economy when the partne...

Olivia Messer, journalist, novelist, and editor-in-chief of The Barbed Wire, joins us to talk about what it actually looks like to run an independent Texas newsroom. We get into why virality and revenue have essentially no relationship to each other, what she learned sitting on the management side of a union negotiation for the first time, and what happens to your own creativity when every single...

W. Kamau Bell, Emmy and Peabody Award-winning comedian and filmmaker, joins us to talk about what it actually looks like when the industry that rewarded you for doing the right thing quietly decides it's done doing that. We get into the real math of basic cable money, and what happens to a career built on diversity and inclusion when DEI becomes a liability. Three kids. Nine jobs. Every dollar, he...

Los Angeles-based photographer Kim Newmoney has shot for HBO, Showtime, Vogue, and Comedy Central. We get into what it actually takes to build a freelance photography career from the ground up, how a nail salon a 600,000 chickens play a role, and what all of it taught her about how to walk onto any set and make anyone comfortable in front of a lens. Hear the full episode at patreon.com/pastdue Lea...

To celebrate one year of Past Due, Ana and Mike look back at the conversations that changed them — featuring Baron Vaughn, Ian Danskin, and Mary Robinette Kowal — and wrestle with what it means to make work that matters in an economy that keeps moving the goalposts. (Part 2 of 2) Get more at patreon.com/pastdue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices