Act Two Podcast

Hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman talk about being rewritten! It's going to happen to you sooner or later... What does it mean? What do you do when it happens? Why does it happen? Also, Happy Halloween.    Questions/Comments: ActTwoWriters@gmail.com   Edited by the great Paul Lundquist   Music by 414beg

Hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman chat with Zach Baylin about his career, process, tennis, different Hollywood jobs, and how he secured the job to write KING RICHARD.    Questions/Comments: ActTwoWriters@gmail.com Edited by the great Paul Lundquist Music by 414beg

Tasha's getting married! So this week, hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman talk about love in the movies. What are their favorite romantic films, and why they make the cut from a writing perspective? Let's talk about love!   Questions / Comments: ActTwoWriters@gmail.com Edited by the GREAT Paul Lundquist Music by 414beg

Pitching is terrible. But, it is a necessary evil. All pitches start from the mere seed of an idea and must be built into a pitch script that can dazzle and impress executives enough to pay you money (or, more likely, pay you their boss's money, risking their own jobs if you fail).  So, in this episode, hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman do an impromptu brainstorming session on a surprise logline to...

Hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman bring back the Fireside Chat by answering specific questions from a college student on ways to break into the industry, and from a listener on the differences between a pitch for a rewrite job and an original.    TWIW: Is Jurassic World: Dominion over-complicated?, how feature writers are treated poorly, and does the movie True Lies' convenient plot device work or...

Hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman go through their own Three Act exposure therapy adventure as they talk through a popular structure tool for Screenwriters - The 8 Sequence Story Structure - that at once excites them, aggravates them, then inspires them.   Script Structure is something all Screenwriters have to learn and think about to have successful careers. In TV, structure is often as precise a...

This Week in Writing, hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman discuss the Emmys, what makes a script unique, Don't Worry Darling, how Tasha broke through a new original spec, and how to juggle multiple projects for a more successful career.   Questions / Comments: ActTwoWriters@gmail.com Edited by the GREAT Paul Lundquist Music by 414beg

In This Week in Writing, hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman discuss Only Murders in the Building and why episode hooks are important, the ending of Nope and how/if it works, one of Josh's projects that has come back years later, and how Minority Report is a master class in world-building exposition.   Questions / Comments: ActTwoWriters@gmail.com Edited by the GREAT Paul Lundquist Music by 414beg

"Working hard" as a professional Screenwriter means more than just writing. It also means building your network and promoting your brand. But the way we Self-Advocate as writers is different than in many other businesses. In this episode, hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman discuss what Self-Advocating means as a Screenwriter, and how to do it at any stage of your career.   Questions / Comments: ActT...

Hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman sit down with one of the great adaptation writers in our business, Christopher Yost (THOR: RAGNAROK, COWBOY BEBOP), about how he approaches adaptation, how it differs from original writing, and how the tough choices of writing an adaptation are unique. He also discusses his path to writing some of the biggest movies in our industry, and how his latest original movi...

From Jealousy and Self-Loathing to Depression and Spite, hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman discuss all the unhealthy writer thoughts that come up in their own heads and in their conversations with other writers, why they come up, and how to deal with them in a healthy way.    Questions / Comments: ActTwoWriters@gmail.com Edited by the GREAT Paul Lundquist Music by 414beg

Hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman break down the Meet Cute device used in some of their favorite romantic comedies and discuss how the writing makes you root for the heroes and their romance.   Questions / Comments: ActTwoWriters@gmail.com Edited by the GREAT Paul Lundquist Music by 414beg

In this episode of This Week in Writing, hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman discuss everything from taking your shot with your favorite actors, to how Imposter Syndrome can easily spiral out of control, and new lessons learned this week about pitching.   Questions / Comments: ActTwoWriters@gmail.com Edited by the GREAT Paul Lundquist Music by 414beg

Hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman sit down with Rasheed Newsom, co-showrunner of BEL-AIR on Paramount+ and author of the upcoming historical novel, MY GOVERNMENT MEANS TO KILL ME.  They discuss Rasheed's rise from production assistant to showrunner, how being a showrunner is actually just being a middle manager disguised as a boss, lessons he's learned from writers rooms that have imploded, and why...

Taika Waititi is considered one of the busiest filmmakers in Hollywood right now, working on some of the biggest franchises in history while also finding time to write, produce, direct, and act in other passion projects. So hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman discuss Taika Waititi's 10 Pieces of Screenwriting Wisdom from Taika Waititi to see what can be learned and applied to everyday Screenwriting c...

The first day in a Writers Room for both a Writer and Showrunner are full of anxiety and uncertainty. In this episode, Josh Hallman talks with his co-host, Showrunner Tasha Huo, on what the first day of a room usually looks like to help allay fears and best prepare.   TWIW: How Screenwriters Get Paid in Percentages (that force us to get other jobs to survive), How to Get & Give Targeted Notes in l...

The tone in which you give notes matters. Your note can be technically correct, but you may deliver it in a way that offends the writer or makes them combative, which can ruin your relationship with the writer and make their revision experience feel painful rather than inspiring. To illustrate how to give notes in a respectful tone, hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman share the Opening Setup of scrip...

From how Tasha reads samples as a Showrunner and how this has influenced her writing - to - Writer's Block, hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman discuss their This Week in Writing.    Questions / Comments: ActTwoWriters@gmail.com Edited by the GREAT Paul Lundquist Music by 414beg

On this 100th Episode, hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman chat with Steven DeKnight -- Showrunner-Writer-Producer-Director of such shows as DAREDEVIL, SPARTACUS, and BUFFY -- about his experiences transitioning from Writer to Showrunner, and then Writer to Director. They get into what the real difference is between simply being a Writer and being a Showrunner, and how to acquire the skills necessary...

Hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman start their new series -- "What's the Theme?" -- with TOP GUN: MAVERICK. They break down what worked and didn't about the Theme in this epic thrill ride breaking box office records. Beware: lots of SPOILERS!   Questions / Comments: ActTwoWriters@gmail.com Edited by the GREAT Paul Lundquist Music by 414beg

Hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman talk with Ben Lustig and Jake Thornton about being writing partners: their process, schedule, how they met, their first sale, and a ton more... Also, Ben and Jake discuss their (incredible) upcoming movie, THE PRINCESS.    Questions/Comments: ActTwoWriters@gmail.com Edited by the great Paul Lundquist Music by 414beg

You have a great idea, now what? The distance between an idea and a finished script can feel vast and wrought with disappointment. Hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman discuss how they go from having an Idea to molding a Script out of that idea.    TWIW: Are TV specs as samples back in vogue? How learning to be a producer is key to a writing career. Tom Cruise is awesome. How Mark Duplass advocates fo...

Screenwriters Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman discuss Screencraft's 5 Must-Haves for Writing Action Sequences and how to apply these must-haves to your own writing in a practical way, as well as how to avoid common missteps in action writing.   TWIW: Tasha's life gets turned upside down in the best way by their previous Work/Life Balance episode, and a real-life action sequence issue that came up for T...

Hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman talk with screenwriter Alex Convery about being on the Blacklist multiple times, the influence that has had on his career, and about the story of how his most recent Blacklist script, AIR JORDAN , got Ben Affleck attached to direct and co-star with Matt Damon.   Questions/Comments: ActTwoWriters@gmail.com   Edited by the great Paul Lundquist Music by 414beg

Hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman often stress out and over-caffeinate to get their work done. To learn how to do things differently, they sit down with veteran screenwriter, David H. Steinberg (American Pie 2, The Simpsons, No Good Nick), and make him get detailed about how he manages multiple projects at once, what his daily schedule looks like, and how he successfully maintains a Work/Life Balan...