Bulletproof Screenwriting™ Podcast

I can't tell you how excited I am for today's episode. I had the pleasure to speak to the legendary director Barry Sonnenfeld. We discuss his idiosyncratic upbringing in New York City, his breaking into film as a cinematographer with the Coen brothers, and his unexpected career as the director behind such huge film franchises as The Addams Family and Men in Black, and beloved work like Get Shorty,...

Chris Riley is a screenwriter whose first film, After The Truth, an award-winning courtroom thriller written with his wife and professional partner, Kathy, sparked international controversy in 1999 when it was released in Germany. Other credits include 25 To Life, a dramatic thriller for Junction Entertainment and Touchstone Pictures; The Other White House, a political thriller for Sean Connery’s...

Today on the show we have writer and director Stephen Karam. He is the Tony Award-winning author of The Humans,  Sons of the Prophet and Speech & Debate. For his work he’s received two Drama Critics Circle Awards, an OBIE Award and is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist. Stephen recently directed his first feature film, a rethought version of The Humans for A24 films, to be released in 2021.  He wr...

Today on the show we go through the good, the bad and the ugly of being an indie filmmakers. On the show we have filmmaker Adam White.  We discuss the making of his new film Funny Thing About. We discuss financing, casting, how he got Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) to say yes to a supporting role in a romcom, shooting an ensemble cast during the pandemic, how we were filming the movie without havin...

Today on the show we have film producers Jason Armstrong and Rob Goodrich. Armstrong and Goodrich founded Walk Like A Duck Entertainment, a film production company that develops and produces high quality scripted and non-scripted content. With a combined 30+ years in the entertainment industry, Armstrong and Goodrich have held positions in all aspects of production with a focus on IP acquisition,...

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as DANIELS, have been writing and directing together for over a decade, initially with a slew of viral music videos, commercials, and short films, then with feature films and TV directing. They've developed a reputation for combining absurdity with heartfelt personal stories. Oftentimes they incorporate a unique brand of visual effects, and visc...

Miranda Bailey is a prolific producer, actor and director, known for producing high quality independent films. Her passion for bringing compelling, well-crafted stories to the screen has been the driving force in her distinguished 15-year filmmaking career. Bailey has produced over 20 films, among them the Oscar®-nominated THE SQUID AND THE WHALE and the Spirit Award-winning THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE...

Marta Kauffman is an Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning television writer, producer and showrunner behind the hit series Friends and Grace & Frankie. After graduating from Brandeis University, Kauffman got her big break alongside David Crane when their pilots Dream On (1990) and The Powers That Be (1992) were greenlit. The pair then launched Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions with Kevin Bright and beca...

Today on the show we have legendary film producer Cary Woods.  Cary Woods is a film producer best known for producing worldwide blockbusters such as Scream and Godzilla, the beloved independent films Kids, Cop Land, and Gummo, and modern classics like Rudy and Swingers. Woods is also responsible for producing the breakthrough features of such notable directors as James Mangold, Doug Liman, M. Nigh...

Andrew Erwin and his brother Jon are the filmmaking team known by most as the Erwin Brothers. The Birmingham, Alabama born brothers grew up around college football and entertainment. Their father, a local news anchor introduced them to the television industry at a young age. As teenagers they began their career in sports television with ESPN as camera operators. After several years working in spor...

Today on the show we have writer, actor and director Sonja O'Hara. You might recognize here from my feature film On the Corner of Ego and Desire where she played an insane director at Sundance. Sonja O’Hara is an Emmy-nominated queer writer, director and actor represented by WME and Management 360. She was chosen as one of the “10 Filmmakers To Watch” by Independent Magazine, selected by a jury fr...

Steven Kane is an American television and theater writer, producer and director. Personal Life: Steve Kane was born in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, where he graduated from Cherry Hill High School West as a proud member of the 1985 and 1986 New Jersey Knowledge Bowl Championship Teams. His rock band, Next Century, almost came in third in back to back "Battle of the Bands" contests (Kane played key-tar)...

Today on the show we have maniac writers/directors The Nelms Brothers, and I say maniacs in the best possible way. Ian and Eshom Nelms, grew up in central California waging two hundred man G.I. Joe wars and dreaming in John Ford landscapes. They have written and directed numerous award-winning and critically- acclaimed films. The brothers are known for their unique ability to traverse from one gen...

Today on the show, we have actor, writer, director Brian Petsos. Brian is the writer director of the new film, "Big Gold Brick" starring Andy Garcia, Oscar Isaac, Megan Fox and Lucy Hale just to name a few. After graduating from art school, Brian Petsos eventually began acting and improvising. While in the conservatory at Chicago’s famed SecondCity, he started writing; and later he began making fi...

Today on the show we have writer and director Krystin Ver Linden. She has always steered the course of her career and her life with her love for film, and it shows through her work. She was recently chosen as one of Variety’s2022 “10 Directors to Watch,” a coveted honor. Ver Linden’s script Ride sold to Lionsgate with Joey Soloway attached to direct and was featured on the Black List. She went on...

I have an epic conversation in store for you all today. Our guest is an Oscar-nominated screenwriter, filmmaker, John Lee Hancock. While working as a lawyer by day back in 1986, John moonlighted as a screenwriter, writing script after script. His spec script A Perfect World caught the eye of Steven Spielberg and eventually was directed by Clint Eastwood.  After that success, he went on to direct t...

Today on the show we have returning champion RB Botto. For many, the holy grail of television has become Netflix. It’s a titan in the industry, and with over 200 million subscribers worldwide, no one can put out content quite like them. Just look at the recent hit show BRIDGERTON, which has already been seen by a massive 80 million households (!!) since its release. If you’re a writer or creator,...

Award-winning playwright and co-writer of Pixar’s TURNING RED, Julia Cho was born and raised in the arid suburbs of Southern California and Arizona. After a fairly uneventful childhood, she unexpectedly discovered theater as a teen and subsequently foiled her parents’ expectations of a life of respectability and normalcy. Instead, armed with an MFA in writing from NYU and a prestigious fellowship...

You guys are in for a major treat. I'm always talking about those "lottery ticket" filmmaker stories that we all dream of happening to us one day. Well, today's guest's story is one of the mythological stories that come to life. We have a 90’s independent film icon, Scott Mosier. Scott is an indie film producer, editor, writer, director, actor, and podcaster of Smodcast, which he co-hosts with his...

Get ready for a crazy ride! On the show this week we have indie filmmaker and screenwriter, Kevin Lewis. He’s been active on the scene and directed several indie films between 1996 to the present. Kevin's vastest film is the trippy indie (soon to be a cult classic) feature, Willy’s Wonderland, starring the legendary Nicolas Cage.  Lewis has definitely paid his dues. He started out making films in...

Sitting down with one of the big names in this business this week was a really cool opportunity. I am honored to have on the show today, Academy Award-winning director, producer, and screenwriter, Taylor Hackford.  Taylor's has directed films like An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), White Nights (1985), Proof of Life (2000), Dolores Claiborne (1995), Against All Odds (1984), Parker (2013), the icon...

Today, we are hearing from one of the cultural influencers of the 90s film industry, and that’s non-other but Gary Goldstein, producer of the iconic rom-com, Pretty Woman, starring Richard Gere, and Julia Roberts. A man in a legal but hurtful business needs an escort for some social events and hires a beautiful prostitute he meets… only to fall in love. The film’s story centers on down-on-her-luck...

If you have ever been interested in directing television or a series on Netflix then this is the episode for you. Today on the show we have legendary television director Dan Attias. Dan has worked as a director in the film and television industry for 37 years. As a director of series television he has received the Directors Guild of America award for outstanding direction of dramatic television an...

Get ready to have you mind blown. If you ever wanted to know the TRUE STORY on how the mythical El Mariachi, written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, then this is the conversation you want to listen to. Today on the show we have producer Elizabeth Avellán. Elizabeth Avellan was born in Caracas, Venezuela, where her grandfather, Gonzalo Veloz, pioneered commercial television. At thirteen, she move...

Every once in a while I have a conversation on this show that blows my mind, this episode did just that. Today on the show we have Oscar® Nominated producer Chris Moore. He produced films like Good Will Hunting, American Pie, Waiting, The Adjustment Bureau, and Manchester by the Sea. Chris' profile grew from his appearance as the producer on the early 2000's filmmaker reality show Project: Greenli...