Bulletproof Screenwriting™ Podcast

Today on the show we have award-winning screenwriter, actor, director, producer, sketch comedian Rick Najera. Rick is also an author, playwright, coach and national speaker with an expansive portfolio of credits in all forms of entertainment. From starring in films with Sidney Poitier, George Clooney and most recently Mario Lopez, to writing sketch comedy for Jim Carrey and Jamie Foxx, Najera is b...

Get ready to have your mind blown! I'll be releasing a 3-Part Limited Series of conversations between the legendary screenwriter James V. Hart, the writer of Hook, Contact, Bram Stroker's Dracula, and Tomb Raider just to name a few, and some of the top screenwriters in the game. First up is the screenwriter that took the world by storm with his Oscar-Winning screenplay Get Out, Jordan Peele. If yo...

Today on the show we have best-selling author and screenwriter Eileen Cook. She is a multi-published, award-winning author with her novels appearing in nine languages. Her books have been optioned for film and TV. She spent most of her teen years wishing she were someone else or somewhere else, which is great training for a writer. She’s an instructor/mentor with The Creative Academy and Simon Fra...

Today on the show we have literary manager and producer John Zaozirny. He oversees the feature film production slate for Bellevue and the Literary Management Team. John and I discuss the raw truth of the film business, what he is looking for in a client, how screenwriters should approach a manager and he does some Hollywood myth-busting as well. If you are looking for representation in the film in...

The impact that Blake Snyder's Save the Cat® book series has had on Hollywood screenwriting is incalculable. Rarely does a book change the way screenwriters approach story and structure. In his best-selling book, Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies: The Screenwriter's Guide to Every Story Ever Told, Blake Snyder provided 50 “beat sheets” to 50 films, mostly studio-made. Now his student, screenwriter...

Well, 2020 has been one hell of a year. Our industry has been turned upside down and inside out. The way business is done in Hollywood has been changed forever. There has been so much pain and suffering this year. People lost their jobs. Legendary companies that were thought to be unbreakable filed for bankruptcy. The mear act of being on set became a highly dangerous occupation. So many beloved f...

Today on the show I bring you one of the most influential and iconic filmmakers in the history of cinema, three-time Oscar® winner Oliver Stone. Throughout his legendary career, Oliver Stone has served as director, writer, and producer on a variety of films, documentaries, and television movies. His films have been nominated for forthy two Oscars® and have won twelve. I hope this conversation insp...

Today on the show we have returning champion author K.M. Weiland. I wanted to bring her back on the show to discuss her new book Writing Your Story's Theme: The Writer's Guide to Plotting Stories That Matter. "Theme Is What Your Story Is Really About." Theme—the mysterious cousin of plot and character. Too often viewed as abstract rather than actionable, theme is frequently misunderstood and left...

I have a treat for the tribe today. Last week we had screenwriter Eduardo Cisneros on the show discussing his new film Half Brothers. Today we have his co-writer and producer of the film Jason Shuman. Jason is a writer and producer who has made over 20 motion pictures grossing more than $500 million worldwide as well as produced over 100 episodes of television. Shuman has produced four films that...

Today on the show we have screenwriter, Eduardo Cisneros. He began his screenwriting career in his home country of Mexico. Working on countless television series including Saturday Night Live: Mexico. His career took an upward trajectory when he began working with one of the biggest comedy actor/writer/producer and director in the Latinx world,  Eugenio Derbez. Eduardo help develop the massively s...

Today on the show we have screenwriter and Emmy-winner Scott W. Smith. Scott is an OG in the screenwriting blogging space. His blog Screenwriting from Iowa has been around since 2008 and has been nationally recognized. His new book Screenwriting with Brass Knuckles is a bare-knuckle approach to the screenwriting process. Here's some info on his book. Every screenwriter faces fear and failure. The...

Have you ever wondered how to format your screenplay so Hollywood would take you seriously as a screenwriter before they even read your script? Today's guest Christopher Riley can definitely help you with this. Christopher Riley is an American screenwriter whose first film, After The Truth, a multiple-award-winning courtroom thriller, sparked international controversy when it was released in Germa...

I'm so excited to bring this episode to the BPS Tribe. Today we have legendary screenwriter James V. Hart. James is the screenwriter behind some of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters like HOOK, directed by Steven Spielberg based on an idea by Hart’s then 6-year-old son, Jake, BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND, directed by Brian Henson, and CONTACT, direc...

Today on the show we have screenwriter and script doctor, John Winston Rainey. John is the co-author, along with legendary script consultant Linda Seger, of the book You Talkin’ to Me?: How to Write Great Dialogue. John has written 25 screenplays of which 3 have been produced and 10 have been optioned. He has been a script consultant since 1989 and is the author of Screenwriting Style That Sizzles...

Today we have a special CROSSOVER episode of the BPS Podcast. Our guest is Derek Kolstad, the genius behind the extremely successful John Wick franchise. An ex-hitman comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters that took everything from him. With New York City as his bullet-riddled playground, JOHN WICK (Keanu Reeves) is a fresh and stylized take on the "assassin genre”. He is also the scr...

Today on the show we bring the legendary story analyst and best-selling author Chris Vogler. Chris wrote the game-changing book  The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. I read this book over 25 years ago and it changed the way I look at "story." Chris studied the work and principles of the late master Joseph Campbell. His book The Hero with a Thousand Faces was the basis for Star Wars a...

Today on the show we have screenwriter and director Jeffrey Reddick, who is best known for creating the highly successful Final Destination horror film franchise. The franchise has grossed over $650 Million world-wide. Not bad for an idea that was first conceived for an X-Files episode. Jeffrey also co-wrote the story for, and executive produced, Final Destination 2 (2003). Jeffrey made his first...

Ever wonder how Pixar continuously puts out hit after hit? What is the story secret sauce that has created one of Hollywood's most amazing track records? Today's guest might be able to shed some light on the answer. On the show, we have screenwriter and author Dean Movshovitz. Dean wrote the best-selling book Pixar Storytelling: Rules for Effective Storytelling Based on Pixar's Greatest Films. PIX...

Today on the show we have screenwriter, consultant, and studio executive, Jeff Willis. Jeff has been in the film business for over 15 years as a writer and executive working on films like Avengers: End Game, Spider-Man: Far from Home, Captain Marvel, and Black Panther to name a few. Around 30 minutes into the show we begin to discuss the business of screenwriting and more importantly what screenwr...

Today on the show we have one of the most popular guests to ever be on the Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast, the legendary John Truby. John is the author of The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller. John Truby is one of the most respected and sought-after story consultants in the film industry, and his students have gone on to pen some of Hollywood's most successful films....

Today on the show we bring back author and Story Maps guru Daniel Calvisi. His last episode was one of the most popular in the history of the podcast. The concept of story mapping has been a huge help to so many screenwriters. This is why I wanted to bring him back to discuss how to use his story mapping technique on the television/streaming script. This is based on his best selling book STORY MAP...

Today on the show we have the writer and creator of the legendary film Waterworld Peter Rader. I wanted to bring Peter on the show to discuss what it was like to be a part of one of the biggest budget films in Hollywood history at the time. For those of you who may not know Waterworld was considered one of the biggest box-office flops in history. The production was plagued with production issues,...

Today we go inside the mind of Oscar® Winning co-screenwriter Alex Dinelaris (Birdman). Jason Buff from the Indie Film Academy Podcast and Alex discussed his screenwriting and what it was like working with Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, and Armando Bo. They discuss Alex's process for putting together a story and do a deep analysis of various scenes of Birdman.  Alex was in a rare...

Today on the show we have studio veteran, story consultant, and best-selling author of The Script Selling Game- 2nd edition: A Hollywood Insider's Look at Getting Your Script Sold and Produced  Kathie Fong Yoneda. The Script-Selling Game is like having a mentor in the business who answers your questions and provides you with not only valuable information but real-life examples on how to maneuver y...

I super excited to bring you today's show. Today on the podcast we have best-selling author Will Storr. Will's latest book The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better is a deep dive into how story affects the brain. Here's a bit about the book: Who would we be without stories? Stories mold who we are, from our character to our cultural identity. They drive us...