Film School

Burn-out is real. So, how do you take breaks to avoid it? What does a break look like to you, and when do you need to take them? We all need to take time to re-fill our creative well during the workday, during and between projects, and throughout the year. None of us can go go go and never stop. This week we talk about when we can tell a break is necessary, and we discuss what those breaks look li...

Hey, I'm walkin here! Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman star in this gritty portrait of the hustler life on the streets of late-60s, peak urban-decay New York . . . and it's surprisingly SWEET and full of heart. Originally given the bullsh*t X-rating for its tacit exploration of homosexuality, Midnight Cowboy goes places rarely gone in mainstream American cinema; sometimes for good, sometimes for ill...

If writing is rewriting--no draft comes out perfect and immaculate on the first try--then WHEN exactly are you supposed to stop writing new words and edit the words you've written? Do you do it while you're drafting? Or do you leave behind the pile of stuff to fix and forge ahead until the draft is finished? This week, we discuss how WE do it!

You're the golden girl, Tracey! . . . like Bea Arthur! Katherine Hepburn bounces between other legends Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart in this classic romantic comedy. But, does it hold up to modern ideals? Is it a timeless love story? We dive in, this week!

What keeps you showing up every day, or every week, or even sporadically coming back to something creative over and over? If you've found consistency, why did you find it, and if you haven't . . . why do you keep returning to it every so often? What's in it for you? And how can you use that to get done what you want to get done? This week, we get personal.

You're a low-down Yankee liar! This week, it's the film that just might be THE prototypical western, the template for so much that followed: the lone gunslinger who rides into town and tries to go straight. In this case, it's Shane, and he's taken in by a family terrorized by cattle owners who want their land. Will Shane stick to the straight and narrow? Or will he stand up for his new family when...

Master storytellers: that's what we want to become. So, how are we going to get there? And how does 'Film School' factor into that? What exactly ARE we getting out of doing this podcast each week? What is it teaching us? A lot, it turns out. More than we could have possibly imagined . . . AND YOU CAN DO IT, TOO. The act of analyzing movies we love turns out to be a major, MAJOR piece of mastering...

Thanks, professor! Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert star in the film that put Frank Capra on the map. It incidentally put Columbia Pictures, Gable and Colbert, and the "road trip" / "screwball comedy" on the map, too. A prototypical romantic comedy, this flick has inspired generations of love stories . . . but how does that love story hold up? How has this film aged? We dive into its influence an...

"If I was asked 'what was the most important advice I could give an artist starting out,' it would be 'manage your life so that you will feel as good about the industry in fifteen years as when you first began.'" Is that true. If so...HOW do we do that? How do we manage our lives and our work so that we're as excited, energized and inspired as when we began? Is that possible? We talk about it toda...

HEY, STELLA!!!! Marlon Brando explodes onto the silver screen as the alcoholic, abusive, barbarian of a man, Stanley Kowalski in the seminal play from Tennessee Williams. This play, and then movie, put both of those colossal talents on the map, which is crazy to think about given what household names they became. It all started here. So . . . does it live up to the hype? Why IS this film so famous...

Thou Shalt Know The Rules, and the Rules Shall Set You Free. We hear this aaallll the time. But, isn't that just bullsh*t from people who just want power and authority? Can't I only be free, be original, be myself if I'm doing things MY way? WHO NEEDS THE RULES?

Old pal Jimmy Stewart is front and center to a possible MURDER. He's laid up with a broken leg with nothing to do, and there's a neighbor acting shady as sh*t whose wife is suddenly nowhere to be seen...so does Jimmy just have too much time on his hands? Or is there foul play? It's an absolute classic of a film, and truly Hitchcock at his finest. This week on film school!

It pissed you off. It went beyond just disliking the film, it went beyond being disappointed, it made you ANGRY. What movie pissed you off, and why? What was it about that movie that got under your skin? And what does that have to say about your own creative work? What was it in that film that you were reacting to? This week on the Cutting Room Floor, we get in touch with our fiery side.

D. W. Griffith may have invented the "blockbuster" with  Birth of a Nation , but it was this film with which he invented the epic. Intolerance is 3+ hours of sprawling story covering love, injustice, excess, five time periods, and some of the biggest sets ever created for film. It cost him 2 million dollars to make in 1916 . . . a price tag he never recovered from. It's an epic failure, perhaps ....

Wondering where to start with the bottom half of the AFI's Top 100 films? We've got you covered! Before we dive into the top 50, we take a look back at the first 50 films we've watched, and recommend the ones we enjoyed the most, PARTICULARLY the films you may not have even heard of or otherwise may not watch unless you're doing the AFI list. There's some really, reeeaaalllyyy great movies on ther...

The starving artist, locked away in his tenement apartment, not a penny to his name, suffering for his art because that's how genius is made. That's what we all must strive for. Right? That's the only way to create a masterpiece. Right??? Maybe not.

Consistency is key. Spock would accept that as an axiom. So, if that's a truth we all agree upon, the question naturally becomes: HOW? How do we do something with consistency? Josh and Ira discuss what consistency means to them, and how they've found it in their own lives.

The groove, the zone, where the work is sublime and it's easy and plentiful and everything is working and we are a GENIUS. Some call it the "Muse." Others call it "Inspiration," or "Serendipity." It can feel otherworldly, like tapping into the power of the goddamn universe. So...IS it magic? Is it something that's entirely out of our control? Or is it something we can create ourselves, something w...

What makes a good villain? What makes a GREAT one? From understanding that they're the hero of their own story to unpredictability and danger, we examine the villains we love to hate, and what makes us feel that way.

What exactly do you get out of rewrites? Why do them? The term "rewrite," "edit," or "revision" can come with some negative juju, particularly when we've already spent so much time writing the first draft. You mean...I have to go back and write it AGAIN?! Today, we tackle the gold that can come out of rewrites, how to handle when your story changes--because it will change--and where is the sweet s...

There is nothing more terrifying than the blank page. We all know this. So…how DO we get past that? How do we get from blank page to finished manuscript? There are many steps in between, and the first step might be the hardest: the first draft. This week, we talk about how to approach the first draft in a way that threads the needle between perfectionism and detachment to get past the blank page,...

A sellout is a traitor. The lowest of the low. We hate sellouts. ...right? Except, what does 'sellout' really mean? Who's sold out? The Roots? Nicholas Winding Refn? The Black Eyed Peas? Who gets to decide who's sold out? What about the crowd that loves their sellout work. And, if money is the problem...aren't we ALL trying to sell out if we're pursuing being a professional??? We roll up our sleev...

"They don't make 'em like they used to!" That certainly seems to be a common phrase these days when talking about the film industry. But...is it actually true? ARE movies not as good as they used to be? And if it is true, why is that??? OR...is it us who have changed? Have some viewers lost their ability to love new things? Or, perhaps, is it a combination of the two? We tackle the state of Hollyw...

What is the biggest lesson you can think of that you had to learn, and once you did, had a positive affect on you? Life is replete with lessons if we're paying attention. Ira and Josh share a couple of theirs: sometimes the problem with the writing isn't the writing, and we don't have to suffer in order to be happy. We dig deep!

"Writing is rewriting." Was it Stephen King who said that? Or maybe Hemmingway? Or, maybe it's something made up by english and creative writing teachers. But…it's true. Almost nothing comes out immaculate. Almost everything needs to be polished and shined before it sparkles. So…how do you rewrite? We tackle that question this week!