Film School

We spend A LOT of time on this podcast talking about what, where and how we can improve ourselves as artists and people. But, where have we ALREADY improved? Identifying and celebrating breakthroughs must certainly be as important as seeking new ones, yes? This week, Josh and Ira share some things they feel like they've figured out and are doing well.

This is a tidbit Ira picked up from a business coach by the name of Dallas Travers, and it's all about beating burnout and staying productive long and consistently enough to actually getting those big, scary, impossible-feeling projects done. Do less! Just do it more often. It's certainly easier said than done, but it's a game-changer. Plus, Josh shares his own very important keys to consistent pr...

How do you handle time? It's always moving forward, whether we're aware of it in the moment or not . . . which is kind of the heart of the discussion this week. How much time do you spend thinking about the past or the future? Such thinking can cut both ways, aiding and hindering. So, how do we find a balance? And how much does the present, this moment, matter?

What makes a great story? A great Plot? Or great Characters? The first answer we come to for this question is "both." But, what if we dig deeper than that? HOW do we create a great character? Is it not the events we put them through, and how they react? HOW do we create a great, memorable plot? Is it not the characters that we fall in love with and remember? Just how do these two seemingly poles i...

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Start small. Laughably small. Then build incrementally. So incrementally that you don't even notice the day-to-day increase. It's a tried and true formula for success. It shortcuts the mind and the body's resistance. These are recent practices that Ira has found to be very effective in several areas of his life. But, what else out there works? Josh talks about finding the Joy, another hack for bea...

Hang on too tight, and we can squeeze the life out of anything. Project. Relationship. Ourselves. Thus, it behooves us to know when it's time to let something go. But, what exactly does that mean? How do we know when we're holding on too tight or for too long? From learning to say no, to not blaming ourselves for things beyond our control, we dive into the things that keep us up at night or weigh...

By their very nature, we elevate the Masters above ourselves. It's inspiring to see greatness that exceeds our own. But the other side of that same coin is intimidating, and the lowering of ourselves . . . which can shut us down with despair. That gap can make us freeze rather than move forward. So, how do we deal with that? How do we fend off the feelings of less-than and engage with the inspirat...

Experience and success can be a double-edged sword. How often does a writer or filmmaker we know and love that's soooo good at what they do . . . seem like they start to phone it in, or lose their way? How often do we see the same thing in our own work? So, what's the antidote? How do we stay sharp? Both long-term and day to day? We discuss!

The death of a character can be one of the most powerful experiences a story has to offer. When done right, it makes us feel and think about real life, and the people we've lost, the experiences we share. It helps us feel things that otherwise can often be so hard to feel. So . . . how do we do that right? How DO we tell a good death? What makes the best ones work so well? We dig in.

Cut it loose! You're wasting your time. The project you're working isn't going anywhere, no matter how hard you try. So just let it go. At least for now. Take a break. But . . . is that just 'object syndrome?' Is this just resistance pushing back super hard because you're close to a breakthrough? If you're a creative, you've likely hit this point before, if not many times. So . . . what is the rig...

You're stuck. You can't go anywhere for a while . . . what movies are you taking with you into quarantine or onto that deserted island? What movies do you find yourself turning to pass the time? As we all struggled to cope with the isolation of COVID-19, movies are some of our best friends. We dive in this week on what movies WE'RE watching, and we hope you share with us what YOU'RE watching!

We're all gonna kick the bucket some day . . . what do we want to leave behind? What do we want to be our legacy? What we will be known for? Josh and Ira tackle this deep cut today in a very personal episode. How do YOU want to be remembered?

To the fires of Mount Doom! JRR Tolkien and Peter Jackson's masterwork comes to a spectacular conclusion in the final installment of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Frodo and Sam must muster the strength to destroy the one ring, and Aragorn must stop running from his destiny to become the King he's meant to be. Doesn't get any bigger than this one; it's the Return of the King this week!

The entire world is grappling with the novel corona virus COVID-19 right now; a truly global crisis that none of us have any control over, particularly at the individual level. So . . . when presented with situations like these where major life-shifting events are taking place that we have no power to stop or control . . . how do we handle the stress, fear and anxiety that come along with that? Ho...

Peter Jackson's epic live-action Lord of the Rings continues in grand fashion. Our heroes have split up and are in danger! Sam and Frodo wrestle with whether or not to trust Gollum and how to get into Mordor; Merry and Pippin escape capture and must convince the Ents to battle Saruman, and Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli must save Rohan from the Uruk-hai army. Middles are often a slog...but not this on...

We're HALFWAY THROUGH the list!!! Crazy. It's flown by. This week, we do a deep dive into how we've rated the movies on this list thus far: how have the top 50 films fared? How do Josh and Ira differ from each other? What are our biases based on decades of movie-making? And what are the LIST'S biases? It's all a fascinating peak behind this list and our reactions to it thus far. Enjoy!

One ring to rule them all! Peter Jackson's epic live-action series based on THE masterwork of fantasy, JRR Tolkien's  The Lord of the Rings was ground-breaking. For decades, THE masterwork of fantasy was considered un-filmable; too big, too expensive. Jackson smashed that notion with the first of these three films, and was at the vanguard of a new huge property, high-concept, CGI-driven, blockbust...

This can be a hard one to dig deep and engage with, but it's a really important question. Fear affects us all, and it affects us the most when we don't even know it's there. It kills creativity, it makes us act irrationally, and it lies by telling us that it's protecting us. So, what are you afraid of? And how does it hold you back? We dig deep this week!

When you're a jet, you're a jet all the way! One of the definitive musicals of the 50s stage takes to the silver screen in the epic-ly scaled and shot masterpiece from Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. The dancing is spectacular, and the cinematography is cutting edge, standing up even to this day. The love story is the beating heart…does that stand up as well? We break it down this week! *snap* *sn...

The Bhagavad Gita, an ancient Hindu epic, tells us that we are entitled only to our WORK. We are not entitled to the FRUITS of our work. So...what does that mean? And *is* there wisdom in detaching ourselves from expected results? What if we work forever and never see anything come back? What if keeping our eye on the prize ruins the work? What if we get the prize...and it doesn't make us feel wha...

You talkin to me? You talking to ME?! Martin Scorcese may have broke through with  Mean Streets , but it was this classic DeNiro collab that cemented him as a cinematic force. And the same for DeNiro, who was becoming the biggest star of the silver screen at the time. He's sensational as the unstable Travis Bickle, and Marty shows off all his best tricks: narration, moody lighting and music, and e...

Boundaries; the line between me and them, and I get to draw it wherever I want. But...where do I draw it? Who and what do I need to keep separation from? And how do I keep that separation when the line is inevitably tested or crossed? These are all questions that are crucial to a healthy balance in life and in writing. Boundaries are an indispensable part of creativity, and they take many, many fo...

Russian Roulette. Historical inaccuracies aside, it's director Michael Cimino's central metaphor for the Vietnam War. It's also the pillar around which he builds this epic tale of three normal, blue-collar guys from Pittsburg who live for drinking, women, and hunting deer. 'Nam will change each of them, tragically, forever. Easily one of the most disturbing war films ever made, and certainly the m...

You're exhausted, but exhilarated. The words are done, they're on the page, and they were perfect. Inspired. A breakthrough! We've all had that writing day. They're magic. We've also all had the opposite: you're exhausted, frustrated, nothing good came out, and you're worrying 'I'm never going to crack this open.' So…how do we get more of the great days, and less of the terrible? Josh and Ira talk...