Screaming into the Hollywood Abyss

On a special episode, we push Noah Evslin into the guest hot seat and the creator of the world's most successful scripted podcast Paul Bae joins as co-host. Noah talks about his experience of rejection, failure and adversity. He talks about the risks of leaving the relatively safe world of producing in Shondaland to push forward with writing elsewhere, the continual fear that you never know i...

We talk to Canadian-British actor and producer Jonathan Lloyd Walker. He talks about his career, moving between disciplines and the different types of rejection he has met in each one. He explains how he had a fast start in writing,  thinking it was easy and then quickly finding out it wasn’t. Jonathan talks about his worst rejections, being flown across the country only to be replaced by a myster...

It is a cultural phenomenon that beautifully treads the line between disaster film and farce. We talk to the writer of the first four Sharknado movies Thunder Levin. He talks about the success of the franchise, his 'rock star' moment on the stage at Comic Con and his attempts to be a 'serious science fiction writer'. Thunder explains the journey of Sharknado's meteoric ris...

Fired, banned from set, thrown off projects, fired again, briefly blackballed.  An extraordinary interview with writer and show creator David Steinberg about his journey from an arrogant youngster, to rebuilding his career and achieving success - with a few more firings and one more set ban along the way. David talks about being embarrassed by his early mistakes, his own personal journey of change...

We talk to producer and screenwriter Steven S. DeKnight. He talks about his career highlight working on Spartacus, the opportunities he missed that led to him taking that meeting and the challenges (and excitement) working on Marvel's Daredevil. He talks honestly about when to push back on execs, how to compromise and when to admit you have it wrong. Steven talks about directing, what he got...

We talk to actor-turned-director Keegan Connor Tracy, She tells us why she chose to try her hand at directing, the struggles of starting from the bottom again but why now is the right time for her. She talks about the lack of role models behind the camera when she was acting, how she wants to change that and some of the things she had to put up with on set. Keegan is honest about how she deals wit...

We talk to Michael Fuller who talks us through the pain and heartbreak of his show Quarry being cut, how he used cigarettes and bourbon to get through it and the balance between being a showrunner and being part of other people's shows. He talks about the dilemma of writing your soul and writing to make a living with a family, what he's learned about the industry and what he learned as a...

We talk to lawyer-turned-writer Melissa London Hilfers. She talks about her transition from attorney to entertainment, what her old colleagues think of her new role (and how they are easily impressed by celebrity namedropping) and the sense of achievement she gets from her creative work. In painful detail, she walks us through the time another writer told her he wanted to do a 'page one'...

This week's guest is the extraordinary writer, creator and double Emmy winner Javier Grillo-Marxuach. He works out how many of his 23 shows have been cancelled (a few), how many he has quit (some) and which were the ones he cared most about and were most proud of (The Middleman). We talk about how winning Emmys 'doesn't suck' (and giving them to his parents to display), the joy...

We talk to the extraordinary writer and producer Akela Cooper. She talks about combatting the loneliness of writing, particularly during a pandemic, the sage advice of her mother and the discipline of constantly working on her own projects even when in a room. Akela talks honestly and openly about an abusive experience she faced, how she had the strength to walk away and the fear that she would be...

We talk to legendary writer, show creator and exec producer Glen Mazzara.  He talks about crisis training in the entertainment industry, how he still suffers from imposter syndrome and the time a knife fight broke out on the Shield when prostitutes mixed with actresses playing prostitutes. Glen told us about facing such a serious rejection that he couldn't get out of bed for three weeks and i...

We talk to the extraordinary Ryan Knighton, a blind writer of books and TV. He explains how blindness helps him with the art of describing scenes, using the time he doesn't spend on driving and video games to perfect his craft and the risks of being typecast and only being asked to work on visual impairment projects. Ryan also talks about the advantage of pitching without seeing people's...

We talk to Kira Snyder, computer game designer-turned-writer and now showrunner. She talks about the 'new' Hollywood and its concern for mental health and wellbeing, how working in corporate America has helped her prepare to be a showrunner and why working on Eureka was so fulfilling. Kira talks about diversity, how failed computer games prepared her for failure in Hollywood and the impo...

We talk to writer and graphic novelist Bryan Hill. He tells us about an extraordinarily cruel early rejection, how he channeled that, and other setbacks, into success and why he feels without failure he wouldn’t have done what he’s done. Bryan talks passionately about dealing with setbacks, staying true to the writer you want to be and helping your managers help you. And he also gives the most ext...

We talk to showrunner Joe Henderson about his Hollywood journey. He talks about his formative years as an assistant and how he is grateful for the extended period he spent at this position - but then also about his triple promotion. Joe talks about the complications of Lucifer: the odd premise, the early cancellation the stop-go issues around later series - but also its tremendous success. He expl...

We hear the fascinating take of Jeffrey Lieber, the creator of the first version of the Lost pilot. We talk about how he dealt with his relationship with the show as it went in a different direction, the years it took him to process it and his views on the show and how the ending was received. He talks about why he writes, the role therapy has played and how he approaches new roles. He talks about...

We talk to veteran writer Jose Molina. He talks through the balance between finding a long-running show, finding a show you like and making bold and reckless decision early in your career. He explains why young writers should actually take advice from their mentors, even if they think none of the rules apply to them, why he quit SVU and he tries to define 'success'. Jose talks about worr...

We talk to Marc Bernardin about his different careers and the different types of failure he suffered. He talks about journalism, being fired while on vacation and knowing when to break the rules and reach out to interview subjects for opportunities in writing. He explains the pros and cons of diversity hires in Hollywood, getting fired from TV writing and then his return to journalism.  Marc tells...

We talk to David Goodman, veteran writer and WGA West President. He talks about the pain of a comedy writer pitching jokes that don’t land, the thin line to tread between comedy and causing offense and knowing you’ll get fired if you can’t make people laugh. He describes some iconic comedy rooms, talks about his animated show that got made but never aired and the responsibility of Guild presidency...

We talk to show creator Mickey Fisher. He tells us about how his 'overnight success' wasn't actually overnight, being fired in hotel rooms and having his gate pass for the studio revoked as the first sign his show was getting cancelled. He explains his version of imposter syndrome, getting fired from a role as a three-wheel motorbike ambassador and his first meeting and instant bond...

We talk to the amazing John Rogers. The veteran writer and showrunner gives his views from 30 years in the industry. He tells the amazing story of the awful Catwoman, how he owned his role in the movie, what went wrong and buying rounds with 'Catwoman money'. John tells us about the transition from stand-up comedian and sitcom actor to Cosby, developing the Jackie Chan animated series an...

We talk to the extraordinary Shawn Simmons about his cult hit Wayne. He tells us about the rare occurrence of having his network cancelled under his show, the joy of a show being reborn on Amazon and the 'heat' of having a hit show. But he also explains about the expectation of failure amid the success, the incredible learning of coming up through the development side of the business and...

We talk to horror writer Jeff Howard. He tells us about being rejected - with various levels of misfortune - by Nicolas Cage, John Stamos and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. He talks about the kiss of death 'well told', the desire for a quick 'no' and self-sabotaging a meeting by failing to read the room. And Noah  tells the story of pitching to a sleeping exec. Jeff tells us about...

Prodigious writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe joins the podcast. He talks honestly about missing out on his dream Lord of the Rings project, the amount of time spent continuously looking for his next role and his ratio of 8 failures for every success - meaning hundreds of rejections in his long career. He tells us about the relief of working on long-running shows, the excitement of being on Star Trek and...

We talk to actor and writer Geoffrey Thorne. The actor turned writer tells his extraordinary story of riches to rags and back to riches again. He talks about why he walked away from a successful acting career in In the Heat of Night, the people that doubted him, the desperate times of pretending to be his own manager and being turned for a job drawing Disney-style porno promos. He talks about the...