Storytelling Breakdown

C’mon, it’s episode #27.  The first ever episode of Storytelling Breakdown was a dive into the world of Batman. We return to that well today to celebrate 30 years since Batman: The Animated Series first aired on this date in 1992. For this conversation we are joined by Todd Espeland, executive and artistic director at Fort Wayne Youtheatre.  Batman: The Animated Series has a lasting legacy in part...

Half of the conversations amongst our team start with, “Hey, you should watch…”  This was one of those times.  Caleb encouraged our team to watch Nine, the 2009 musical starring Daniel Day-Lewis. With Nine putting so much focus on the production of a film and the cast, crew, and coordination necessary to pull it off, as well as the protagonist’s doomed relationship with a character played by Mario...

Knowledge of the past to aid the present: Look for a wizard's tower on a lake. Let the wizard's name and servant guide you to that which you seek.  Holy symbol of great hope: Look to the west. Find a pool blessed by the light of the white sun.  The Sunsword: I see a sleeping prince, a servant of light and the brother of Darkness. This treasure lies with him.  An ally to aid you in your quest: A vi...

Sometimes so go the dice, so goes the story. We pick back up with our quintet of adventurers in the city of Murktown. Ada, Delilah, Gorg, Nerine, and Siv have successfully defeated the Emperor of Bones. What comes next?  When trying to bring flowers to someone recovering from injuries, you roll a 20 and get a bouquet bigger than you are. Sometimes when you are trying to investigate corrupt city gu...

There are four qualifications for a movie to be a legacy sequel. The movie takes place further down the timeline in an already established universe’s continuity. It focuses on new characters, but still has original characters present in the plot. Does this episode count? We talked about legacy sequels for the first time a few months ago. Now, we’re picking up in the same continuity and Stephen’s e...

It doesn’t get much more classic than Ravenloft and Barovia, two of D&D’s most beloved settings. Come along with Stephen and Ben as the former takes you further down the rabbit hole of his run of Curse of Strahd. Curse of Strahd is one of the most popular modules built for 5th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons and has roots going back to the beginnings of the game. Each run of the module is di...

Adventurer down! We’re being vague here so we don’t spoil what happened in the first episode if you haven’t gotten to listen to it yet. SB Hosts Ben Clemmer and Stephen Stachofsky are bringing you campaign diaries, inviting you to hear the tales of their Dungeons & Dragons games as told by the Dungeon Masters. Welcome to the second session of Adventurers Assemble.  When we last saw our heroes,...

The idea of “show, don’t tell” allows creators to communicate ideas to those experiencing their stories through sensory details. You can learn a lot about a character and their world by watching how they interact in a given space. You’ll likely learn even more in watching them fight.  Combat is an element of so many significant pieces of media we have and haven’t covered yet on Storytelling Breakd...

This was a long time coming. Dungeons & Dragons has surged in popularity so much in the last decade. All four of Storytelling Breakdown’s hosts currently actively play or DM in at least one campaign. After blogs and episodes dedicated to RPGs, SB Hosts Ben Clemmer and Stephen Stachofsky host a series of campaign diaries, inviting you to take a seat at their tables and experience the tales told...

This was a long time coming. Dungeons & Dragons has surged in popularity so much in the last decade. All four of Storytelling Breakdown’s hosts currently actively play or DM in at least one campaign. After blogs and episodes dedicated to RPGs, SB Hosts Ben Clemmer and Stephen Stachofsky host a series of campaign diaries, inviting you to take a seat at their tables and experience the tales told...

How did it take us this long to get here?  Pirates have had an up and down cinematic history. While classic pirate images come to mind from the earliest days of Hollywood filmmaking, the genre was considered cursed for several decades before a movie with “Curse” in the title brought the genre into a renaissance. And it is a genre we are finally discussing. Our Flag Means Death takes this genre to...

“I believe in America.”  After Cinematic Icons: A Meeting of the Five Families and Boardwalk Blinders & The Roaring Twenties , our gangster episodes have become a trilogy. That said, this conversation stands alone, much as The Godfather does 50 years after its release. The Storytelling Breakdown team reflects on our first viewings of the film, the numerous production hurdles that could have ma...

When we last saw our heroes, it was years, maybe even decades ago. Now they are back, older and wearier, but we are thrilled to see them again. They have new allies. Our story follows a new hero or several figuring out their place in a universe.  If you’ve seen a story like this recently, it was probably a legacy sequel. The popularity of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Creed, an...

“I’m Mary Poppins, y’all!”  When we think of quotes that came out of the horribly beautiful mind of James Gunn, this one might be one of the most recognizable. That said, there’s a couple recent quotes from interviews with James Gunn that inform our conversation in our season three premier.  “I love making movies and telling stories. But, there was part of it I was using to try to fill a whole in...

In an effort to avoid false advertising, our team does have to confess that this episode has almost nothing to do with Avatar: The Last Airbender.  This month we are bringing you our annual community update. Ben Clemmer and Caleb Meyer were joined in the studio by Storytelling Breakdown’s newest hosts Stephen Stachofsky and Larissa Whitaker. We’ll reflect on our last season, look ahead to some of...

“Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.”  When Ben, Caleb, and Stephen joined the Deus Vult podcast for a crossover episode in November, this quote came up. It’s from Nucky Thompson, the main character in HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. While recent dramas set in the roaring twenties, such as Boardwalk Empire and Peaky Blinders, have taken liberties with historical events, they tell really go...

A tried and true pop culture staple is the top five list. Another tried and true pop culture staple is the gangster movie. In an attempt to reach the length of gangster epics of the past, Ben, Caleb, and Stephen have recorded our longest episode to date. If these movies, scenes, directors, actors, and characters are in themselves a meeting of the five families, who gets a seat at the table? Who’s...

Maybe it starts with a special delivery. Perhaps the first thing you see is the exterior of the New York Public Library. Or maybe we begin in the present with everything shrouded in black and white at an auction in an abandoned, old opera house, before the chandelier is lit and we go back in time. Halloween looks a little different for everyone and for this episode, Stephen, Ben, and Caleb discuss...

Storytelling Breakdown has now been around for a year!  One topic that has always resonated with the Storytelling Breakdown team is voice acting, going all the way back to our first episode in September of 2020 when we highlighted Mark Hamil’s Joker. How do voice actors create such memorable performances so radically different from their own? What can be done to help these virtuosos of voice under...

This podcast exists because for all of us on our team, someone fueled our passion for movies. Connections can be drawn between actors, writers, and in the case of this episode, directors like Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg.  We have two guests in the studio for this episode. Ben Clemmer’s brother Don is a lifelong cinephile and provided an early influence for interests like comics, Star War...

Our team has a great love of comic books. The stories include, but are not limited to superheroes. Some we couldn’t put down as children. Others enthrall us as adult readers. Plus, there is so much major media available today that is based on stories told in the pages of comic books. We’re continuing our series of crossover shows with a full Breakdown featuring Albert Wiltfong, Austin Shinn, and Z...

Welcome to this episode. Have a look around. Anything that brain of yours can think of can be found... We’re still processing the emotions we felt when watching Bo Burnham: Inside. The pandemic has been hard on our team’s mental health and Caleb and Ben watched the special for the fourth and second time before recording this month’s episode. From the songs, to the lighting, to the feelings, this i...

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been praised for its interconnected film and television spanning stories, which have remained largely consistent in tone and continuity since Iron Man came out in 2008. DC films have been… well, not that. After Caleb and Ben saw Zack Snyder’s Justice League, they invited Lucas Gerke to return to the podcast for a deep dive into how we got here. In addition to stud...

When Storytelling Breakdown Writer, Editor, and Producer Stephen Stachofsky wrote a blog for SB this week, he included this quote from George Lucas, "after Star Wars was released, it became apparent that my story—however many films it took to tell—was only one of thousands that could be told about the characters who inhabit its galaxy. But these were not stories that I was destined to tell. Instea...

You can hear the choppers in the distance. A slight tilt of the head and looking off screen, and you’re in a fantasy. The realities of facing death every single day collide with some of the best comedy and writing of their eras. Storytelling Breakdown’s Caleb Meyer grew up watching M*A*S*H. Ben Clemmer grew up watching Scrubs. In this episode the pair discuss the connections and parallels between...