Tell The Damn Story

Or How a Young Filmmaker Produced A Western During A Pandemic. Alex and Chris speak with one of Alex's former screenwriting students, Breck Cuddy .  Together our cohost explore the young filmmaker's first short film “Saving Grayson,” a multi character western he wrote and produced during the first year of Covid.  Their discussion also cover his first music video, the challenges of creati...

Alex and Chris remember a powerhouse artist and activist for the arts after the sad passing of Neal Adams.  "Neal was an American comic book artist. He was the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates ; and was a creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and recognition for Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster . During his career, Adams co-created the...

This week Alex and Chris talk about some of life's dark moments, scares, losses, and how we see them through our five senses. And then we discuss the importance of using those five senses when we create. And those with an acute sixth sense, tell us how you use that in your creative arts process. Have questions or comments for us? Post in the comments section or ... Write : TTDSOnAir@gmail.com And...

Or, The One Where Chris' Quest Teaches Author Lessons In Tenacity In this episode, Alex gets Chris to talk about his long journey as an independent author trudging towards the best work he can possibly produce.  No writer knows what their best is; part of the joy of the journey is discovering ways to get better.  Listen as Chris reflects on the lessons he's learned, including the tough l...

In this episode, Alex and Chris discuss Oscar nominated films as a way to improve your writing. We take close looks at Belfast and Coda and even mention King Richard to show how they demonstrate the concept of "a good story well told."  Close looks at these movies can teach storytelling, foreshadowing, theme, originality, using personal experience to tell a bigger tale, the power of character...

This week, Alex and Chris dive deep into Matt Reeves' new film "The Batman" from the perspective of creatives and creative writing.  The cohost discuss the 80 plus year history that contributes to this iteration of the character.   They also explore the elements of storytelling, soundtrack, cinematography, acting, and directing that work together to give us so much to appreciate from thi...

THE BATMAN film has arrived.   THE DETECTIVE is Back! Following a long line of live and animated successes, the newest Batman movie landed on March 4, 2022. So Chris and Alex decided this would be a good time to repeat their interview with the Executive Producer, Michael Uslan .  If you didn't hear it before, here's episode #214 of Tell The Damn Story . Sit back and hear how Michael boug...

Alex and Chris open this episode by saluting the power of legends especially in times of war. This week Russia invaded Ukraine and two legends stepped forward, the Ghost of Kiev and the Ukraine Reaper , to give Ukrainians hope when they are in dire need.  The rest of our episode is focused on how to do public appearances as a writer.  We use Chris's recent appearance on the Galactic Terr...

Today, as we prepare to see who are the heroes of this year's Super Bowl, Alex and Chris explore who our heroes are in 2022. Do the older heroes still hold up? Do we prefer anti-heroes? No heroes? Or do we need heroes now more than ever? We'll see on today's episode! Have questions or comments for us? Post in the comments section or ... Write: TTDSOnAir@gmail.com And follow us on ... @Tell The Dam...

This week, Alex and Chris tackle a subject that is unfortunately in the news once again.  As the banning of books again draws attention to people's fears and privilege in this country, what does it mean to the creative community? And what can we do about it? And how can it inspire our writing? Have questions or comments for us? Post in the comments section or ... Write : TTDSOnAir@gmail.com A...

In this episode, Alex and Chris discuss the best methods for writers to do readings of their work, for themselves or an audience.   And they start with Chris' upcoming public reading on Galactic Terrors (YouTube 1/13 at 8 PM). They also review best practices on giving a public reading either live or remotely.  Not to mention explaining how writers can benefit from reading their works out...

There Be Heroes Here? 2021 brought with it wounds and wins, new challenges, heroes and villains, and questions about how to handle it all. In this Chris and Alex review the creative path through all of this.  From their real life and death hurdles, to favorite costume clad inspirations. And finally they ask -- Has what we've all been through made it hard for us to value human over superhuman?...

Young writers Caseen Gaines and Omar Holman are back!!!   Once again Chris and Alex are following these talented young authors on their writing and publishing journey.  Caseen talks about the making, publishing and promoting  of his new book FOOTNOTES .   And Omar shares his same experiences with, BLACK NERD PROBLEMS , co-written by him and Williams Evans.    Both boo...

Ever wonder why your character scenes fall flat, even though you've nailed down their NAME, AGE, and maybe a few basic RELATIONSHIPS?   It could be the quality of the Dialog. Knowing what your characters say and how they say it is crucial.  And not only to advance the plot. Authentic engaging dialog helps establish the depth of the character, the tone and mood of your story. So listen as...

How do you go from average college student to owning film rights to one of the most iconic multi-media fictional characters? How do you strive for success when year after year, after year, your passion project is rejected? How do you go from writing a book about a beloved chapter in your life, to seeing that life and book portrayed on a Broadway stage? Alex and Chris explore those question when th...

" I Love Assessing and Goal Setting This Time of Year! " Why?  And what good does it do? This week, Alex and Chris discuss how creatives should review what they've accomplished this year and use that to set goals for the coming year. So many of us get to the end of a year and say, " I didn't get anything done! "  However, if you go back month by month and review what you actually have cr...

This week Alex and Chris celebrate horror, punk, sci-fi, and pulp with Horror Writers Association -NY co-coordinators James Chambers and Carol Gyzander. We discuss how to write stories in these suspenseful genres, dealing with rejection, becoming part of the surprisingly warm and supportive horror community, and their superb "Galactic Terrors" YouTube series featuring live readings from horror aut...

For writers what's the greatest monster in the closet? This week Alex and Chris go in to find out when they talk about how lack of confidence can freeze us in our tracks.  They also talk about how it can be dealt with and even inspire your creativity.  And they finally shine a light on how your experiences in life can fuel your art. Lots of good advice here to help writers step out into...

This episode brings you an interview with Teel J. Glenn , actor, stuntman, weapons master, actor, fight choreographer, director, producer, and, most of all, writer.  With over 500 stories including 40 novels ranging from action-adventure to horror and sword & sorcery.   But in September and October he experienced a flurry of activity that can truly inspire us. We talked to Teel to ex...

We're running a little longer than 30 minutes today because in this episode Alex and Chris gets to interview the extremely talented artist, Julie Bell .   " A world renowned, award winning fantasy artist and wildlife painter. Julie has won two Chelsea Awards and was the designer of the popular and award-winning Dragons of Destiny series ..."   Artist do not only create cover art for stor...

This week Alex and Chris gave a concise, detailed "how to" for writers who have short stories they believe are ready to send out , but are not sure where to send them. Chock full of useful information, it's a must for emerging writers of any level.    So, while you're putting together that list of agents, publishers, and online zines, give a listen here!   Some places to go : ...

Welcome to TELL THE DAMN STORY, Season 5 with veteran award winning authors Alex Simmons and Christopher Ryan.   It's a whole new season for tell the damn story!  And as we enter it we have some major news and changes to tell you about. So listen in as we share the promises of things to come starting this fall. Have questions or comments for us? Post in the comments section below or ...&...

In joining with the quiet acknowledgement of the passing of Chadwick Bosman (1 year ago this month) this summer hiatus episode contains the interview with Don McGregor .   Chris and I thought we were prepared to interview storyteller extraordinaire DON McGREGOR.  I'd known him since the 70s.  And Chris had read his books and researched his other interviews.  Yep, we thought we...

During our over 200 episodes TTDS has had the good fortune of exploring the creative process locally, nationally, and internationally. This episode originally aired in June of 2018.  And it involves my preparation to speak to young artists at the international Balkans Festival of Young Comics Creators, in Serbia. The festival’s purpose is to bring together a war torn area of the Balkans, and...

Co-Hosts Chris Ryan & Alex Simmons are on summer hiatus. So in this flashback episode we're going to revisit some Marvel magic. Chris and Alex discuss the creative, risk taking experiment that was WANDA VISION. Post in the comments section below ... Or write: TTDSOnAir@gmail.com