The Business

After her first feature premiered at Sundance to strong reviews, director Desiree Akhavan thought finding money to make a second film would be a snap. But after striking out in LA, Akhavan’s quest to make another project ultimately landed her in London. She tells us why she thinks the Brits are more open to her ideas, and talks about her newest film, ‘The Miseducation of Cameron Post.’

A new documentary explores the incredible life of 95-year-old Scotty Bowers--a prolific pansexual pimp to the stars. Bowers says he set up liaisons for celebrities from Cary Grant to Rock Hudson to J. Edgar Hoover--all from his base in a gas station on Hollywood Boulevard. Director Matt Tyrnauer tells us about his film, ‘Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood.’

Late on Friday afternoon, a New Yorker investigation by Ronan Farrow dropped, revealing accusations of misconduct against Leslie Moonves by six women. The CBS board met on Monday and announced that Moonves would remain at work while the board works to hire outside counsel to conduct an investigation.

‘Blockers ’is comedy writer Kay Cannon’s directorial debut. When she was hired for the project, she had some work to do on a script about girls, written by a bunch of guys. 'Blockers' is now out on DVD, and we're revisiting our conversation with Cannon. She tells us how she made ‘Blockers’ funnier and more feminist.

As showrunner Marti Noxon was preparing to film her new series ‘Dietland’ on AMC, a former colleague from another AMC show, ‘Mad Men,’ accused series creator Matthew Weiner of sexually harassing her. Noxon decided to make a statement in support of the writer, Kater Gordon. Noxon tells us why she felt the need to speak up and talks about her two new series-- ‘Dietland' and ‘Sharp Objects.’

Debra Granik’s new movie, ‘Leave No Trace’ follows a father and daughter living completely off the grid, in the woods. Granik could have cast a big name to play the daughter, and perhaps gotten a bigger budget, but she says that’s not how her style of filmmaking works. Instead, she went with an unknown teenager from New Zealand.

Courtney Kemp, creator of the Starz drama ‘Power,’ is one of the few women of color running her own TV show. With the push for increased diversity in the industry, Kemp says it’s easier for networks to open their wallets than their hearts. As 'Power' returns for a 5th season, Kemp gets real about being a parent and a showrunner, and how she wishes her series had been marketed differently in earlie...

Tim Wardle was working at a production company in London when he first heard about identical triplets separated at birth in the 1960’s and adopted by three different families. The brothers knew nothing of each other’s existence until they were reunited by chance at age 19. Wardle talks to Matt Holzman about how he got to make the crazy story told in his new documentary ‘Three Identical Strangers.’

After seven seasons starring in the CBS series ‘The Mentalist,’ Simon Baker made his feature directing debut with the coming-of-age film, ‘Breath.’ Shot in part in the wild waters off the West Coast of Australia, ‘Breath’ stars two teenagers who had never acted, but were excellent surfers. Baker tells us how compared to surfing, acting is the easy part.

After a late Friday news dump, we re-banter about John Lasseter's departure from Disney, discuss why he had to go, and what this means for the world of animation. Plus, a look ahead to Tuesday's expected decision on the AT&T trial.

Director Morgan Neville knew his new documentary about the life and legacy of Fred Rogers and his neighborhood would be emotional. But he wasn’t prepared for theaters full of mass sobbing. He tells us why Mister Rogers makes us cry and how he made the deeply touching film, 'Won't You Be My Neighbor?'

Usually cancellation means death for a TV series, but these days, there is hope for resurrection. Showrunner Dan Goor went through an emotional Tilt-A-Whirl when his cop comedy ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ was dropped by Fox after 5 seasons, only to be brought back to life by NBC just one day later. Goor takes us through the topsy turvy ride.

Amazon’s ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ tells the story of Midge Maisel--the perfect well-to-do 1950’s New York housewife who turns to stand-up comedy when her husband leaves her. Creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband and producing partner Daniel Palladino tell us about the work that goes into filming a period series in Manhattan and their painstaking process for selecting music for the show.

Soon after Tanya Saracho got the green light to write a pilot for her first TV series, she contracted a dangerous spinal infection that left her stuck in bed for months. But Saracho rallied and her show 'Vida' has just premiered on Starz. A former Chicago-based playwright, Saracho tells us about her tough first experiences as a TV writer and how she ended up running the first all Latinx writers ro...

As the series ‘Dear White People’ launches its second season on Netflix, the show about black students grappling with life at a fictional Ivy League university maintains a 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Creator Justin Simien tells us about writing things satirically and then watching them become reality. And he explains why for many years, he didn’t believe he could be a part of creating po...

The documentary ‘Bombshell’ explores the life and legacy of Hedy Lamarr, a star from Hollywood’s golden age and an inventor whose ideas are still in use in wireless technology. Her inventions weren’t recognized until late in her ultimately tragic life, and never made her any money. ‘Bombshell’ director Alexandra Dean tells us about Lamarr’s extraordinary career, on-screen and off.

Susanne Daniels has run the entertainment divisions of The WB, Lifetime and MTV. In those days, she sometimes faced a challenge of convincing big names to come to her network. Now, she oversees original content at YouTube, and she says getting talent is not a problem. She tells us about making the transition from traditional TV to streaming, and how YouTube Red is evolving with projects like ‘Cobr...

When director Chloé Zhao met horse trainer Brady Jandreau on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, she knew she wanted to put him in her next project. Then, Jandreau--a rising rodeo star--suffered a devastating riding accident, and Zhao knew she had the starting point of her new film. Zhao and Jandreau tell us how they made ‘The Rider’ on location in South Dakota on a shoestring budget with first-tim...

‘Blockers ’is comedy writer Kay Cannon’s directorial debut. When she was hired for the project, she had some work to do on a script about girls, written by a bunch of guys. Cannon tells us how she made ‘Blockers’ funnier and more feminist.

‘The Looming Tower’ on Hulu follows FBI agent Ali Soufan as he tries to prevent an Al Qaeda attack on U.S. soil. The real Soufan says watching an actor play him has been weird, but could have an important payoff: teaching people what led to 9/11 and preventing another attack. Soufan and ‘The Looming Tower’ author Lawrence Wright tell us how they adapted the complicated story for TV.

TV writer Nell Scovell’s credits include ‘The Simpsons,’ ‘Murphy Brown,’ ‘Late Night with David Letterman’ and ‘NCIS.’ When she started working in TV in the late 1980’s, more often than not, she’d be the only woman in the writers room. And in a lot of places, she's found, that's still the case. She tells us about calling out Letterman in Vanity Fair and shares stories from her new book ‘Just the F...

Sometimes our guests have so many interesting things to say that we can’t fit it all into one show. This week we bring you delicious leftovers: stuff that was too good to leave on the cutting-room floor, including insights from writers facing distinct challenges. Listen in for stories from comedy writer Janis Hirsch, writer-director Armando Iannucci, and showrunners Amy Sherman-Palladino and Danie...

You might know puppeteer and filmmaker Frank Oz as Miss Piggy or Cookie Monster. He is also Yoda, and he directed movies including 'Little Shop of Horrors' and 'What About Bob?' A new documentary called ‘Muppet Guys Talking’ reunites Oz and some of the other talents behind the Muppets for the first time in years. Director Frank Oz and producer Victoria Labalme tell us about getting the gang togeth...

Some of the scenes in Armando Iannucci’s new film, ‘The Death of Stalin,’ seem a bit over the top. But Iannucci says says he actually had to downplay the real story to make it believable. The political satirist behind ‘The Thick of It’ and ‘Veep’ tells us about his first time working on a project based on real people and how he had to work to balance comedy and terror when writing about the chaos...

Kim Masters and Matt Belloni met up Monday morning to break down what happened at the Oscars. We're dropping this special banter here, but we'll be back with another new episode next week!