On The Page

Director Elliott Lester returns to talk about how a gender swap and involvement by Peter Dinklage brought him to his latest project, The Thicket.

Career coach Lee Jessup discusses Hollywood's current "contraction" and suggests that it might ultimately result in a positive outcome.

Writer/Director Tracie Laymon turned a painful truth into an award-winning independent feature. Hear how she conceived, wrote, directed and produced Bob Trevino Likes It, earning the jury prize for Best Narrative Feature and the Audience Award at the 2024 South by Southwest Film Festival.

Writer James "Doc" Mason digs into the elements of the logline as discussed in his book, Mastering the Logline: How To Excite Hollywood in a Single Sentence.

From getting stuck in a Zoom room to working in hospice, everything that writer Lauren Glover (Chicago Med, Fight Night) thought was an obstacle, came full circle to help her in her writing career.

Barbara Stepansky, writer/producer on Outlander and head writer on Woman of the Dead, talks about how the rules of the shows she writes on present creative challenges that make her job even more interesting.

Writer/Director Marie-Emmanuelle Hartness comes from a personal place in her work and asks the same of her students at Emerson College.

Writer and "good witch," Glenda L. Richardson describes her process for capturing voices and crafting stories for celebrities such as Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish and Taraji P. Henson.

Entertainment attorney and composer Corey Field sees his work as helping writers and creators achieve their dreams. Here he explains the difference between sales, options and work-for-hire and discusses potential gains and traps along the way.

Writer Delondra Mesa (American Rust, Pretty Little Liars) talks about her approach to discovering story and creating content even as the industry experiences "The Great Contraction."

Director Dans Karagannis and Writer Liz Renner discuss their journey meeting in an On the Page class and joining together to make their short film Damned If You Do, currently screening in major festivals.

Writer Suha AL Khalifa is a senior writer at the Saudi Giant MBC Studios (Rashash, Devil's Promise) and also wrote the region's first female super-hero film. She talks about how her experience as a psychotherapist and as a "cultural hybrid" (Bahrain, UK, and US) has informed her writing and storytelling.

Joe Gold's "Shakespeare Inc." offers sixteen variations of a story. Hear how he wrote it, how "choose your own adventure" storytelling is structured and how this approach can work for video-game and screenwriting.

Emily Harris is not only an award-winning writer-director (Carmilla), she also has an amazing "day job" as the Curator of Film at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

When writer-director GG Hawkins had access to a unique location for a limited amount of time, she "planted a flag and figured out a way to do it," writing, producing and directing an indi-feature called I Really Love My Husband.

Filmmaker/ professor Michele Meek shares her thoughts about changing sexuality in teen films, how rom-coms often rely on a non-consent premise and about her wish that writers put their sex scenes on the page.

From "safety nets" to "act three payoffs," Pilar goes solo to talk about what she's learning while working with writers Story to Script.

Writer/director Hilari Scarl discusses her latest multi-media work, Not Another Deaf Story, written and performed with deaf actors on stage and on screen.

Writers Chris Lawing and Alex Grossman have independently made the movies they've written and prepare to makes more! Here they talk about how they've pulled it off and what they've learned along the way.

Actor Joel Stoffer (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Stranger Things) stage-reads scene direction submissions from listeners as they showcase their writing skills! Who will win?

Writer/producer Tracy Grant (Lincoln Heights, Lace) tells a personal story filled with highs and lows that led to a number of writing lessons and his confirmation that "you only need one yes."

Did you write a prize-worthy piece of scene direction? Enter it in the On the Page Scene Direction Contest! Pilar explains the rules and gives the deadline.

A catch up with writer/comedian Laura House as she talks about the lean years and the ripe years, including running a British show in the middle of Covid and learning to feel "the right amount of proud" about her accomplishments.

Science through entertainment. Entertainment inspiring science. Filmmakers Tamara Krinsky and Taryn O'Neill co-founded Scirens to explore all of the possibilities.

Writer Jimmy Miller reflects on a script that changed as he changed, ultimately leading to his current Nicholl Fellowship win.

We're covering it all in this one: Six writing tips from Pilar's list, some talk of movies that got overlooked at the Oscars and a discussion of writer Sam Benjamin's new wrestling short film, Screwjob.

Pilar and her friends Brian Pope, Mike Musa and Alex Troxler get together for their annual discussion about the best screenplay and best adapted screenplay Oscar nominees.

Writer/Producer Christine Lenig worked hard and took notes for twelve years before her rom-com Upgraded was finally produced with Camila Mendes, Marisa Tomei and Lena Olin. Now it's #1 on Amazon!

Writer/Scholar David Noller discusses his book Master Poetry Forms and talks about the ways that screenwriting and poetry are similar in terms of structure, form and craft.

Writer Andrew Zinnes provides nuggets from his new book, Screenwriters Advice, a "how to" as told through the interviews of successful writers of film and TV.

Spotlight on Robert Wooldridge and Kimberly Dilts, two talented On the Page writers with excellent material, ready for their big break!

Writer Allison McGevna talks about how the tools and narrative style she uses in her job as a multimedia storyteller and media executive help her as a screenwriter. Please note: This episode was originally recorded on January 20, 2024 before the recent Conde Nast strike in response to media layoffs.

Today's glut of rom-coms: Why do we love them? What do they get right? What do they get wrong? Writer Elizabeth McKenzie has opinions!

Writer/director Christy Stratton returns to the podcast to discuss her short film, The Runt (and to hear about Pilar's horror-movie Christmas.)

Jonterri Gadson went from "comedy nerd" to "comedy expert" when she earned fellowships with the NBC Late Night Writers Workshop and Kevin Hart's LOL to land a show on adult swim and launch a career writing for The Upshaws, A Black Lady Sketch Show and the upcoming animated show Everybody Still Hates Chris.

Career coach Lee Jessup returns to discuss the industry changes and writing trends of 2023 and shares what's ahead for the new year.

Pilar reads and gives feedback on the loglines that didn't make the top fifteen lists for the 2023 Logline Contest.

Pilar and Aadip read, evaluate and vote on feature and TV loglines sent in by listeners. Dimwitted extraterrestrials. Time-traveling teachers. Felons at birthday parties. Who will win?

A healthy "impatience" led writer Lenore Adediran to stop waiting and make a web series. Since then she's sold a pilot, a feature and the Christmas movie, A Christmas Serenade, produced by Harpo Films and streaming on Max.

Portuguese Script writer Miguel Simal spent years in telenovela writers rooms learning to be as creative as possible before going on to co-write the award-winning Netflix series, Glória.

Writer Isabel Dréan talks about her shift from thrillers to holiday movies, leading to five of her scripts being produced in an 18-month period.

Ready to submit for the annual On the Page logline competition? Pilar explains the rules and gives the deadline.

As he reaches his ten year anniversary of writing, Scotty Mullen returns to share his thoughts on what he's learned from writing low budget horror, women in peril movies, Christmas movies and so much more. Bottom line: Writing has to be fun!

Writer/Director Lee Whittaker spent years as a stunt man, stunt coordinator and second-unit director before setting out to make a feature film on his own. Hear what he learned from his experience and desire to make a movie with a message.

Writer/directors Dave Merlino and Dustin Sweet set out to document the stories of the men who served in the 9th Cavalry Regiment in Vietnam. But what they ended up with was a documentary about the need to talk through trauma. Here they discuss their years-long journey making and distributing Apache Blues: Welcome Home.

From providing a performance space for the UCB in New York to contributing to "Second Draft" evenings in Los Angeles, writer Ellen Ancui continually brings together groups of creatives and builds her own supportive writing community.

Writer Crescent Imani Novell won the Nickelodeon Writing Fellowship in 2018 and has been writing on an animated shows like Dreamworks' Fright Krewe, Marvel's Moon Girl and Mattel's Barbie: It Takes Two. She's got excellent advice about story, character and dialogue, with a little personal hustle thrown in.

Writer Seth M. Sherwood (Leatherface, Light as a Feather) discusses common horror themes from "screwed by the system" to "man plays God" as written about in his new book, The Scary Movie Writers Guide.

Writer Nick Smith joins Pilar and her husband Pat Francis in a discussion about Hammer Films, the production company that made Dracula, The Curse of Frankenstein, The Mummy and much more!

From writers' room minimums to guaranteed second steps, career coach Lee Jessup talks about the "exceptional" gains made by the WGA as a result of the 148-day writers' strike.