Creative Principles

Latest Episodes:

Ep362 - Will Graham, Co-Creator Amazon Prime’s ‘A League of Their Own’ Aug 24, 2022

Show notes

“I was a queer kid and I didn’t really have a vocabulary for that — I don’t know what was ‘wrong’ with me — but I had this sense I wasn’t right for the world exactly as it was around me,” said screenwriter Will Graham. “So I think stories, movies, TV, comic books, novels…they were a place I could escape and process what was happening to me.” Graham continued, “I think that’s the impulse that brought me to making things. The idea of taking people somewhere outside the space of their normal lives that’s special. Not just giving them a fun adventure but something they can take back with them.” These projects include Movie 43, Alpha House, Mozart in the Jungle, and the new series A League of Their Own. The latest series is a comedy about the WWII All-American professional women’s baseball league. The ensemble stars Abbi Jacobson, D’Arcy Carden, Chanté Adams, Molly Emphraim, and Nick Offerman. Subscribe for video interviews on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/CreativePrinciples?sub_confirmation=1 If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

Ep361 - James Morosini, Writer-Director Patton Oswalt Film ‘I Love My Dad’ Aug 20, 2022

Show notes

“My dad used to take me to the movies every weekend,” said James Morosini, who is also the nephew of actor Christopher Reeve. You may have seen James as an actor in The Sex Lives of College Girls or American Horror Story, but he’s also known for writing and directing in films like Threesomething and I Love My Dad. About fifteen years ago, James and his dad were not really talking and when he got home one day, he had a friend request from a pretty girl. But, this girl turned out to be his dad. This is the kernel of an idea behind his latest film, which also stars Patton Oswalt, Lil Rel Howery, and Rachel Dratch. In this interview, James talks about emotional truths in filmmaking, what it means to have narrative authority, how pitching is like poker, and how to say ‘no’ when you don’t feel 100 percent on a project. Subscribe for video interviews on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/CreativePrinciples?sub_confirmation=1 If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

Ep360 - Chris Mundy Returns, Showrunner Netflix’s ‘Ozark’ Aug 16, 2022

Show notes

“There were always supposed to be four seasons,” said showrunner Chris Mundy. The final season of Ozark was originally going to be ten episodes, but when Netflix up’d the ante to fourteen episodes, there were several changes in the series. Normally, this interview series goes more into the habits of writers, but in this special episode, we really go into the weeds about Ozark Season 4, making heavy decisions in terms of plot and character, and what alterations were made in the final season. You can also listen to my first interview with Chris Mundy in Episode 160: https://soundcloud.com/creativeprinciples/ep160-chris-mundy-screenwriter-ozark-criminal-minds-hell-on-wheels Subscribe for video interviews on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/CreativePrinciples?sub_confirmation=1 If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

Ep359 - Bisha K. Ali, Screenwriter ‘Loki’ and Creator ‘Ms. Marvel’ Aug 12, 2022

Show notes

When asked why she got into writing, screenwriter Bisha K. Ali joked it all started with a “teacher who gave [her] too much validation.” She said, “I wrote a short story when I was 8 and the teacher made me read it to the class. They were wondering who this kid was who had been sitting in the corner for the past six years.” This early validation, along with a family and cultural love for storytelling from her British-Pakistani background, is “fundamentally” a part of her. “Then, also the fact that I was an indoor kid raised on television and movies. That was my obsession as a child. I just didn’t know there was space for me until I got older.” Despite being a quiet kid, Bisha didn’t see herself as introverted, just “indoors.” So moving from solo projects to the Writer’s Room wasn’t particularly overwhelming for her. “I don’t know the tI’m an introvert necessarily, just an uncool kid,” she joked. “I think I feed off the energy of other writers a lot. Being in the Writer’s Room is the best. It’s more fun when you’re not the head because you’re just pitching ideas and that’s fun and exiting. When you’re the head, you have to figure out all of it.” “Even know, if there’s an opportunity to dip into a Writer’s Room, it’s the best. I love that environment. But then I also need five days of nothingness. So I need both.” As a screenwriter, Bisha is known for Sex Education, Four Weddings and a Funeral (2019), Loki, and creating the new Marvel series Ms. Marvel for Disney Plus. “It’s always been about storytelling for me, in one form or another.” We also talk about Moon Knight in this interview. Listen to my interview with Jeremy Slater here: https://soundcloud.com/creativeprinciples/ep351-jeremy-slater-screenwriter-marvels-series-moon-knight?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing If it’s your first time listening, make sure to subscribe and visit my new website for information on the YouTube channel, the blog, this podcast, and my new book ‘Ink by the Barrel’ which takes advice from these 200+ interviews at the link below… Subscribe for video interviews on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBUux6BkhC-dtP4Vj1GcgMA If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

Ep358 - Andy Siara, Screenwriter ‘Lodge 49,’ ‘Palm Springs,’ & ‘The Resort’ Aug 08, 2022

Show notes

“I needed to make a change in my life,” said Andy Siara about the origin of his screenwriting career. “I was in a band with my brother for a while and we decided to call it a day in 2012. He was making responsible adult decisions, so I thought I had to do that too, so I applied to the only school that didn’t require the GRE.” Two weeks later, Siara was enrolled at AFI. “To hedge my bets, I applied to the producing program and the screenwriting program,” he joked. “I stayed up all night writing my first screenplay and I got into both programs—so I decided to do screenwriting.” Andy refers to this as the non-romantic version of his path into screenwriting, but if you go back a little further, the real fascination came when Andy was a 7-year-old and his dad took him to see Jurassic Park. “Oh, okay, this is what I gotta do now,” he said. “I saw that like nine times that summer and developed a true love for movies and then TV in the early 2000s.” Today, Siara is best known for his work on Lodge 49, the movie Palm Springs, and the recent series The Resort. “In order to not hate myself the rest of my life, I knew I had to at least try it,” he said of screenwriting. “I had to back myself into a corner and try it.” Andy’s work is all very unique in nature, giving him a signature for the unusual quite early in his career. His most recent project, The Resort, has been described as “one foot on the banana peel and the other in the grave.” It all goes back to a short story he wrote around age 12, called “Stuck in the Past.” Subscribe for video interviews on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBUux6BkhC-dtP4Vj1GcgMA If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

Ep357 - Joshua Sprague, Author & Creator The 30-Day Book Writing Challenge Jul 29, 2022

Show notes

Joshua Sprague is an avid reader obsessed with mindset and productivity. In his first book, SMASH!, the author talked about breaking through productivity barriers thanks to advice he learned from six and seven-figure infopreneurs. We also discuss Joshua’s battle-tested 30 Day Book Writing Challenge, and a little about his upcoming book Create First, Consume Second, which is about a 25-minute daily ritual to make you richer, happier, and more creative. www.createfirstconsumesecond.com In this interview, Joshua talks about creating leverage to do less and make more, skiing and throwing dynamite for $12 an hour, how a mentor inspired him to write a book in 21 days, what it means to be obsessed with offers, and some of his secrets behind an infopreneur business. You can follow Joshua on Instagram (@JoshuaJSprague) to get access to his books and courses. If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

Ep356 - Hwang Dong-Hyuk, Writer-Director Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’ Jul 29, 2022

Show notes

“My dream was to become a film director,” said Hwang Dong-Hyuk, writer/director of Netflix’s Squid Game. “It’s a long story, but at first I wanted to write books or become a poet. I knew I wasn’t good enough for that, but in 1992, my mom bought a video camera so I could use it. I think that was the most fun thing I’ve done in my life, so I knew I wanted to become a film director.” Hwang Dong-Hyuk is also known for his work on The Fortress and Silenced. The Fortress takes place in 1636, when King Into hides in the mountains to avoid being part of the Qing Dynasty. In Silenced, a hearing-impaired deaf student is sexually assaulted by members of the faculty. Squid Game, the 9-episode series which has received 14 Emmy nominations, is much different from Hwang’s earlier work. The story follows hundreds of cash-strapped players who accept a string invitation to compete in children’s games. Inside, a tempting prize awaits, but so do deadly stakes in this survival series. “In 2008, I was trying to write a project and the project failed,” said Hwang. “I couldn’t get an investment, so -- tired and broke — I went to Comic Book stores or Comic Book Cafes as we call them in Korea, and I read a lot of comic books about survival games and gambling.” Get the TV Screenwriter Masterclass NOW for $1: https://www.scriptmastermind.com/television If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

Ep355 - Rick Dugdale, Writer-Director Anthony Hopkins Film ‘Zero Contact’ Jul 25, 2022

Show notes

Rick Dugdale was a child actor in Canada who later found a path as a Producer, thanks to his work on The X-Files. Now, he’s a Producer and Director for the upcoming Zero Contact trilogy. The first film, shot in the pandemic, stars Anthony Hopkins, Sam Hart, and Trevor Williams. The thriller was produced in 17 different countries entirely virtually during 2020. Zero Contact will be followed up with Zero Contact: Pole to Pole and Zero Contact: The Reset. In this interview, Rick talks about “International appeal,” how he defined the limitations for a pandemic film shot on Zoom, what it’s like to virtually direct a film, and the logistics of this complex and shifting process to create a production guideline for this shoot . If it’s your first time listening, make sure to subscribe and visit my new website for information on the YouTube channel, the blog, this podcast, and my new book ‘Ink by the Barrel’ which takes advice from these 200+ interviews at the link below… Follow us on Instagram: @brockswinson If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

Ep354 - Karla R. Fuller, Author ‘Do the Right Thing - Five Screenplays that Embrace Diversity’ Jul 14, 2022

Show notes

“I never saw myself as a writer per se,” said author Karla Fuller, “but I loved film and discovered film while I was an undergraduate. I was looking for books that were interesting to me and I couldn’t find them. I thought I was going to have to write it myself. I found that I had a lot of say about it.” And that’s exactly what she did. Karla R. Fuller is known for two books: Hollywood Goes Oriental: CaucAsian Performance in American Film and Do the Right Thing: Five Screenplays that Embrace Diversity.” In this interview, Fuller talks about black films not about Civil Rights, the problem with cosmetic changes in scripts, how to be respectful of culture with consultants, and what it means to be universal through the specific. We also reference an interview with Black-ish screenwriter Courtney Lilly who appeared on the podcast in Episode 340, Weiko Lin who appeared in Episode 331, and Eugene Ashe who appeared in Episode 290. If it’s your first time listening, make sure to subscribe and visit my new website for information on the YouTube channel, the blog, this podcast, and my new book ‘Ink by the Barrel’ which takes advice from these 200+ interviews at the link below… Follow us on Instagram: @brockswinson If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

Ep353 - Lenny Abrahamson Returns, Director ‘Conversations with Friends’ Jul 01, 2022

Show notes

“It kind of grew out of Normal People,” said Lenny Abrahamson about his new series Conversations with Friends. Both stories come from Irish author Sally Rooney. “It seemed very obvious having gone through the adaptation in episodic form. We learned how best to work with Sally’s material and we all felt like Conversations should be a series.” The series are listed as Normal People premiering in 2020 and Conversations with Friends premiering in 2022, but the process was a little more overlapping for the writer/director. “We were cranking up with breaking the episodes while Normal People was still not out in the world.” Normal People “…follows Marianne and Connell, from different backgrounds but the same small town in Ireland, as they weave in and out of each other's romantic lives.” Conversations with Friends is about “…two Dublin college students, Frances and Bobbi, and the strange and unexpected connection they forge with married couple, Melissa and Nick.” In this interview, the writer-director talks about making limited series instead of films, how he carried on the Normal People style, why he dislikes the Syd Field method, and what he’s learned working on adaptations. Listen to my first interview with Lenny back in Episode 229. If it’s your first time listening, make sure to subscribe and visit my new website for information on the YouTube channel, the blog, this podcast, and my new book ‘Ink by the Barrel’ which takes advice from these 200+ interviews at the link below… Follow us on Instagram: @brockswinson If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

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