Martini Shot

Latest Episodes:

Silence May 26, 2010

Show notes

Hear that? That's silence. That's what all writers are supposed to require to get anything done. Except for the writers who want to hear this [loud music]...

Broke May 19, 2010

Show notes

A friend of mine loves to reminisce about the old days, when she first moved to Hollywood to make her way in the entertainment business. She arrived almost totally penniless, which is often a recipe for the first act of an ABC Afterschool Special – which they don’t even make anymore, I think, these days, when it’s impossible to shock anyone, especially a teenager. But back in the day, as people who do not realize just how powerful the gears of time are put it, back in the day, an ABC Afterschool Special was what you watched when you wanted to know what happened to kids who drank too much, or ran away, or got into strange vans. These days I guess kids don’t need to watch that on TV. They see it everyday. In homeroom.

Someone's Calling Me May 13, 2010

Show notes

The human life can be neatly divided into two halves. In the first half, when the phone rings, you think, "Oh, great! Someone's calling me!" In the second half, when the phone rings, you think, "Oh. Great. Someone's calling me." In olden times, of course, when the phone rang, it really rang. It wasn't just a twenty-second snippet of some Lady Gaga song. And the phone was a shared object – it could be for anyone, so when someone answered it, there was this delicious sense of mystery: who's calling? Who's it for?

The List May 06, 2010

Show notes

When I was trying to break into show business, and older, more experienced writer – I think he was twenty-five; I think he once had a script optioned by a Serbia-based producer – told me that the only way to break into television writing was to be on a list of network-approved writers. It was a real list, he said, with a lot of names on it, and only those names would ever be hired to be on a writing staff. Get your name on that list, he said. It's the only way...

Sunroof Apr 29, 2010

Show notes

When I first moved here – and exactly when is really none of your business – I drove a battered old Subaru station wagon, with a rusted undercarriage and New Hampshire plates. It burned a quart or so of oil every month, and when you made a left turn it emitted a smell like a burning plastic doll...

Own the Day Apr 22, 2010

Show notes

People love to say "Carpe Diem" or "Seize the Day," but they never tell who, exactly, to seize it from. I mean, you have to seize it from somebody, right? If there was any time in your possession at all, you’d have seized it months – maybe years – before. My theory is this: there are two kinds of people in this world: the kind that seize the day, and the kind whose day get seized...

What's that Smell? Apr 15, 2010

Show notes

For something that everyone in show business eventually has to deal with, you’d think we’d have come up with a better way to do casting. Although you have to marvel at the efficiency of the system. When a casting call goes out, in something called, with unintentional accuracy, The Breakdown, wheels set in motion deliver to you, in a few hours, multiple human versions of whatever was described on paper...

A Moment of Prayer Apr 01, 2010

Show notes

This is Rob Long with Martini Shot… on…. KCRW I am here, just a minute I have to send this one email and then I'm here, totally, let me just….
Send….this out. And now I'm done. Here I am. Sorry....

Take the Float Mar 25, 2010

Show notes

Not too long ago, I worked on a project with a friend of mine. We wrote a script together, that, despite being the best script every written with one or two exceptions, didn't, as the current euphemism sweeping the business says, move forward...

They Listened to You Mar 18, 2010

Show notes

For the past five years or so, I've been telling anyone who'll listen – well, boring anyone who'll listen – about my theories on the emerging economics of the television business. In a nutshell: the exploding universe of unlimited bandwidth combined with unlimited storewidth have created a classic case of margin squeeze....

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Martini Shot

Related Podcasts

1

2

3

4

5

6