The Austin Meyer Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Telling Stories with Heart and Humility with Kate Grant | Ep. 026 Jun 27, 2019

Show notes

Kate Grant is the CEO of The Fistula Foundation.
An obstetric fistula, the kind that occurs in many developing countries, is a hole between a woman's vagina and bladder, and it is caused by many days of obstructed labor. It leaves women incontinent and often abandoned and ostracized by their communities.
As the CEO of the Fistula Foundation, Kate is tasked with telling the stories of this stigmatized and unspoken condition in order to raise money to fund surgeries for affected women. And she has done so valiantly, quintupling the foundation’s revenue since 2005 and earning Nonprofit Marketer of the Year awards along the way.
In this conversation Kate and I talk about how she tells the stories of obstetric fistulas in a way that audiences will engage with, the importance of having heart and humility when speaking to others about their trauma, and what advice she has for both storytellers and entrepreneurs when it comes to bringing issues you care most about to light.
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Unlocking Your Creative Potential Through Improv with Dan Klein | Ep. 025 Jun 06, 2019

Show notes

http://austinmeyerfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Dan-Klein-Social-Promo.mp4
Dan Klein teaches improvisation at Stanford University where he is on the faculty of the Theater and Performance Studies Department and the Graduate School of Business. His beginning improv class is one of Stanford’s most popular courses, and he has been awarded Stanford Teacher of the Year by the Student’s Association for teaching it.
Dan not only teaches improvisation for the sake of making people better theatrical performers, but he also teaches applied improvisation in many other settings. Applied improv takes the principles and mindsets of theatrical improv and applies them to new contexts to help people become more effective leaders, generous teammates, and happier individuals. Dan has brought improv to some of the world’s biggest companies including Cisco, Oracle, Nestle, and many more.
In this conversation, Dan Klein and I discuss why an improv theater class is one of the most popular classes at Stanford, which improv maxims he believes are the key to unlocking creativity, and specific storytelling strategies that you can use whether you’re making up a story on stage or delivering a high stakes presentation at your company.
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Reporting on Humanitarian Crises with Josh Estey | Ep. 024 May 22, 2019

Show notes

Josh Estey is one of the world’s top humanitarian relief and development documentary photographers. His work for UNICEF, CARE, USAID, World Food Programme, World Bank, Mercy Corps, and others captures moments of dignity and spirit without ever sacrificing truth or context, and has helped lead the transformation of non-profit photography and videography over the past two decades. Josh is a Pulitzer nominee and his photojournalistic and video work has appeared in every major news outlet from The New York Times to the PBS NewsHour, Time, Newsweek, CNN, and many more.
In this conversation, Josh and I talk about what it’s like to cover humanitarian crises. We go into everything from navigating logistics in an emergency situation, to crafting images and videos that drive impact.. And we’re not just talking in the abstract here. We’re grounding all these details in stories, as Josh takes his through two of his most recent assignments covering the devastation of the cyclone that hit Mozambique and the Venezuelan migrant crisis.
To hear the post-show with Josh, and to support this podcast, visit www.patreon.com/austinmeyerfilms
To see Josh Estey’s photography, follow www.instagram.com/joshestey.
To follow Austin Meyer, follow @austinmeyerfilms on Instagram and Facebook!

How to Write Amazing Plays with Lauren Gunderson | Ep. 023 May 08, 2019

Show notes

Lauren Gunderson is one of the world’s most prolific playwrights. At 37, she is the most produced playwright in America and has taken home many of the most coveted awards in the business. In 2017, The New Yorker wrote a profile on Lauren and titled it, “You’ve Probably Never Heard of America’s Most Popular Playwright.” Well everybody, it’s about time you heard!
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In this episode Lauren and I discuss how a lack of female representation in theater fueled her to write her first plays as a teenager, how she structures stories with an eye on pacing and character transformation, and why storytelling is at the core of what makes us human.
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To get access to the post show with Lauren, visit www.patreon.com/austinmeyerfilms
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Follow Lauren: https://twitter.com/LalaTellsAStory
Follow Austin Meyer: www.instagram.com/austinmeyerfilms

Anamorphic Chalk Art with Street Artist David Zinn | Ep. 022 Apr 24, 2019

Show notes

David Zinn's Art: www.instagram.com/davidzinn
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David Zinn is a world renowned street artist based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. David’s temporary street drawings are composed entirely of chalk, charcoal and found objects, and are always improvised on location through a process known as “pareidolic anamorphosis.” This technique makes his chalk art appear three dimensional.
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In this episode, David and I talk about how he makes a living drawing tiny creatures on the sidewalk out of chalk, why he loves the ephemerality of an art form that disappears after it rains, and his advice for people who are searching to find their own creative voice. I hope you enjoy my conversation, with David Zinn.
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Follow David at www.instagram.com/davidzinn.
Follow Austin Meyer at www.instagram.com/austinmeyerfilms.
To support the show, visit www.patreon.com/austinmeyerfilms!
Go out and tell some stories!

Creating Art that Butters People Up with Maja Ruznic | Ep. 021 Apr 11, 2019

Show notes

Link to Maja Ruznic’s artwork: http://bit.ly/MajaPaintings
Maja Ruznic is a prolific artist currently based in Roswell, New Mexico. Primarily a painter, her artwork often explores themes related to trauma. A graduate of UC Berkeley and the California College of Arts, Maja has exhibited internationally and is a 2018 Hopper Prize winner.
In this episode, Maja and I talk through the step-by-step process of how she creates her paintings, how she cultivates her authentic voice by resisting the pressures of what art should be and what’s trendy, and her advice for aspiring artists/storytellers for how to unlock their creative potential.
To listen to the post show with Maja, visit www.patreon.com/austinmeyerfilms where you can get access the the private podcast feed!
Follow Maja Ruznic: www.instagram.com/majaruz
Follow Austin Meyer: www.instagram.com/austinmeyerfilms

Writing Children’s Books with Froggy Author Jonathan London | Ep. 020 Mar 28, 2019

Show notes

Jonathan London is a children’s book author who has over 100 publications to his name.
Jonathan is best known as the author of the Froggy series, which has sold over 20 million copies and has been translated into 7 different languages. The first of the series, which was published in 1992, is called Froggy Gets Dressed, and now there are 29 others.
In this conversation, Jonathan and I discuss how he went from a struggling poet to a world renowned children’s book author, what qualities make a good children’s book, and the detailed, end-to-end process of creating the Froggy series.
For more on the craft of storytelling, check out @austinmeyerfilms on instagram and FB. And to get access to post shows and additional episodes, check out www.patreon.com/austinmeyerfilms!
Go out and tell some stories.

Developing Stories for Theaters and Smart Speakers with Kat Zdan | Ep. 019 Mar 14, 2019

Show notes

Kat Zdan studied theater at UCSB and got her MFA in ensemble based physical theater from Dell’Arte International school of physical theater. Kat has been performing, teaching, and directing professionally in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond since 2009. Not only does Kat work in scripted theater, she is also a member of Improv Playhouse, one of the top improv troupes in the Bay Area.
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Off the stage, Kat is a conversation designer at Xandra, a company which brings artists and developers together to create interactive voice experiences for technology like Amazon Alexa and Google Home.
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In this episode, Kat and I discuss the story techniques she has learned working in play development, what elements create memorable and compelling characters, and how she is leveraging both creativity and logic to tell stories with emerging technology.
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To get access to the post-show, head on over to www.patreon.com/austinmeyerfilms!

Amplifying Voices through Art, Tech, and Photography with Aaron Huey | Ep. 018 Feb 28, 2019

Show notes

Aaron Huey is a National Geographic photographer who has contributed dozens of cover and feature stories to the magazine. His photography stories are on a wide range of topics from Sherpas on Everest, to life on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, and most recently, Aaron detailed the fight to preserve America’s national monuments like Bears Ears.
Aaron is also the founder of Amplifier, a design lab that builds art to amplify the voices of grassroots movements.. He was the design director for their art project “We The People” that flooded the streets of Donald Trump’s Inauguration and the women’s march of 2017, and has become one of the world's most iconic artistic movements.
In this conversation, Aaron and I discuss how his background as an artist influences his photography, how he is breaking out of the conventional forms of photojournalism to tell more nuanced and powerful stories, and how he stepped across the journalism and activism divide, and helped create one of the most viral artistic movements in history.

Beyond the Box Score with NYT Sports Reporter John Branch | Ep. 017 Feb 14, 2019

Show notes

John Branch is a sports reporter for The New York Times. He won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 2013 for “Snow Fall,” a story about a deadly avalanche in Washington State, and was a finalist for the prize in 2012 for his series of stories about Derek Boogaard, a professional hockey player who overdosed on painkillers.
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John’s work has been featured in The Best American Sports Writing; and his first book, BOY ON ICE, won the ESPN Prize for Literary Sports Writing.
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In this conversation John and I discuss his journey from working at Costco to writing for The New York Times, how the evolving interconnectedness of sports, culture, and politics is changing the job for journalists, and how he uses sports as a backdrop to tell powerful human stories that often have tragedy as a central theme.
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The CTE story we reference in the episode: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/sports/cte-football-hairston-super-bowl.html
John’s Pulitzer winning feature: http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2012/snow-fall/index.html#/?part=tunnel-creek
John’s latest book: https://www.amazon.com/Last-Cowboys-Pioneer-Family-West/dp/0393292347
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To support the show, visit www.patreon.com/austinmeyerfilms

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