Cracking the Spine on 2024

The Codex is open again, and it’s the start of a whole new conversation. Your ardent enthusiast is chatting with stage actress Dolores Mendoza, who just directed her first play. But before we get to that, we’ll talk about her rocky journey to the stage, through a bitter rivalry about Edgar Allen Poe, disappearing in front of her father’s eyes and her special connection to the world’s favorite extinct bird. 

Welcome back to the Curiosity Codex. Your ardent enthusiast has returned to indulge his obsessions in a brand new season of the award-ignored podcast. But before we start delving deep into the new topics, this episode finds us reading up on where we’ve been and where we’re going. 

The movie has premiered. Jess Plus None is in the world now and Kyle has seen it. This week, Mandy Fabian is back to talk about the whirlwind of activity leading up the premiere, reflections on the film’s love language, and what it means to just let actors … act.Learn more about Jess Plus None right here!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, where filmmakers are going right for your heartstrings with mistletoe and holly clenched in their teeth. But are their intentions dancing with sugarplums or dark as coal? On today’s chapter, special guests Pete Wright and Rob Kubasko join me to revisit the subject of “Weaponized Nostalgia” with an eye toward a selection of this year’s high profile nerdy Xmas projects: A Christmas Story Christmas, Spirited and the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. And we’ll be making a few stops along the way to discuss our personal favs. 

In today’s chapter, we enter into the stormy seas of post-production. Mandy Fabian gives us an update on the thousand little pieces that contribute to a final film: VFX, the trailer, the website, the score, opening titles, closing titles and the weird world of coloring. But first things first, we’ll talk about her recent return to the stage.

We’ve reached the end of the shoot. But what happens when you call cut for the last time? Mandy Fabian takes us through the frantic last minutes on set, trying to get all the magic she needed before the clock struck twelve. But then what? Now begins the post-production period! Music, sound, color, all of them require their own separate processes. But now, we begin at the ending...

Star Wars - Obi Wan Kenobi and Star Trek - Strange New Worlds. Two different shows from two different long running science fiction franchises. But each approach their established canons in different ways, and have had polarizing reactions from fans. Rob Kubasko has returned to the Codex to discuss these shows and ask: how should we deal with fan nostalgia? 

Today Mandy Fabian takes us through all the planning that has to happen before a shoot. From shotlists and storyboards, finding out which songs you can use and even what brands you’re allowed to show, she’ll tells me what she’s learned. Plus, we’ll talk about working with actors, including how she directed an actor in a very intimate moment.

The time has come to assemble the crew! Mandy Fabian takes us through the process of picking her elite team to make her movie. From assistant director to wardrobe, casting, sound, and the rest. And the most important question: how are you going to feed them all?

You’ve got the script, you’ve got the money, but you can’t make a movie without actors and locations. Mandy Fabian is going to give us the inside track on the casting process. And how exactly do you find the right actor during a pandemic? And we’ll get into the joys of location scouting and how bad timing can end up being a good thing. Plus, will she follow the Quentin Tarantino path and cast herself in her movie?