The Script Lab Podcast

Guest: Simon Rich is an author who got his start in TV when Seth Myers read one of his books of comedic short stories and hired him as a writer on Saturday Night Live. Since then Simon has gone on to create his own TV shows like Man Seeking Woman and Miracle Workers, which is in its second season on TBS and stars Daniel Radcliffe and Steve Buscemi. We talk about his crash-course in TV writing, why his TV shows are all based on his books and why you can't write from a cynical place. He also shares some of the best advice about writing I've ever heard.  Miracle Workers: The Dark Ages airs on TBS on Tuesday nights. Host: Shanee Edwards graduated from UCLA Film School with an MFA in Screenwriting. She recently won the Next MacGyver television writing competition to create a TV show about a female engineer. Her pilot, Ada and the Machine, is currently in development with America Ferrera’s Take Fountain Productions. You can follow her on Twitter: @ShaneeEdwards The Script Lab: For all the latest from The Script Lab, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. And become a member of TSL 360 to enjoy the LARGEST screenwriting education content library, featuring masterclasses, deep-dive interviews, and lectures from Academy Award-winning screenwriters, TV show-runners, producers, literary managers, agents, studio executives, and leading educators – all in one place.

Guest: Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy  wrote and directed the Amazon film Blow the Man Down. The film is about two sisters living on the Eastern seaboard who attempt to cover up a gruesome run-in with a dangerous man. To conceal their crime, the sisters must go deep into the criminal underbelly of their hometown, uncovering the town's darkest secrets. Despite the serious nature of this murder-mystery, Bridget and Krudy (as Bridget calls Danielle) are a couple of firecrackers and love to joke around. We talk about the long process of writing this script, how they trimmed it to save money during production and how finding someone to be executive producer could be the key to getting your independent film made. The movie has a great cast that includes Morgan Saylor and Sophie Lowe as the sisters, and June Squib and Margo Martindale as the town matriarchs.  Look for Blow the Man Down on Amazon Prime on March 20.  Host: Shanee Edwards graduated from UCLA Film School with an MFA in Screenwriting. She recently won the Next MacGyver television writing competition to create a TV show about a female engineer. Her pilot, Ada and the Machine, is currently in development with America Ferrera’s Take Fountain Productions. You can follow her on Twitter: @ShaneeEdwards The Script Lab: For all the latest from The Script Lab, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. And become a member of TSL 360 to enjoy the LARGEST screenwriting education content library, featuring masterclasses, deep-dive interviews, and lectures from Academy Award-winning screenwriters, TV show-runners, producers, literary managers, agents, studio executives, and leading educators – all in one place.

Guest: Nick Cuse wrote the film The Hunt with Damon Lindelof. The controversial film was supposed to release in 2019, but Universal pulled it after two mass shootings and criticism from right wing media. It's finally out in theaters and will most likely surprise people when they learn who the good guys are in the movie. Nick talks about learning to write while working on HBO's The Leftovers, taking risks in your screenplays and why he thinks now is a much better time for the movie to hit theaters. Betty Gilpin (GLOW, Nurse Jackie) and two-time Oscar winner Hillary Swank (Million Dollar Baby) star in this film about liberal elites who hunt right wingers for sport. Host: Shanee Edwards graduated from UCLA Film School with an MFA in Screenwriting. She recently won the Next MacGyver television writing competition to create a TV show about a female engineer. Her pilot, Ada and the Machine, is currently in development with America Ferrera’s Take Fountain Productions. You can follow her on Twitter: @ShaneeEdwards The Script Lab: For all the latest from The Script Lab, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. And become a member of TSL 360 to enjoy the LARGEST screenwriting education content library, featuring masterclasses, deep-dive interviews, and lectures from Academy Award-winning screenwriters, TV show-runners, producers, literary managers, agents, studio executives, and leading educators – all in one place.

Guest: Carlo Mirabella-Davis is the writer/director of the striking new body horror film Swallow starring very talented Haley Bennett as Hunter, a young wife who swallows dangerous objects in secret. The film dark, but it’s also gorgeously shot and at times even funny. Carlo tells me about his very personal and ultimately tragic inspiration for the film and shares the many reasons someone might have such a dark obsession. We also talk about why writers should look to their own family secrets when writing screenplays.  Host: Shanee Edwards graduated from UCLA Film School with an MFA in Screenwriting. She recently won the Next MacGyver television writing competition to create a TV show about a female engineer. Her pilot, Ada and the Machine, is currently in development with America Ferrera’s Take Fountain Productions. You can follow her on Twitter: @ShaneeEdwards The Script Lab: For all the latest from The Script Lab, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. And become a member of TSL 360 to enjoy the LARGEST screenwriting education content library, featuring masterclasses, deep-dive interviews, and lectures from Academy Award-winning screenwriters, TV show-runners, producers, literary managers, agents, studio executives, and leading educators – all in one place.

Guest: Leigh Whannell is best known for the Saw and Insidious horror franchises. Now he's written and directed the new monster film, The Invisible Man, starring Elisabeth Moss. Leigh chats with me about strengthening your horror protagonist by making your antagonist as vicious as possible, keeping your antagonist mysterious to create suspense, and how Elisabeth Moss helped him write less dialogue and less exposition. We also discuss the difference between creating scares and suspense and why he likes to procrastinate when it comes to writing. Host: Shanee Edwards graduated from UCLA Film School with an MFA in Screenwriting. She recently won the Next MacGyver television writing competition to create a TV show about a female engineer. Her pilot, Ada and the Machine, is currently in development with America Ferrera’s Take Fountain Productions. You can follow her on Twitter: @ShaneeEdwards The Script Lab: For all the latest from The Script Lab, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. And become a member of TSL 360 to enjoy the LARGEST screenwriting education content library, featuring masterclasses, deep-dive interviews, and lectures from Academy Award-winning screenwriters, TV show-runners, producers, literary managers, agents, studio executives, and leading educators – all in one place.

Guest: Chris Henchy is best known as the producing partner with Will Farrell and Adam McKay, working on movies like Daddy's Home and Tammy, and TV shows like Eastbound and Down, and Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis. Now he's making his directorial debut with Impractical Jokers: The Movie based on the hit hidden camera show. Chris talks about the difficulty of shooting challenges with hidden cameras and non-actors; he also shares what each of the Jokers (Sal Vulcano, Brian Quinn, Joe Gatto, Brian Murray) are like in real life. He also reveals the one challenge that went so wrong, they couldn't include it in the movie.  Host: Shanee Edwards graduated from UCLA Film School with an MFA in Screenwriting. She recently won the Next MacGyver television writing competition to create a TV show about a female engineer. Her pilot, Ada and the Machine, is currently in development with America Ferrera’s Take Fountain Productions. You can follow her on Twitter: @ShaneeEdwards The Script Lab: For all the latest from The Script Lab, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. And become a member of TSL 360 to enjoy the LARGEST screenwriting education content library, featuring masterclasses, deep-dive interviews, and lectures from Academy Award-winning screenwriters, TV show-runners, producers, literary managers, agents, studio executives, and leading educators – all in one place.

Guests: Andrew Heckler wrote and directed the independent film Burden. This powerful independent film won the Audience Award at Sundance and stars Garett Hedlund, Forest Whitaker, Tom Wilkinson and Usher. It’s based on a true story about what happens when a museum celebrating the Ku Klux Klan opens in a small South Carolina town. The idealistic Reverend Kennedy (played by Forest Whitaker) strives to keep the peace even as he urges the group's Grand Dragon (played by Tom Wilkinson) to disavow his racist past. Burden will release in theaters in Los Angeles and New York on Feb. 28 and then roll out to other cities across the country. Host: Shanee Edwards graduated from UCLA Film School with an MFA in Screenwriting. She recently won the Next MacGyver television writing competition to create a TV show about a female engineer. Her pilot, Ada and the Machine, is currently in development with America Ferrera’s Take Fountain Productions. You can follow her on Twitter: @ShaneeEdwards The Script Lab: For all the latest from The Script Lab, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. And become a member of TSL 360 to enjoy the LARGEST screenwriting education content library, featuring masterclasses, deep-dive interviews, and lectures from Academy Award-winning screenwriters, TV show-runners, producers, literary managers, agents, studio executives, and leading educators – all in one place.

Guests: Alexi Pappas and Jeremy Teicher met when they were undergrads at Dartmouth. Alexi pursued her Olympic dreams as a long distance runner while Jeremy pursued his artistic dream as a filmmaker. Eventually, they decided to combine the two. Their latest film Olympic Dreams tells the story of a cross-country skier and volunteer dentist (Nick Kroll), who meet in the Olympic village and fall in love while dealing with the uncertainty of life. Olympic Dreams will release in theaters on Feb. 14. Host: Shanee Edwards graduated from UCLA Film School with an MFA in Screenwriting. She recently won the Next MacGyver television writing competition to create a TV show about a female engineer. Her pilot, Ada and the Machine, is currently in development with America Ferrera’s Take Fountain Productions. You can follow her on Twitter: @ShaneeEdwards The Script Lab: For all the latest from The Script Lab, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. And become a member of TSL 360 to enjoy the LARGEST screenwriting education content library, featuring masterclasses, deep-dive interviews, and lectures from Academy Award-winning screenwriters, TV show-runners, producers, literary managers, agents, studio executives, and leading educators – all in one place.

Guest: Brian Presley started his career as an actor, finding success on the ABC daytime show Port Charles,  which earned him two Emmy nominations. He's now making his directorial debut with The Great Alaskan Race, which he wrote, produced and starred in along with Treat Williams, Henry Thomas and Bruce Davison. Based on a true story from 1925, the movie centers on a group of brave mushers (and dogs) who travel 700 miles to save the small children of Nome, Alaska, from a deadly epidemic. The Great American Race will be available on DVD and streaming Jan. 28.  Host: Shanee Edwards graduated from UCLA Film School with an MFA in Screenwriting. She recently won the Next MacGyver television writing competition to create a TV show about a female engineer. Her pilot, Ada and the Machine, is currently in development with America Ferrera’s Take Fountain Productions. You can follow her on Twitter: @ShaneeEdwards The Script Lab: For all the latest from The Script Lab, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. And become a member of TSL 360 to enjoy the LARGEST screenwriting education content library, featuring masterclasses, deep-dive interviews, and lectures from Academy Award-winning screenwriters, TV show-runners, producers, literary managers, agents, studio executives, and leading educators – all in one place.

Guests: LUCY ALIBAR, screenwriter and playwright, discusses her new Amazon film Troop Zero along with her 2012 film Beasts of the Southern Wild that was nominated for four Oscars including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress. She discusses her lonely childhood in northern Florida, reading plays in the school bathroom and having her first play produced at age 15.  Host: Shanee Edwards graduated from UCLA Film School with an MFA in Screenwriting and is currently the film critic for SheKnows.com. She recently won the Next MacGyver television writing competition to create a TV show about a female engineer. Her pilot, Ada and the Machine, is currently in development with America Ferrera’s Take Fountain Productions. You can follow her on Twitter: @ShaneeEdwards The Script Lab: For all the latest from The Script Lab, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. And become a member of TSL 360 to enjoy the LARGEST screenwriting education content library, featuring masterclasses, deep-dive interviews, and lectures from Academy Award-winning screenwriters, TV show-runners, producers, literary managers, agents, studio executives, and leading educators – all in one place.