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3 episodes with eugene o
2 episodes with eugene o
2 episodes with eugene o
2 episodes with eugene o
2 episodes with eugene o
2 episodes with eugene o
All The Drama is hosted by Jan Simpson. It is a series of deep dives into the plays that have won The Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Pulitzer Prize for Drama: “Long Day’s Journey into Night“1957 Pulitzer winner “Long Day’s Journey into Night”, by Eugene O’Neill Long Day's Journey Into read more The post All the Drama: Long Day’s Journey into Night, 1957 Winner, Pulitzer Prize for Drama appeared first on BroadwayRadio.
Garbo Talks! “Garbo Talks!”. Front Row Classics is taking a look at one of most promoted events in film history. Brandon is joined by Peter Martin to break down 1930’s Anna Christie. The two discuss Clarence Brown’s adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer Prize winning play. This early talkie helped to cement Greta Garbo as a … Continue reading Ep. 291- Anna Christie →
?Writer Eugene O'Brien, the man behind the iconic series Pure Mule, joined Oliver to talk about his hometown of Edenderry, taking a gamble on love and how he took inspiration from his own life for his latest play, Heaven.
Join us for a delightful conversation with William Roth, the artistic director of the St. Louis Actors' Studio, as he shares his journey through the world of theater and the upcoming production of Eugene O'Neill's 'Long Day's Journey into Night'. Roth begins by recounting how his theater survived the pandemic, creatively adapting to keep their audience engaged with innovative productions and virtual experiences. His stories add a nice sprinkle of humor and humility, showcasing the resilience of the theater community during tough times. As the discussion deepens, Roth dives into the heart of O'Neill's work, discussing why 'Long Day's Journey into Night' is not just a play but a profound reflection on family dynamics and addiction. He shares his excitement about the cast and the collaborative efforts that bring the characters to life, emphasizing the emotional truths embedded in the narrative. The conversation flows seamlessly as the hosts and Roth explore the nuances of acting and directing, touching on the importance of trust and chemistry among the cast members. The episode wraps up with essential details about the upcoming production, encouraging listeners to experience this powerful play firsthand. Roth's passion for theater is infectious, and his insights into the creative process make this episode a must-listen for anyone interested in the performing arts. With a perfect blend of light-hearted humor and deep reflections on the human experience, this episode will leave audiences feeling inspired to support local theater.[00:00] Introduction and Opening Remarks[00:31] Welcome to St. Louis in Tune[01:15] Return to Civility: Walking Pace[02:29] Interview with William Roth: Background and Career[03:09] Adapting During the Pandemic[05:05] Founding the St. Louis Actors Studio[06:56] Austin Pendleton and Master Classes[08:55] Long Day's Journey into Night: Production Insights[09:25] William Roth's Theater Journey[18:45] Challenges and Rewards of Live Theater[31:20] Upcoming Events and Final Thoughts[34:30] Dred Scott Heritage Foundation's Commemorative Stamp Campaign[35:32] Behind the Scenes with Arnold and Mark[36:33] Interview with William Roth[38:49] Word of the Day: Fugatious[39:58] National Days and Fun Facts[45:28] Super Bowl and Sports Talk[49:25] Humorous Anecdotes and Jokes[51:38] Conclusion and FarewellTakeaways: William Roth, the founder of St. Louis Actors Studio, emphasizes the importance of adapting to challenges like the pandemic, showcasing creativity in keeping theater alive. The podcast dives into Eugene O'Neill's play 'Long Day's Journey into Night', highlighting its timeless themes of family struggle and addiction. William shares his journey from actor to artistic director, revealing how the St. Louis Actors Studio came to be and its mission to support local talent. The discussion touches on the unique process of rehearsal with director Austin Pendleton, focusing on a fluid and organic approach to acting. Listeners are encouraged to experience live theater at the Gaslight Theater, where intimacy with the actors enhances the emotional impact of the performances. A key takeaway is the idea that theater reflects real-life struggles, making it relatable and essential for building empathy among audiences.St. Louis Actors Studio William Roth WebsiteFacebook - Gaslight Theaterx.com St Louis Actors' StudioThis is Season 8! For more episodes, go to
Hiiiii divas! The girls are back to recap the week! Highlights include Traitors, both on Peacock and at the Eugene O'Neill, Botox (feat Hunteisha), Sourdough (feat Gorgeous Mitchell), Emilia Perez being an absolute cinematic disgrace, and Kendall's super super suuuuper partial view seat at The Book of Mormon.FOLLOW THE DIVAS!Instagram:@bestfriend_podcast@tdoelg@kend_edwardsTiktok:@ebf_podcast
Welcome to Connecticut! This week Justin gets to focus on some of the greatest theatre places for new work in the country, who knew Connecticut went so hard on new work?! The Eugene O'Neil Theatre Center, Yale Rep, and Goodspeed are brought up and discussed and Erika spends most of the peiosde plotting her evil Two Truths and a Lie streak! Enjoy the episode!SOME BUSINESS: Thank you to the two playwrights we featured in this episode! You can find some of their plays in the links below. Erika's play, Kill The Bird, can be found on her New Play Exchange and you can purchase and produce Justin's plays, Community Garden and Cabin Chronicles, through his publisher, Playscripts. Finally, you can check out Justin's YouTube channel for more longform theatre content! For any more information, check out Justin's website and Erika's website for more cool stuff!Some Links from Connecticut:Yale Drama PrizeGoodspeed MusicalsThe Eugene O'Neil Theatre CenterPSYCHOPSYCHOTIC, or, Everyone at Yale is a Goddamn Sociopath!!Theatreworks HartfordIf you like the show, feel free to subscribe and give us a five star review! Also, follow us on instagram @justinborak and @actualerikakuhn and Justin on TikTok for any news and notes on upcoming episodes and more theatre reccomendations!
In this podcast episode ... It's called the launchpad for American Theater and is based in the Town of Waterford Connecticut and named after one of the country's famous writers. We visit the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center as it celebrates 60 years of the performing arts Plus we take a look at other stories from around the region.
Lessons from 'Chasing Daylight: How My Forthcoming Death Transformed My Life' by Eugene O'Kelly O'Kelly was the Chair and CEO of KPMG, one of the largest accounting firms in the world. He had a successful career and drew happiness from his family. But in May 2005, he was diagnosed with late-stage brain cancer and given four months to live. 'Chasing Daylight' is a memoir on love, expanding consciousness, and enlightenment. Ways to Support: Substack: https://ijmakan.substack.com/subscribe?= Website: https://becomingantifragile.com/support Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BecomingAntifragile
Send us a textJoin multifaceted artist Eugene O'Neal as he takes us on a vibrant journey through his musical evolution. From beat sessions in parking lots to humorous tales of parenthood, Eugene shares heartfelt reflections on artistry, family bonds, and personal growth. We dive into the complexities of creative identity, live performance chaos, and paying tribute to lost friends, wrapping it all up with laughter, passion, and sincerity for music lovers everywhere
Anthony Tiran Todd naît le 4 décembre 1954 à Washington. Il grandit à Hartford dans le Connecticut où il fait ses études avant d'entrer à l'université du Connecticut. Il étudie le théâtre à l'Eugene O'Neill National Actors Theatre Institute puis joue dans la Trinity Repertory Company à Providence (Rhode Island). Il a une sœur également actrice, Monique Dupree (en), née en 1974. Après avoir joué quelques rôles au cinéma dans Platoon (1986) et le remake de La Nuit des morts-vivants (1990), il incarne pour la première fois en 1992 le rôle-titre du film d'horreur Candyman. Il reprend le rôle dans Candyman 2 en 1995 et Candyman: Day of the Dead en 1995. Il interprète ensuite le rôle de William Bludworth dans trois des films de la série horrifique Destination finale : Destination finale (2000), Destination finale 2 (2003) et Destination finale (2011) Il joue également le personnage de comics Venom dans la suite du jeu vidéo Marvel's Spider-Man sorti en 2018. Tony Todd nous a quitté le 6 novembre 2024 à Marina del Rey à l'âge de 69 ans.
Send your questions or provocations to Adam or Budi here!For our final playwright interview in the 2024 Audio New Play Festival, Adam and Budi sit down with Sneha Sakhare to discuss her audio play 'Ragas of the Rooted Heart'.Sneha is an actor, singer, writer, voiceover artist, and teacher from Yavatmal, India, currently based in New York City. Her work is deeply rooted in ‘Prasada Budhi,' which means a mindset of thinking that everything is a divine offering with whatever is presented to us, shaped by her spiritual background in Yoga through her father and the teachings in Vedas. As an actor, Sneha is a classically trained clown with intensive four-year training with her teacher-mentor Christopher Bayes at the Pandamonium Studio. She has also been trained with Aitor Basauri (Clown, Bouffon), Jim Calder (Intensive Acting, Commedia), and Budi Miller (Balinese performing arts and mask work) in Bali, Indonesia. Sneha has completed her 1-year acting conservatory program at The Barrow Group theatre company, Manhattan, 2017-18. As a singer trained in Indian Classical Music for almost a decade, Sneha as a bhajan (devotional song) singer has been offering her performances at numerous spiritual centers, pilgrimages, and temples in India. She has received many prestigious accolades like ‘Singing Idol' and ‘Voice of the Region' through which she performed on National television and had experience performing in concerts in front of thousands of people in various cities of India.Sneha received her Bachelor's in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from India and worked for 4 years as an engineer where she created corporate theatre performances immersed in music and corporate theories.Sneha has been awarded multiple scholarships as a performer which includes a one-year full scholarship by Christopher Bayes at Pandamonium Studio in 2020, ‘The Eugene O'Neill Scholarship' in 2021 at Oneil Theatre, Waterford, CT, and “A distinct 2-year fellowship from Lin-Manuel Miranda and the Miranda Family for emerging artists of color who have exhibited exceptional passion, drive, and unique points of view in various artistic mediums – including but not limited to theatre, dance, film, visual arts, and music – and is actively working to expand her professional development,2021-2023”She has written and performed original works like ‘Pandemic Chapati' and devised a piece called ‘Glimpse' in collaboration with Global majority artists for Rattlestick Theatre Company, New York City in 2021. Currently, Sneha is on her one-year apprenticeship program as a teacher with Christopher Bayes at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University, New Haven, CT, and at the PandamonTiny Bar ChatsChats with influential, inspiring, prolific and community oriented folks.Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showIf you enjoyed this week´s podcast, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. To submit a question: Voice- http://www.speakpipe.com/theatreofothers Email- podcast@theatreofothers.com Show Credits Co-Hosts: Adam Marple & Budi MillerProducer: Jack BurmeisterMusic: https://www.purple-planet.comAdditional compositions by @jack_burmeister
President Higgins received the Eugene O'Neill International Public Service Award from the New York-based Irish American Writers and Artists Association (IAWA). The President delivered acceptance remarks in a public event held at the Irish Arts Centre on the evening of Monday 23 September. https://president.ie/en/diary/details/president-receives-the-eugene-oneill-international-public-service-award
Step back in time with Vintage Classic Radio's "Sunday Night Playhouse," as we present "Ah, Wilderness!" a delightful comedy by the esteemed American playwright Eugene O'Neill. Sponsored by US Steel and originally aired on October 7th, 1945, this episode of "The Theater Guild on the Air" brings to life O'Neill's only well-known comedy. Unlike his typically somber works, "Ah, Wilderness!" offers a charming look at a happy family and the comedic trials of young love in turn-of-the-century America. Enjoy the witty and heartwarming escapades of the Miller family, which first captured hearts during its successful Broadway run in 1933 and continues to be a beloved fixture in community theaters. This radio adaptation features the talented Walter Huston in the role of Nat Miller and Jackie Kelk as his son, Richard. Join us for a nostalgic evening, reliving the simpler, joyous days of yore through O'Neill's exceptional and humorous storytelling.
Send us a Text Message.We take a summer trip to Provincetown, Massachusetts and other places across the United States to explore the legacy of novelist, journalist, playwright, and member of the Provincetown Players, Floyd Dell! Dell's work is often overshadowed by his other more famous contemporaries, including Eugene O'Neill, Susan Glaspell, Jack Reed, and others. This week, we shine a spotlight on his work and adventures through Bohemian culture and beyond!
On Episode 224 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, our guest is Chase Woolner! Before working as a puppeteer, Chase grew up a Muppets fan! His love for the art of puppetry eventually turned into a career, where he worked as an additional Muppet performer on various films, TV series and commercials with The Muppets! Chase has also been a participant at the Eugene O'Neill National Puppetry Conference several times, worked as a puppeteer and puppet wrangler for Walt Disney Imagineering and co-founded Busy Hands Studio, which focuses on creating handmade artist supplies.
Episode 080: Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Jeremy Herrin Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We'll discuss the play's origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Eugene O'Neill wrote his autobiographical magnum opus, Long Day's Journey into Night, in 1941, but because of the personal revelations it contained he gave explicit instructions that it was not to be published until 25 years after his death and that it should never be staged. In the event his widow allowed both to occur in 1956, only three years after his death, when the play won O'Neill his fourth Pulitzer prize. As we record this episode, a powerful new production of the play is playing in London, with Brian Cox and Patricia Clarkson heading the cast. I am delighted and privileged to talk with the production's director, Jeremy Herrin, about O'Neill's monumental play.
Sobre o TEN e atuação de Abdias do Nascimento no teatro antes de seu envolvimento mais extensivo com a causa pan-africanista. Teatro da pós-modernidade. Nelson Rodrigues em "Vestido e Noiva" e "Anjo Negro". Música de desfecho: Delly Rollies - Kemana Kucari (1982)
All The Drama is hosted by Jan Simpson. It is a series of deep dives into the plays that have won The Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Pulitzer Prize for Drama: “Strange Interlude”1928 Pulitzer winner “Next to Normal”, by Eugene O'Neill “Strange Interlude” Wikipedia pagehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Interlude Eugene O'Neill Wikipedia pagehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_O%27Neill Strange read more The post All The Drama: “Strange Interlude” by Eugene O'Neill, 1928 Pulitzer Prize Winner appeared first on BroadwayRadio.
HOTEL BOHEMIA IS DESIGNED TO LEAD YOU TO A DESTINATION CONSTRUCTED WITH THE HOPE OF EXAMINING THE HOLY PAST, THE PUZZLING PRESENT AND THE POSSIBILITIES OF OUR IMPENDING FORTUNES.THIS PROGRAM IS DEDICATED WITH LOVE TO THOSE WHO INSPIRED THE ARCHITECTURE OF THIS HOTEL BOHEMIA PREVIEW:MEL BLANC, PHIL OCHS, ANDY DEVINE, SAM LAY, EUGENE O'NEILL, ROBERT RYAN, NICK GRAVENITES, BEN WEBSTER, DAVID MAMET, AL PACINO, LEON FUCHS, CHUBBY CHECKER, BUDD SCHULBERG , ROD STEIGER, MARLON BRANDO, ELIA KAZAN, AL JOLSON, MURRAY 'THE K" KAUFMAN, TRACEY DEY, THE ROCK, JOHN BELUSHI, DON RICKLES, FRANK SINATRA, JOHNNY CARSON, JEFF LYNNE, RODNEY DANGERFIELD, DIANA KRALL, EDWARD R. MURROW, ROBERT THOM, ED BEGLEY, SYLVESTER STALLONE AND BILL MESNIK.
Broadway tryouts and tours and revues were constantly coming to Philadelphia's many large and luxurious theaters during the 1920s - here's a quick review of the revues!But even the Moscow Art Theatre came through town - as well as great productions of Eugene O'Neill plays.Now with such new venues as the Erlanger, the Garrick, the Earle, the Shubert, and the Forrest, as well as the revamped and re-designed Chestnut Street Opera House and the the Walnut Street Theatre, Philly was a real Tryout Town!For a blog post with images and additional content, go to our website: https://www.aithpodcast.com/blog/its-show-time/If you liked the show, leave a Review on Apple Podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adventures-in-theater-history-philadelphia/id1562046673Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AITHpodcastFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aithpodcast/Mastodon: https://historians.social/@schmeterpitzOur website: https://www.aithpodcast.com/To become a supporter the show, go to: AITHpodcast@patreon.com© Podcast text copyright, Peter Schmitz. All rights reserved. ℗ All voice recordings copyright Peter Schmitz. ℗ All original music and compositions within the episodes copyright Christopher Mark Colucci. Used by permission.
The Phone system, Eugene O'neil, Drinking problems, Gang Bustahs and Lynerd gears up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Phone system, Eugene O'neil, Drinking problems, Gang Bustahs and Lynerd gears up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
As we dive into the depths of O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey into Night" and Heaney's "The Cure at Troy," we'll discover how these works, rooted in different eras and forms, converge in their exploration of human tragedy, despair, and the faint glimmers of hope that guide us towards redemption. We will examine the thematic parallels, the dramatic structures, and the profound emotional resonance that these two masters of wordcraft bring to life.
Pastor Duane Brooks explores the concept of God's grace and how it relates to power. Discover the story of Paul's thorn in the flesh and the valuable lessons it taught him. Plus, hear inspiring stories of individuals who found strength in prayer during difficult times. Don't miss this thought-provoking message from 2 Corinthians 12:1-10! Quotes:Duane Brooks: The grace that was sufficient for Paul's thorn in the flesh is sufficient for us. Eugene O' Neill: Man is born broken. He lives by mending. The grace of God is the glue.James Bryan Smith: Most of us live with the false narrative that strength is found in domination and control. But these are not the highest forms of power. God's power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). The power of the seed emerges only when the (wheat) seed dies. The power of God is demonstrated most clearly on the cross. T. S. Elliott: What is God's all sufficient grace doing for us today? Jack MacGorman: the thorn room is just a station on the road to the throne room.Amy Carmichael: Hast thou no scar?Hast thou no scar?No hidden scar on foot, or side, or hand?I hear thee sung as mighty in the land,I hear them hail thy bright ascendant star,Hast thou no scar?Hast thou no wound?Yet I was wounded by the archers, spent,Leaned Me against a tree to die, and rentby ravening beasts that compassed Me, I swooned:Hast thou no wound?No wound, no scar?Yet as the Master shall the servant be,And, pierced are the feet that follow Me;But thine are whole: can he have followed farWho has no wound nor scar?Calvin Miller's friend; Read books together. I love being blind. Before I was blind all I loved were the things of God. Now all I love is God. #PastorDuaneBrooks #GivenGrace #PowerofPrayer To discover more messages of hope go to tallowood.org/sermons/.Follow us on Instagram, X, and YouTube @tallowoodbc.Follow us on FaceBook @tallowoodbaptist
In this Film Ireland Podcast, Gemma Creagh talks to Eugene O Brien, Writer of 'Tarrac', which is in cinemas from 6th October 2023. Filmed on the breathtaking landscapes of Corca Dhuibhne, Dingle Peninsula, in County Kerry, this award-winning Irish-language film, Tarrac, stars Kelly Gough (Kill Command, Out of Innocence) Lorcan Cranitch (Lakelands, Aisha, Róise & Frank) Kate Nic Chonaonaigh (An Cailín Ciúin, Song of Granite, Shadow Dancer), Kate Finegan (Joyride, Rós na Rún), Rachel Feeney (Belfast, Death on the Nile) and Cillian Ó Gairbhí (Róise & Frank, Foscadh) Producer Clíona Ní Bhuachalla (Seamus Heaney – Out of the Marvellous, The Clinic), writer Eugene O Brien (Eden, Pure Mule) and director Declan Reeks (Pure Mule, The Running Mate, Scúp) began discussions about making a feature film as gaeilge. Eugene states “TARRAC has really been a labour of love for myself, Declan and Clíona and Kerry was absolutely vital to the film. This world-renowned landscape battered by the Atlantic ocean is the home to the unique boat – the Naomhóg. The location has such great identity from the language to the landscape to the characters and indeed the boat itself.” Aoife Ni Bhraoin (Kelly Gough) returns home to help her father Brendan ‘The Bear' O'Briain (Lorcan Cranitch) in his recovery from a heart attack. During this time, Aoife faces the grief of her mother's death that she hasn't dealt with until now. A lot has been left unsaid between her and her father. Aoife reacquaints with a group of rowers and this all-female team, who against the odds, take on a high stakes Naomhóg rowing competition. TARRAC is a drama set at the edge of the world, the coastlines and sea of the Dingle peninsula. A place of wild geography, where the weather and the people have a mind of their own. TARRAC has warmth and a sense of place. An intimate character study of a woman who through a sporting passion finally manages acceptance and love. Laced with humour, heart break and exciting action set against the stunning landscapes and seas of the Kerry Gaeltacht, TARRAC is about daring to care again and learning the power of forgiveness. Tarrac opens in Irish cinemas on 6th October 2023.
Sloth by Eugene stars Jim Norton and is introduced by the author.
Hometown Radio 08/21/23 3p: John Lindsey updated us on weather then Lucy Wickstrom takes us to the Eugene O'Neill House
Theater Guilde on The Air | (ep. 10) Emperor Jones & Where the Cross Is Made | Broadcast: Sunday, November 11, 1945Two stories in one episode; both by famed playright Eugene O'Neill. Sponsor: United States Steel Corporation Featuring: Boris Karloff; Canada Lee; James Monks; Margaret Phillips; Everett Sloane: : : : :My other podcast channels include: MYSTERY x SUSPENSE -- SCI FI x HORROR -- COMEDY x FUNNY HA HA -- VARIETY X ARMED FORCES -- THE COMPLETE ORSON WELLESSubscribing is free and you'll receive new post notifications. Also, if you have a moment, please give a 4-5 star rating and/or write a 1-2 sentence positive review on your preferred service -- that would help me a lot.Thank you for your support.https://otr.duane.media | Instagram @duane.otr
Eugene O'Neill's drama Anna Christie was first produced on Broadway in 1921 and received the Pulitzer Prize in 1922. It focuses on three main characters: Chris Christopherson, a Swedish captain of a coal barge and longtime seaman, his daughter Anna, who has grown up separated from her father on a Minnesota farm, and Mat Burke, an Irish stoker who works on steamships. At the beginning of the play Chris and Anna are reunited after fifteen years apart. Anna comes to live on her father's coal barge, but hides the secret of her past from him. When she meets Mat after an accident in the fog, they almost immediately fall in love - but Anna finds that forging a new future will not be easy. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)Cast"Johnny-the-priest": NullifidianFirst Longshoreman/Voice: jwgSecond Longshoreman/Johnson: Marty KrisPostman: Max KorlingeLarry: Matthew ReeceChris Christopherson: Lars RolanderMarthy Owen: Pat RedstoneAnna Christopherson: Elizabeth KlettMat Burke: Tadhg HynesNarrator: David GoldfarbAudio edited by Elizabeth Klett --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/librivox1/support
Stephen Engel is an Emmy Nominated Showrunner of Dream On. He's known for The Big Bang Theory, A.N.T. Farm, Mad About You, and Just Shoot Me! Join Michael and Stephen as they discuss how Stephen broke in, what it takes to make it in Hollywood, and how he approaches story.Show NotesStephen Engel on IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0257145/Stephen Engel on Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_EngelFree Writing Webinar - https://michaeljamin.com/op/webinar-registration/Michael's Online Screenwriting Course - https://michaeljamin.com/courseFree Screenwriting Lesson - https://michaeljamin.com/freeJoin My Watchlist - https://michaeljamin.com/watchlistAuto-Generated TranscriptsMichael Jamin:You're listening to Screenwriters Need to hear this with Michael Jamin.Hey everyone, this is Michael Jamin. Welcome back to another episode of Screenwriters. Need to hear this. My next guest is a great dude and one of the first dudes I've ever worked with in Hollywood as a TV writer, Mr. Stephen Engel. And his credits are, well, geez man. These guys come fantastic credits. Dream on which you ran. He was the showrunner of Dream on. I did. We're going to talk about that because that was one of my favorite shows. Mad about You. All right. Already. Which you created. You co right? You co-created it orStephen Engel:You created I didn't create it. I ran it though. You ran it? Executive. I supervised an executive who the pilot and then ran the series. Co-ran the series.Michael Jamin:All right. Okay. Just shoot me, which we worked on together. Work With Me. Which that were you cr Wait,Stephen Engel:Did you create That? I created, that I createdMichael Jamin:Now was it work with Me or Work With Me? ItStephen Engel:Was work with me. It was work with me. It was Work with meMichael Jamin:Inside Schwartz, which I know you created and I, yes. Remember I helped out for a day or a day and a half. Yeah. I think I gave you a three hours worth of work in a day and a half.Stephen Engel:It was very appreciated.Michael Jamin:The big house. Yeah. Quintuplets, the war at Home, big Bang Theory. Ant Farm, mighty Med Sigman and the Sea Monsters. Yeah. Yeah. You got a lot of credits, dude. Now I,Stephen Engel:I've been around. I've been around. You'veMichael Jamin:Been around. Tell me, well, let's first begin with the beginning. Okay. Because I know you started as a lawyer.Stephen Engel:That is correct.Michael Jamin:And how long were you lawyering?Stephen Engel:It felt like forever, but it was really only three years maybe. AndMichael Jamin:This is in New York, right out of law school.Stephen Engel:I went to law school, which was a very big mistake. I knew within a month that I'd made a terrible mistake, maybe sooner.Michael Jamin:But why?Stephen Engel:I just got there. I went straight from college. Really? Cause I didn't know what else to do. And back then I didn't know I lived in New York. I grew up in a town away from you. And I didn't know what the TV was. I didn't know anything about. And so I was good at going to school. So I went to law school, I applied, I got into a good law school. I went and I just got there and it was like just stultifying, if that's the word it was. ButMichael Jamin:I thought, what I've heard is that law school is interesting. It's being a lawyer. That's not fun.Stephen Engel:No, I had all through college, I wasn't really do a lot of creative writing. I didn't take creative writing courses. But I was actually looking back at some, I found some of my old economics papers and I reread them and I wrote them as if they were Woody Allen vignettes for the new they, they had these big tee ups that were comedic. And then I would get into the substance, but it was with examples that were funny. And then I would sort of sum them up at the end and my professor would always be like, thank you. After reading 25 papers, there's a pleasure to read something that was entertaining. Oh,Michael Jamin:That's nice. SoStephen Engel:When you get to law school, there was no leeway for that. It was, everything was just completely dry. So intellectually it was kind of interesting, but it was very creatively stifling.Michael Jamin:But as a kid you didn't do any creative. No. You were in the theater, you weren't doing anything like that?Stephen Engel:No, not really. I mean, I was interested in comedy. If I look backwards, I could see all of these things that I did. I did a TV show in college, a game show that I wrote and hosted. I taught a class on 20th century humor and satire. So all of the things were there. In retrospect, you could see a path that was leading to writing comedy. But I didn't know that it was a job. And it wasn't really until law school that I started exploring doing comedy. I started doing standup a little bit. Really?Michael Jamin:I didn't know that.Stephen Engel:Yeah.Michael Jamin:But then how did you realize it was a job? At what point?Stephen Engel:At the time, I had a friend who was doing from college who was doing standup also. We, our girlfriends were best friends and he was a year behind me. He was applied to law school, didn't go and decided he wanted to try to break into writing. And we were both doing standup. And then we said, we just started talking and said we should write a movie. We're like, okay. So we kind of got together one weekend. He was living in la I was in NYU law school. I interviewed for law at law firms in California. So they would fly me out so that we could get together and talk about movie ideas.Michael Jamin:OhStephen Engel:Wow. Yeah. So we came up with an idea. We started writing separately and we knew nothing. We literally knew nothing about writing screenplays. We just had seen movies and you knows. And so we were like started writing this idea that we thought it was really great. We had about 50 pages that we thought were fantastic. So we ended up through, a friend of a friend had lunch with a guy who was a professional screenwriter and he told us, you know, should read this book screenplay by Sid Field, which everyone should read. They're trying to write. So we read this book and we're like, oh no, you're doing it wrong. We dunno anything. And we realized that the 50 pages that we wrote that we thought were gold should have been five pages. Nothing was happening. It was just character development, character development, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, funny scenes. So we took those 50 pages, compressed them down to five pages and came up with a proper structure. And then we were writing this whole movie. Well, he was pursuing his career and I was a lawyer guy guy's name by the way is Rob Burnett, who we were writing partners. And he went on to great success at David Letterman. And he was executiveMichael Jamin:Producer of le. But was he the head writer or executiveStephen Engel:Producer? Head writer, executive producer. And basically president of Worldwide Pants. And we wrote five movies together for studios, various studios. And ultimately I got a job on Dream On and moved out to LA to write by myself because he was writing a Letterman by himself. And at that point we didn't need to collaborate because we both had individual careers.Michael Jamin:You skipped a step. How did you get hired on Dream On?Stephen Engel:Okay. He and I were writing this movie. I got a law job when I graduated. They, I'd worked there for the summer. They offered me a job when I graduated. And I did the first risky thing I'd ever done in my life. I had never done anything remotely rebellious. And I decided that I was going to take probably the first gap year that anyone ever took. Oh wow. I asked the firm if I could defer my job for a year because I was trying to write. They're like, okay, yeah, no problem. You'll have a job waiting for you in a year. So during that year we kept working on this screenplay and trying to finish it and hone it. And he was still working at Letterman and he at that point had had risen from an intern to work in the talent department to being a writer.So he worked with a woman, we finished a screenplay and he worked with a woman. He shared an office in the talent department with a woman who had been there a long time and decided to leave to become a manager. And her only client at that point was I think Chris Elliot who had been on Letterman. So he knew, she knew that we had this movie because Rob had mentioned, she's like, let me see it when you're done. I'll see if I could do anything with it. So she read it and she sent it out and got us hired to write a movie for 20th Century Fox. Oh wow. A week before I started my law job. And I didn't want to not start the law job because we were a writing team. It was like guild minimum. I thought this may be the only writing job I ever have and I have a pretty high paying law job. Let me try to do both and keep both paths open as long as I can. So I did that essentially for three years. I practiced law while I was writing the entire time writing movies for studios.Michael Jamin:And Wait, and you were practicing law out here in la?Stephen Engel:I was in New York. YouMichael Jamin:Were still in New York?Stephen Engel:I was still in New York. And essentially the law didn't know what I was doing. So I had this double life where I was treating my law job, this very prestigious law job. I was a bartender gig writing movies at the same time. And eventually I couldn't keep all the balls up in the air. The law firm said, you know what? We want you to go, we got a great treat for you. We're going to send you back to law school at night to get your master's in tax law. I'm like, that's fantastic. And I didn't tell them was, now I had two jobs and I was going to school at nightMichael Jamin:And you couldn't turn down. You couldn't turn on their offer.Stephen Engel:I couldn't tell them. And eventually I couldn't do it anymore. I was getting too much work at the law firm. I had school screenplays, deadlines. I just finally kind of went into work one day and just kind of said, I no moss.Michael Jamin:How'd that go over?Stephen Engel:They were like, you know what, this makes so much sense because we were all, you seem really smart and you're really good at what you do, but it just didn't feel like your heart was in it. Yeah, right. So they could tell and it answered a lot of questions for them. So then I quit and decided to write full time panicked that I had just thrown my entire life away. So we ended up getting, because by the way, that manager was Lori David. She went out to marry Lori Leonard who went out to marry Larry David and divorce Larry. David and then produce an Inconvenient Truth as she won an Oscar for that.Michael Jamin:But then she submit you to get, how did you your Hands fund forStephen Engel:Dream On? For Dream on. So I had, eventually what happened was we got a second screenplay deal to write another movie and she said, by the way, I am not allowed to negotiate your deal cause I'm a manager, so I'm going to bring an agent in to negotiate your deal. And we kind of said, well then I guess maybe we should look for an agent rather than just have this guy come in and do the deal and I'm not sure we really need a manager and an agent. Back then you didn't. We ended up getting an agent at icm. Right. A feature agent. And we then did a couple of other projects and eventually I started between drafts of a movie I was writing. Rob by the way, was at this point a writer at Letterman and I quit my law job. So I was like, well if he has a day job while we're writing movies at night, I need my own career as an individual.So I wrote a movie by myself, gave it to my agent, he shopped it around. I got a lot of meetings and stuff. And then I wrote a just a TV spec on the whim between drafts of this movie because I felt like taking a break from it. And I gave that to my feature agent. He gave it to a TV agent at ICM who loved it and started submitting me around. And I ended up meeting with Kaufman and Crane for a show, not Dream On, they had Dream on. And they had another pilot that was going to series on nbc.Michael Jamin:What show was that? AndStephen Engel:It was a show called The Powers that nobody saw. It was with John Forsyth and Right. David Hyde had an amazing cast. So I go to meet with them and my agent had sent me episodes of Dream On and had sent me the pilot of the show. So they come in and they go, what'd you think of the pilot? I go, yeah, it was pretty good, but I really like Dream on. I'd never seen it before. And I kept talking about Dream On and how much I loved it. And we had a really good meeting. And then when I get back, my agent calls me and says, just so you know, when you go up for a show and someone says, how'd you like the pilot? And that's the show you're up for. Yeah. You loved the pilot and it gets the show you want to work on. Right. They're not hiring for Dream on right now and they don't want to hire you on this pilot cause you didn't seem interested, interested. I'm like, okay. Yeah. And then a month later they were hiring for Dream On and they remembered me and they hired me for that instead. So I did. And in fact, I ended up back backing into this job that I much preferred.Michael Jamin:How, but how many years were you dream on before they bumped you to showrunner? Okay,Stephen Engel:So I was a stor. I went as staff writer, not had not worked a day in television. Really? Andy Gordon was Andy and Eileen. It was their first day right writer named Howard Morris. It was his first day. We were all three staff writers, but I had written five movies. So I had a pretty good understanding of story structure and if you can write a movie, you can write a tv. So I did the first season Astor as staff writer. The next season I was a story editor and then the showrunners left and they needed to find a new showrunner and they couldn't find anyone they liked. And eventually they just said, I think Stephen can do it. So I literally went from being my second year, I was a story editor or executive story editor, maybe I got a bump at the end to showrunner.Michael Jamin:That's crazy.Stephen Engel:So I was, I didn't know if I was ready at all. I was just, the only reason to say no would've been out of fear. And I realized worst case scenario, if I completely flame out then so they bring someone in over me and I'm still in the same position.Michael Jamin:And then what were they? Or they fire you, but they getStephen Engel:Rid of you. Well, I don't think they probably would've just kept me around because I was the only one who knew the show.Michael Jamin:And how many years did you run it for?Stephen Engel:I ran for the next two seasons, the last and then the show ended.Michael Jamin:And why do you think they left? Why did they leave the show? Their own show. They had a deal somewhere.Stephen Engel:Har and Crane created the show, ran it for three seasons. They were getting paid like a dollar to do this. They had never done anything. It was insane how little money they were making. And they got a deal at Warner Brothers. So between season two and three, they had created a show before Friends called Family Album. And I went and worked on that between Seasons of Friends, between Seasons of Dream On. And then I went back to Dream on as the showrunner. So the season, the second season, two other writers who had been on, who had been producers, Jeff Greens son and Jeff Straus rose to showrunner, then they left and took a deal at Universal. So there was nobody, because they weren't paying a lot, so people were going to more lucrative jobs. So they needed a showrunner and nobody had else had worked on the show. And they were like, we could bring in someone else who doesn't know the show or we could let Steven try.Michael Jamin:And I mean, you were not intimidated by, I mean, IStephen Engel:Was scared shitless.Michael Jamin:Right. I mean,Stephen Engel:I didn't know what I was doing. I had no idea. I learned, fortunately I learned from really good people,Michael Jamin:But I remember when we worked together and just shoot me the first six episodes. First season, yeah. I was, was useless. And I didn't know what to say. And I would look at you guys, the more senior writers. I'm like, how did they know what to say? How did they know? I mean it was real. I was so lost. Yeah.Stephen Engel:I think part of it had been that I was a little older than you were. I had already been a lawyer for, so I was like 30 when I had my staff writer job. So maybe I was a little bit more confident just in Gen general. You were like 25, 23.Michael Jamin:I was 26. I was 26. Ok. But ok.Stephen Engel:So I had gotten my first writing job when I was 26 writing a movie. And I, so I done a bunch of movies, I understood structure, I had a confidence in that I knew how to tell a story. So I guess I kind of, the first day of Dream On, I remember pitching something where they were telling a story that had a fairly conventional ending where everything worked out really well. And I pitched this subversive twist on it where the character looks like the character was going to win. And then at the end it all got pulled out from under him. And they were all, I think that's better because I had just not really been around network television or even any kind of television. So I was pitching kind of a lot of, I don't know, movie, more movie-like ideas I guess.Michael Jamin:That's so interesting because I really remember, I remember on jhu Me, you would stand at the board a lot. I remember, to be honest, we often disagree with Levitan. And you made such a compelling case and you're always at the board. You had immaculate handwriting and you're always standing at the board breaking the story and you'd make an argument. And it was so compelling. I'm like, maybe we should be listening to this guy. It was dooms. If we don't what's going to happen, of course there's many ways you could do it, but of course I was like, of course. I was like, wow, what's going to happen if we don't do it that way?Stephen Engel:It's very funny. I remember the first season of Dream on Howard Morris who I love. He's a great guy, very emotional guy. And I was very logical in a lot of ways. And he had written a script and he had this whole run that he really was in love with. And the script was long. We needed cuts. And I was like, I think we can cut from here to two pages later. And you really, the story actually, not only would you not miss it, but the story would actually be working better and be more tight. And he was like, you can't do that. You can't possibly do that. This is the greatest thing that's ever been written. It is really good. But I think we need cuts. And I don't think it's actually, and one by one, everybody in the room was like, I think he's right. And he was losing his mind. He was like, right, don't listen to him using his logic on you. He's a magician. And we ended up cutting it and it ended up working better. So it's funny that I guess the legal training came in, I guess to some useMichael Jamin:Well, yeah, I, but I also remember you saying, I quote you as this saying this, that I have to get this right. Your worst day as a writer was still better than your best day as a lawyer.Stephen Engel:It was probably, I'm not sure that's true anymore.Michael Jamin:I believe thatStephen Engel:For a long time that was true. I would say there have been some dark days. But whatMichael Jamin:Do dark days look like then for you? Yeah. What isStephen Engel:It? Well, the day your show gets canceled, right? There were days, there was a, one show got canceled where I was like, oh, thank God. Right? Because I had a deal behind it and it was like a nightmare. And I hated going there every minute. And I was like, I had to go into the room and pretend like I got really bad news. Everyone, the show's been canceled. I was like, this is the best thing that's ever happened to me. There are sometimes when it's so bad you're like, just end it. Just fucking euthanize me. So that there are days where it show you isn't going badly, gets canceled and then it's kind of heartbreaking.Michael Jamin:Now do you have a preference? Cause you've done a lot. Do you have a preference between working single camera R? Right. Writing.Stephen Engel:I prefer single camera. Why? I think it comes from my feature writing career. It was funny, I made such a conversion when I worked on that show family album with Kauffman and Crane. We went in and there was some joke in my script and it was a good joke I thought. And we go to the table read and it doesn't do great at the table. This is my first time I've ever had been to a multi cam table read ever my first multi cam script. And everyone in the room is kind of like, yeah, I think we maybe want to punch this joke. And David Crane to his credit was like, no, I believe in this joke. And there's a really good smart joke. So we go to the run through first run through, it dies. And again, everyone's like, maybe we want to pitch on this. And David's like, no, no, I really, let's give it one more day. I don't think, I feel like they didn't do a great job on it. Let's give it one more day. By the third day it dies again. And same thing. And David's like, let's give it another day. He goes, I think it's rye. I'm at this point I'm completely converted. I'm like, fuck rye. Rye is fucking crickets.We could pitch 20 more jokes. It took me three days to realize that, you know, can't get away with clever. You need to get real laughs.Michael Jamin:Right.Stephen Engel:And I'd like, I like it. I just like the storytelling in Multicam a little bit better. OrMichael Jamin:Just you, the storytelling multicam better.Stephen Engel:No, no. In single Camm a bit better. Yeah. Frankly, I used to think a perfect job for me would be you write the scripts and then you send them out magazines. You don't actually have to produce them. Oh yeah. That was always where the hard,Michael Jamin:It's never as funny as it is. It's never asStephen Engel:Funny. Sometimes it is. It depends on your cast. But other times it's the rewriting and the endless rewriting. It's just have them read it and let them imagine what it might look like.Michael Jamin:It's called a book.Stephen Engel:It's called a book. Yeah.Michael Jamin:There was a episode, I think it was, not sure if you were there then, but I, I was fighting, I fought with Sievert, my partner about a joke that I wanted in the script. I go, this joke is going to kill. And he's like, this joke is terrible. I'm like, it's going in, it's going. And we got blows over it. We put it in the script, we go to the table and the joke just dies. It gets nothing. And then I start laughing hysterically. He goes like, cause how could I have been so wrong and so arrogant? And I'm laughing hysterically Now everyone's looking at seabird because they're like, it's his joke. You're laughing atStephen Engel:Him. And now I'mMichael Jamin:Laughing even more. I'm like, yeah, it's his fucking trouble.Stephen Engel:There's nothing more humbling than watching your jokes die on a stage. Like after a while you get used to it. But the great thing about single cam on, dream on, we'd write it, we'd go out and film it. And if no one's laughing, you never know.Michael Jamin:You never know. Right. But did you can't believe in it. But you did table reads for Dream on, I'm sure, right? DidStephen Engel:Not do table reads.Michael Jamin:That's so interesting. How did you get away away with that?Stephen Engel:They had no, they didn't. They gave no notes. H B O gave no notes. I remember getting one note one time and being like, I can't work like this. This joke is, I'm not changing this joke. And I was like, indignant a playwright. Eugene O'Neal had beenMichael Jamin:MarriedStephen Engel:To change a stage direction. And then I got to network and it was like, oh, okay.Michael Jamin:Yeah. Now these are notes. This is how it works. When you were, now you've done also a lot of kit shows. I mean, you get a lot of notes on Kit shows more or less. Oh myStephen Engel:God. Yeah. You'd get tons of notesMichael Jamin:More than networks.Stephen Engel:I did. Oftentimes you get a note, it's like, I please take some of these jokes out. I we doesn't need to be this funny,Michael Jamin:Real, what's the problem with, all right,Stephen Engel:I can get you the best punch down. Writers in. Yeah,Michael Jamin:Bring them in. But really they don't want fun. Is that what kind of notes they give you in these show? I did aStephen Engel:Show, did a show this, show this Sigma and the Sea Monsters reboot, which wasMichael Jamin:Very scaryStephen Engel:For Amazon. And the first thing we turned in there, it was very funny. And they were like, we don't really do this. It's like, we don't want this to be funny. As nearly as funny as this script is, it's just don't feel compelled to put a joke on every page. I'm like a joke. You don't want one joke on it on every page. And they're like, no, if it's warm and fuzzy and they just were afraid that it was going to feel too Disney or tooMichael Jamin:NoStephen Engel:Jokey networky or jokey or whatever.Michael Jamin:Because when you look back at sitcoms from the sixties and seventies family affair, there weren't a lot of jokes in Family Affair. I mean,Stephen Engel:No, I think that's what they were going for. They were going for just kind of poignant and sort of warm. They, I feel they felt like jokes would alienate people and be too controversial. Or they kept referring to their viewers as customers,Michael Jamin:Buyers. TheyStephen Engel:Want buyers.Michael Jamin:Buyers,Stephen Engel:Our buyers, our customers don't really want that. I'm like, okay, all right.Michael Jamin:That's so good. I wonder if that's, that's really how they saw them is like, yeah, what else were they going to about?Stephen Engel:Yeah, yeah. It was,Michael Jamin:Oh my God. Did that make the hours easier since you didn't have to punch upStephen Engel:Or doing a sort of family shows?Michael Jamin:Are you getting out earlier?Stephen Engel:Yeah. Yeah. I think so. For the most part. We never phoned it in. We were always trying to do, and we never wrote down the shows that I worked on. We made them as funny as we could and as bendy and weird as we could, oftentimes we would get notes saying, this is too, I think you're, you kids aren't going to get this. But what they don't get, they'll ask their parents or their older siblings and let's not underestimate the audience watching Bugs Bunny cartoons. You're going to still laugh and you may not get every level. So we were kind of writing it for the adults.Michael Jamin:You were able to push back on that.Stephen Engel:Yeah, yeah. I mean, I guess their recourse was ultimately to cancel you if you weren't doing what they wanted you to do.Michael Jamin:Well, do they have different ways of I they must, different ways of measuring. We haven't done too many streaming shows, but measuring when people are dropping off, what kind of stuff they like more statistics. Do they share that with you?Stephen Engel:No,Michael Jamin:No, never.Stephen Engel:I only did mean the Amazon was the only streaming show and they never really wanted this show. I don't think to begin with. I think it was inherited from the previous regime or something. It was like the whole thing was driven by puppets and they were, if we had our druthers, we wouldn't even have the puppets in it. Well, well the main character is a puppet, so you're kind of stuck.Michael Jamin:So, oh man, that's Hollywood man. Yeah. Now do you, but you must get more obviously opportunities in the children's businesses.Stephen Engel:I don't. I don't. Don't. And I don't pursue them. I didn't really want to do it. Right. I basically did it. I only did it because it was a show writing opportunity and I didn't want work on someone else's show at that point. And I also leveraged it into, I wanted, I said, I'll do it if I can direct.Michael Jamin:Okay.Stephen Engel:So I ended up getting in the DGA and directing a handful of episodes.Michael Jamin:And they were single camera?Stephen Engel:No, they were multiMichael Jamin:Camera, multi and so interesting.Stephen Engel:And it was kind of fun. I mean, I had just sort of aged out of coaching my kids little league and basketball teams and stuff. So they were now just had just more or less finished that. So working on a show, that was almost like being a coach or a camp counselor in a weird way. You'd go to the stage, the kids would be thrilled to see you, you'd get down on one knee and get eye level with them and give them a compliment sandwich. Do you know that from coaching?Michael Jamin:No. What is that?Stephen Engel:A compliment sandwich is basically in baseball you would literally get down on a knee and you'd say you're doing tee-ball. And in tee-ball what happens invariably is a kid hits the ball to left field and every kid on the field runs to get the ball from every position, or at least a handful of them do. So you get down on the knee and you go, I love your hustle and great enthusiasm. Then you put the criticism in the middle and you're like, but you know, need to stay where your position is so that everybody has their own spot. And if the balls it to you, the ball, you know, field it. If the balls it to left field, they field it. But again, great energy and keep up that enthusiasm. So you put the constructive criticism in between two compliments. IMichael Jamin:Would think that they would remember the first thing and the last thing they heard.Stephen Engel:Well, that's great job. We did a joke like that. We did a joke like that where a character on an forum was giving a note to somebody. They were doing a musical performance or something, and the main character said to this other character, I really like your enthusiasm. Try to hit at least any of the notes if possible because your singing's not good at all. But again, great energy. And the character goes, thanks. Hey, thanks.Michael Jamin:Yeah, that's what I would, so that's so interesting. And were you dealing with a lot of parents on adult momager orStephen Engel:Whatever? Yeah, there was a lot of that. It was fun, but creatively it was like, I'm done. This I just want to do, I'd rather not work and just write stuff I want to write than write on a kid show at this point. Because I also felt like they weren't really looking for you to do anything smart and that smart or that funny. It's changed. I think they're trying to be more creative and more inventive now, but at the time it just felt like, I don't really feel like doing this anymore. It's just not like someone would say, what are you working on? I'm like, it's not important. Don't worry about it. You're not going to watch it. It's fine.Michael Jamin:WellStephen Engel:Fine for what? But I don't watch it. You're not going to watch it.Michael Jamin:But when you say working on your own stuff now, so whatever, you'll just write stuff on spec and hope toStephen Engel:Sell. Yeah, I'll pitch stuff. I'll write stuff on spec. I've written a bunch of specs recently where I've tried every possible way to skin a cat in this business. I'm like, it's all I'm going to write spec scripts. That way they'll totally see what the show is. And then I would have a bible behind it to pitch all of these things. And I've had a couple of things where I had studios say, let's go out with this, but let's pitch it. You didn't write itMichael Jamin:Right yet.Stephen Engel:I'm like, well, why would you do that? Because I've got it right here. AndMichael Jamin:Because they want to put their thumbprints on, theyStephen Engel:Want to put their imprimatur on it. So the way I put it is, if you give, give someone a baked fully baked cake, they'll be like, this is a, it's a good cake, but I've got this recipe for a cake. Yeah, that's going to be the best cake that's ever been made and we're going to put in all these different ingredients and make it even better. And then that gets turned in and they're like, it's a cake. There's always that unknown potential of what a pitch is going to be. Whereas a spec, they'll go, well, there's this one thing I'm not sure about or this other thing and they want to get involved.Michael Jamin:But have you ever sold anything on spec? BecauseStephen Engel:When you, honestly, I don't think I have. IMichael Jamin:Know haven't written a few.Stephen Engel:I have a project, I have a project right now that it, we're going back and forth on negotiations, negotiating an option for them to, to option the script. And they're trying to decide whether we should go out with the script or go out or whether I should reverse engineer the pitch.Michael Jamin:ButStephen Engel:We have an option. They have an option for a year within a purchase with a purchase price to buy the script. What would happen is if we pitch it, they would basically go, okay, just wait three months and then turn in the script that you've already written because we left the script. But again, it's unclear as to what my feeling is. We should send out the script because the idea and it's in and of itself is not necessarily that unique. It's the execution of the idea. That's unique. Of course. And I think that's what got you interested. If I had just pitched you this idea, you probably would've said, well, I don't know. It seems like there's stuff out there like that. But it was my script that got you excited.Michael Jamin:Right, right. I remember early on, I wonder if you still feel this way. I remember I just shoot me, you telling me, yeah, because you were ready to leave, move on. And you're like, yeah, I want to go back to running a show. And then you did couple many shows. Yeah. But do you still feel that way? Do you care so much whether you're running it or,Stephen Engel:No, I've had good experiences and bad experiences doing both for a while after the big house, which was a good experience. My kids were at that point, maybe, how old were they? Eight and six. And I was running a show was very all consuming. And you, yeah, you never go home. I mean, yeah, even when you're home, you're like, you've got outlines to read, you've got cuts to watch, you've got the weight of the show on your shoulders at all times. You can't get away from it. And I was like, I really want to be more present. I want to be able to go to my kids' games. I want to be come home and be able to relax. So I'm like, I want to go on be someone else's, like consigliere, I'll be the number two. Yeah. I'll go, here's what I would do. Do it. Don't do it whatever you want. And then go home and be like, I'm done for the day. And I did that for a while. And I think in retrospect it sort of took me off of the showrunner showrunner's list for doing that for three or four years. I think people were necessarily remembering or thinking me necessarily when they were looking for showrunners because I was all of a sudden now someone's number two. But I don't regret it because I got to spend the time with my family.Michael Jamin:But now I now want to go back to running. I mean, it is a lot of work,Stephen Engel:My kid, well, right now, honestly, nobody, you know me, but anyone under the age of 40 doesn't, has never worked with me and doesn't know who I am. So for me to get a job on another show, because I, it's been a while since I've worked on a show where with people who would be young enough to go, oh, we need to work with this guy. He's really smart and good and funny. If I'm going to get a job, it's because I'm going to create a show myself and run it. And that's the job I'll have. I don't even know if my agent even submits me. I have no idea. So I'm back to just pitching and writing my own stuff and if it sells, of course I'll run it. So look, they both have their perils. I missed my kind of adolescence as a TV writer. I went from being right a second grader to a college student. I never had that. So I got to go and be on someone else's show. And sometimes it was good and sometimes it was bad. I worked in the Big Bang theory and it was not funMichael Jamin:From a lot of people. TheStephen Engel:Most fun place to work, it was delightful show. But I used to not going to work every day. Right. Cause I didn't take the tone of the show, the work environment, I mean the tone of the show, I was fine not dictating the tone of the show, but I was not enjoying the tone of the work environment.Michael Jamin:I got you. I know what you'reStephen Engel:Saying. So it was not a good experience. I dreaded going every day. It was a job. It, I might as well have been a lawyer again.Michael Jamin:Hey, it's Michael. If you like my videos and you want me to email them to you for free, join my watch list. Every Friday I send out my top three videos. These are for writers, actors, creative types. You can unsubscribe whenever you want. I'm not going to spam you and it's absolutely free. Just go to michaeljamin.com/watchlist.Yeah. You've had many experiences like that though. Were you like you pitting your stomach every morning?Stephen Engel:Not that many once on my own show, just because I had a difficult situation with one of the stars who it's not worth going into, butMichael Jamin:At least on the air.Stephen Engel:What'sMichael Jamin:That? At least? At least not on the air. NotStephen Engel:On the air. But most shows have been, some are better than others. I worked on a show that it was very dysfunctional and I've gone into work on shows where, where I had a deal where they were like, we need you to go help on this show. And it's kind of in shambles. I'm like, I'll go in and help, but I'm going in between the hours of 10 and seven. And if they start at five, I'll be there from five to seven.Michael Jamin:But okay, you can make that deal with the studio. But then the minute the showrunner finds out about that, during I made itStephen Engel:With the show, I made the deal with the showrunner.Michael Jamin:Oh, okay.Stephen Engel:Because they needed the help. And I was like, I'm not going down this sinkhole. I've already, I'm in a deal. I don't, I'm doing this. I'm helping out because I want to be a team player, but I'm going to help out within the hours that are reasonable hours. And it was so dysfunctional, people would show up and play guitars for four hours and play ping pong. And I'm like, are we going to work or not work? So I'm like, let me know when we're starting and I'll be there.Michael Jamin:Yeah, I know. I wonder, I don't know if that happens so much anymore. I think that's something that's been cleaned up a little bit.Stephen Engel:I don't know. I don't know mean, look, some shows, some showrunners are not, some creators become writers, become creators are not prepared to be a showrunner. They don't know how to manage a business. That'sMichael Jamin:Exactly right.Stephen Engel:And it's a different skillset being a talented writer and being a manager or a C E o or different skillsets. And some people are lucky enough to have both skills. Some people are good CEOs but not great writers and they need a better team. And some people are great writers and need someone to help them literally get through the day. AndMichael Jamin:People don't realize that because no one goes into comedy writing to become a manager of people. No.Stephen Engel:And if you have the talent, you eventually rise to a level where you're expected to all of a sudden be in charge of 150 people and to show up every day on time and to try to be responsible and actually conduct yourself in a way that's professional. And not everyone can do that.Michael Jamin:And always the trickiest thing. I think as a show runners, no one went to push knowing how far you can push back against a network note or even a difficult actor. Yeah. And what's your thought on that?Stephen Engel:Well, what I used to do is they never would give me a note. The trick to getting and addressing notes is to get them to realize that they're being heard. And you'll say, we're not going to figure this out right now together. I hear you. I know what, I know exactly what to do. And then go off and change it enough that they feel like you've taken their, at least into consideration their thought, their thoughts into consideration. But oftentimes what I would sometimes do is they'd give a note. I'm like, we can do that. But just so you know, here's the ripple effect. If we do that, then this scene here no longer makes sense because this scene that you really love won't make sense because we've already revealed this information. So this scene doesn't play and then this scene doesn't work because whatever this and this and this, we can do it. And I'm have to change those scenes and I'm willing to, but just realize that it's not as simple as making this one change here. There are ripple effects throughout the rest of the script. And they're like, you know what? You're right. Stuff's working great. Don't worry about it.So they don't know. They don't necessarily always see the big picture and understand how pulling one thread could unravel the entire sweater. So I just present it to them and go, would you like me to do that? We can do that. And then they go, no, no. Like I, I hear what you want and I'll massage it without having to do those things. But I hear what you're saying and I'll try to adjust it as best I can without unraveling the whole scriptMichael Jamin:And then working. What about working with difficult actors?Stephen Engel:That's harder. That's harder because you can'tMichael Jamin:Put the words in their mouth. You can't make mistake, you can'tStephen Engel:Make them do it. I mean, had an actor who literally was so he just wanted to take over the show and was, he never should have done it. They backed up a money truck to get him to do it and he didn't want to do it. And he did it reluctantly and didn't wanted it to be his show and not my show. So I think wanted tried to get rid of me and came to table reads with sunglasses on and just looked down the whole time. And which was the best thing that ever happened because the network saw that he was not doing his job. He was doing my job, but he wasn't doing his. But they'reMichael Jamin:Still going to take his side. TheStephen Engel:Show went down, but I didn't get, they were like, you handed yourself really professionally. And that person,Michael Jamin:Were you worried so much about that? Are you worried so much about protecting your reputa reputation like that within the industry? I mean,Stephen Engel:You always have to be a little bit worried. I, I would probably think that just given my, I don't know, I guess I have a, it's maybe it's coming from being a lawyer. I can see, if you tell me, like I mentioned, if we should change this joke or this line or this, do we need this? I can see all of the ramifications all at once. So sometimes I will, by pointing out the flaws in the note, some executives don't want to hear that. They don't want to know. They just want to think that they're right. Or they also want you to basically, I remember in one situation on a show where they were like, we've got great news. The network wants to do a mini room. I'm like, great.Michael Jamin:How's that? Great news? The news?Stephen Engel:I thought the deal was they're either going to pick up the show or not. That's why we went there. It'sMichael Jamin:Great news for us.Stephen Engel:They're like, well, why wouldn't you want to delve into the characters more? And I do, but that's not the deal we negotiated and now you're basically, I have to do all the same work for one 10th of the money. And they didn't want to hear that. So I think sometimes it's just best to be like, and I would also maybe sometimes have a tendency if somebody is lying blatantly to me and I say, wait, I don't understand last, yesterday you said X, Y, and Z, but now you're saying A, B, and C. So I'm confused. And they just want to go. They don't want to be called out on that.Michael Jamin:Right?Stephen Engel:So they're like, look, why are you being difficult? I'm like, I'm not, I'm just asking for clarification. Cause it seems like you're telling me two different things and I don't understand as opposed to just going, okay, I hear you. We'll do it without any. So I think sometimes you just have to swallow your pride and just eat shit and not speak up about it.Michael Jamin:The problem is you're saying, I feel like most of those fights are not winnable.Stephen Engel:They're not winnable. So there's no point in pointing it out. But sometimes I'm just, I don't, don't understand. Just tell me what, what's going on and then we can move forward. But they sometimes they don't even remember what's what they're spinning.Michael Jamin:I don't think I've ever convinced an studio or network executive that I was and they were wrong. I don't think I'veStephen Engel:Ever, it may have been a per victory, but I have.Michael Jamin:You were fired shortly afterwards.Stephen Engel:No, I mean it just may be whatever. Yeah, you're right if you're doing it this way. But in the long run, they just maybe weren't that happy with the direction, generalMichael Jamin:Direction. Right.Stephen Engel:I did the show where this kid show, and it was about a superhero hospital and there were villains and there were heroes and superheroes and super villains. And we wanted the villains and the heroes to have distinct personalities and flaws and be funny. They could be a villain and be funny at the same time. They're like, look, just have them villains. Just be scary and don't give them, they don't have to be funny. But we're writing a comedy and eventually we took a lot of the jokes out, but we didn't want to deliver a show that we didn't believe in. And then ultimately they were like, we did two seasons. And they were like, this is not really what we want to do. So they didn't do a third season. So you either go down with your ship and what you do, the show you want to do and have it not get picked up for another season or do a show for four seasons that you don't believe in.Michael Jamin:Though a lot of people on social media, they say, well, they don't understand. I think all the writers in Hollywood terrible, because if all the shows I'm like, you don't understand how shows are made. It's like, no, no. Sometimes the system is designed to make a show bad and there's really nothing you can do about it other than either,Stephen Engel:I mean, no one's looking to make a show bad. It's just what the creator thinks is good and what the network thinks is good may not be the same thing. There's that famous story about what those guys who did that Stephen Weber show called Cursed,Michael Jamin:I dunno if I know this story. Okay.Stephen Engel:Steven Webber did a show, there was a show starring Stephen Webber, it was called Cursed. It was for n b NBC back in the nineties. And the premise was, Stephen Webber is like this kind of womanizing dating machine who goes on this date and with a I, you shouldn't even say Gypsy, I guess, I dunno if it's derogatory, but a woman who puts a spell on it, he basically ghosts her or doesn't call her or is not nice to her on a date. And turns out she puts a curse on him that he's never going to find love and oh, his romantic life is going to be a disaster. Okay. So the cast, Steven Weber, he's super charming and funny. They decide to pick up the show and they go, we're picking up the show, but we have one elemental change if we'd like to pick. It's a small note. They're like, okay, what is it? He goes, we don't want him to be cursed. They're like all cursed. They're like, well, we can change it. We'll like so. Well, well, the Steven Weber show.Michael Jamin:Okay,Stephen Engel:So now what's the premise about Steven Weber dating?Michael Jamin:Oh, okay. But he is not having a hard time dating. He'sStephen Engel:Just, he either is but there's no curse.Michael Jamin:There's no curse.Stephen Engel:Yeah. Okay. Nig did a show called Inside Schwartz, and the whole idea of it was that you're inside the main character's head. Right. So the idea is that, you know, get to see his internal and hear his internal dialogue with characters he's talking to that only he can see. All right. And at one point about halfway through the series, the president of the network came to run, came to talk to me after a run through and said, look, we really like the main character. He's a great actor, but he's like, we want it to be more of a Michael J. Fox character dives into things without thinking. I'm like, well, the character is written is an overthinker and he's thinking about everything. And we dramatize those in the forms of him talking to these people who only he sees. He goes, well we, no, we don't. We want him to not be an overthinker. We want him to be just to jump into stuff. I'm like, so I'm writing inside Schwartz and you want outside Schwartz, right? And they went exactly perfect. I said, all right, I guess. But at that point it's like, how do you turn a aircraft carrier aroundThrough, and you've got four or five scripts that are ready to go that are all, hold on, I'mMichael Jamin:HollywoodStephen Engel:That are written inside Schwartz, and you want outside Schwartz. And they're like, well come up with new scripts, you know, can take an extra week, a hiatus and change. So we had to basically change course and make an adjustment. So just because they think, what if they changed their minds? They love something when they saw it and then they start to panic that they think it should be this, and they the next day have a completely different idea. But it, it's just, that's the idea they woke up with.Michael Jamin:Or often it's whatever was a hit over the weekend, that's what they want and make it more like that.Stephen Engel:Exactly. Exactly. So that has ramifications and real life ramifications that you've then got to make work. And it's your job, unfortunately sometimes is to try to turn a cat into a monkey. It's just like, all right, that's what I'm going to have to try to do.Michael Jamin:And are you able to do this with a good attitude?Stephen Engel:I to, I think I have probably, I have a better attitude about it now. I'm just more mature and it's like, all right, it is what it is. I understand it. Back then, I think I took everything much more personally and I was agonized more about it. Now I'm just like, I come, it's coming and you just have to deal with it or not deal with it or whatever. I, I've walked away from it. I've walked away from a deal on a show where I was like, I didn't feel right about it.Michael Jamin:What do you mean you didn't feel right about it?Stephen Engel:I just didn't, I don't know, I just wasn't comfortable ultimately with the people I was going to be working with. As I got to know them better, the deal wasn't the greatest deal and I was like, I don't think this is worth it. I think this is going to be a nightmare. And I just said, I turned wouldn't, they didn't come up. I just said, you know what, no mean, at the time I was running a different show, so this was development behind it, so I didn't need the job, but I was like, I see the writing on the wall here and if I can't, you can't meet my numbers and this is going to be unpleasant. And I can already tell. AndMichael Jamin:How do you think they took it when you did that? No one likes to hear thatStephen Engel:They were really not happy. I mean, yeah, really. I said, look, I'm just not comfortable with it. And I just, things had changed. It was an idea that it's not worth going into. It was easier to just say, forget, don't rather not do it than go into what I know is going to be a shit stormMichael Jamin:Right now. Not enough money. The industry has changed so much even in the past maybe 10 years or so. But I dunno, what are your thoughts on it? What are your thoughts on where it's going? Look,Stephen Engel:I'm one of those people who, whatever, everyone who's not in the industry says, oh, must be so great now, all these different streaming networks and some to sell shows. I'm like, it's not great. First of all, these places are, you know, do all the same work and you're doing six episodes or eight episodes or 10 episodes, and that's exactly when the curve starts to get, there's a very steep curve getting a show off the ground. And then it's like, now I get the show and now it's sort of the, it's heavy lifting at the beginning and then it sort of tapers off and it's always heavy lifting, but you start to figure it out. And then for the back nine it's like, it's not as hard if you stay on top of it and you get stories broken on time. So you're doing all of the heavy lifting without any of the economies of scale and you're only getting paid by the episode and you're working 40 weeks to do seven episodes or eight episodes instead of 40 weeks to do 22 episodes.Michael Jamin:Okay. So in, cause they make, that's not the case on many of the shows we're doing. Maybe they're lower budget, they just usually bring you on thete, the writing staff in pre-production. And so then you're the showStephen Engel:Runners. But as a showrunner, you've got to do, you're there for whatever the eight saying you're doing eight episodes, you're going to do eight weeks of pre-production and writing. You're going to do eight weeks or more of production, then you're going to do eight to 10 weeks of post. And yeah, you're working 35 weeks to do those eight episodes. Whereas if you're working on a network show for 22 episodes, you work 40 weeks and you do, you get 22 fees. So the writers who come in and do their six or 12 weeks get paid for their eight episodes and not, that said they work there eight weeks and they do their 12, their eight episodes. Do youMichael Jamin:Feel this affects the quality of writers that you're able to hire now because they have less training?Stephen Engel:I think so. They're not around production. They don't understand or understand production as well. It, it's tricky. I also think that to some extent, I may be alone in this. I think that some of the storytelling and streaming, it feels like a lot of shows feel like they, someone took a movie and they probably didn't sell this movie, and they said, I got an idea for a series and it would be a great movie. But what they end up doing is they, it's those chest spreaders if you were to have a heart bypass or something, it's like they put a chest spreader into the screenplay and they open it up and they jam six episodes of filler in the middle. And the beginning is the first half of a good movie. And the last two episodes, this is the second half of a pretty good movie, and the middle is just treading water. And you're just like, yeah, each episode becomes a chapter in a book. So a lot of writers are not learning how to tell an episode that has a beginning, middle, and end because it's all middle.Michael Jamin:Right?Stephen Engel:Episode one is a beginning, episode eight is the ending, and everything in the middle is middle. No. Those episodes don't have a beginning, middle, and end. They're picking up from the middle and ending somewhere else in the middle. They're moving the ball down the field. But you don't have a kickoff and you don't, I think a lot of writers maybe don't know how to tell a complete story anymore because there aren't any freestanding episodes.Michael Jamin:How do you think these new writers are breaking in today? It's very different than when we were breaking in. How are they getting in?Stephen Engel:I teach a course at UCLA and I always, they always ask the same question. How do you get an agent? How do you break in? I guess it's not that different other than the fact that there are maybe fewer barriers to entry. You want to write a web series and shoot it on your phone and send it out to a million people on. Now the trick is it's getting people to see it, but no one was going to read your screenplay. If you're a new writer and you say, Hey, will you read my script and you're in my class? They're like, Hey, can I send you a new script I just wrote? I'm like, no. Yeah, I'm not going to read that. But if they send me, Hey, I wrote a one minute episode, you want to, would you watch it? I'm like, okay. I mean, I could watch a one minute episode of something.Right? And if it's interesting, then you could go, that's really kind of interesting. Let's talk about it. So there are ways to get in. I hired a writer on an farm I was writing with a guy named Dan Sinner. Sinner, great guy, funny writer. And we were looking for an assistant. So we met this woman and she came in and she had no experience as an assistant, but she had just graduated from Harvard six months earlier. But she mentioned she had a Twitter feed and that she had written a couple of jokes that somehow Maude Aow had found. And she was like 12. And she tweeted it, retweeted it, and then because Judd Aow followed her and saw the jokes, he started following her and retweeted it. And then a lot of his followers were started following her. So all of a sudden I had 10,000 followers.So anyway, we finished interviewing her. I really liked her. And I'm like, what's the feed? What's the Twitter feed? She told me And I went and I read it and there were, I read the first 10 jokes. Eight of them were a plus jokes. And I said to Dan, I'm like, let's hire her as our assistant. If we need jokes, we, she's really good at joke writing and we're still looking for a last staff writer. And she was our assistant for a day. I'm like, do you have a spec? You've written? Like, I wrote a 30 Rock. So I read it and it was green, but first five pages, five great jokes. So finally Dan and I were like, let's hire her today because in three years we're going to be looking for her to hire us because she was that talented.Michael Jamin:Have had three years passed.Stephen Engel:She very quickly became very successful and has over a million Twitter, Twitter dollars.Michael Jamin:But is she working as a writer?Stephen Engel:She ended up working on Silicon Valley and Oh wow. Parks and Rec and she ended up working on The Simpsons. And soMichael Jamin:You were right. The good place.Stephen Engel:Yeah. I mean she was really talent. It was undeniable. So I always tell writers, write Jo, if you could write jokes, you'll work to, you're 90. To the extent shows like to have jokes anymore, which a lot of them don't. Right. I always think about that joke. I dunno if you remember this from the Emmys, maybe like four or five, six years ago, Michael Chay and Colin Jost hosted the Emmys. And I always tell this to my class, Colin, Joe says that the opening monologue, he says, tonight we give awards for the best comedies and dramas in television. And for those of you who don't know, a drama, a comedy is a drama that's 30 minutes long.Michael Jamin:Yeah.Stephen Engel:There's just so many shows now that are not really that funnyMichael Jamin:That I ain't going for it. What is this club, what's the class called that you're teaching at U ucla?Stephen Engel:It's in the professional program through the school of the Film School write writing a half hour pilot.Michael Jamin:So a graduate. So they have a grad, graduateStephen Engel:Program. It's not a M ffa and it's not undergrad. It's like a professional program where you can apply, it's a one year program. You take three quarters, 10 weeks each, and you go from basically Idea to finish script in 10 weeks.Michael Jamin:And it's at, you say, so it's not used to extension, it's something else.Stephen Engel:No, it's not Extension. It's a, it's through the School of Television, film and theater. Wow. That's theater, film and television, I guess it's called. Yeah. So eight to 10 people. And you're kind of, wow. I kind of act as the showrunner, but I want to hear, get everybody's input. Everyone gets input from each other about their ideas. So it's like a writing class group.Michael Jamin:They'd be lucky to get in your class. For sure.Stephen Engel:Yeah. I tend to give them a lot of, I think, very thorough notes and hopefully it's helpful. And I don't mince words. I mean, I'm gentle with it. I'll always, I'll do my notes and then I'll go back and soften them. I'll be like, instead of this, I don't think this is working. I would say, I wonder if some readers might think this is a bit confusing as opposed to, this is confusing. Or I remember confusing.Michael Jamin:I remember. And just shouldn't be turning to you. I can't remember. It was a script. Levi 10 was running the show, and I think we had a problem with the scene. And I seem to remember you helping us. You pulled you aside, Hey, how do you think this scene should work? Because we were lost and you were very helpful.Stephen Engel:Well, I had at that point already run Dreman for several years and and had some showing experience. And look, Ste, Steve was a great showrunner and one of his, he's smart enough and secure enough to know that I will benefit by having other experienced showrunners on working with me and other very experienced writers. Cause I may not have the answer all the time.Michael Jamin:Oh, I also remember thinking that I don't want to bother the boss. I'll bother someone who's not the boss.Stephen Engel:Yeah. But again, was you were your first job and you're want to make sure you don't do any. I've worked on shows where staff writers are told, don't even say a word.Michael Jamin:Oh, really?Stephen Engel:More or less. It's just you're there to generate jokes on your own and just keep quiet. Which is to me is if I can get a joke from a pa, I'll take it. I don't care where the joke comes from. If it helps make the script better. If a PA comes in and delivers a pizza and goes, what'd be funny? I'm like, that is funny. Right. I'll put that in.Michael Jamin:Right. Yeah. You whatever gets you home earlier. Yeah. Yeah.Stephen Engel:And makes the script better. And hopefully makes the script better. It's all going to make you look better as a showrunner.Michael Jamin:Yeah, it was. And you're right, dude. I mean that show that it was really top heavy, just shoot me. It's top heavy. And it was, that's probably what was so intimidating to me was everyone was so funny. And I remember even turning to Marsh after several weeks. It was like, Marsha, I, I'm laughing too much. I'm not pitching enough. I'm enjoying myself too much. Right. What do I do? Because I'm not here to observe.Stephen Engel:I can see how it would be intimidating. I was lucky enough that on my first job it was Kauffman and Crane were the showrunners. Greenstone and Strass were like the producer, co-producer, exec producer, kind of supervising producer level. And then we had three staff writers who were all pretty new. So it felt democratic. But you come into a Topheavy show and you're, you were the only staff writers. Yeah. There.Michael Jamin:And there's Tom Martin. There's Tom Martin. Oh,Stephen Engel:Tom. Right
Programa 3x163. L'Eugene O'Neill tenia unes excuses infal
Programa 3x163. L'Eugene O'Neill tenia unes excuses infal
This week Eugene O'Neil comes through to tallk about his new single, his upcoming performance and making his first album in a Motel 6. The guys talk about Kendrick Lamar & Baby Keem's new track, The Weeknd X Playboi Carti, Travis Scott's Utopia and more! Plus details on today's It's a Summer Time Thang in Fullerton, CA. @eugene_oneil_ @therodriguezshow @mvndoh @iamcesarrod @rodriguezpodcasts Book Mandoh: Mandoh@rodriguezshow.com https://linktr.ee/therodriguezshow
I don’t care how long this day’s journey has been, so help me I will turn this car around if you kids don’t stop. Kris Markel discusses Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night(written 1941, published 1956). John McCoy with Kris Markel.
I don’t care how long this day’s journey has been, so help me I will turn this car around if you kids don’t stop. Kris Markel discusses Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night(written 1941, published 1956). John McCoy with Kris Markel.
All The Drama is hosted by Jan Simpson. It is a series of deep dives into the plays that have won The Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Pulitzer Prize for Drama: “Anna Christie”1922 Pulitzer winner “Anna Christie” by Eugene O’Neill “Anna Christie” Wikipedia pagehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Christie Eugene O'Neill Wikipedia pagehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_O%27Neill “Anna Christie” read more The post All the Drama: 1922 Pulitzer Prize Winner “Anna Christie” by Eugene O’Neill appeared first on BroadwayRadio.
Like the famous Eugene O'Neil play from 1946: The Iceman Has Comed. Bobby Drake a.k.a. that sleet surfin' S.O.B. makes his long-awaited debut in COLD COMFORT and the Boyz couldn't be more thrilled. Why'd he quit the X-Men? Who's his ex-girlfriend and why is her hair so green? Is she single? Why is she so perfect? Questions like this and more shall be discussed and answered by X-Factor X-perts, The X-Boyz. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/xboyzpod/support
This week, the guys put down the philosophy books and pick up a favorite of David's, Eugene O'Neill's tragic play, The Emperor Jones. The guys analyze the play's plot, themes, and important historical context as they discuss their interpretations of the play.
CARL CAPOTORTO, is a writer, and actor best known for his portrayal of Little Paulie Germani on HBO's The Sopranos, and has appeared in several classic indie features, including Five Corners and Mac. He is a native New Yorker, born and raised in the Bronx, and lives in Manhattan. He is also the author of Twisted Head: An Italian-American Memoir (Random House, 2008), based on his solo show of the same name. His plays have been presented at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center (three seasons), Yale Repertory Theatre, the Vineyard Theater, Theater for the New City, and many other venues around the country. In this episode, Carl talks about growing up in the Bronx, discovering the liberating effects of Disco for a young gay man, his experience playing a tough guy on The Sopranos and the joy of living life authentically despite the challenges of family and self discovery. Support the showRecorded at The Newsstand Studio at 1 Rockefeller Plaza in NYC. Special thanks to Joseph Hazan & Karen Song. Produced by Wanda Acosta• Find us: @cafetabacfilm on Instagram & Facebook • Email us: info@cafetabacfilm.com• Website: cafetabacfilm.com/podcast • LEAVE A REVIEW
In this episode Greg and Tom talk with the multi talented John Stanisci and discuss the film Top Gun: Maverick and the possibility that Tom Cruise is the greatest action movie star of all time. John helps us break down the script and we discuss the perfect 5 act structure of the film and how the film Maverick is really a Father and Son redemption film. Listen for more insights to this perfect Tom Cruise film and hear John's arguments as to why Tom Cruise is the greatest action film star working today.About John Stanisci John Stanisci is New York Times best-selling artist and writer for DC, Marvel and IDW Comics having worked on characters such as Spider-Man, Batman, Constantine, Justice League Dark, Judge Dredd, X Files and many more. In 2011, John's book for DC Comics, Batman Beyond: Hush Beyond, premiered at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list for graphic novels. Just this year, John had a story in Superman: Red and Blue which received an Eisner Nomination for Best Anthology. As a NYC playwright, John's work has been named as a finalist for the prestigious Woodward/Newman award for drama as well as the Eugene O'neil Playwrights Conference and others. John's plays have starred such well-known actors such as Tony Award nominee David Morse, Oscar winner Kathleen Turner, SAG nominee Sarita Choudhary, and Obie Award winner Tamara Tunie just to name a few. On the Film/TV side, John is currently writing a screenplay for Mark Williams of Zero Gravity Management, who is the Emmy nominated producer/co creator of the hit Netflix series Ozark. Lifedeath is John's debut novel and is represented by Mark Gottlieb of Trident Media. www.johnstanisci.comPodcast music:Intro music Kamihamiha! - Alien Warfare Stems by Kamihamiha (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/Kamihamiha/60882Movie Reviews and Serious Nonsense is a King Dyro Production
In this episode, Randy and Tyler discuss the 1928 Pulitzer Prizewinning Play, Strange Interlude by Eugene O'Neill.From Encyclopedia.com: The play covers a period of twenty-five years in the lives of mostly upper-middle-class East Coast characters. It centers on Nina Leeds, a passionate, tormented woman whose fiancé was killed in World War I and who spends the remainder of her life searching for an always-elusive happiness.This is a very long play, lasting over five hours in performance. The story is not especially complex, and the length of the play derives from O'Neill's revival of two theatrical devices that had fallen out of use for nearly a century: the soliloquy, in which a character alone on the stage speaks his or her thoughts aloud, and the aside, which enables characters to reveal their thoughts to the audience but not to the other characters on stage. These devices, which O'Neill employed at length, enabled the playwright to probe deeply into his characters' motivations. The soliloquies and asides reveal the discrepancies between what the characters say and do, and what they really feel.******* IN OUR NEXT EPISODE *******Join us as we discuss the 1930 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, The Green Pastures by Marc Connelly.From Encyclopedia.com: The Green Pastures follows stories of the Bible, such as Adam and Eve, Noah and the flood, Moses and the exodus from Egypt, and the crucifixion of Christ, but places them in a rural black southern setting. Thus, one of the opening scenes takes place at a “fish fry” in “pre-Creation Heaven,” during which God spontaneously decides to create Earth and man. God eats boiled pudding, smokes cigars, and runs Heaven out of a shabby “private office” assisted by Gabriel. The settings are roughly contemporary to the time period in which the play was first written and performed, so that, for instance, the city of Babylon is represented as a New Orleans jazz nightclub. The costumes are also contemporary: God wears a white suit and white tie, Adam is dressed in a farmer's clothes, Eve wears the gingham dress of a country girl, and so on. The play ends with God's decision, while back at the fish fry in Heaven, to send Jesus Christ down to Earth.DeScriptedFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeScriptedPodTwitter: @DeScriptedPod - www.twitter.com/DeScriptedPodInstagram: @DeScriptedPod - www.instagram.com/DeScriptedPod
I'm joined today by Eugene O'Callaghan, who is a business and investment advisor based in Dublin, where he advises a range of asset managers and sovereign wealth funds on strategic initiatives. He was formerly director of the Irish Strategic Investment Fund and prior to that Director of the National Pensions Reserve Fund of Ireland. He started his career as an accountant. Our conversation starts with Eugene's early career and an adventure that took him to New Zealand for a period of time. We compare the Irish and the New Zealand economies as they stood at that time and trace then his move back to Ireland and his early years with the National Pensions Reserve Fund of Ireland. Eugene charts his time at the fund by reference to the economic backdrop that prevailed in the country at the time, and as such, what follows is a fascinating insider's view into the country's economic history. One of the aspects of Eugene's career that I have most admired is his ability to pivot as the macro backdrop and governmental policy has dictated, this occurred after the financial crisis in 2008 when the NPRF fell in value and pivoted towards investing domestically via the Irish Strategic Investment Fund. We speak about the opportunity set in investing in Ireland and some of the limitations that come with size.The need for the state fund to reflect the state's policy around sustainability was another pivot, and this saw sustainability be integrated across the entire fund portfolio during Eugene's time in leadership. We speak about what this meant in terms of the investment opportunity. The pandemic saw yet another need to pivot, this time towards investing in companies affected by the pandemic, via a Pandemic Response Fund. The need for this fund was, thankfully, time bound, but we speak about what that kind of investment necessitated.Now retired from ISIF and a strategic advisor to a number of entities, including other Sovereign Wealth Funds, we speak about the unique nature of many of these funds and the way investments are approached. We discuss then some of the inspiring figures in his career, and how he learned the importance of "getting points on the board" early. This is a rich and fascinating discussion that spans many decades of economic ups and downs and never failing to fashion a response that works.Series 5 is sponsored by Astarte Capital Partners, an asset management firm focused on sustainable real asset sectors, acting as anchor investor and partner to specialist emerging managers. Astarte is headquartered in London with a presence in Sydney and Toronto.
Playwright Eugene O'Brien on his debut novel, 'Going Back', a follow-up to his hit TV series Pure Mule, as well as his new play 'Heaven'
You'll love this guy! As a big fan of the play Eden and the TV show 'Pure Mule', I was delighted to get the opportunity to talk to the man who wrote them, Eugene O'Brien. They say never meet people you admire (hero might be a bit strong) but Eugene was extremely sound. We chatted about his new book, Going Back, a story about Scoby Donoghue's return from Australia to the midlands town where he grew up. We also touched on topics like mental health, small towns, the booze and the brilliant story of the time he met William S Burroughs. Ace! I loved the chat and you will too! Email the show any time of the day at keithwalshpod@gmail.comSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-keith-walsh-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Had a wonderful time reconnecting with Dean Farell Bruggeman, discussing playwriting and launching a career without any formal training. We discuss overcoming the obstacles without an academic start, the necessities of a successful scene, achieving truth and following your heart, muses and self projection as well as inspiration and unearthing plays buried in the "underwear drawer." Dean's quite inspirational with lovely energy. A mistake I make within our talk is about a piece correctly titled "American Pie" written by Rebecca Katz. I mistakenly label it as a play without "story" while I intended to say "plot." It is a beautiful piece from the Los Angeles Collegiate Playwrights Festival Volume 1 that you can find a link to in our show notes. It's a wonderful example of a play based on characters and relationships, that you will also find woven within Dean's plays as well. We hope you enjoy the episode. Dean Farell Bruggeman is a Los Angeles based playwright whose plays have been seen thought the city at - Theatre Unleashed, Group Repertory, The Knighsbridge, Company of Angels, The Hudson, Road Theatre Company, Actors Company, The Three of Clubs, and Eclectic Company Theatre. His play "Memory Grove" was a 2012 semifinalist for the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference and a 2013 finalist in the New Works @ The Works Playwriting Competition at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis. His other plays include - Only the Moon Howls, Pearson Design, Beautifully Broken Things, Hollywood Perfume, Untitled Perfusion #3, and The Blur. He is a graduate of the University of Florid and a longtime member of the Dramatists and Screen Actors Guild. To view the video format of this episode, visit the link below -https://youtu.be/Xx8ORtFylJwLinks to sites and resources mentioned in this episode - Lonny Chapman Theater -https://thegrouprep.comThe Road Theatre Company - https://roadtheatre.orgContact information for Dean Farell Bruggeman -https://www.deanfarellbruggeman.comWebsites and socials for James Elden, Punk Monkey Productions and Playwright's SpotlightPunk Monkey Productions - www.punkmonkeyproductions.comPLAY Noir -www.playnoir.comPLAY Noir Anthology –www.punkmonkeyproductions.com/contact.htmlJames Elden -Twitter - @jameseldensauerIG - @alakardrakeFB - fb.com/jameseldensauerPunk Monkey Productions and PLAY Noir - Twitter - @punkmonkeyprods - @playnoirla IG - @punkmonkeyprods - @playnoir_la FB - fb.com/playnoir - fb.com/punkmonkeyproductionsPlaywright's Spotlight -Twitter - @wrightlightpod IG - @playwrights_spotlightPlaywriting services through Los Angeles Collegiate Playwrights Festivalwww.losangelescollegiateplaywrightsfestival.com/services.htmlSupport the show
Eugene O'Brien is a playwright, screenwriter, and former actor originally from County Offaly in the Irish midlands. He has written for the stage, screen and radio. His work includes the critically acclaimed TV drama Pure Mule, winner of five IFTA Awards, and which, according to the Irish Times, ‘spectacularly raised the bar for Irish TV drama'. The show was inspired by his play Eden, which debuted at the Abbey Theatre and has since played the West End and Off-Broadway. At the time of recording, Eugene is on the cusp of a creative wave with a new play called Heaven, a film called Tarrac, and a new book, his first novel, which is called Going Back. Eugene is someone hugely dedicated to his craft and to the role of the artist in exploring ideas and understanding in society and we cover this and so much more in this conversation.
Folkscene pays tribute to Irish musician and scholar Mick Moloney who passed away unexpectedly on July 27, 2022. On this archive classic, he is backed by the late Eugene O'Donnell. Hosted by Howard Larman. Engineered by Peter Cutler. It is cool to share FolkScene recordings with your friends, but the reproduction of our programs for commercial purposes is illegal. FolkScene airs on Sunday evenings from 6 to 8 p.m.(PDT) at KPFK 90.7 Los Angeles and online. at www.kpfk.org
All The Drama is hosted by Jan Simpson. It is a series of deep dives into the plays that have won The Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Pulitzer Prize for Drama: “Beyond the Horizon”1920 Pulitzer winner “Beyond the Horizon,” the first of the four plays by Eugene O’Neill to win read more The post All the Drama: “Beyond the Horizon,” 1920 Winner, Pulitzer Prize for Drama appeared first on BroadwayRadio.
Playing on the title of the play, Long Day's Journey into night by Eugene O'neill, today's episode brings us the saga of two Sicilian women and a piano-playing chicken. When Sophia's sister Angela makes another trip across the pond, she starts looking for places to live. But with Angela's perceived thievery, curses soon go flying. Will Count Bessie ever get her groove back? Will Tony have to go to the hospital for bag injuries? Will we ever learn where that garage chicken came from? All of that and more in today's episode- Long Day's Journey Into Marinara.
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