The Film Riot Podcast

What is "your voice"? Should you start with theme, character, a concept? So many questions flood your brain when you sit down to write, especially when first starting out. Today Ryan chats with the incredible Dayna Lynne North (Writer, Showrunner, and Executive Producer for properties like Veronica Mars, and most recently Insecure for HBO). Ryan and Dayna dive into what your voice is, how she gets started on a project, and what guides her through the writing process.

How do you get your first feature made? It’s the question every aspiring filmmaker wants answered. Today Ryan speaks with Ricky Staub — writer, director, and entrepreneur about everything from his years working under the prolific producer Sam Mercer (on films like THE LAST AIRBENDER, DEVIL, and SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMEN), to starting his own commercial company. They dive into a discussion about the path and experiences of writing and directing his first feature film, starring IDRIS ELBA!

Lucas Harger is an Emmy award-winning editor with several docs under his belt. He was Ryan’s collaborator on both BALLiSTIC and There Comes a Knocking. Today Ryan and Lucas talk about his latest project Prodigy, a doc series for the Quibi brand. Along with discussing the ins and outs of post for this new mobile platform, the guys dive into what makes a story work and the cross over between doc and narrative.

What does a producer do? When every production can have five different versions of them, it's no wonder this is a recurring question. Well, today we have the definitive answer as Ryan "sits down" with Yolanda T. Cochran, VP Production, Walt Disney Television/Freeform. Yolanda and Ryan chat about the various roles of the producer, why writers aren’t usually on set, how a budget is pulled together, and the current state of the industry amidst COVID-19.

Alison James is an incredibly talented writer/director on the rise and headed toward her first feature film. After winning Best Narrative Short at the Austin Film Festival for her short film, Judas Collar, Alison was able to land reps at WME and has since been developing what will be her first feature film.

Scott Glassgold is a Manager and Producer with well over a decade of experience. After getting his start at New Line Cinema and Disney, Scott Founded Ground Control, an innovative Management and Production company. From there he's gone on to nurture several short films and initial ideas to final feature films - such as Prospect, The Beyond, and his latest sale to Paramount, The Follower.

Cassandra Ebner is a truly wonderful filmmaker and human. She's a writer, producer, actor, and stuntwoman. Her career spans over 6 years in the industry and on some of the biggest productions around - like Game of Thrones, War for the Planet of the Apes, Shazam!, Arrow, and The Flash. Most recently Cassandra has written, produced, and starred in her web series, LifeXP.

Joe Penna is a writer/director that got his start on YouTube. You may know him as Mystery Guitar Man, but today he is directing feature films starring massive talents like Mads Mikkelsen, Anna Kendrick, and Toni Collette.  Today we chat about directing his first film with a major start attached and his overall path to feature films.

Matti Haapoja is a filmmaker, vlogger, and content creator.  Today Ryan picks his brain about this new form of storytelling that he is one of the pioneers of. Check out his incredible YouTube channel to see more of his work!

Brent Christy is a director and DP with a deep wealth of knowledge.  He’s worked on everything from big-budget projects to the tiny passion project and makes every one of them stand out. Today we chat about directing, cinematography, set life, and balancing all that with family.

Today on the show, Ryan talks with Dallas Taylor about all things sound! Dallas is the owner and lead over at Defacto Sound. He and his team have worked on some of the biggest ads from Nike, Ford, Puma, and Audi, to documentaries that have gone to Sundance and Tribeca. They have also done amazing work on network promos for HBO, NatGeo, AMC and Netflix, and massive trailers like Game of Thrones, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and tons more.

On today’s episode, Ryan talks to Frank Barbiere, comic book and video game writer with credits in Destiny, Violent Love, Five Ghosts, Lobo, Supergirl, Avengers, and more. The guys talk about writing in film and comics, story structure, and working with artists.

On today’s episode, Ryan talks to collaborator, Lucas Harger (editor of BALLiSTIC). But, unlike the last episode with Lucas, this one is all about documentary work. Lucas is an Emmy award-winning editor with several docs under his belt and a lot of knowledge to give on the genre, including how it overlaps with narrative and how useful its experience is for narrative work.

Trevor Addie is an incredibly talented stunt performer, stunt coordinator, and director that has worked on some of the biggest films and TV shows out there like, War for the Planet of the Apes, Game of Thrones, Flash, BFG, Warcraft, Star Trek Beyond, Suicide Squad, Godzilla, and plenty more!  He has a unique, honest, and experienced view on the art and craft of filmmaking. Today we are talking about everything from his life as a stunt performer/coordinator to how to run a set as the director.

Today's guest is Zach Lipovsky. Zach is a writer/director that has recently finished two feature films - one for Disney and the other is a small indie film he made on his own with directing and writing partner, Adam Stein. Zach explains how they went about getting their film made outside of the Hollywood system.