Take 116 - Writer, producer, showrunner Ted Cohen, Friends, Veep, Succession

We talk to screenwriter Tom Vaughan who opens up about his Hollywood journey.
He talks about his early career, the arrogance and refusal to take notes even from Disney and the mistakes he made.
He talks candidly about being 'a drunk', how despite success he deservedly couldn't get people to work with him a second time and moving into teaching and taking a break from Hollywood saved him.
We talked about his Razzie nomination, how he reinvented himself and why he's not proud of any of the movies that he wrote.
An extraordinary insight into the mind of a writer who is happy to now share his experience and knowledge with those coming up in the industry.

We talk to the fascinating Matthew Carnahan.
He tells us about his early work with Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, why he didn't want to work in TV and how he broke in to that world.
He talks passionately about choosing meaningful projects over money, the joys of a successful project and the anger at the death of that same project.
Matt talks about his early-career rage, losing projects to strikes, executive firings and bad luck and the things that bring him career satisfaction.
The most honest and candid of discussions with a man with a fascinating and varied career.

The One with 4-time Emmy winner Ted Cohen.
We speak to Ted about his time on Friends, what’s it like to win an Emmy and how we coped after coming off Friends and spending ten years in the development wilderness.
We talk about the switch from comedy to drama, writing for himself and getting on Veep.
Then we hear about Succession, working on a game- changing project, his desire to create his own show and when you know you’re working on something special.
A fascinating discussion with an award winner with some of the best tv credits in the business.

We talked to Head of Casting at Universal Content Productions, Steven O’Neill.
He proudly talks about his work helping people achieve their dreams, how he fell in love with casting and what the pandemic did to change the process.
He talks about how to deal with disagreements with showrunners, separating behaviour from performances and running into actors who he hasn’t cast.
A fascinatingly honest, rather inspirational discussion about helping Hollywood dreams come true.

We talk to legendary showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker.
He talks about his journey from music journalist to writer, what he learned from the tough world of hip-hop and how he used those skills in Hollywood.
Cheo talks about the similarities between running and writing, finding pockets of time to write and how screenwriting can be painful.
He describes embracing the suck, seizing his moment and writing as pie-eating.
A fascinating interview with a talented storyteller.

We speak to Keith Geller who talks us through his unscripted journey.
We talk game shows versus docu-follows, shrinking budgets and higher expectations and picking only proven formats.
He talks about his journey from Shakespeare to Wipeout, the role of social media and the changing attitudes towards mental health and crises.
Keith talks pitching new formats, creating his own show and trying to create a fun, fair and safe work environment.
An insightful look at the world of large scale unscripted television.

We talk to the lovely Daniel Kunka, writer of Netflix number one movie Lift.
We talk zombie apocalypses, impregnating wolves and the unlikely demise of a great script.
He tells us about his 15 year gap between movies, writing for a female lead and ending up with Kevin Hart and how it feels to have the number one movie on a global steaming platform.
Daniel also explains the anxiety of losing his health insurance while his wife was pregnant, anxiety and selling scripts that don’t get made.
A fascinating discussion with an articulate and funny writer.

Back from the winter break and we have another 'case study' episode of the podcast.
We talk to Marc Benardout and Hugh Broder, producers of He Went That Way, a new movie out tomorrow.
They talk about working with Jacob Elordi and Zach Quinto, about dealing with the death of their director but also Marc's son during production and the 19-year journey to get the film made.
We discuss prison visits, poetry professors and sibling serial killers.
And the costs of an animatronic chimpanzee.

We talk to the effervescent Ashley Michel Hoban.
She talks about the excitement for her new show coming out today, her journey from assistant to showrunner and what she learned along the way.
She tells about self belief, imposter syndrome and how’s she’s expecting to feel tomorrow morning after tonight’s Dr Death Season 2 premiere.
Ashley discussed the importance of just writing, the pressure of being a showrunner and what she’s learned from previous colleagues who have supported her.
A fascinating episode full of candour, humour and insight.

We speak to the excellent David Slack.
We talk about how an independent movie failure led him to Hollywood, the path from animation to live action and getting fired from Law and Order.
David tells us about the shows that didn’t make it, claiming unemployment and some of the poor behaviour that has gone on in Hollywood.
We also cover post-strike executive interactions (good), AI ruining civilization (not so good) and the hedge fundication of the industry (not good at all).