No Set Path: Entertainment Break-In Stories Rebecca Doyle

Sam Boyer is an Indonesian-American writer who won the Nicholl Fellowship in 2022, was featured on the 2023 Black List, was a 2020 CAPE New Writers Fellow, and has twice been featured on the Black List's CAPE List. He earned his MFA from UT Austin’s Michener Center for Writers and his BA from USC's film school.

In this episode, Sam dives into his process in landing a spot in each of these programs, how to face and overcome rejection, tips for making time and space to write, and why his hypothetical presidential platform would include free chips & salsa at very restaurant. 

BREAKDOWN:

3:35 - Getting on the Black List

7:24 - Black List 2023 script - “Foragers”

14:00 - Getting the NIcholl Fellowship

25:25 - CAPE Writers Program

31:17 - Getting into Michener 

36:09 - Becoming an Academy Gold member

40:05 - Balancing work when you start out with a day job, making time to write, getting past writers’ block

50:57 - Tips for general meetings

55:43 - Getting initially rejected from SCA

1:00:26 - Rejection is normal

1:09:55 - Personal connection to stories

1:12:33 - Navigating management / reps

1:19:25 - Advice for people starting out / pivoting

1:26:39 - How he persevered through hard times

1:32:27 - The myth of the Overnight Success

1:34:19 - TIME CAPSULE

CONNECT WITH SAM: 

IG @samboyer 

CONNECT WITH THE SHOW: 

All platforms @NoSetPathShow 

bio.site/nosetpath

www.nosetpathshow.com




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Rebecca Doyle and special guest Michael Ritter read and react to some anonymously submitted horror stories from Hollywood Assistants - complete with ranking the circle of hell each story's villain belongs to.



CONNECT WITH SPECIAL GUEST CO-HOST MICHAEL RITTER:

Instagram: @mkritter / @29goingonbreakdown
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-ritter-filmmaker
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5778236/

CONNECT WITH THE SHOW:

All platforms: @NoSetPathShow

www.NoSetPathShow.com


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Ryan is a story editor on CSI: Vegas (check out his next episode coming out 4/21/24!) In 2018, he participated in the CAPE New Writers Fellowship, and in 2021 he part of the Paramount Writers Mentoring Program.
Today we’re getting into how Ryan turned his day job into the final thing that made the showrunner of CSI Vegas want to hire him, Ryan’s final application strategy on the time he was accepted into the Paramount Writers Program, how to be prepared for an interview with a showrunner for a TV writer position, how to deal with burnout, and so much more.
BREAKDOWN:
1:41 How Ryan got a job on CSI: Vegas
7:21 What makes a good director for a writer to work with
8:41 How to communicate with other departments as a staff writer
10:11 Are Zoom (Writers) Rooms the future of TV?
11:41 Getting hired on a show you’ve never watched
12:53 Should you work on procedurals?
15:31 Writing features vs. TV
18:40 Rejected from the Paramount Writers Program seven times before getting accepted
20:54  Cape New Writers Fellowship
25:20 Interview questions for a TV writer (CSI: Vegas)
27:10 How day jobs in writing contributed to landing a job in TV writing 
30:20 Working through burnout 
34:00 Write a procedural, not a Succession spec 
37:10 - Don’t get precious, you need many scripts
40:20 Day jobs for writers
52:53 - Getting your first rep while still in college
55:15 - Decision to not have a manager
59:40 - Ryan’s “A story”! Example of how to pitch yourself in a TV writer interview 
1:02:40 - Deciding: USC vs. NYU
1:05:20 - Advice
1:09:57 TIME CAPSULE







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BREAKDOWN:

3:29 - Overview Recap: Ideating, buying gear, launch, frequency/release cadence, top 5 episodes

6:05 - Finding guests - do guests’ audiences matter?

8:56 - Analytics: Gender split!

9:10 - How to get on the charts worldwide as a small podcast

11:30 - Spotify Labs

12:29 - Getting monetized through Spotify for Podcasters’ Ad Ambassador program

14:13 - Going viral on TikTok with a podcast clip

16:35 - Top 5 Mistakes to Avoid in First Year of Podcasting - #1: Not having clear goals

18:10 - #2 Not seeing out advice from people actually executing at your level 

25:54 - #3 Not finding the balance of researching/preparing and starting/executing

28:17 - Avoiding tech issues + what gear I use

30:50 - Picking a hosting platform

31:35 - Total gear cost

35:19 - #4 Having unrealistic expectations about growing listenership 

38:00 - how to optimize other platforms to get listens on your podcast

39:20 - hot take: maybe don’t start a podcast

42:47 - #5 Not having realistic expectations for podcasting as a networking tool 

45:50 - Episode recap

CONNECT WITH THE SHOW:

All platforms: @NoSetPathShow

www.NoSetPathShow.com


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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rebecca-doyle3/support

David Gutel’s theatrical directorial debut “Forty-Seven Days with Jesus” hits over 900 theaters this March! In this episode, we get into how David set his feature up for success through casting from similar popular series “The Chosen”, distribution resources and tips for independent films, how he used real estate tech to pre-viz musical numbers, why he decided to do a faith-based film after initially being hesitant and how he transitioned to directing after 8 years as a 1st Assistant Director.

BREAKDOWN:

6:00 - Pre-viz for a musical: Lidar mapping (real estate tools?!)

13:34 - Challenges: strikes, Texas heat, mechanical failures of picture vehicles (sinking boat!)

18:08 - Getting theatrical distribution partly through casting actors from “The Chosen” 

24:10 - Distribution resources - Fathom Events & Pinnacle Peak as a resource for independent films, getting distribution abroad through hitting minimums at home

26:30 - Getting distribution tips recap + David’s initial connection to distributors 

29:10 - Market festivals vs. competition film festivals

30:25 - From 1st AD to director

41:03 - First job as second unit director

45:19 - Challenging shoots: When to rise to a challenge vs. abandon impending disaster

55:30 - Recap of David’s path in the industry

58:30 - Is film school worth it? David’s experience paying $24k for CSULB

1:04:00 - TIME CAPSULE

CONNECT WITH DAVID: Instagram @davidmgutel / @fortysevendaysfilm 

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/DeadMediaStore

CONNECT WITH THE SHOW

All platforms: @NoSetPathShow 

www.NoSetPathShow.com / bio.site/nosetpath 




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MICHAEL LUKK LITWAK is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker and cartoonist that was born and raised in Los Angeles. His first feature was ‘MOLLI AND MAX IN THE FUTURE’ a sci-fi Romantic-Comedy starring Zosia Mamet and Aristotle Athari and is often described as ‘When Harry Met Sally’ meets ‘Futurama.’ ‘MOLLI AND MAX’ had its world premiere at SXSW 2023, played at BFI London, Sitges, and Fantasia before its theatrical distribution in February 2024 and is currently sitting at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes.

2:21 - Molli & Max in the Future

4:31 - Admission to SXSW - getting in as a director on the 12th try

6:51 - The strategic side of top festival admissions

12:41 - What film festivals are worth it?

14:21 - Getting theatrical distribution for a first feature 

15:21 - Additional benefits of theatrical release: NYT review, Late Night exposure

16:11 - Shooting with new tech - virtual production, volume stages, LED stages & green screen

18:01 - Creative solves to making sci-fi on a budget

26:59 - The Life and Death of Tommy Chaos & Stacey Danger - how Michael’s short that got rejected from every major film festival went viral and landed him representation

29:51 - Landing a $2.5 million Warner Bros show - only to have it scrapped with the shutdown of Go90

38:21 - navigating agents & managers as a director

44:21 - Impact of the strikes

47:07 - Cartoons

49:41 - Being featured on Humans of New York

51:21 - Support & understanding when married to another creative in film 

53:25 - Things are not stepping stones and people won’t rescue you

56:16 - Getting inspired again after low points

58:21 - TIME CAPSULE

CONNECT WITH MICHAEL:

IG: @michaellitwak / @molliandmax

https://www.michaellitwak.com/

CONNECT WITH THE SHOW:

All Platforms: @NoSetPathShow

www.NoSetPathShow.com




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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rebecca-doyle3/support