Creative Principles Creative Principles Podcast

Stephen Camelio is a freelance writer and former editor at In Style magazine. His work has appeared in countless publications including ESPN The Magazine, Field & Stream, Entertainment Weekly, and Men's Journal.

His latest film 'Mending the Line,' follows a Marine wounded in Afghanistan who is sent to a V.A. facility in Montana where he meets a Vietnam Vet who teaches him how to fly fish as a way of dealing with his emotional and physical trauma.

In this interview, we talk about how he found his writing voice, how he got a film on Netflix without a manager or agent, how to create a good pitch and much more.

Want more? Steal my first book, Ink by the Barrel - Secrets From Prolific Writers right now for free. Simply head over to www.brockswinson.com to get your free digital download and audiobook. If you find value in the book, please share it with a friend as we’re giving away 100,000 copies this year. It’s based on hundreds of interviews here at Creative Principles.

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

“I always knew that I wanted to write in some way. My mother is a writer and I kind of just grew up around writing and literature,” says Lulu Wang. “But, it felt like such a lonely art form, so when I got to college, that was the first time I thought about filmmaking as a career.”

Like many viewers, she hadn’t thought much about the writer behind her favorite shows and movies. “I took a 101 class and that’s when I started to really understand how films and TV are made. We got to make a couple short films, I got to work with my friends, and it was wonderful to be able to create and re-create a story multiple times.”

Wang has seven credits on IMDb including The Farewell and most recently, Expats. The Farewell stars Awkwafina, and it follows a Chinese family who discovers their grandmother has only a short while left to live, but they decide to keep this from her and focus on scheduling a wedding before she dies. 

In Expats, Nicole Kidman stars as Margaret Woo, an expatriate living in Hong Kong when tragedy befalls her family. “I feel like my style is still evolving,” says Wang. “I’m still learning, but I think early on, the stuff I was drawn to were films that ask an interesting question. I’m just fascinated by people, the way they behave, and human psychology and sociology.”

Want more? Steal my first book, Ink by the Barrel - Secrets From Prolific Writers right now for free. Simply head over to www.brockswinson.com to get your free digital download and audiobook. If you find value in the book, please share it with a friend as we’re giving away 100,000 copies this year. It’s based on hundreds of interviews here at Creative Principles.

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

“I didn’t really know I was allowed to be a screenwriter, so I didn’t consider that as a career or life option growing up Southeast of England,” says Drew Pearce. “People I knew didn’t go to University and they definitely didn’t work in movies.”

“Throughout my life, I have shown a staggering lack of imagination in thinking I can do these jobs. But when I meet a person who does the job, I do think, ‘Well, if they can do it, I can do it,’” he jokes. After exploring paths as a musician, a magazine writer, and the comic scene, he eventually created a sitcom in the UK.

The show received mixed reviews in the UK, but found its way to America where it found some traction. “I just so happened to do a show about off-duty superheroes, set in a pub, the same year that Iron Man came out, so those things dove-tailed.” The series was called No Heroics.

Thanks to the show, this eventually led to a meeting with Kevin Feige (President of Marvel Studios) and work on projects such as Iron Man 3, Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, Lego Marvel’s Avengers, Hotel Artemis, Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw, and most recently, The Fall Guy.

“Kevin Feige forced us together,” he says about his collaboration with Shane Black. “Legendary screenwriter Shane Black did not want me as a co-writer,” he jokes. “It was an arranged marriage that could have been incredibly short-lived. Shane was the Director so he had the power to fire me, but I had grown up with Shane’s movies and there’s a huge part of what I do.”

“But honestly, there was an organic exchange of tones. He liked that I came from comedy and I liked how American his stuff is.” Black’s credits also include Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys, and The Predator.

“Weirdly, like two characters in a Shane Black movie — the grizzled old veteran and the arrogant younger copy — we learned from each other and a bond was formed.” That said, over the last 14 years, Pearce has written or worked on 60+ movies, including unmade specs, but he’s only known for the action-comedies listed above.

Want more? Steal my first book, Ink by the Barrel - Secrets From Prolific Writers right now for free. Simply head over to www.brockswinson.com to get your free digital download and audiobook. If you find value in the book, please share it with a friend as we’re giving away 100,000 copies this year. It’s based on hundreds of interviews here at Creative Principles.

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

Zainab Johnson is a stand-up comedian, actress, and writer. Her comedy is based on her unique point-of-view, shaped growing up in Harlem as one of thirteen siblings in a black Muslim family.

Zainab debuted her very first one-hour comedy special 'Hijabs Off' on Amazon Prime Video, and is currently a series regular on the Amazon Original hit series titled 'Upload' from Greg Daniels. She is also one of the hosts for Netflix's show '100 Humans.'

In this interview, we talk about the importance of contextualization, why stand-up is a storytelling art, the pressure of putting out content, crowd work, the effect social media has on jokes, and much more.

Want more? Steal my first book, Ink by the Barrel - Secrets From Prolific Writers right now for free. Simply head over to www.brockswinson.com to get your free digital download and audiobook. If you find value in the book, please share it with a friend as we’re giving away 100,000 copies this year. It’s based on over 400 interviews here at Creative Principles. Enjoy!

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60 seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom of your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

Adele Parks MBE is one of the most-loved and biggest-selling women's fiction writers in the UK. She has sold over 5 million plus copies and has been translated into over 30 different languages.

She has published 21 novels, all of which have been London Times bestsellers.

The film adaptation of her book 'The Image of You,' starring Sasha Pieterse, follows the story of two identical twins, Anna and Zoe. When Anna meets a stock trader, she thinks he's perfect, but Zoe doesn't trust him, so she sets out to discover the truth about him.

'The Image Of You' was released In Select Theatres and is Available to Buy on Digital on May 10, 2024.

In this interview, we talked about how she found her writing voice, how she pitched her first novel, being vulnerable on the page, the benefits of having a pseudonym, and her novel 'The Image of You.'

Want more? Steal my first book, Ink by the Barrel - Secrets From Prolific Writers right now for free. Simply head over to www.brockswinson.com to get your free digital download and audiobook. If you find value in the book, please share it with a friend as we’re giving away 100,000 copies this year. It’s based on over 400 interviews here at Creative Principles. Enjoy!

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60 seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom of your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

Zach Woods got his start at the Upright Citizens Brigade doing improv. Brandon Gardner followed a similar path, eventually shifting to playwriting and sketch. The two continued to share work and support one another as they moved from New York to Los Angeles. 

For their latest collaboration, In the Know, where they’re listed as co-creators with Mike Judge (Office Space, Silicon Valley), the story follows Lauren Caspian, the third most popular host of an NPR-like interview series, who happens to be a stop motion puppet. 

As improv veterans with similar taste, the collaborative writing process somewhat follows the classic “yes, and” structure. “I think it’s easy for me to think where it can go positively before I’m critical,” says Gardner. “It’s not a partnership where I’m nervous to have an idea.”

The casual and polite interaction can go one of two ways: “I’m very trusting of his taste. Do you like this? If he says ‘yes,’ I’m 100 percent confident in the idea. If he says ‘I’m not sure,’ then I’m also confident in knowing there’s another way.”

The writers describe the UCB approach to improv as “playing everything to the top of your intelligence,” continues Gardner. “Why is the character doing that? It’s not to be funny. To them, it makes sense, so how do you treat the character respectfully?” (Paul Rust made a similar point in the interview for Love). 

Woods adds, “Even if I have an idea that doesn’t feel right, if we have divergent impulses, neither of us wants to win. We want to figure out where those impulses intersect. We take each other's reservations and confidence very seriously.”

Want more? Steal my first book, Ink by the Barrel - Secrets From Prolific Writers right now for free. Simply head over to www.brockswinson.com to get your free digital download and audiobook. If you find value in the book, please share it with a friend as we’re giving away 100,000 copies this year. It’s based on hundreds of interviews here at Creative Principles.

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!