Screaming into the Hollywood Abyss Noah Evslin and Dan Rutstein

We talk to Emmy-nominated writer and producer Wendy West.
She talks about researching murder, her love of morgues and being the only woman in the room early in her career.
Wendy talks about mentoring young female writers, supporting veterans and what it's like to work in the Dick Wolf world.
She explains her path to success, her love of crossovers and finding out her show is being cancelled by fax.
A fascinating insight into procedural TV by one of the best to have done it.

We talk to Oscar and Emmy award nominee Eddie Schmidt.
He talks about being comedy adjacent, his time in an improv troupe and how he moved into the showrunning part of Hollywood.
We discuss leadership style, the fun of working in comedy and the demeaning comments of mean bosses.
We talk about how to appreciate comedy, the complexities of navigating Hollywood and being able to speak truth to talent.
A fun and insightful discussion about working and succeeding in the comedy part of Hollywood.

In a slightly different style of episode we talk to comedian Ray Ellin.
We discuss how social media has changed comedy, hear some magnificent failure anecdotes from comedy clubs and bars and talk through the process of creating comedy.
Ray talks us through his love of live standup, working in tv and why he made a podcast about Little House on the Prairie.
We also cover cancel culture, Aruba and The Magic Castle.
A fun and fascinating romp through entertainment through a different lens.

We talk to Oscar-nominated writing partners Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasy, 
They talk about their fight to get the Fighter written, battling both the mob and Hollywood, the joy of an Oscar nomination and the slog of the promotional campaign.
They talk about how they savour every moment of red carpets and parties, the importance of never giving up and the frustrations of the arbitration system.
They joke about their fear of TV writing and reveal the secret to Hollywood success - playing football with British people!
A fascinating discussion about the slog of making movies and the joy of watching them make it to the big screen.

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.