The Creativity, Education, and Leadership Podcast with Ben Guest Ben Guest

The script super is going to save your life. - Redd Coltrane
Chirsten Vanderbilt, Redd Coltrane, and Anthony Roberson and I talk our second semester of film school at USC.
You can listen to our first semester conversation here:


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit benbo.substack.com

First of all, I think your superpower is just making things really easy. You already know the blueprint, the strategy, you've got everything there and you just fed that to me in a way that I was easily able to make my book a success.
Doone Roisin is the creator and host of Female Startup Club, a Top Ten Entrepreneurship Podcast and the bestselling author of Your Hype Girl: 51 Female Founders Share Their Most Impactful Learnings, Tactics & Strategies In Business.
I advised Doone in the lead-up to her book launch in March of this year and she has since connected me with several clients. As a result of these experiences I have started a book consulting business: Ben Guest Book Consulting. On my website are the services I offer, my rates, and testimonials, including this from Doone:
I worked with Ben ahead of self-publishing my debut book. He helped me with publishing, marketing and promotion. My book, Your Hype Girl, hit #1 in multiple categories on Amazon including "Women & Business", "Ecommerce and Small Business", as well as hitting the top 100 of all paperback books in my home country of Australia (#55). I did everything Ben taught me and the results were so much more than I had anticipated. We smashed every goal that was set and more. I can't recommend Ben enough!
Everyone has a story to tell. When you’re ready to tell your story please reach out.
In 2022, Doone was named Australian Young Achiever of the Year in the UK and, as a result, met Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace. In this conversation, Doone and I talk:
* The ancillary benefits of publishing a book
* Holding a physical copy of your book for the first time
* Trends Group on Facebook
* Using TikTok to promote your book
* The power of organic word-of-mouth
* Why having a checklist is key
* Identifying your “comparable” author and book
* Ben Guest Book Consultant. Rates here.
* Meeting Prince Charles
VIDEO
TRANSCRIPT
Ben Guest (00:02):
Hi, everyone. This is Ben Guest, and today's conversation is with Doone Roisin. Doone is the creator and host of the podcast Female Startup Club, which is a top 10 podcast in the entrepreneurship category. And I helped Doone with the final stages of publishing and then marketing and promoting her book, Your Hype Girl, which she released in March, and hit number one in a bunch of categories, was the number 55 overall bestselling paperback book in Australia. Doone is Australian, but currently lives in England, and ended up with her being invited to Buckingham Palace to meet Prince Charles.
Ben Guest (00:46):
So in this interview, we talk about all the steps we took to promote her book and the actionable items to make it a number one best seller in multiple categories. And also, kind of as an outgrowth of that project, a few other people have contacted me about helping them with their book launch or even other aspects of writing and editing their book. And so, I'm now launching a book consulting business, and you can find that at benguest.net, where I have all the services I offer, testimonials, my rates, et cetera. And essentially, Doone was my first client. So enjoy our conversation.
Ben Guest (01:29):
Doone, great to see you.
Doone Roisin (01:31):
It's good to see you too, Ben.
Ben Guest (01:33):
So, Your Hype Girl has been out in the world. How successful was your launch?
Doone Roisin (01:39):
Oh my gosh. It has been out in the world since, when did we launch it? March? It's been a while. March, April, May, June, July, August, five months. Wow, that's crazy. So how did it go? I would say it was pretty damn successful. For me personally, I wanted that offline experience to give to my audience, give to my community, and have that kind of thing that's out there physical that I could ship to people and hold. And so, for me success was literally just number one, getting that out in the world and having that there, so obviously, tick.
Doone Roisin (02:15):
I also was thinking about what success was to me, in terms of I wanted to h

Auditions show you a different version of your story…
Katherine Vondy is a Los Angeles-based writer and director working in film, theater, and literature.
She is the recipient of the Davey Foundation Theatre Grant for her play The Fermi Paradox, and The Broken Heart of Gnocchi Bolognese, her award-winning short film, has screened at festivals worldwide.
Her plays have been developed with the Salt Lake Acting Company, The Athena Project, The Blank, Paper Wing Theatre Company, Campfire Theatre Festival, and The Vagrancy (where she currently serves as playwriting group moderator).
Her prose and poetry appears widely in literary journals and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Queen’s Ferry Best Small Fictions, and Best of the Net.
Kat received her BA in English and Music from Amherst College and her MFA in Film and Television Production from USC. Read about her creative adventures on her website and follow her on Twitter here.
In this conversation Kat and I talk:
* Shooting on a Sony PD150 in her first year at USC.
* The value of limitations in filmmaking.
* Thinking through shots.
* Were classmates at USC more collaborative or more competitive?
* The most helpful class at USC…
* Why directors should take an acting class.
* The job of a director is to capture “authentic human performance.”
* Auditions show you a different version of your story…
* The essential components to adapting a story to film.
* The worst thing to do in storytelling is bore the audience.
* The impact of surprise on storytelling.
* The “popcorn scares” in Spielberg’s Jaws.
* Richard Linklater’s Boyhood
* “The taking away of a payoff can also be a payoff.”
* Starting not with story or plot but a moment.
* The value of our unconscious mind.
* Juxtaposing sadness and humor.
* Traumedy.
* Is USC worth the price?


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit benbo.substack.com

Andrés Alvarez, of Box Score Geeks and Nerd Numbers, and I break down Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
We talk:
-The productivity of Rob Williams III, Kevon Looney, and Gary Payton II
-What’s wrong with Draymond Green
-Is Steve Kerr a good coach?
Enjoy!


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit benbo.substack.com

Game 7 of the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals.
Twenty-three seconds left and the Miami Heat trail the Boston Celtics by only two points.
Jimmy Butler, Miami’s star player, gets the rebound and dribbles down court.
Al Horford of the Celtics is backpedaling.
With sixteen seconds left Butler pulls up for the three.
He misses.
Was it the right play?
Dre Alvarez, of Box Score Geeks, and I do a deep dive into the shot that wasn’t.
For more, see Dre’s breakdown of why Butler deserved the inaugural Larry Bird Conference Finals MVP here:


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit benbo.substack.com

As we learn to become collaborators, as we learn to work with each other, it's wise to be vulnerable and share what you're feeling about each project that you're making. This can't be done alone. - Redd Coltrane
So I’ve just finished my first semester of film school at USC.
I was always interested in filmmaking, and made a few documentaries on the side, but I’ve never made filmmaking my primary focus.
Then, when the pandemic happened, like many of us, I reassessed what I was doing and what I wanted to do.
And so, here I am doing my MFA in Film Production at USC :-)
Finishing the first semester I’ve had several conversations with classmates around lessons we learned. There was so much information that would potentially be helpful for future film school students, and people interested in filmmaking. I asked three classmates to join me on the pod and share their wisdom.
My three guests are Chirsten Vanderbilt, Redd Coltrane, and Ant Roberson. We’ve all completed our first semester in Film Production at USC and here is what we have learned along the way.
In this conversation we touch on:
-Trusting your instincts
-How preparation frees you up on set
-Keys to good communication with your crew and classmates
-Setting good habits versus cutting corners
-Addressing potential cultural barriers
-“Now keep in mind I’m an artist and I’m sensitive about my s**t.” - Erykah Badu
-When shooting, check your footage before each new setup
-The power of checklists
-Self-care and setting time limits when editing
-Your subconscious is a super-power
-Storytelling has to come from a real place
-Writing a script while tipsy
-Great art comes from iteration
-Keys to being successful at USC
-How to engage with professors


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit benbo.substack.com