November 20, 2025 • 40 mins
Dan Benamor began his film career as an intern, quickly working his way up to head of development at a small production company. That experience gave him a deep understanding of story and the industry, shaping his perspective on what makes a screenplay stand out: confidence, strong character work, and purposeful storytelling. While he has tried directing, Dan discovered that his true passion lies in writing. He believes the hardest part of the process is in the planning and development stage, where theme, character arcs, and structure are carefully mapped out. Once the blueprint is clear, writing becomes the rewarding part — a process he mastered through developing dozens of scripts and watching them come to life on screen.
That skill set came full circle with Initiation, the indie horror-thriller he co-wrote with his cousin Oren, who directed the film. The story follows strangers forced into a deadly cult ritual, blending genre thrills with deeper meaning about inner strength and survival. Despite being a low-budget production, the film secured distribution through Gravitas Ventures and earned strong reviews, showing that ingenuity and disciplined storytelling can overcome resource limitations. Dan’s journey is proof that with persistence, craft, and a confident voice, independent filmmakers can create work that resonates with both audiences and industry professionals.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bulletproof-screenwriting-podcast--2881148/support.
That skill set came full circle with Initiation, the indie horror-thriller he co-wrote with his cousin Oren, who directed the film. The story follows strangers forced into a deadly cult ritual, blending genre thrills with deeper meaning about inner strength and survival. Despite being a low-budget production, the film secured distribution through Gravitas Ventures and earned strong reviews, showing that ingenuity and disciplined storytelling can overcome resource limitations. Dan’s journey is proof that with persistence, craft, and a confident voice, independent filmmakers can create work that resonates with both audiences and industry professionals.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bulletproof-screenwriting-podcast--2881148/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
You are listening to the IFH podcast Network. For more
amazing filmmaking and screenwriting podcasts, just go to ifahpodcastnetwork dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to the Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast, Episode number four forty six.
Your dream doesn't have an expiration date, Take a deep
breath and try again.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Kat You Whitten broadcasting from a dark, windowless room in
Hollywood when we really should be working on that next draft.
It's the Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast, showing you the craft and
business of screenwriting while teaching you how to make your
screenplay bulletproof. And here's your host, Alex Ferrari.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Welcome, Welcome to another episode of the Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I am your humble host Alex Ferrari. Now.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Today's show is sponsored by Bulletproof Script Coverage.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Now.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Unlike other script coverage services, Bulletproof Script Coverage actually focuses
on the kind of project you are in the goals
of the project you are, so we actually break it
down by three categories micro budget, indie film, market, and
studio film. There's no reason to get coverage from a
reader that's used to reading tempole movies when your movie
is going to be done for one hundred thousand dollars
(01:13):
and we wanted to focus on that. At Bulletproof script Coverage,
our readers have worked with Marvel Studios, CIA, w MEE, NBC, HBO, Disney,
Scott Free, Warner Brothers, The Blacklist, and many many more.
So if you need your screenplay or TV script covered
by professional readers, head on over to covermiscreenplay dot Com.
(01:34):
Enjoy today's episode with guest host Dave Bullis.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
My guest new film Initiation, which he cod wrote. It's
being distributed by Gravitas Ventures. We talk writing, working as
a development executive, and so much more with guest Dan Benimore.
Hey Dan, thanks love for coming on the show.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
My pleasure.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
So Dan, just to get started, you know, since you've
listened to the show before, you know what the first
question is going to be. And that question, Dan is,
you know, how did you get your start in the
film industry?
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Well, I mean, you know, for me, it's I mean,
I guess the real definitive moment was I came out
here to LA and I got an internship with a
production company, and then I was doing Apple about six
months and I pretty much you know, I ended up
getting hired as an assistant and then I got promoted
from there and eventually I became the head of development.
(02:32):
So it was sort of I mean, really, I guess
you broke it down, it would probably be when I
just first got hired from an intern to actually being
an assistant, and then it sort of snowball from there.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Now does that still work in a similar way, you know,
because you know things are always changing and with the
changing face of distribution and everything, is it still that
that that way where you think interns are used as
sort of like that farm system where they can be
brought up within an agency.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
My opinion on it, you know, was that because I
was at a small company where basically, you know, the
principles of the company were right there, like you know,
you're dealing with them every day, and it wasn't you know.
I think that sometimes if you go for an internship,
you could get an internship with somewhere really cool, like
you know, like say, for example, I got an internship
(03:24):
with Lion Skate or something, right, so I'm a really
big company like that, I would just be a guy,
you know, one guy in this massive machine. I think
in a scenario like that, it would bet a little
bit harder to have the trajectory that I ended up
having at a small company because in a smaller company
you go act directly with the principles, They get to
know you, and you know, it's a more it's so
(03:46):
much more personal relationship, and so it's not I don't
think it says when it's a bigger machine, you know,
I think you might have a tougher time having any
sort of you know, upward mobility like that.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Now, So when you went in there was that was
that your goal to be to be hired or did
you maybe have another aspiration, uh, to you know, to
or another goal to maybe work for another company, or
or maybe you know, just goal on your own.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Yeah, I mean I had no particular aspiration. I mean
I showed up here in LA with my buddy from
film school, and we got an apartment in Hollywood and basically,
you know, for the first week we went to the beach.
But then after that I was like, all right, what
are we going to do? So I figured it would
be worthwhile to try to learn, just learn as much
as I could, and so I actually had a couple
(04:32):
I think I had like two or three different internships
at the same time. And I just you know, I
had no real particular goal. I mean, I I've always
my endgame was always to be a writer. But you know,
when I first got to LA, I just figured as
much as I can learn, it's all positive. So I
just kind of showed up and you know, and things
things took the course they took.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yeah, you know, And and you know that that's great
because you know, because I have had friends who have
moved out and uh, you know, the thinks are the
same thing. They're like they always felt guilty about not
being outside because they're like, look, it's a beautiful day out,
the beach is down the street. What the hell are
you doing inside?
Speaker 4 (05:10):
You know? Yeah, yeah, for sure, man. I mean the
longer you're here too, the less you go.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Until until like somebody, like a relative or something comes right,
and then you're like.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah exactly.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Uh So you know this, And since we're talking about
this part of your career, I want to ask, you know,
because some of the people that have been on I
didn't get a chance to ask from this, but what
are some of the skill sets that did you think
that you had at this point that really helped you
stand out? And really help them. Uh, you know, your
bosses and your managers that that they you know, they
they saw you, and they saw your skill set, and
(05:47):
they they wanted to keep you. So do you you
any like any of the skills off hand that that
you think that really helped you, you know, get that promotion.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
You know, it was funny because I started and at
the end, I was in charge of the interns. So
I would, you know, I would kind of manage the interns.
I would, you know, me and other people at the company,
of course, but I think primarily I was part of
my job, so I would kind of see, you know,
you would give some interns, like you give them a script,
(06:17):
and you know, there were times when I was really
busy and I genuinely needed to have like a really
in depth creative discussion about a script, and I didn't
have time to read it. I would give it to
an intern to read, and then I'd get up, you
know and say, hey, do read that a script? What'd
you think? And you really it was very noticeable, and
it's actually interesting. So now a couple of years are
(06:39):
passed since I was at that job, the guys that
were my interns that I could tell had something extra,
they've had continued success, like they've transitioned to other jobs
where they've they you know, some of them would become
produced filmmakers, some of them work at other companies now.
And you know you can tell the guys who basically
had confidence, they had opinion. That's pretty much what he
(07:01):
blows down to. You know, if if I got up
and I would ask him in turn, like hey, when
do you think of that script? And he was just
like yeah, all right, you know, like that that's a
that's not really what you're looking for. You know, you're
looking for somebody who has confident as an opinion and
also is like has a strong opinion. You know, Like
so if I like something and you know the intern
(07:25):
that I'm checking in with him and he didn't like it,
and and I say, well, you know, I thought, you know,
I felt this work and that work, and he kind
of backs off his opinion. I think that is also
another thing that like, your opinion is your opinion, and
it's important, in my opinion, to be strong in your
convictions because once you waffle, he kind of lose credibility,
you know, So stuff like that, I think, and then
(07:48):
also just the basics, right, like just being responsible, like
you're if you're giving a job to do, do it
to the best of your ability, be on time, be
pleasant to deal with. You know. It's that that type
of stuff really important too.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
So would you ever sit down with a lot of
these interns and go over things like this is how
you read a screenplay and these are the things to
look for.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
You know?
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Would you do stuff like that?
Speaker 4 (08:11):
Yeah? Well, I mean when you would first bring them in,
we'd usually try to get a coverage sample to show
that they knew how to read a script basically, and
you know, I mean we we had our own template
and stuff like that, but that you know, typically if
somebody is coming in to be an intern at a
production company, we want them to have some reading experience
(08:32):
because we don't want them starting from asslot the scratch,
I mean, then they have no real place to have
a strong care of opinion. So usually we try to
find somebody who had some sort of background and reading
scripts and maybe they you know, whatever that might be,
and hopefully, you know, start from there.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
So was there ever a you know, a time when
when you you know, you read a screenplay and maybe
you loved it and you wanted to get a feel
for all these interns, and maybe you gave it to
them and there was a point where they said, hey,
you know, hey, boss, we we rooted it like this,
and then and then maybe you said like, hey, yeah,
I loved it actually, and and was therever there was
there ever a time like that?
Speaker 4 (09:11):
Sure, yeah, I mean always, I mean that's but that's why. Yeah,
that's what you need, uh, you know, readers for basically
to kind of check you so you can get a sense,
especially if it's something a little bit out there where
you're like, you know, I think this is great, but
it's pretty pretty weird. You know, you need a lot
of times you need that extra voice to kind of
you know, get a sense of how it's playing. So
(09:33):
often in the situations like that, I would actually have
more than one person read it. I'd have like five
people read it, and then I'd be able to look
at sort of the general response and and you know
compare and see what was consistent and stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Yeah, and that's two Verger takeaways too, is uh, you know,
one have confidence and to have an opinion.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor,
and now back to the show.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
You know, that's very important to mention Dan because I,
you know, just through everyone listening, I you know, I
think that's very important too in the general in the
film industry is that you have to have your confidence
and you have to have that opinion, which you know,
if you're as a director, you need that. As a
writer as you know, you need that point of view
from where to tell your story.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Yeah, that's and that you know, it's it's a funny
thing because it comes back on you in so many
different ways because if you project confidence and it's even
on the page. You know, if you project confidence on
the page, and you project confidence when you then later
go into a development beating or whatever, you can kind
of slay people. Like people want to buy into that confidence. Like,
(10:42):
you know, somebody's sitting down to read script, if that
first couple of pages is written with a really strong
authorial voice, they'll kind of come with you, you know. And
if you, as the writer have a really strong take
on a story and feel really strongly about it and
can back it up and and all that stuff, people
you know kind of want to take that journey with you,
and they want to trust your credibility. As a writer,
So it's so important. Well, I think once you it's
(11:05):
not to say that like, oh you know, don't be
be inflexible, it's not about that, but it just you
got to be confident in what you're doing because if
you're not, and there's no ways, no one ever else
will ever be confident and you you have to be
confident yourself number one, and then other people can basically
trust you. And you know, in our business it's so
tough already that if you don't project that confidence, I
(11:28):
think it makes it way tougher.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
So what are some of the things that you notice,
Like when we were talking about confidence on the page,
you know, what are some of the things that usually
jump out at you and you can usually say like, hey,
you know that writer, he believes he or she believes
in her own her own writing.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean it's I think it's a lot
of different things. I think I think one thing for
sure would be starting out with a storytelling sort of
approach where you're not you're not waiting for us, like
you're the story's going and we're either coming with you
(12:05):
or we're not. But you're not going to hang around
and hold our hand you know, I think that that
is something you'll definitely see in professional scripts, and it's
a very noticeable difference from when you're reading a script
maybe by a more beginning writer. You can tell the
level of confidence in terms of a shorthand of communicating information,
(12:29):
you know, where it's you and it's it's asking a
lot of us as the audience that hey, you you
got to keep up with me kind of thing. And
I think that you when you when you read something
like that, it actually sort of galvanizes you as a
reader because you are suddenly empowered to like figure out
what's going on and and it just makes it a
(12:50):
more dynamic experience. The worst thing you can do is is,
you know, have something where it's just spelling it out
to you, you know, in every way, whether that dialogue
or just the slowness of the presentation of information or
presenting old ideas as if they are new ideas. You know,
and there's there's you know, the audience now is so
(13:11):
savage that it's really you know, there's a lot that
can be done in shorthand, and if you're not using
that shorthand, I think that's where you can kind of
get into a scenario where it doesn't come across so
the same level of confidence on the page.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Yeah, I do agree. The audience is very savvy now.
I mean, you know, sometimes I'm watching movies and I see,
you know, cliches and and I'm always thinking to myself,
you know, if they I wonder if if they're writer,
the director, whoever it was. I'm We're always wondering, you know,
why didn't they try something else? You know what I mean?
Because you know, now, Dan, what I do with the movies.
(13:46):
I'm always dissecting them in my head, not not even
just you know, a piece of paper, but in my head,
I'm always thinking to myself, you know, is this a setup?
Is this is you know, what would the payoff be?
Speaker 4 (13:57):
You know?
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Uh, you know, I wonder what the inside the incident
is going to be and when it finally comes there,
you know you know what I mean. I mean, do
you do the same thing? Do you said? You know
when you watch movies? Now, are you just dissecting them
and and sort rumors, trying to getting ahead of the
story to see if you could, you know, predict what
the writer was thinking.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Yeah, I mean I'm pretty much ruined as an audience
member at this point. I mean, I remember, I remember
I used to when I was when I was in college.
I would go my buddy and we would sneak, you know,
we would both see one movie and then sneak around
the theater and we would do that for like twelve hours,
and we would see every movie that was in theater.
And I can actually should and watched literally, I watched
(14:31):
literally anything. But now you know, I'm such a that's
an awful audience member. I'll find something, you know, like
you quick something new on netflick two minutes if there's
stuff in there that I just I'm watching it and
I'm just like, ah, man, you know, I'll turn off,
Like I'm I'd become such a terrifable audience member exactly
because of what you're talking about, because we were in
(14:53):
it so much that it's like you stop consuming it
kind of as like a regular consumer. You become a
lot more sort of like hypocritical when you're when you're
watching stuf because they're always thinking about the design of
it and and things like that.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Yeah, I know what you mean, because sometimes you know,
I watch movies, right even if you're a trailer now
and uh, I'll say, let me guess what happens in
this movie. And sometimes, you know, I'll stay out in
front of my friends and they're like, how the hell
do you would you get that from seeing this? And
I'm just like, because I just you know what I mean,
you see that stuff, you see those points, you know
what I mean, Like there was you know, Okay, well,
(15:32):
this is obviously last part of the movie. I know
this sounds a little bit redundant, but the first time
I ever had not the first time, but the most
time it sticks out in my mind was when Paul
Blart malcov came out and I saw the trailer and
a friend of mine went to always screening of it
and I told him exactly what I think happens in
the beat base based on the trailer, and he goes, wow,
(15:52):
you're really good at this. And I know I now,
granted obviously we don't go see Paul Blart Malkoff for
the writing, but but you know that's I was just
bring that up as a point of reference.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Yeah, I mean in general, you know that goes back
to the authorial conference thing, right, It's like, but soon
when you're starting the story, the audience is ahead of
you in the same way of what you're talking about.
Like if you set it up and they're they are
going to be predicting a certain storyline. So you the creator,
you got to kind of know that, and you're sort
(16:22):
of knowing that you have to give them something that's
at least a little bit different, because otherwise it's going
to be exactly like what you're talking about. The audience
is able to predict it like beat by beat, then
you're screwed. I mean, that's really you know, then that's
a really tough it's a tough place to get away
from if you're in that scenario. So you got to
(16:43):
figure some sort of wrinkle that makes it a little
bit different.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Yeah, very true. And you know, I actually, you know,
just as we talk about all this writing and everything else,
I want to, you know, get get into your writing.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
You know.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
So did you always you know, have the inclamation that
you wanted to be a writer director?
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Well, no, so I have. I've directed one movie and
some shorts, and then you know, for me, in the
experience of directing my movie, which is called The Trade,
pretty much told me that I would prefer to just
be the writer, which you know, I enjoyed it, but
it's just so all consuming. So I give a lot
of credit to my cousin in Orange, who directed our
(17:23):
movie Initiation. It's really an immersive thing that she kind
of just you give up. You got to put a
lot of yourself into it. So for me, I prefer
being the writer. I mean, the experience that we had
making this film, it's kind of like exactly what I
love about the being of the writer is that I
was able to come in and contribute to the story
(17:45):
and then they went off and made the movie and
I watched the movie. I mean that's you know, that's
like so that's when it's cool being a writer, because
it's literally like you wrote something on a piece of
paper and then you get to see that it exists,
and you know, it's pretty pretty neat.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Yeah, very true, you know, because I you know, I
looked dry MDB. I did see you have the short
then you you did direct Portrade, and you know, I
wanted to, you know, just ask you know, what was
the biggest difference that you found when you when you
had to direct. I mean, was there any like, you know,
challenges that you weren't anticipating or you know, did you
just say, you know what, I prefer to be a writer.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
I mean, I think that when you're gonna direct, I
mean I very much. I love working with the actors.
I think working with actors is so fun. And you know,
if I ever end up directing again, it will be
because of that. The part that I felt, you know,
and you kind of have to be all in or
not in at all. For me, that was the visual authentic.
I had a really great uh cinematographer on my film Betrayed,
(18:47):
and you know, he was really good about like basically
checking me and being like, hey, that's not gonna look good.
Let's do it like this. You know, when you're when
you're promarier writer, you don't necessarily think in that and
visual in the way that a director can to become
the same tools. You know, if you're if you're someone
who's confident directing stuff and your aspiration is absolutely to direct,
(19:10):
then you're gonna be doing the same study that you
and I do for a writing right where we we
know it so in and out and we know all
the tools and tricks and things like that. I think
that you know, uh, and obviously you and you want
you lean on your sematographer as a director, of course,
but I just felt like for me, I enjoy sort
(19:31):
of trying to master this one facet of it as
opposed to like trying to I felt like it would
be kind of a jack of all trade situation if
I tried to do directing thing. As much as I
like it, I don't. I don't have the same you know,
energy with it as I do with the writing.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Yeah, I you know, when when I I haven't directed
anything for like five years.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor
and now back to the show.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
But you know, I find that it's not because I
don't want to. It's just because I've learned Dan that
the writing has to be not good, but great, you
know what I mean. Before you're going to do any projects.
I've learned that it has to be you have to
like you yourself whoever, you know, for everyone listening to this.
If you're writing something, you and yourself have to get
(20:25):
so excited about it, you're like, how the hell is
this not a movie made? Or Freddie if Nook, you
know what I mean, And you have to be so
And that's something that I've learned. So what I've I've
been doing. Is I took one step forward to take two.
I'm sorry, I took one step back to take two
steps forward. And basically what I mean by that is
I just wanted to make sure that I got better
at things. And during this whole five year period, I've
(20:46):
actually produced stuff. I've actually had a graphic novel get made,
you know, stuff like that. And but but it's really,
you know, it comes back to, you know, making sure
that writing is phenomenal and you when you when you
talk about writing, you know, I can you know, I
can hear you get excited about it in your voice,
and that's good exactly. You need that, right, So I
(21:07):
wanted to ask you, Dan, when whenever you're writing, you
know what I mean, like, is there any things that
you keep in mind to you know, make sure that
you're always sort of going forward if you know what
I mean.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Yeah, there's a million things. I mean. That's the part
that kind of it kind of sucks about the more
you learn about it, right because I mean when when
when I started, you know, you would it was a
little bit more free because you were just like, yeah, man,
you know, it's once you learn so much about it,
then there's so many different things that you got to
be thinking about, and so it actually makes you know
(21:41):
once you actually get on the page, I'm good. But
the planning, the planning stage, you know, there's a lot
that you have to be thinking about, and it helps
to just do it a million times. You know, I'm
very grateful for the time that I was a development
executive because I basically you know develop, uh, I mean
dozens of scripts and we made a bunch of the
(22:04):
movie too, so I really got to see the whole
process many times. And so that that helps because you
sort of get almost like a muscle memory for it.
But yeah, you've got so much stuff you have to
think about. You got you know, theme and character and
dialogue and arc and structure and mood, and it's, uh, yeah,
there's a lot to kind of manage.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Yeah, you know, one thing I've learned, and you know,
like you said, you the more you learn, the more,
uh you know, the more the more you do, the
more you learn, the more you learn, you know, you
realize how complex this gets. And you know, I've read
every screenwriting book on the market. I literally you know,
you can't see it because it's the podcast, but I
have every screenwriting book out there, and I've read it
from cover to cover. H you know, I've done what
(22:49):
everybody else does. You start with screenplay by Sidfield and
you work up to save the Cat. Then you get
story by the Key, you know, any sort of and
then you sort of branch off from there if you
read the Three Works, because you know, everyone sort of
talks about it. But one thing I've learned over the
years is that everything comes back to character, you know
what I mean, like everything, you know, when we talk
(23:10):
about scenes, when we talk about favorite parts of a movie,
when we talk about this or that, it always stems
from a character.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
I mean, it's very true. Yeah, I mean I would
always say when we would you know, when I was
a I'm executive and we try to put a movie together,
it was pretty in every ready we made that actually
ended up getting made, there was always a moment where
we would attack somebody that was meaningful, whether that was
an actor or director or whatever, and that person when
(23:40):
they would come in, it wasn't like they said, you
know why I'm doing this movie because I love the
you know the midpoint, Like no nobody ever said that.
It was always about whatever the emotion was of it
or whatever the character thing was that we were doing.
That was what they would key in on and say, man,
you know, I really meant something to me and I
(24:01):
got company out of that. So yeah, nobody, it's it's
all you know, the plot is informed by the character,
and then they have to they have to not only
coke this, but actually sort of be intrinsic to each other.
Like the the best movies are movies where the plot
has to happen because of the character. Like those two.
They can't exist out plot of each other.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Yeah, you know, it's very true. And I think the
mistake a lot of writers make and and I've made
this mistake, you know, more times than I can count, is,
you know, developing a plot and trying to plunk characters
insaid plot, if you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
Yeah, And I think.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
When when you yeah, when you try to reverse that,
when you try to reverse engineer or something like that,
I think that's where you sort of get stuck. Yeah,
so you know, when you know your new movie initiation, uh,
it's it's being you know, distributed by Gravitas Ventures. Congratulations,
by the way, that's freaking huge.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
Yeah. No, we're we're we're very excited, you know, and
we're very proud of the film.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Yeah, I mean that that is, you know, absolutely phenomenal.
And I wanted to ask, you know, where, so where
did your idea come from for the film? You know,
did was this an idea that came to you or
was this just something that you know that that you've
been sort of working on for years?
Speaker 4 (25:18):
So this this is actually something that you know, my
cousin Orn he had the initial idea. He had a script,
and he basically, you know, we being cousins, we both
live in LA I would always come hang with him,
and you know, he mentioned he was working on this
and at one point he you know, he I talked
about working on it together. And so basically I came
(25:38):
in and I co wrote it. I I you know,
we we ended up writing, revising that script and and
uh working on it together through to the end. And
and he directed the film and edited it and produced it.
And so I this was a situation where basically I
came in where there was already a product that existed,
(25:58):
and I just gave my sort of creative energy to it.
And I think that we both kind of compliment to
each other in that process, and you know that was
that was the process played out on this one.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
So for those for those listening who aren't familiar with
the film, could you give us a brief exclamation about
the film then?
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Yeah. So it's basically a group of strangers are kidnapped
and they're taken to this kind of my serious house
and they basically come to realize that they've been kidnapped
to take place in an initiation ritual for a cult.
And to be initiated into this cult, you have to
fight somebody to the death. And so these people that
(26:38):
are complete strangers to each other, they're just random people
and they're thrown into this insane situation and they have
to try to figure out a way to survive. And
that's what the movie is about.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Very cool, and it's actually cool that it's coming out
right around this time, you know, this full Halloween time,
you know what I mean. It sounds like the movie
that's wrapped out Alleyway.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's well, what's what's been
cool about it is that it sort of it towes
the line between action and horror. So, you know, we've
been we've been really happy to see that a lot
of horror websites have reviewed the film and given us
nice notices because I think that it it's something that's
a pun movie for people that like horror movies, but
it's also a fun movie for you know, an action
(27:20):
fan thriller type of thing.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Yeah, that is very cool. And you know because I mean,
whenever you can see the horror you know, horror sites,
whenever they can get excited about something, you know, it's
always awesome because like we were talking about, with all
the films you know that we've seen and you know,
being able to sort of you know, spot the story.
You know, they've seen ton of horror films, so you know,
when you can get them on board of something, you
(27:45):
know what I mean, it's like, okay, great, now you
got something you know it could have if they like it.
I mean, what what's the general public going to think?
You know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (27:52):
Right? Yeah, nol, And we've been I mean we've you know,
we have shown the film to a lot of people
at this point, and you know enough people where it's
it's a funny thing your relationship with your own work, right,
I mean, anytime you show us something to somebody that
knows you. You're kind of like, well, you know, they
might they might just tell me to be nice. So
they thought, like, but we we've shown it to so
(28:13):
many people, and then obviously I think we have you know,
on IMDb there's some some reviews linked and uh and
you know, Bloody discussed and gave us my review. And
we know these people that have no reason to tell
out one way or the other. Right, So when when
somebody that has no relationship to you tells you they
got something out of your work, then that that's uh,
(28:34):
that's big because then you figure, Okay, well maybe you know,
maybe it does work, you know, And and this is
a sort of more objective for that.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
Yeah, exactly. And you know, I see that on the
IMDb page. It's up on Amazon Video right now. Is
there is there any other places that that people could
find the movie.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
Yeah, it's all over. It's on It's on iTunes, on Amazon,
It's on PlayStation, it's on it's on a lot of
cable on demand providers. I was in I was home
in Baltimore, and I I saw it on my parents,
you know, cable at their house. It's on Blue Doo,
It's it's on the majority of video on demand providers.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
And I will link to that everyone in the show notes.
I will make sure to links all those places that
you can check out the initiation. Uh, you know, I
wanted to ask, you know, also about the initiation. You know, Dan,
what's what's one thing you wanted you able to take
away from the film? I mean, did you I mean,
you know, did you want to have people leave going
you know, damn that was intense? Or was there any
other sort of theme that you wanted people to walk
(29:41):
away from that walk away from?
Speaker 4 (29:43):
A friend of mine just watched it, and that was
pretty much what he emailed me, he said, and that
was intent the the you know what was cool about
it for me was that I think we succeeded. It's
something that I'm always trying to do, which is aked
with the genre movie and basically invest it with a
real meaning.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor
and now back to the show.
Speaker 4 (30:12):
Meaning that it's not just kind of an empty genre
exercise that's actually it has a message and a point
to it that is emotional, that is you know, I mean,
this will be basically about the idea that no matter
what situation, you're kind of put into if you have
this sort of inner strength to defeat it, then no
one there's nothing anyone can do to you. And you know,
(30:35):
we sort of explore that in a lot of different
ways than the film, but it was something that, you know,
meant something to me, and I think that it gives
the film a weight that you know, if we sort
of just relied on all the genre stuff, it wouldn't
have that same weight to it. So that that was
the thing to me that I was most satisfied with.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
You know, just as a side note, you know, a
screenwriting professor once told me a great piece of scream
writing advice, and that was when you're sitting down to
you know, brainstorm a concept or whatever for for your movie.
He said, this is a question you asked yourself, what
do you want audiences to leave? What do you want
audiences when they leave to take away from this movie?
(31:16):
Do you want them to say, oh my god, that
was hilarious? We know, And he's like that helps guide
you throughout the process when you're making the movie.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
Yeah, for sure. I mean, you know you got to
you gotta do it for a reason. There's just too much.
There's too much stuff out there, all this it tasts
too long, it's too much of a pain in the
ass if you're not doing it out of some strong
impulse of And it doesn't necessarily always have to be heavy,
you know. I mean, we're like right now we my
cousin and I are talking about doing another film together,
(31:45):
and we're we're talking about doing one. It's a little
bit more sort of light at least in the tone.
And you know that that can be fine too, But
it's just whatever that impulse is that you have that
makes it interesting and exciting for you. You know, you
got to really feel strongly about that and kind of
and and key on that throughout the whole thing, you know,
(32:06):
because that's what you want the person who watches it
to have that thing feeling.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Yeah, And that's exactly right. And uh, you know, I
I think, you know, when we can finally convey that,
you know what I mean, Like I think, uh, you're like,
for instance, Quentin Tarantino, whenever he writes I'm thinking, that's
the same thing that people pull away from, is the
same mood he's in, you know what I mean, Particularly like,
heyful late, I have I have a you know, that's
sort of like a it was the same, but it
was different for him. And I sort of think that,
(32:34):
you know, you could sort of pull away what he's
what you know, what he puts into the script, if
you know what I mean. And and you know, I
wanted to ask, you know, Dan, as we know we
were talking about your your your future projects. I wanted
just to ask, you know, what does a typical writing
day for you look like?
Speaker 4 (32:51):
Man if I can just get some time, it's really
time is the most important thing. I mean, I I'm
not for me. It's not like I'll write anywhere. I'll
write it at any time. I don't need to like,
you know, consult the muse or anything like. I can
just down it and bank some stuff out. But I
think that I have a tough time. I'm sort of
(33:14):
an impatient person, which I think is probably a pretty
important part of any fixed out that I have had
or will have is down you know. I'm just I'm
not patient to like just let things come as they may.
Like I want to get stuff done, and you know,
kind of that's always my ethos. So when I the
(33:34):
planning part of it, that's the part that takes forever,
like I'll do research, you know, on initiation. I did
research into military stuff on other projects I've written, you know,
I'll read like three books about it. But once it's
time to write and I actually have figured out the story,
I'm so I have such a burning desire to just
get it out of me and get it onto the page.
(33:55):
It's almost to the point where like I feel like
I'm going to lose it if I don't that it
comes very fast, you know, and I almost, I almost
will consciously try to set aside, you know, just a
couple of days or whatever where I know it's going
to just be kind of flowing out of me and
uh and just be able to kind of bang pages out,
because you know, that's I don't. I don't, Yeah, I mean,
(34:16):
it's just a difference in process. Right for me, The
real cracking of the story comes in the planning. The
actual writing is just putting the planning on a piece
of paper. So the writing itself is the fun part.
The hard part of the is coming up with the
actual story.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
Yes, I could not agree more. That's something that I
found too, is that, you know, uh, because once I
have an outline or a treatment or anything, you know,
what I mean, like any even if it's a piece
of paper with some ideas, you know, scribble down on
it that looks like the journal from seven you know,
just something, I know where I'm going, you know what
I mean? And you know the biggest part that was
(34:53):
always you know where the plot is going. But then
I've realized always comes back to where the characters start,
you know what I mean. So you know when the
when the when the script starts is where the movie starts.
So then where do we find our characters when the
script starts?
Speaker 4 (35:06):
You know, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (35:07):
Or do they have something? Do they not have something?
You know, what's their desire?
Speaker 4 (35:11):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (35:11):
You know, what's what's their intention? With's their obstacle?
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (35:16):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
So Dan, I mean look going down on average, how often,
I mean, how many hours a day do you write?
I mean, is it like sometimes like a thirty minutes,
then sometimes maybe it's like two hours.
Speaker 4 (35:28):
I think that on a day when I actually can
really you know why, I have nothing going, I can
really just hit and focus on writing, I'll usually I
think after like three or four hours, you got to
stop and I've done it. I've I've had times were
off Fitt, and I'll write for like, you know, I'll
write the whole day. But I think, as a general rule,
(35:50):
unless it's something where I've gone insane or I have
to you know, I think that three or four hours
of a focus writing, after that it t has to
become diminishing return just your brain kind of. It takes
a certain sort of brain muscle, I think to come
up with this stuff, and after a while you start
like you don't have that theme because you know, I mean,
(36:11):
it's sort of what we were talking about before, Like
each scene that you write, you really got to sit
and think about it and think about like, Okay, you know,
here's the regular version of this scene. Why is this
scene going to be somewhat cooler than the regular version?
Like how can I make it different? How can I
make a different not just in what happens, but in
how the characters interact with each other, with the visual
(36:33):
thing that I'm doing in this scene, with the reversal
in this scene. So it's so much like mental effort
to go into it that I think after three or
four hours I got to stop. So for me, a
good three or four hours of writing and then maybe
some research. You know, in the afternoon or a lot
of prep for the next day, you know, like okay
and tomorrow. I know, I got to write these thenes
just kind of what I'm thinking, and I at least
(36:53):
have a little bit of a roadmap of the actual
precise execution, and then you can kind of flow into
the next day.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
Yeah, that's kind of like which I think Stephen King
maybe said that. He said basically, he he ends on
a high note that way, and the next thing he
comes in, he knows exactly where he's gonna go, and
he keeps that flow going on every day.
Speaker 4 (37:13):
Yeah. I tend to do that as well.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
Great mindset go alike. Uh, you know, and that and
that's great advice by the way. So you know, Dan,
in closing, you know, is there maybe anything that we
can talk about that you wanted to or any sort
of parting thoughts you want to want to add to
this conversation.
Speaker 4 (37:33):
No, I mean, you know, I think the thing that's
cool to me about this project specifically, and I think
is relevant to what we're talking about and probably to
a lot of people listen to your podcast to you know,
this is something that any of us could do. You
could you you could have made this movie. You know,
anybody listening to this could have made this movie. It's
a movie that we made for a low budget. But
(37:53):
you know, one of the reasons that it's been so
cool getting some nice reviews from some herts cycles that
they basically said, yeah, it's a low budget movie, but
the sort of ingenuity and the effort that went into
it and that that made it it didn't. It doesn't
feel a little budge it, you know, like it's not
It's the point being that there's nothing stopping any of us.
(38:14):
I'm just going to make in a movie, and not
just a movie that we sort of is enabled gaming
for our own edification, but a movie that anybody can
sit down and watch and enjoy at a real movie,
you know, even if you have to do it for
a low budget. You know, and I think that this
is sort of to me a good case study of
that that we actually went made this movie, got it
(38:35):
distributed by a very legitimate distributor. It's out everywhere, you know,
and you know, we we've got a lot of nice
responses to the movie. So we do think that the
movie works, and you know, we we just look forward
to hopefully having people discovered, you know, and and maybe
we can go make another one.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
You know, and that's that's phenomenal and uh, you know, honestly, Dan,
I'm gonna make sure check out the The initiat I
will everyone, I will link that in the show notes. Dan,
where can we find you out online?
Speaker 4 (39:06):
I mean, you know, just stuck with the movie. I'm
not I'm like the worst person ever for all this.
I don't have a Twitter or I'm not a social
media dude. But The Initiation movie we have a website
with Facebook page, and obviously it's on iTunes, it's on Amazon,
it's all these other platforms.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Dan, I want to say thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
For coming on my pleasure, good conversation, Oh my pleasure, sir,
Take care, take care anyway, I want.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
To thank Dave so much for doing such a great
job on this episode. If you want to get links
to anything we spoke about in this episode, head over
to the show notes at Bulletproof Screenwriting dot tv for it. Slash,
thank you so much for listening to guys. As always,
keep on writing no matter what. I'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Thanks for listening to the Bulletproof Screenwriting podcast at Bulletproof screenwriting,
dot tv,
You are listening to the IFH podcast Network. For more
amazing filmmaking and screenwriting podcasts, just go to ifahpodcastnetwork dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to the Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast, Episode number four forty six.
Your dream doesn't have an expiration date, Take a deep
breath and try again.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Kat You Whitten broadcasting from a dark, windowless room in
Hollywood when we really should be working on that next draft.
It's the Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast, showing you the craft and
business of screenwriting while teaching you how to make your
screenplay bulletproof. And here's your host, Alex Ferrari.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Welcome, Welcome to another episode of the Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I am your humble host Alex Ferrari. Now.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Today's show is sponsored by Bulletproof Script Coverage.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Now.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Unlike other script coverage services, Bulletproof Script Coverage actually focuses
on the kind of project you are in the goals
of the project you are, so we actually break it
down by three categories micro budget, indie film, market, and
studio film. There's no reason to get coverage from a
reader that's used to reading tempole movies when your movie
is going to be done for one hundred thousand dollars
(01:13):
and we wanted to focus on that. At Bulletproof script Coverage,
our readers have worked with Marvel Studios, CIA, w MEE, NBC, HBO, Disney,
Scott Free, Warner Brothers, The Blacklist, and many many more.
So if you need your screenplay or TV script covered
by professional readers, head on over to covermiscreenplay dot Com.
(01:34):
Enjoy today's episode with guest host Dave Bullis.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
My guest new film Initiation, which he cod wrote. It's
being distributed by Gravitas Ventures. We talk writing, working as
a development executive, and so much more with guest Dan Benimore.
Hey Dan, thanks love for coming on the show.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
My pleasure.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
So Dan, just to get started, you know, since you've
listened to the show before, you know what the first
question is going to be. And that question, Dan is,
you know, how did you get your start in the
film industry?
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Well, I mean, you know, for me, it's I mean,
I guess the real definitive moment was I came out
here to LA and I got an internship with a
production company, and then I was doing Apple about six
months and I pretty much you know, I ended up
getting hired as an assistant and then I got promoted
from there and eventually I became the head of development.
(02:32):
So it was sort of I mean, really, I guess
you broke it down, it would probably be when I
just first got hired from an intern to actually being
an assistant, and then it sort of snowball from there.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Now does that still work in a similar way, you know,
because you know things are always changing and with the
changing face of distribution and everything, is it still that
that that way where you think interns are used as
sort of like that farm system where they can be
brought up within an agency.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
My opinion on it, you know, was that because I
was at a small company where basically, you know, the
principles of the company were right there, like you know,
you're dealing with them every day, and it wasn't you know.
I think that sometimes if you go for an internship,
you could get an internship with somewhere really cool, like
you know, like say, for example, I got an internship
(03:24):
with Lion Skate or something, right, so I'm a really
big company like that, I would just be a guy,
you know, one guy in this massive machine. I think
in a scenario like that, it would bet a little
bit harder to have the trajectory that I ended up
having at a small company because in a smaller company
you go act directly with the principles, They get to
know you, and you know, it's a more it's so
(03:46):
much more personal relationship, and so it's not I don't
think it says when it's a bigger machine, you know,
I think you might have a tougher time having any
sort of you know, upward mobility like that.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Now, So when you went in there was that was
that your goal to be to be hired or did
you maybe have another aspiration, uh, to you know, to
or another goal to maybe work for another company, or
or maybe you know, just goal on your own.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Yeah, I mean I had no particular aspiration. I mean
I showed up here in LA with my buddy from
film school, and we got an apartment in Hollywood and basically,
you know, for the first week we went to the beach.
But then after that I was like, all right, what
are we going to do? So I figured it would
be worthwhile to try to learn, just learn as much
as I could, and so I actually had a couple
(04:32):
I think I had like two or three different internships
at the same time. And I just you know, I
had no real particular goal. I mean, I I've always
my endgame was always to be a writer. But you know,
when I first got to LA, I just figured as
much as I can learn, it's all positive. So I
just kind of showed up and you know, and things
things took the course they took.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yeah, you know, And and you know that that's great
because you know, because I have had friends who have
moved out and uh, you know, the thinks are the
same thing. They're like they always felt guilty about not
being outside because they're like, look, it's a beautiful day out,
the beach is down the street. What the hell are
you doing inside?
Speaker 4 (05:10):
You know? Yeah, yeah, for sure, man. I mean the
longer you're here too, the less you go.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Until until like somebody, like a relative or something comes right,
and then you're like.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah exactly.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Uh So you know this, And since we're talking about
this part of your career, I want to ask, you know,
because some of the people that have been on I
didn't get a chance to ask from this, but what
are some of the skill sets that did you think
that you had at this point that really helped you
stand out? And really help them. Uh, you know, your
bosses and your managers that that they you know, they
they saw you, and they saw your skill set, and
(05:47):
they they wanted to keep you. So do you you
any like any of the skills off hand that that
you think that really helped you, you know, get that promotion.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
You know, it was funny because I started and at
the end, I was in charge of the interns. So
I would, you know, I would kind of manage the interns.
I would, you know, me and other people at the company,
of course, but I think primarily I was part of
my job, so I would kind of see, you know,
you would give some interns, like you give them a script,
(06:17):
and you know, there were times when I was really
busy and I genuinely needed to have like a really
in depth creative discussion about a script, and I didn't
have time to read it. I would give it to
an intern to read, and then I'd get up, you
know and say, hey, do read that a script? What'd
you think? And you really it was very noticeable, and
it's actually interesting. So now a couple of years are
(06:39):
passed since I was at that job, the guys that
were my interns that I could tell had something extra,
they've had continued success, like they've transitioned to other jobs
where they've they you know, some of them would become
produced filmmakers, some of them work at other companies now.
And you know you can tell the guys who basically
had confidence, they had opinion. That's pretty much what he
(07:01):
blows down to. You know, if if I got up
and I would ask him in turn, like hey, when
do you think of that script? And he was just
like yeah, all right, you know, like that that's a
that's not really what you're looking for. You know, you're
looking for somebody who has confident as an opinion and
also is like has a strong opinion. You know, Like
so if I like something and you know the intern
(07:25):
that I'm checking in with him and he didn't like it,
and and I say, well, you know, I thought, you know,
I felt this work and that work, and he kind
of backs off his opinion. I think that is also
another thing that like, your opinion is your opinion, and
it's important, in my opinion, to be strong in your
convictions because once you waffle, he kind of lose credibility,
you know, So stuff like that, I think, and then
(07:48):
also just the basics, right, like just being responsible, like
you're if you're giving a job to do, do it
to the best of your ability, be on time, be
pleasant to deal with. You know. It's that that type
of stuff really important too.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
So would you ever sit down with a lot of
these interns and go over things like this is how
you read a screenplay and these are the things to
look for.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
You know?
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Would you do stuff like that?
Speaker 4 (08:11):
Yeah? Well, I mean when you would first bring them in,
we'd usually try to get a coverage sample to show
that they knew how to read a script basically, and
you know, I mean we we had our own template
and stuff like that, but that you know, typically if
somebody is coming in to be an intern at a
production company, we want them to have some reading experience
(08:32):
because we don't want them starting from asslot the scratch,
I mean, then they have no real place to have
a strong care of opinion. So usually we try to
find somebody who had some sort of background and reading
scripts and maybe they you know, whatever that might be,
and hopefully, you know, start from there.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
So was there ever a you know, a time when
when you you know, you read a screenplay and maybe
you loved it and you wanted to get a feel
for all these interns, and maybe you gave it to
them and there was a point where they said, hey,
you know, hey, boss, we we rooted it like this,
and then and then maybe you said like, hey, yeah,
I loved it actually, and and was therever there was
there ever a time like that?
Speaker 4 (09:11):
Sure, yeah, I mean always, I mean that's but that's why. Yeah,
that's what you need, uh, you know, readers for basically
to kind of check you so you can get a sense,
especially if it's something a little bit out there where
you're like, you know, I think this is great, but
it's pretty pretty weird. You know, you need a lot
of times you need that extra voice to kind of
you know, get a sense of how it's playing. So
(09:33):
often in the situations like that, I would actually have
more than one person read it. I'd have like five
people read it, and then I'd be able to look
at sort of the general response and and you know
compare and see what was consistent and stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Yeah, and that's two Verger takeaways too, is uh, you know,
one have confidence and to have an opinion.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor,
and now back to the show.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
You know, that's very important to mention Dan because I,
you know, just through everyone listening, I you know, I
think that's very important too in the general in the
film industry is that you have to have your confidence
and you have to have that opinion, which you know,
if you're as a director, you need that. As a
writer as you know, you need that point of view
from where to tell your story.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Yeah, that's and that you know, it's it's a funny
thing because it comes back on you in so many
different ways because if you project confidence and it's even
on the page. You know, if you project confidence on
the page, and you project confidence when you then later
go into a development beating or whatever, you can kind
of slay people. Like people want to buy into that confidence. Like,
(10:42):
you know, somebody's sitting down to read script, if that
first couple of pages is written with a really strong
authorial voice, they'll kind of come with you, you know. And
if you, as the writer have a really strong take
on a story and feel really strongly about it and
can back it up and and all that stuff, people
you know kind of want to take that journey with you,
and they want to trust your credibility. As a writer,
So it's so important. Well, I think once you it's
(11:05):
not to say that like, oh you know, don't be
be inflexible, it's not about that, but it just you
got to be confident in what you're doing because if
you're not, and there's no ways, no one ever else
will ever be confident and you you have to be
confident yourself number one, and then other people can basically
trust you. And you know, in our business it's so
tough already that if you don't project that confidence, I
(11:28):
think it makes it way tougher.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
So what are some of the things that you notice,
Like when we were talking about confidence on the page,
you know, what are some of the things that usually
jump out at you and you can usually say like, hey,
you know that writer, he believes he or she believes
in her own her own writing.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean it's I think it's a lot
of different things. I think I think one thing for
sure would be starting out with a storytelling sort of
approach where you're not you're not waiting for us, like
you're the story's going and we're either coming with you
(12:05):
or we're not. But you're not going to hang around
and hold our hand you know, I think that that
is something you'll definitely see in professional scripts, and it's
a very noticeable difference from when you're reading a script
maybe by a more beginning writer. You can tell the
level of confidence in terms of a shorthand of communicating information,
(12:29):
you know, where it's you and it's it's asking a
lot of us as the audience that hey, you you
got to keep up with me kind of thing. And
I think that you when you when you read something
like that, it actually sort of galvanizes you as a
reader because you are suddenly empowered to like figure out
what's going on and and it just makes it a
(12:50):
more dynamic experience. The worst thing you can do is is,
you know, have something where it's just spelling it out
to you, you know, in every way, whether that dialogue
or just the slowness of the presentation of information or
presenting old ideas as if they are new ideas. You know,
and there's there's you know, the audience now is so
(13:11):
savage that it's really you know, there's a lot that
can be done in shorthand, and if you're not using
that shorthand, I think that's where you can kind of
get into a scenario where it doesn't come across so
the same level of confidence on the page.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Yeah, I do agree. The audience is very savvy now.
I mean, you know, sometimes I'm watching movies and I see,
you know, cliches and and I'm always thinking to myself,
you know, if they I wonder if if they're writer,
the director, whoever it was. I'm We're always wondering, you know,
why didn't they try something else? You know what I mean?
Because you know, now, Dan, what I do with the movies.
(13:46):
I'm always dissecting them in my head, not not even
just you know, a piece of paper, but in my head,
I'm always thinking to myself, you know, is this a setup?
Is this is you know, what would the payoff be?
Speaker 4 (13:57):
You know?
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Uh, you know, I wonder what the inside the incident
is going to be and when it finally comes there,
you know you know what I mean. I mean, do
you do the same thing? Do you said? You know
when you watch movies? Now, are you just dissecting them
and and sort rumors, trying to getting ahead of the
story to see if you could, you know, predict what
the writer was thinking.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Yeah, I mean I'm pretty much ruined as an audience
member at this point. I mean, I remember, I remember
I used to when I was when I was in college.
I would go my buddy and we would sneak, you know,
we would both see one movie and then sneak around
the theater and we would do that for like twelve hours,
and we would see every movie that was in theater.
And I can actually should and watched literally, I watched
(14:31):
literally anything. But now you know, I'm such a that's
an awful audience member. I'll find something, you know, like
you quick something new on netflick two minutes if there's
stuff in there that I just I'm watching it and
I'm just like, ah, man, you know, I'll turn off,
Like I'm I'd become such a terrifable audience member exactly
because of what you're talking about, because we were in
(14:53):
it so much that it's like you stop consuming it
kind of as like a regular consumer. You become a
lot more sort of like hypocritical when you're when you're
watching stuf because they're always thinking about the design of
it and and things like that.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Yeah, I know what you mean, because sometimes you know,
I watch movies, right even if you're a trailer now
and uh, I'll say, let me guess what happens in
this movie. And sometimes, you know, I'll stay out in
front of my friends and they're like, how the hell
do you would you get that from seeing this? And
I'm just like, because I just you know what I mean,
you see that stuff, you see those points, you know
what I mean, Like there was you know, Okay, well,
(15:32):
this is obviously last part of the movie. I know
this sounds a little bit redundant, but the first time
I ever had not the first time, but the most
time it sticks out in my mind was when Paul
Blart malcov came out and I saw the trailer and
a friend of mine went to always screening of it
and I told him exactly what I think happens in
the beat base based on the trailer, and he goes, wow,
(15:52):
you're really good at this. And I know I now,
granted obviously we don't go see Paul Blart Malkoff for
the writing, but but you know that's I was just
bring that up as a point of reference.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Yeah, I mean in general, you know that goes back
to the authorial conference thing, right, It's like, but soon
when you're starting the story, the audience is ahead of
you in the same way of what you're talking about.
Like if you set it up and they're they are
going to be predicting a certain storyline. So you the creator,
you got to kind of know that, and you're sort
(16:22):
of knowing that you have to give them something that's
at least a little bit different, because otherwise it's going
to be exactly like what you're talking about. The audience
is able to predict it like beat by beat, then
you're screwed. I mean, that's really you know, then that's
a really tough it's a tough place to get away
from if you're in that scenario. So you got to
(16:43):
figure some sort of wrinkle that makes it a little
bit different.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Yeah, very true. And you know, I actually, you know,
just as we talk about all this writing and everything else,
I want to, you know, get get into your writing.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
You know.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
So did you always you know, have the inclamation that
you wanted to be a writer director?
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Well, no, so I have. I've directed one movie and
some shorts, and then you know, for me, in the
experience of directing my movie, which is called The Trade,
pretty much told me that I would prefer to just
be the writer, which you know, I enjoyed it, but
it's just so all consuming. So I give a lot
of credit to my cousin in Orange, who directed our
(17:23):
movie Initiation. It's really an immersive thing that she kind
of just you give up. You got to put a
lot of yourself into it. So for me, I prefer
being the writer. I mean, the experience that we had
making this film, it's kind of like exactly what I
love about the being of the writer is that I
was able to come in and contribute to the story
(17:45):
and then they went off and made the movie and
I watched the movie. I mean that's you know, that's
like so that's when it's cool being a writer, because
it's literally like you wrote something on a piece of
paper and then you get to see that it exists,
and you know, it's pretty pretty neat.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Yeah, very true, you know, because I you know, I
looked dry MDB. I did see you have the short
then you you did direct Portrade, and you know, I
wanted to, you know, just ask you know, what was
the biggest difference that you found when you when you
had to direct. I mean, was there any like, you know,
challenges that you weren't anticipating or you know, did you
just say, you know what, I prefer to be a writer.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
I mean, I think that when you're gonna direct, I
mean I very much. I love working with the actors.
I think working with actors is so fun. And you know,
if I ever end up directing again, it will be
because of that. The part that I felt, you know,
and you kind of have to be all in or
not in at all. For me, that was the visual authentic.
I had a really great uh cinematographer on my film Betrayed,
(18:47):
and you know, he was really good about like basically
checking me and being like, hey, that's not gonna look good.
Let's do it like this. You know, when you're when
you're promarier writer, you don't necessarily think in that and
visual in the way that a director can to become
the same tools. You know, if you're if you're someone
who's confident directing stuff and your aspiration is absolutely to direct,
(19:10):
then you're gonna be doing the same study that you
and I do for a writing right where we we
know it so in and out and we know all
the tools and tricks and things like that. I think
that you know, uh, and obviously you and you want
you lean on your sematographer as a director, of course,
but I just felt like for me, I enjoy sort
(19:31):
of trying to master this one facet of it as
opposed to like trying to I felt like it would
be kind of a jack of all trade situation if
I tried to do directing thing. As much as I
like it, I don't. I don't have the same you know,
energy with it as I do with the writing.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Yeah, I you know, when when I I haven't directed
anything for like five years.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor
and now back to the show.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
But you know, I find that it's not because I
don't want to. It's just because I've learned Dan that
the writing has to be not good, but great, you
know what I mean. Before you're going to do any projects.
I've learned that it has to be you have to
like you yourself whoever, you know, for everyone listening to this.
If you're writing something, you and yourself have to get
(20:25):
so excited about it, you're like, how the hell is
this not a movie made? Or Freddie if Nook, you
know what I mean, And you have to be so
And that's something that I've learned. So what I've I've
been doing. Is I took one step forward to take two.
I'm sorry, I took one step back to take two
steps forward. And basically what I mean by that is
I just wanted to make sure that I got better
at things. And during this whole five year period, I've
(20:46):
actually produced stuff. I've actually had a graphic novel get made,
you know, stuff like that. And but but it's really,
you know, it comes back to, you know, making sure
that writing is phenomenal and you when you when you
talk about writing, you know, I can you know, I
can hear you get excited about it in your voice,
and that's good exactly. You need that, right, So I
(21:07):
wanted to ask you, Dan, when whenever you're writing, you
know what I mean, like, is there any things that
you keep in mind to you know, make sure that
you're always sort of going forward if you know what
I mean.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Yeah, there's a million things. I mean. That's the part
that kind of it kind of sucks about the more
you learn about it, right because I mean when when
when I started, you know, you would it was a
little bit more free because you were just like, yeah, man,
you know, it's once you learn so much about it,
then there's so many different things that you got to
be thinking about, and so it actually makes you know
(21:41):
once you actually get on the page, I'm good. But
the planning, the planning stage, you know, there's a lot
that you have to be thinking about, and it helps
to just do it a million times. You know, I'm
very grateful for the time that I was a development
executive because I basically you know develop, uh, I mean
dozens of scripts and we made a bunch of the
(22:04):
movie too, so I really got to see the whole
process many times. And so that that helps because you
sort of get almost like a muscle memory for it.
But yeah, you've got so much stuff you have to
think about. You got you know, theme and character and
dialogue and arc and structure and mood, and it's, uh, yeah,
there's a lot to kind of manage.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Yeah, you know, one thing I've learned, and you know,
like you said, you the more you learn, the more,
uh you know, the more the more you do, the
more you learn, the more you learn, you know, you
realize how complex this gets. And you know, I've read
every screenwriting book on the market. I literally you know,
you can't see it because it's the podcast, but I
have every screenwriting book out there, and I've read it
from cover to cover. H you know, I've done what
(22:49):
everybody else does. You start with screenplay by Sidfield and
you work up to save the Cat. Then you get
story by the Key, you know, any sort of and
then you sort of branch off from there if you
read the Three Works, because you know, everyone sort of
talks about it. But one thing I've learned over the
years is that everything comes back to character, you know
what I mean, like everything, you know, when we talk
(23:10):
about scenes, when we talk about favorite parts of a movie,
when we talk about this or that, it always stems
from a character.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
I mean, it's very true. Yeah, I mean I would
always say when we would you know, when I was
a I'm executive and we try to put a movie together,
it was pretty in every ready we made that actually
ended up getting made, there was always a moment where
we would attack somebody that was meaningful, whether that was
an actor or director or whatever, and that person when
(23:40):
they would come in, it wasn't like they said, you
know why I'm doing this movie because I love the
you know the midpoint, Like no nobody ever said that.
It was always about whatever the emotion was of it
or whatever the character thing was that we were doing.
That was what they would key in on and say, man,
you know, I really meant something to me and I
(24:01):
got company out of that. So yeah, nobody, it's it's
all you know, the plot is informed by the character,
and then they have to they have to not only
coke this, but actually sort of be intrinsic to each other.
Like the the best movies are movies where the plot
has to happen because of the character. Like those two.
They can't exist out plot of each other.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Yeah, you know, it's very true. And I think the
mistake a lot of writers make and and I've made
this mistake, you know, more times than I can count, is,
you know, developing a plot and trying to plunk characters
insaid plot, if you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
Yeah, And I think.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
When when you yeah, when you try to reverse that,
when you try to reverse engineer or something like that,
I think that's where you sort of get stuck. Yeah,
so you know, when you know your new movie initiation, uh,
it's it's being you know, distributed by Gravitas Ventures. Congratulations,
by the way, that's freaking huge.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
Yeah. No, we're we're we're very excited, you know, and
we're very proud of the film.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Yeah, I mean that that is, you know, absolutely phenomenal.
And I wanted to ask, you know, where, so where
did your idea come from for the film? You know,
did was this an idea that came to you or
was this just something that you know that that you've
been sort of working on for years?
Speaker 4 (25:18):
So this this is actually something that you know, my
cousin Orn he had the initial idea. He had a script,
and he basically, you know, we being cousins, we both
live in LA I would always come hang with him,
and you know, he mentioned he was working on this
and at one point he you know, he I talked
about working on it together. And so basically I came
(25:38):
in and I co wrote it. I I you know,
we we ended up writing, revising that script and and
uh working on it together through to the end. And
and he directed the film and edited it and produced it.
And so I this was a situation where basically I
came in where there was already a product that existed,
(25:58):
and I just gave my sort of creative energy to it.
And I think that we both kind of compliment to
each other in that process, and you know that was
that was the process played out on this one.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
So for those for those listening who aren't familiar with
the film, could you give us a brief exclamation about
the film then?
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Yeah. So it's basically a group of strangers are kidnapped
and they're taken to this kind of my serious house
and they basically come to realize that they've been kidnapped
to take place in an initiation ritual for a cult.
And to be initiated into this cult, you have to
fight somebody to the death. And so these people that
(26:38):
are complete strangers to each other, they're just random people
and they're thrown into this insane situation and they have
to try to figure out a way to survive. And
that's what the movie is about.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Very cool, and it's actually cool that it's coming out
right around this time, you know, this full Halloween time,
you know what I mean. It sounds like the movie
that's wrapped out Alleyway.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's well, what's what's been
cool about it is that it sort of it towes
the line between action and horror. So, you know, we've
been we've been really happy to see that a lot
of horror websites have reviewed the film and given us
nice notices because I think that it it's something that's
a pun movie for people that like horror movies, but
it's also a fun movie for you know, an action
(27:20):
fan thriller type of thing.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Yeah, that is very cool. And you know because I mean,
whenever you can see the horror you know, horror sites,
whenever they can get excited about something, you know, it's
always awesome because like we were talking about, with all
the films you know that we've seen and you know,
being able to sort of you know, spot the story.
You know, they've seen ton of horror films, so you know,
when you can get them on board of something, you
(27:45):
know what I mean, it's like, okay, great, now you
got something you know it could have if they like it.
I mean, what what's the general public going to think?
You know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (27:52):
Right? Yeah, nol, And we've been I mean we've you know,
we have shown the film to a lot of people
at this point, and you know enough people where it's
it's a funny thing your relationship with your own work, right,
I mean, anytime you show us something to somebody that
knows you. You're kind of like, well, you know, they
might they might just tell me to be nice. So
they thought, like, but we we've shown it to so
(28:13):
many people, and then obviously I think we have you know,
on IMDb there's some some reviews linked and uh and
you know, Bloody discussed and gave us my review. And
we know these people that have no reason to tell
out one way or the other. Right, So when when
somebody that has no relationship to you tells you they
got something out of your work, then that that's uh,
(28:34):
that's big because then you figure, Okay, well maybe you know,
maybe it does work, you know, And and this is
a sort of more objective for that.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
Yeah, exactly. And you know, I see that on the
IMDb page. It's up on Amazon Video right now. Is
there is there any other places that that people could
find the movie.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
Yeah, it's all over. It's on It's on iTunes, on Amazon,
It's on PlayStation, it's on it's on a lot of
cable on demand providers. I was in I was home
in Baltimore, and I I saw it on my parents,
you know, cable at their house. It's on Blue Doo,
It's it's on the majority of video on demand providers.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
And I will link to that everyone in the show notes.
I will make sure to links all those places that
you can check out the initiation. Uh, you know, I
wanted to ask, you know, also about the initiation. You know, Dan,
what's what's one thing you wanted you able to take
away from the film? I mean, did you I mean,
you know, did you want to have people leave going
you know, damn that was intense? Or was there any
other sort of theme that you wanted people to walk
(29:41):
away from that walk away from?
Speaker 4 (29:43):
A friend of mine just watched it, and that was
pretty much what he emailed me, he said, and that
was intent the the you know what was cool about
it for me was that I think we succeeded. It's
something that I'm always trying to do, which is aked
with the genre movie and basically invest it with a
real meaning.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor
and now back to the show.
Speaker 4 (30:12):
Meaning that it's not just kind of an empty genre
exercise that's actually it has a message and a point
to it that is emotional, that is you know, I mean,
this will be basically about the idea that no matter
what situation, you're kind of put into if you have
this sort of inner strength to defeat it, then no
one there's nothing anyone can do to you. And you know,
(30:35):
we sort of explore that in a lot of different
ways than the film, but it was something that, you know,
meant something to me, and I think that it gives
the film a weight that you know, if we sort
of just relied on all the genre stuff, it wouldn't
have that same weight to it. So that that was
the thing to me that I was most satisfied with.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
You know, just as a side note, you know, a
screenwriting professor once told me a great piece of scream
writing advice, and that was when you're sitting down to
you know, brainstorm a concept or whatever for for your movie.
He said, this is a question you asked yourself, what
do you want audiences to leave? What do you want
audiences when they leave to take away from this movie?
(31:16):
Do you want them to say, oh my god, that
was hilarious? We know, And he's like that helps guide
you throughout the process when you're making the movie.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
Yeah, for sure. I mean, you know you got to
you gotta do it for a reason. There's just too much.
There's too much stuff out there, all this it tasts
too long, it's too much of a pain in the
ass if you're not doing it out of some strong
impulse of And it doesn't necessarily always have to be heavy,
you know. I mean, we're like right now we my
cousin and I are talking about doing another film together,
(31:45):
and we're we're talking about doing one. It's a little
bit more sort of light at least in the tone.
And you know that that can be fine too, But
it's just whatever that impulse is that you have that
makes it interesting and exciting for you. You know, you
got to really feel strongly about that and kind of
and and key on that throughout the whole thing, you know,
(32:06):
because that's what you want the person who watches it
to have that thing feeling.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Yeah, And that's exactly right. And uh, you know, I
I think, you know, when we can finally convey that,
you know what I mean, Like I think, uh, you're like,
for instance, Quentin Tarantino, whenever he writes I'm thinking, that's
the same thing that people pull away from, is the
same mood he's in, you know what I mean, Particularly like,
heyful late, I have I have a you know, that's
sort of like a it was the same, but it
was different for him. And I sort of think that,
(32:34):
you know, you could sort of pull away what he's
what you know, what he puts into the script, if
you know what I mean. And and you know, I
wanted to ask, you know, Dan, as we know we
were talking about your your your future projects. I wanted
just to ask, you know, what does a typical writing
day for you look like?
Speaker 4 (32:51):
Man if I can just get some time, it's really
time is the most important thing. I mean, I I'm
not for me. It's not like I'll write anywhere. I'll
write it at any time. I don't need to like,
you know, consult the muse or anything like. I can
just down it and bank some stuff out. But I
think that I have a tough time. I'm sort of
(33:14):
an impatient person, which I think is probably a pretty
important part of any fixed out that I have had
or will have is down you know. I'm just I'm
not patient to like just let things come as they may.
Like I want to get stuff done, and you know,
kind of that's always my ethos. So when I the
(33:34):
planning part of it, that's the part that takes forever,
like I'll do research, you know, on initiation. I did
research into military stuff on other projects I've written, you know,
I'll read like three books about it. But once it's
time to write and I actually have figured out the story,
I'm so I have such a burning desire to just
get it out of me and get it onto the page.
(33:55):
It's almost to the point where like I feel like
I'm going to lose it if I don't that it
comes very fast, you know, and I almost, I almost
will consciously try to set aside, you know, just a
couple of days or whatever where I know it's going
to just be kind of flowing out of me and
uh and just be able to kind of bang pages out,
because you know, that's I don't. I don't, Yeah, I mean,
(34:16):
it's just a difference in process. Right for me, The
real cracking of the story comes in the planning. The
actual writing is just putting the planning on a piece
of paper. So the writing itself is the fun part.
The hard part of the is coming up with the
actual story.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
Yes, I could not agree more. That's something that I
found too, is that, you know, uh, because once I
have an outline or a treatment or anything, you know,
what I mean, like any even if it's a piece
of paper with some ideas, you know, scribble down on
it that looks like the journal from seven you know,
just something, I know where I'm going, you know what
I mean? And you know the biggest part that was
(34:53):
always you know where the plot is going. But then
I've realized always comes back to where the characters start,
you know what I mean. So you know when the
when the when the script starts is where the movie starts.
So then where do we find our characters when the
script starts?
Speaker 4 (35:06):
You know, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (35:07):
Or do they have something? Do they not have something?
You know, what's their desire?
Speaker 4 (35:11):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (35:11):
You know, what's what's their intention? With's their obstacle?
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (35:16):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
So Dan, I mean look going down on average, how often,
I mean, how many hours a day do you write?
I mean, is it like sometimes like a thirty minutes,
then sometimes maybe it's like two hours.
Speaker 4 (35:28):
I think that on a day when I actually can
really you know why, I have nothing going, I can
really just hit and focus on writing, I'll usually I
think after like three or four hours, you got to
stop and I've done it. I've I've had times were
off Fitt, and I'll write for like, you know, I'll
write the whole day. But I think, as a general rule,
(35:50):
unless it's something where I've gone insane or I have
to you know, I think that three or four hours
of a focus writing, after that it t has to
become diminishing return just your brain kind of. It takes
a certain sort of brain muscle, I think to come
up with this stuff, and after a while you start
like you don't have that theme because you know, I mean,
(36:11):
it's sort of what we were talking about before, Like
each scene that you write, you really got to sit
and think about it and think about like, Okay, you know,
here's the regular version of this scene. Why is this
scene going to be somewhat cooler than the regular version?
Like how can I make it different? How can I
make a different not just in what happens, but in
how the characters interact with each other, with the visual
(36:33):
thing that I'm doing in this scene, with the reversal
in this scene. So it's so much like mental effort
to go into it that I think after three or
four hours I got to stop. So for me, a
good three or four hours of writing and then maybe
some research. You know, in the afternoon or a lot
of prep for the next day, you know, like okay
and tomorrow. I know, I got to write these thenes
just kind of what I'm thinking, and I at least
(36:53):
have a little bit of a roadmap of the actual
precise execution, and then you can kind of flow into
the next day.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
Yeah, that's kind of like which I think Stephen King
maybe said that. He said basically, he he ends on
a high note that way, and the next thing he
comes in, he knows exactly where he's gonna go, and
he keeps that flow going on every day.
Speaker 4 (37:13):
Yeah. I tend to do that as well.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
Great mindset go alike. Uh, you know, and that and
that's great advice by the way. So you know, Dan,
in closing, you know, is there maybe anything that we
can talk about that you wanted to or any sort
of parting thoughts you want to want to add to
this conversation.
Speaker 4 (37:33):
No, I mean, you know, I think the thing that's
cool to me about this project specifically, and I think
is relevant to what we're talking about and probably to
a lot of people listen to your podcast to you know,
this is something that any of us could do. You
could you you could have made this movie. You know,
anybody listening to this could have made this movie. It's
a movie that we made for a low budget. But
(37:53):
you know, one of the reasons that it's been so
cool getting some nice reviews from some herts cycles that
they basically said, yeah, it's a low budget movie, but
the sort of ingenuity and the effort that went into
it and that that made it it didn't. It doesn't
feel a little budge it, you know, like it's not
It's the point being that there's nothing stopping any of us.
(38:14):
I'm just going to make in a movie, and not
just a movie that we sort of is enabled gaming
for our own edification, but a movie that anybody can
sit down and watch and enjoy at a real movie,
you know, even if you have to do it for
a low budget. You know, and I think that this
is sort of to me a good case study of
that that we actually went made this movie, got it
(38:35):
distributed by a very legitimate distributor. It's out everywhere, you know,
and you know, we we've got a lot of nice
responses to the movie. So we do think that the
movie works, and you know, we we just look forward
to hopefully having people discovered, you know, and and maybe
we can go make another one.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
You know, and that's that's phenomenal and uh, you know, honestly, Dan,
I'm gonna make sure check out the The initiat I
will everyone, I will link that in the show notes. Dan,
where can we find you out online?
Speaker 4 (39:06):
I mean, you know, just stuck with the movie. I'm
not I'm like the worst person ever for all this.
I don't have a Twitter or I'm not a social
media dude. But The Initiation movie we have a website
with Facebook page, and obviously it's on iTunes, it's on Amazon,
it's all these other platforms.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Dan, I want to say thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
For coming on my pleasure, good conversation, Oh my pleasure, sir,
Take care, take care anyway, I want.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
To thank Dave so much for doing such a great
job on this episode. If you want to get links
to anything we spoke about in this episode, head over
to the show notes at Bulletproof Screenwriting dot tv for it. Slash,
thank you so much for listening to guys. As always,
keep on writing no matter what. I'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Thanks for listening to the Bulletproof Screenwriting podcast at Bulletproof screenwriting,
dot tv,
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.