The Drama Behind Hollywood's Biggest Night
This week, I’m joined by Michael Schulman to discuss his new book, Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears. What were some of the ulterior motives for making the Oscars? How did t...
4 Mar 202342min
Will the WGA Strike? Can It Afford Not To?
This week I’m rejoined by Richard Rushfield—fresh off a nice little profile in Vanity Fair—to talk about the oncoming train of a WGA strike. Seventy days out, Richard put the odds of a work stoppage a...
25 Feb 202332min
David Thomson on the Magic of Acting
On this week’s episode, Sonny is pleased to welcome David Thomson back to the show to discuss his new book, Acting Naturally: The Magic in Great Performances. In this episode we discuss the difficulty...
18 Feb 202340min
Theater: You Can Get Rich, But Making a Living Is Hard
I was very excited to get Julian Schlossberg on the show this week to talk about his new book, Try Not to Hold it Against Me: A Producer’s Life, in large part because he is intimately involved with a ...
11 Feb 202347min
Shawn Ryan on Past WGA Negotiations and the Evolving Business
When I saw that Shawn Ryan—the creator of The Shield,* the hit CBS show S.W.A.T., and the forthcoming Netflix show The Night Agent—had penned a letter to the editor in The Ankler disputing an agent’s ...
4 Feb 202343min
Producer Dean Devlin Goes (Back) to Space
This week I’m pretty excited to be joined by Dean Devlin, whose work in movies like Universal Soldier, Stargate, and Independence Day I grew up loving. He works mostly in television now on series like...
28 Jan 202327min
PaleyFest's Secret Weapon: Love
This week I’m rejoined by Rene Reyes, Vice President of Public Programming and Festivals at the Paley Center, to talk about PaleyFest 2023. It’s the year’s most entertaining celebration of television,...
21 Jan 202339min
Scientifically Measuring Movie Love
Kevin Goetz, author of the must-read book Audience-ology, joins me this week to talk about the science of getting audiences to theaters. Can marketing help teach audiences “how” to watch a movie? Why ...
14 Jan 202350min
