Episodes

  • James DeMonaco (The Home; The Purge)
    Jul 15 2025

    James DeMonaco (writer/director, The Home, The Purge) discusses co-writing during lockdown, collaborating with Pete Davidson, the movie he passed on that got The Home made, advice from Francis Ford Coppola, and news of maybe a new Purge movie!


    THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION.

    Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing, where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years, as well as access to exclusive live Q&As, meet-ups, and more: benblacker.substack.com


    Come see Paul F. Tompkins, Paget Brewster, Busy Philipps, Joshua Malina, Janet Varney, and more in The Thrilling Adventure Hour live in a city near you! https://thrillingadventure.live for details.


    SOCIALS:

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    46 mins
  • TV writer/novelist Stefanie Leder
    Jul 8 2025

    Stefanie Leder (Faking It; Boo Bitch) discusses her debut novel, Love, Coffee, and Revolution, a coming-of-age/political adventure/rom com. the long road of writing the book, setting reasonable daily goals, the most important thing to getting published, why "TV is Jewish," and lots more.


    THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION.

    Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing, where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years, as well as access to exclusive live Q&As, meet-ups, and more: benblacker.substack.com


    Come see Paul F. Tompkins, Paget Brewster, Busy Philipps, Joshua Malina, Janet Varney, and more in The Thrilling Adventure Hour live in a city near you! https://thrillingadventure.live for details.


    SOCIALS:

    Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/benblacker.bsky.social

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bablacker/

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    28 mins
  • Chris & Paul Weitz (Murderbot)
    Jul 1 2025

    Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz (creators, Murderbot; American Pie; About a Boy) discuss working with actors and what Alexander Skarsgård brought to the titular role of Murderbot, who your audience is, writing and directing together after a two-decade break, and lots more.


    THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION.

    Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing, where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years, as well as access to exclusive live Q&As, meet-ups, and more: benblacker.substack.com


    Come see Paul F. Tompkins, Paget Brewster, Busy Philipps, Joshua Malina, Janet Varney, and more in The Thrilling Adventure Hour live in a city near you! https://thrillingadventure.live for details.


    SOCIALS:

    Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/benblacker.bsky.social

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bablacker/

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    44 mins
  • I Don't Understand You
    Jun 10 2025

    David Joseph Craig & Brian Crano (writers/directors of I Don't Understand You) discuss the personal story behind the movie, writing the truth vs writing honestly, scenes you need, who your competition is, why knowing actors is a good thing, poking the turkey, and more.


    THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION.

    Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing, where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years, as well as access to exclusive live Q&As, meet-ups, and more: benblacker.substack.com


    Come see Paul F. Tompkins, Paget Brewster, Busy Philipps, Joshua Malina, Janet Varney, and more in The Thrilling Adventure Hour live in a city near you! https://thrillingadventure.live for details.


    SOCIALS:

    Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/benblacker.bsky.social

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bablacker/

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    49 mins
  • Leon Chills (Shadow Force)
    May 20 2025

    Leon Chills (Shadow Force) discusses writing his way out of a low point, working things out in the first draft, his approach to action scenes, when to ask someone to read your script, and more.


    THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION.

    Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing, where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years, as well as access to exclusive live Q&As, meet-ups, and more: benblacker.substack.com


    Come see Paul F. Tompkins, Paget Brewster, Busy Philipps, Joshua Malina, Janet Varney, and more in The Thrilling Adventure Hour live in a city near you! https://thrillingadventure.live for details.


    SOCIALS:

    Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/benblacker.bsky.social

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bablacker/

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    42 mins
  • Mike Drucker (The Tonight Show)
    May 13 2025

    Mike Drucker (The Tonight Show; Full Frontal with Samantha Bee) discusses his new memoir, Good Game, No Rematch, writing his life through the lens of video games, how prose is different from stand up comedy, how his family responded to stories about them, discovering his emotional vulnerabilities, and more.


    Check out a live DEAD PILOTS SOCIETY this Sunday in LA, or stream on demand from anywhere!

    TICKETS HERE

    The cast includes but is not limited to Peri Gilpin (Frasier), Isabella Gomez (One Day at a Time), Brandon Scott Jones (Ghosts), Jordan Rodrigues (Ladybird), Mary Beth Barone (Black Mirror; Overcompensating), Clancy Brown (Highlander; The Shawshank Redemption), Brendan Scannell (Loot), Caitlin Reilly (Dead Boy Detectives), Courtney Parchman (Sex Lives of College Girls; "Average Fashion Blogger"), and lots more.


    THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION.

    Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing, where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years, as well as access to exclusive live Q&As, meet-ups, and more: benblacker.substack.com


    Come see Paul F. Tompkins, Paget Brewster, Busy Philipps, Joshua Malina, Janet Varney, and more in The Thrilling Adventure Hour live in a city near you! https://thrillingadventure.live for details.


    SOCIALS:

    Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/benblacker.bsky.social

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bablacker/

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    40 mins
  • Sascha Penn (Power Book III)
    Apr 29 2025

    Sascha Penn (creator/showrunner, Power Book III) discusses the value of non-industry experience to showrunning, the truth about reps, the storytelling muscle, advice for entering the business at this moment, and more.


    THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION.

    Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing, where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years, as well as access to exclusive live Q&As, meet-ups, and more: benblacker.substack.com


    Come see Paul F. Tompkins, Paget Brewster, Busy Philipps, Joshua Malina, Janet Varney, and more in The Thrilling Adventure Hour live in a city near you! https://thrillingadventure.live for details.


    SOCIALS:

    Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/benblacker.bsky.social

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bablacker/

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    38 mins
  • Jonathan Tropper (Your Friends and Neighbors)
    Apr 8 2025

    Jonathan Tropper (creator, Your Friends and Neighbors, Banshee, Warrior) discusses writing a TV show closer in sensibility to his novels, the role of luck in a writing career, writing a non-action show, one key piece of advice about craft, and more.


    THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION.

    Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing, where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years, as well as access to exclusive live Q&As, meet-ups, and more: benblacker.substack.com


    Come see Paul F. Tompkins, Paget Brewster, Busy Philipps, Joshua Malina, Janet Varney, and more in The Thrilling Adventure Hour live in a city near you! https://thrillingadventure.live for details.


    SOCIALS:

    Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/benblacker.bsky.social

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bablacker/

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    28 mins