OnWriting: A Podcast of the WGA East

Geri and Terence Nance — creator, writer, director, and co-star of the new HBO Late Night series RANDOM ACTS OF FLYNESS — talk about the trauma in - and of - making art, how his writing takes place before he opens Final Draft, and how we can find success by looking in each other's faces. Terrence Nance is a writer, director, actor, and musician. His 2012 feature film AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY premiered at Sundance and received a Gotham Independent Film Award. He was the recipient of a 2014 Guggenheim fellowship for his work. His latest project is the HBO late-night sketch comedy series RANDOM ACTS OF FLYNESS - a fluid, stream-of-consciousness response to the contemporary American mediascape. Each episode features a handful of interconnected vignettes which showcase an ensemble cast of emerging and established talent. The show is a mix of verité documentary, musical performances, surrealist melodrama and humorous animation. Nance and his collaborators weave together such themes as ancestral trauma, history, death, the singularity, romance and more. The six-episode first season explores evergreen cultural idioms such as patriarchy, white supremacy and sensuality from a new, thought-provoking perspective, and is available to stream on HBO Max. -- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/ -- Follow the Guild on social media: Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

Geri talks to writer and director Aaron Sorkin about spending 15 years writing his latest film, THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7; why intention and obstacle are the backbones of every good story; and how his career is kind of like being struck by lightning… if being struck by lightning were a good thing. Aaron Sorkin is the Academy, Emmy, Golden Globe, and Writers Guild Award-winning writer behind myriad films, television series, and plays including THE WEST WING, THE NEWSROOM, the play A FEW GOOD MEN (and its 1992 film adaptation), MONEYBALL, MOLLY'S GAME—which he also directed, and THE SOCIAL NETWORK. THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7, written and directed by Sorkin, is based on the infamous 1969 trial of seven defendants charged by the federal government with conspiracy and more, arising from the countercultural protests in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The film was released in the fall of 2020 and is available to stream on Netlfix. -- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/ -- Follow the Guild on social media: Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

Geri speaks to Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, and Peter Baynham—cowriters of BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM—about why they decided to revisit the iconic character, how intense it was to film that now infamous Rudy Giuliani scene, and the reality of filming in very dangerous situations. Sacha Baron Cohen is best known for his portrayal of bawdy and raucous fictional satirical characters such as Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard and Admiral General Aladeen. Sacha and his cowriters and frequent collaborators Anthony Hines and Peter Baynham have featured these characters in a number of films and television series, including ALI G INDAHOUSE, THE 11 O'CLOCK SHOW, BRÜNO, THE DICTATOR, and BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN, the latter of which was nominated for the 2006 Writers Guild and Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay. Their latest collaboration, BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM, follows the titular Borat Sagdiyev after his release from a stint in prison for bringing shame to his country, as he risks life and limb when he returns to America with his 15-year-old daughter. The film is available to stream on Amazon Prime. — Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/ — Follow the Guild on social media: Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

Geri chats with Sofia Coppola—writer, director, and producer of ON THE ROCKS—about how her writing process has changed over the years, how family dynamics helped shape her work, and why it's so important to trust your instincts. Sofia Coppola's career as a writer and director began with her 1999 film THE VIRGIN SUICIDES. Since then, Sofia has written and directed films like THE BEGUILED, THE BLING RING, MARIE ANTOINETTE, and LOST IN TRANSLATION. Her script for LOST IN TRANSLATION received the 2004 Writers Guild and Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay. Her latest feature, ON THE ROCKS, tells story of young New York-based author and married mother-of-two, Laura, who has become suspicious that her career-driven husband may be having an affair with a coworker—a speculation encouraged by her caddish, bon vivant father. The film was released in October 2020, and is available to stream on Apple TV+. -- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/ -- Follow the Guild on social media: Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

Geri Cole hosts the third installment of the OnWriting Guide to Crafting Scripted Podcasts. In Parts One & Two, Kaitlin Fontana spoke with podcast writers and producers about the industry's business side: what the market looks like, how to break in, and how to protect yourself once you're there; and about the creative side of the industry: from recruiting talent, to necessary skill sets, to creative satisfactions, and beyond. Now, in Part Three, Geri is joined by three guests—Lissette Alvarez, Matt Klinman, and Lowell Peterson—to talk about the WGA Audio Alliance a new initiative from the Writers Guild of America, East which aims to establish and improve the standards and rights for writers in the scripted podcast industry. To learn more, visit wgaeast.org/WGAAudio or follow @WGAAudio on Twitter. About the Guests Lisette Alvarez is the owner of Stormfire Productions, an independent podcast production company. They are the writer, producer, and lead actor of the urban fantasy audio drama KALILA STORMFIRE'S ECONOMICAL MAGICK SERVICES. Matt Klinman is a writer, director and performer for television, digital and scripted audio. He is currently developing a new scripted audio series with Audible and was most recently a staff writer on the Spotify series THE LAST DEGREE OF KEVIN BACON produced by Funny or Die and the Audible series 64TH MAN produced by Broadway Video. He is the co-creator and co-director of the scripted audio series SMARTR produced by Team Coco for Luminary. Lowell Peterson is the executive director of the Writers Guild of America, East. Under his stewardship, the Guild has organized nonfiction podcast companies Gimlet, The Ringer and Parcast, which are now all owned by Spotify. To listen to the OnWriting Guide to Crafting Scripted Podcasts, Parts One and Two, visit onwriting.org and click on "Special Projects." The OnWriting Guide to Scripted Podcasting, Part Three was hosted by Geri Cole with sound design, mixing, and tech production by Stock Boy Creative. Special thanks to Lisette Alvarez, Matt Klinman, Lowell Peterson, Jason Gordon, and Molly Beer. Parts One and Two were written & produced by Molly Beer; hosted by Kaitlin Fontana; with sound design, mixing, and tech production by Stock Boy Creative. Special thanks to River Donaghey, Danielle Trussoni, Zack Akers, Skip Bronkie, Alicia Van Couvering, Lowell Peterson, Jason Gordon, and Marsha Seeman. -- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/ -- Follow the Guild on social media: Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

Geri speaks with acclaimed screenwriter, dramatist, and director Julie Taymor—co-writer and director of the new biopic THE GLORIAS—about her approach to storytelling, how projects can be shaped by limitations, how established creators like her still have to fight to get films like THE GLORIAS made, how travel has been the best education, and much more. Celebrated for her work on stage and screen, Julie Taymor's writing and directing credits include the 2002 Frida Kahlo biopic, FRIDA; the Beatles jukebox musical, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE; and one of the most successful Broadway musicals of all time, THE LION KING, which received three Drama Desk and two Tony Awards in 1998. Her latest project, THE GLORIAS, is a biography of feminist icon Gloria Steinem. Julie and co-writer Sarah Ruhl adapted the screenplay from Gloria Steinem's memoir, My Life on the Road. The film was released on September 30, 2020, and is available to stream on Amazon Prime. -- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/ -- Follow the Guild on social media: Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

Emmy Award-winning writer Cord Jefferson joins Geri to talk about his experiences in the writers' rooms for two of the most prestigious series currently on television, writing about race and extreme privilege, why staying in your lane is an antiquated idea, and more. Cord Jefferson was a journalist at Gawker from 2012 until 2014, when he joined the writing staff of the Starz sitcom SURVIVOR'S REMORSE. Since then, he has gone on to write for television series like THE NIGHTLY SHOW WITH LARRY WILMORE, THE GOOD PLACE, SUCCESSION, and WATCHMEN. At the 72nd Annual Writers Guild Awards, the writers of WATCHMEN and SUCCESSION won the awards for New Series and Dramatic Series categories, respectively. Cord also received an Emmy Award for co-writing the sixth episode of WATCHMEN, "This Extraordinary Being." He is currently developing a TV series about Gawker alongside the site's former Editor-in-Chief, Max Reed. Season 7 of OnWriting is hosted by Geri Cole, a writer and performer based in New York City. She is currently a full-time staff and interactive writer for SESAME STREET, for which she has received Writers Guild Award and two Daytime Emmys. She also performs sketch and improv at theaters and festivals around the country. -- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/ -- Follow the Guild on social media: Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

Geri is joined by documentarians Mike Wiser and Michael Kirk—the writer-producers of the FRONTLINE special "The Choice 2020: Trump vs Biden"—to discuss making documentaries that are hard-hitting but nonpartisan; their impressive catalogue of Frontline specials, which have examined everything from the Mueller report to Mitch McConnell's takeover of the Supreme Court; the absurd timelines they work off of for all of their projects, and more. Michael Kirk was the original senior producer of Frontline from its inception in 1983 until the fall of 1987, when he created his own production company, the Kirk Documentary Group. He has produced more than 200 national television programs, and has won four Peabody Awards, four duPont-Columbia Awards, two George Polk Awards, 16 Emmy Awards, and 12 Writers Guild of America Awards for his work. Mike Wiser has worked on more than 30 films for Frontline since joining the Kirk Documentary Group in 2003. His work as a writer and producer reporting on national security, foreign affairs, sports, criminal justice, and the global financial crisis has earned him several Peabody, Emmy, and Writers Guild of America Awards. The Choice 2020: Trump vs Biden is the ninth installment of "The Choice," a PBS Frontline investigative documentary series aiming to better inform American voters about the two major candidates of that year's presidential election. The 2-hour program examines the biographies of President Donald Trump and presidential candidate Joe Biden, where they came from, and how they lead. The program, which recently premiered on PBS, is available to stream now on the PBS website. -- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/ -- Follow the Guild on social media: Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

Geri talks to Amber Ruffin—writer and on-air talent for LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS and the creator and host of the forthcoming NBC Peacock talk series THE AMBER RUFFIN SHOW—about the process of writing two shows concurrently, how she crafts jokes out of movie clichés, how wearing MC Hammer pants can teach you to be fearless in a writers room, and much more. Amber Ruffin is a writer and comedian who has written for LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS since its inception. As a writer for LATE NIGHT, she was the first Black woman to write for a late-night network talk show in the U.S., and has also appeared in several of the show's popular segments, such as "Amber Says What?" and "Jokes Seth Can't Tell". In 2018, she hosted the 70th annual Writers Guild Awards New York ceremony, and in 2019, she wrote for the first season of the HBO sketch comedy show A BLACK LADY SKETCH SHOW. Her new series, THE AMBER RUFFIN SHOW, is a levity- and comedy-focused late-night talk show created by and starring Amber, with her fellow LATE NIGHT writer and SECOND CITY alum Jenny Hagel serving as head writer. The show will premiere on Friday, September 25th, and will air on NBC's streaming service Peacock. -- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/ -- Follow the Guild on social media: Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

Season 7 host Geri Cole speaks with Oscar- and Writers Guild Award-winning screenwriter and director Charlie Kaufman about his latest film, how his writing is shaped by fear, finding meaning in his films, the benefits of walking, and much more. Charlie Kaufman is a critically acclaimed screenwriter and director. His writing credits include ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND—for which he received the Academy, Writers Guild, and BAFTA Awards for Best Original Screenplay—as well as BEING JOHN MALKOVICH and ADAPTATION, both of which earned him a BAFTA Award and nominations for the Writers Guild and Academy Awards in their respective screenplay categories. Three of his screenplays were included in the WGA's "101 Greatest Screenplays" project in 2005. Kaufman's feature directorial debut was the 2008 film SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK. His latest project, the Neftlix psychological drama I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS, is based on the 2016 novel by Iain Reid. The film is narrated by the unnamed girlfriend of Jake as the new couple travel deep into the country to visit Jake's parents' secluded farm. Upon arriving, she comes to question everything she thought she knew about Jake, and about herself. The film was released in late August and is available to stream on Netflix. -- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews at www.onwriting.org/ Follow us on social media:Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast