Martini Shot

The political industry — like Hollywood — now fights on the fringes and in the niches of any given base (a.k.a. the audience). This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theankler.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rob Long looks at A.I., a main sticking point in contract negotiations between the studios and labor unions. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theankler.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How things went array when entertainment turned into a subscription business This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theankler.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rob Long says it isn't 'woke' culture but media companies that killed the genre. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theankler.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Rob Long explains Hollywood’s world of hierarchy and one-upmanship, where having not one but THREE assistants tells the world just how much busier you are than others. It’s all a bit of an ensemble comedy, this business, but at this particular moment, strike and all, Rob says it feels as if the studios and streamers believe they should have top billing. Netflix Variety Hour anyone? A full transcript is here for paid subscribers. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theankler.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the writers strike upon us, WGA member Rob Long presents the story of two friends and their three-bean salad as a cautionary tale for writers and streamers, er, rather just streamers. And why, sometimes, everyone throws up at once. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theankler.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rob identifies the standard rules in the entertainment business to make a creative idea work. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theankler.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rob Long explains why, for the first time in his 33 years as a WGA member, he’s supporting a strike action. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theankler.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rob explains why rewrites of existing scripts can go on for years — all in the quest for that one teeny tiny note scrawled in the margin. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theankler.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An encounter at Brentwood Country Mart with a former Mr. Ed writer sends Rob Long wondering about the binge-and-purge nature of this industry, where insiders suddenly can find themselves on the outside. Rob suggests ways to persist and keep showing up despite disaster, similar to the way Angelenos remain indifferent to L.A.’s mudslides and fires. Because, as he learned long ago, you may still end up in the equivalent of the Sinatra Room at Chasen’s.For a full transcript, click here. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theankler.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices