Episodes

  • Episode 77: Hal Donaldson

    Episode 77: Hal Donaldson
    Nov 19 2024
    Hal Donaldson’s faith-based humanitarian organization Convoy of Hope is a magnificent agent of change. In partnership with local churches, businesses, civic organizations, and government agencies, the organization is deeply committed to healing the world in all its broken places, through children’s feeding initiatives, community outreach and disaster response. Convoy of Hope currently feeds more than 571,000 children worldwide each day—and has served more than 250 million people in total since Hal, together with his brothers and friends, started the organization in 1994. It’s the 35th largest charity on the latest Forbes “100 Largest U.S. Charities” list. So what does all of this have to do with ghostwriting? Well, before launching Convoy of Hope, Hal started out as a journalist and ghostwriter. Early on in his career, on a ghostwriting assignment in Calcutta, he had the opportunity to interview Mother Teresa, who turned the tables on their interview and asked the young journalist what he was doing to repair the world. Hal had no answer, but when he returned to the United States a short while later, he rallied his friends and family and began donating goods and supplies to communities in need. As the organization has grown, Hal has continued to write. He’s just out with his latest collaboration, What Really Matters: How to Care for Yourself and Serve a Hurting World, written in collaboration with his daughter Lindsay Donaldson-Kring. Join us for an inspiring conversation on what really matters, as Hal Donaldson reflects on the good works that continue to flow from the first strokes of his pen. Learn more about Hal Donaldson: WebsiteConvoy of Hope WebsiteConvoy of Hope FacebookConvoy of Hope InstagramConvoy of Hope Threads Please support the sponsors who support our show: Gotham Ghostwriters/ASJA “Andy Awards” GuidelinesRitani JewelersChelsea Devantez's I Shouldn't Be Telling You ThisDaniel Paisner's Balloon Dog Daniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television PilotUnforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey JacobellisFilm Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountLibro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membershipFilm Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef SuttonEveryday Shakespeare podcastA Mighty Blaze podcastThe Writer's Bone Podcast NetworkMisfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountWizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount
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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Episode 76: Aaron Philip Clark

    Episode 76: Aaron Philip Clark
    Nov 5 2024
    What does it take to help channel one of the most singular voices in rap in an entirely new medium? Join us as we chat with novelist and screenwriter Aaron Philip Clark, co-author of the just-published thriller The Accomplice, written in collaboration with rapper and entertainment mogul Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson. Aaron is perhaps best known for his International Thriller Writers Award-nominated crime fiction series featuring Detective Trevor Finnegan (Blue Like Me, Under Color of Law), as well as for his standalone novels. His first book with 50 Cent introduces readers to Nia Adams, a New York-born, Texas-bred detective who always dreamed of becoming a Texas Ranger, who sets off on the tail of a hardened Vietnam vet bad guy who steals the secrets of the rich and powerful. In addition to writing fiction and screenplays, Aaron teaches creative writing at UCLA Extension, and he collaborates with a variety of public figures and luminaries. Learn more about Aaron Philip Clark: WebsiteFacebookInstagram50 Cent InstagramG-Unit Film & Television Instagram Please support the sponsors who support our show: Gotham Ghostwriters/ASJA “Andy Awards” GuidelinesRitani JewelersChelsea Devantez's I Shouldn't Be Telling You ThisDaniel Paisner's Balloon Dog Daniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television PilotUnforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey JacobellisFilm Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountLibro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membershipFilm Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef SuttonEveryday Shakespeare podcastA Mighty Blaze podcastThe Writer's Bone Podcast NetworkMisfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountWizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount
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    1 hr and 11 mins
  • Episode 75: Betsy Lerner

    Episode 75: Betsy Lerner
    Oct 22 2024
    “Lots of ambitious books announce themselves,” writes Lauren Christensen in The New York Times Book Review of podcast guest Betsy Lerner’s debut novel Shred Sisters. “This one doesn’t need to.” High praise for a first-time novelist, but that’s not surprising considering Betsy’s long and distinguished career as an editor and literary agent. A born storyteller (and, story-sharer), Betsy has helped to shape our literary landscape, as the guiding hand behind such cultural touchstones as Patti Smith’s Just Kids and Elizabeth Wurtzel’s Prozac Nation. She’s also earned her As Told To stripes as the co-author of The New York Times best-selling Visual Thinking, written in collaboration with Temple Grandin, in addition to writing several non-fiction books of her own, including the memoir The Bridge Ladies, and the writing guidebook The Forest for the Trees. A recovering poet, Betsy received an MFA in poetry from Columbia University, where she was selected as one of PEN’s Emerging Writers, before trading her pen for a red pencil and embarking on a heralded career as an editor. With the publication of her first novel, longlisted prior to publication for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, Betsy kick-starts an exciting new chapter in her writing life, offering a rich, bittersweet tale of sisterhood, mental health, love and loss, and reminding us that it’s never too late to become the artist you were always meant to be. Learn more about Betsy Lerner: WebsiteTikTokFacebookTwitter Please support the sponsors who support our show: Gotham Ghostwriters/ASJA “Andy Awards” GuidelinesRitani JewelersChelsea Devantez's I Shouldn't Be Telling You ThisDaniel Paisner's Balloon Dog Daniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television PilotUnforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey JacobellisFilm Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountLibro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membershipFilm Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef SuttonEveryday Shakespeare podcastA Mighty Blaze podcastThe Writer's Bone Podcast NetworkMisfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountWizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount
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    1 hr and 19 mins
  • Episode 74: Jill Sobule

    Episode 74: Jill Sobule
    Oct 8 2024
    Over the course of her nearly forty-year career, singer-songwriter Jill Sobule has earned a singular spot in the American songbook. Best known for her breakout 1995 singles “Supermodel” (from the “Clueless” soundtrack) and “I Kissed a Girl” (which came out more than 10 years before the Katy Perry hit of the same name), her quirky, heartfelt, cheer-filled songs are difficult to categorize: she sings about the death penalty, anorexia, shoplifting, the French Resistance, LGBTQ issues and Mexican wrestling. In another decade, Jon Pareles, the chief pop music critic of The New York Times, wrote that she stands “among the stellar New York singer-songwriters of the last decade”—high praise that has surely applied in all subsequent decades. Jill’s songs are enchanting, disarmingly funny and achingly poignant, and many of them are featured in her Drama Desk-nominated autobiographical musical "F*ck 7th Grade," which premiered at the Wild Project in NYC in 2022 and returns for a limited engagement in November 2024. “We didn’t have to create a story around these songs,” she says of the show, which she really, really hopes isn’t dismissed as just another jukebox musical featuring songs from an artist’s back catalogue. “These songs are my story. I just wrote a few more to fill out the narrative.” Jill joins us on the podcast to discuss her rich and varied career as one of the music industry’s most uniquely collaborative artists. She’s performed with musicians such as Neil Young, Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, Cyndi Lauper, and Warren Zevon, and once released a concept album of original music with lyrics written by some of her favorite writers, including Jonathan Lethem, Rick Moody, Mary Jo Salter, Vendela Vida, and David Hajdu. She regularly tours with comedian/actress/author Julia Sweeney in their two-woman “Jill & Julia” show. Two highlights from the very many cool, pinch me-type moments that have stamped Jill Sobule’s remarkable career: she inducted Neil Diamond into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, and she appeared as herself on an episode of “The Simpsons.” So, you know, there’s that. Learn more about Jill Sobule: WebsitePatreonInstagramThreadsFacebookTwitter Please support the sponsors who support our show: Ritani JewelersChelsea Devantez's I Shouldn't Be Telling You ThisDaniel Paisner's Balloon Dog Daniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television PilotUnforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey JacobellisFilm Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountLibro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membershipFilm Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef SuttonEveryday Shakespeare podcastA Mighty Blaze podcastThe Writer's Bone Podcast NetworkMisfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountWizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • Episode 73: J. Michael Straczynski

    Episode 73: J. Michael Straczynski
    Sep 24 2024
    “The task of writing is to take a character and put him up a tree and start throwing rocks at him,” notes novelist, screenwriter, comic book writer, and television showrunner J. Michael Straczynski. The two-time Hugo Award-winning author is perhaps best known as the creator of the television series “Babylon 5”, and as the screenwriter for the 2008 Oscar-nominated Clint Eastwood film “Changeling.” He is also the author of the Superman: Earth One” trilogy of graphic novels, and for many years he was the writer for Marvel Comics’ “Thor,” “Fantastic Four,” and “The Amazing Spider-Man” series, as well as for DC’s “Superman,” “Wonder Woman,” and “Before Watchmen” titles. These days, Joe is spending most of his time throwing rocks on behalf of his late friend Harlan Ellison, the legendary writer of speculative fiction, who is having a bit of a moment more than six years after his death. As the executor of the Harlan Ellison estate, Joe has been the driving force behind the re-release of the first two installments of Ellison’s landmark story collections Dangerous Visions and Again, Dangerous Visions, which the author had always imagined as a trilogy. Now, thanks to Joe Straczynski’s dedication, the long-awaited third installment of “the most significant and controversial Science Fiction collections of our time,” will finally see the light of day with the publication of The Last Dangerous Visions, due from Blackstone Publishing in October 2024. “Harlan was my friend, and I have an obligation to him to get his work where it needs to be, in front of a mainstream audience,” Joe reflects on a year that has also seen the publication of a new collection of Ellison’s stories (Greatest Hits) as well as a novel of his own (The Glass Box). Join us as we talk with J. Michael Straczynski on his influences as a writer, on the art and craft of storytelling in all its many forms, and on what it has meant to him to be able to breathe new life into the work of an artist hailed by the Los Angeles Times as “a twentieth-century Lewis Carroll.” Learn more about J. Michael Straczynski: WebsiteFacebookInstagramTwitter Please support the sponsors who support our show: Ritani JewelersChelsea Devantez's I Shouldn't Be Telling You ThisDaniel Paisner's Balloon Dog Daniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television PilotUnforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey JacobellisFilm Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountLibro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membershipFilm Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef SuttonEveryday Shakespeare podcastA Mighty Blaze podcastThe Writer's Bone Podcast NetworkMisfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountWizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount
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    1 hr and 10 mins
  • Episode 72: Nancy French

    Episode 72: Nancy French
    Sep 10 2024
    Best-selling author, investigative journalist, political commentator and memoirist Nancy French is a storyteller at heart. She’s helped to write more than a dozen books, including five New York Times best-sellers, with a variety of collaborators from conservative politicians to Olympic athletes to reality television stars. Her latest memoir—Ghosted: An American Story—was published in Spring 2024 to wide critical acclaim. CNN’s Jake Tapper hailed the book prior to publication as “a great read for anyone trying to make sense of cultural whiplash over the last few years,” and went on to write that “Nancy French’s journey from poverty-stricken mountains to a presidential campaign plane is a joy.” Join us as we kick off Season 4 at the podcast factory with an insight-filled conversation on what it means to lend your voice to leaders who share your values, only to find yourself “ghosted” by a political establishment that seemed to want to punish you for your refusal to endorse the 2016 Republican Presidential nominee. Learn more about Nancy French: WebsiteFacebookTwitterInstagramThreads Please support the sponsors who support our show: Ritani JewelersChelsea Devantez's I Shouldn't Be Telling You ThisDaniel Paisner's Balloon Dog Daniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television PilotUnforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey JacobellisFilm Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountLibro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membershipFilm Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef SuttonEveryday Shakespeare podcastA Mighty Blaze podcastThe Writer's Bone Podcast NetworkMisfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountWizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount
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    1 hr and 16 mins
  • Second Printing: Frank Santopadre

    Second Printing: Frank Santopadre
    Aug 27 2024
    Originally aired Dec. 6, 2022. Frank Santopadre is a veteran comedy writer and the longtime co-host of “Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast,” with the late, great Gilbert Gottfried. Prior to working with Gilbert, Frank helped to write jokes and supporting material for numerous awards shows (including the Daytime Emmys, the TV Land Awards, and the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize). He has also written comics for Bazooka Joe bubble gum, and mock ad copy, concepts, and character profiles for the Topps Company’s popular Wacky Packs and Garbage Pail Kids trading cards series. Oh, and did we mention he also wrote for Mad and Cracked magazines? And the somewhat less zany The New York Times, The Washington Post, People, US Weekly, and Politico? Along the way, he has created comedy material for an eclectic line-up of celebrated personalities, including Bill Murray, Howard Stern, Sarah Silverman, Meryl Streep, Martin Short, and Ben Stiller, and briefly served as a staff writer on what he proudly calls “the worst sitcom in television history”—a forgettable show from the late ‘90s called “Lost on Earth,” hailed by The Los Angeles Times during its mercifully-brief run as “mirthless.” Join us for a somewhat more mirth-filled hour, as we talk about what it was like to help give voice to one of the most singular voices in the annals of American comedy—a joyful burden Frank kinda, sorta shared with podcast host Daniel Paisner, who collaborated with Gilbert Gottfried on his 2011 memoir Rubber Balls and Liquor. Learn more about Frank Santopadre, visit his official website, like his Facebook page, and follow him on Twitter. Please support the sponsors who support our show: Ritani JewelersChelsea Devantez's I Shouldn't Be Telling You ThisDaniel Paisner's Balloon Dog Daniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television PilotUnforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey JacobellisFilm Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountLibro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membershipFilm Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef SuttonEveryday Shakespeare podcastA Mighty Blaze podcastThe Writer's Bone Podcast NetworkMisfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountWizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount
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    1 hr and 27 mins
  • Episode 71: Gathering of the Ghosts

    Episode 71: Gathering of the Ghosts
    Aug 13 2024

    Join podcast host Daniel Paisner as he moderates the keynote panel discussion at the inaugural “Gathering of the Ghosts” ghostwriting conference earlier this year—an event jointly sponsored by Gotham Ghostwriters and the American Society of Journalists and Authors.

    Dan is joined by music journalist Holly Gleason and former As Told To guests Seth Davis and Jodi Lipper for a spirited discussion on their ghostwriting journeys, and a reflection on the many ways authors and journalists are writing in collaboration.

    Learn more about our guests:

    • Follow Seth Daviss on X | Episode 61
    • Holly Gleason Website
    • Jodi Lipper Website | Episode 28

    Please support the sponsors who support our show:

    • Ritani Jewelers
    • Chelsea Devantez's I Shouldn't Be Telling You This
    • Daniel Paisner's Balloon Dog
    • Daniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television Pilot
    • Unforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey Jacobellis
    • Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount
    • Libro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership
    • Film Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton
    • Everyday Shakespeare podcast
    • A Mighty Blaze podcast
    • The Writer's Bone Podcast Network
    • Misfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order
    • Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount
    • Wizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount
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    1 hr and 10 mins