This week Kyle sits down with Kevin Nicklaus, a Producer and a partner with the Los Angeles-based management and production company, Sandstone Artists. They talk about how management can support creative empowerment, pitching and the attention economy, as well as the value of collaboration.

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Kevin Nicklaus is a partner with the Los Angeles-based management and production company, Sandstone Artists. Kevin oversees the production division of the company, with projects set up with A-list directors, studio pods and a greenlit animated project. He currently serves as the consulting producer for RIDI, the billion-dollar company behind the Manta comics app and Tapas, a division of Korean media giant, Kakao, as well as other IP-based projects.

Prior to his work as a producer, he served as SVP for The Wolper Org., and contributed to BATES MOTEL and the Emmy-nominated ROOTS reboot, among others. He attended NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and entered the industry through the Television Academy internship program.

Sandstone Artists is a dynamic and innovative management + production company dedicated to empowering creators in the film and television industry.

Theo Brown is an LA-based director with a deep love for intimate character stories within the science fiction genre. His latest feature film, An Electric Sleep is a ten-time Festival award winner, including LA Sci-Fi, Best Feature at the Culver City Film Festival, Best SciFi at the Silicon Valley Film Fest, and Best Soundtrack at LA Sci-Fi Film Fest. He also directed the Smoky Mountain Rescue web series, which won the Silver Telly for Best Web Series, as well as the Grand Jury Prize at the San Diego Int. Kids Film Festival.

From Star Trek marathons to Spider-Man comics, Theo’s love of sci-fi inspires him to keep telling stories that audiences across the globe have resonated with.

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We're back! Producer Skye Wathen (FALLOUT, WESTWORLD) sits down with Kyle to discuss her road to producing some of the top television shows of the last decade, as well as her experience with indie film. They touch on several aspects, including becoming a production assistant, how one line in a script can cost millions of dollars, and why anger has no place in the process.

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Team work makes the dream work. This is not just a catchy piece of positive thinking, though it certainly is that. As anyone who has worked in a creative field can tell you, it’s not just what you bring to the table that matters, it’s how that fits with the work of those around you. On today’s show, we’ll hear from creatives who have been in the trenches of the process, and how trust in your peers can make the work so much more rewarding.

Featuring: Gabe Braxton, Zack Morrison, Jennifer Cooney, Jason Perlman, Shana Darabie, Michael Schwartz

Make Your Sh*t is now part of the PodFrontier Podcast Network! Check out patreon.com/podfrontier for more

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Anxiety can be a formidable obstacle in doing the creative work. Whether you suffer from writer's block, imposter syndrome, or any other self-sabotaging habits, each of us may suffer in our own personal way for our art. But, is it possible to turn an obstacle into the path itself? Here are a few words of wisdom about Staying Calm and Carrying On.

Featuring:

Sonja O'Hara, Nathan Hale Williams, JB Tadena, Jennifer Cooney, Desean Terry, Jessica Hobbs

Make Your Sh*t is now part of the PodFrontier Podcast Network! Check out patreon.com/podfrontier for more

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This week Kyle talks with author, producer, and fellow podcaster Jessica Hobbs, whose new book of short stories entitled THE WITCH: AND OTHER TALES OF THE AMERICAN GOTHIC is currently being released as a fully-cast and narrated audio drama. They discuss Jessica’s experience transitioning from filmmaking into book and podcast writing, the secret weapon of podcast production, how creativity works as a response to the world around you, and why horror is such a great vehicle for saying exactly what you want.

THE WITCH: AND OTHER TALES OF THE AMERICAN GOTHIC: Spotify

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Jessica Hobbs is a writer with a BA in Film Studies from the University of Colorado, Boulder, a background in theater, opera, Vaudeville, television production, and film festivals, and a passion for all things strange and unusual. If she’s not writing, she’s likely on a movie set, traveling around the world, practicing witchcraft, or blasting rock and roll records in her living room. She lives in the magical Laurel Canyon neighborhood in Los Angeles with her composer husband, Robinton, and their cat, Freyja.

Jessica’s book and podcast The Witch: And Other Tales of the American Gothic is a collection of strange occurrences in 19th century America, written in the literary tradition of gothic horror. These seven stories provide a reflection of the country’s growing pains during a time of transition and an exploration of the secrets that lurk in the shadows of the world we think we know.

On this week’s show, Kyle speaks with Michael Musante and Leo Matchett from famed independent production company American Zoetrope about their non-profit organization Decentralized Pictures. They discuss their alternative approach to film financing, what the cinematic landscape looks like outside of the studio system, and how today’s independent scene compares to the risk-taking auteurs of the 70s and 90s.

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DECENTRALIZED PICTURES - Link

MICHAEL MUSANTE is vice president of film production and acquisitions at American Zoetrope, a co-founder of The Decentralized Pictures Foundation, Inc, as well as the Secretary of its Board of Directors. He is an attorney, admitted to practice in New York and North Carolina, and received his BA from Duke University and his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 2001. He practiced law for 10 years before becoming a full-time creative film producer. He collaborated closely with such accomplished filmmakers as Ted Kotcheff, Martha Coolidge, Fred Roos and Richard Chew before joining the team at American Zoetrope. As executive in charge of production at American Zoetrope, he is overseeing development and production of several feature films, including Fairyland starring Emilia Jones and Scoot McNairy, as well as the Broadway Production of The Outsiders Musical. Most recently he is an Executive Producer of Gia Coppola’s Mainstream starring Andrew Garfield, Maya Hawke, Nat Wolfe and Jason Schwartzman.

LEO MATCHETT is a Technical Emmy Award winner who grew up in Toronto and has lived in Los Angeles for 12 years working in film production. He brings a balance of knowledge in film, technology, and crypto assets. Leo has been involved in smartphone application development since 2008, developing Artemis Director’s Viewfinder (2018 Engineering Emmy Award Winner), and Techscout Touch for Android and IOS. As an early adopter of Bitcoin, Leo began conceiving ways to bring blockchain technology, its auditability, and efficiencies to the filmmaking lifecycle. His primary goal is talent discovery and helping those creative thinkers concentrate on what’s important - the creative. Twitter

On this week’s episode, Kyle talks with Joseph Mwamba, Writers Assistant on The Afterparty, currently streaming on AppleTV+, and the co-chair of the WGA Virtual Mix, a pre-Writer’s Guild-focused social empowerment organization for writers. We discuss a lot of topics of interest to both up-and-coming writers and those spending every day on the picket line, from the ongoing strike and how pre-WGA writers can (and should) get involved, to fostering a community that can lift you up in times of doubt, how the quickest way to be a successful producer is to become good at peopling, thoughts on overcoming the gap between your level of taste and your level of skill, and…what love’s got to do with it.

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TINSELTOWN GHOST STORIES SEED & SPARK https://seedandspark.com/fund/tinseltown-ghost-stories#story

Joseph Mwamba is a first-generation African-American Y.A. writer from Indiana. He's been named a Screenwriter to Watch in 2023, and as a Writers' Assistant wrote an episode for Season 2 of Netflix’s upcoming action anime TOM CLANCY’S SPLINTER CELL. He was the Writers’ PA for Season 4 of Netflix's psychological thriller YOU and Season 2 of Apple TV's mystery-comedy THE AFTERPARTY; before that he spent time as a double-desk assistant at UTA. Joe co-runs WGA Virtual Mix, a PreWGA group that holds Q&A panels with WGA writers, the monthly Miracle Mile Mixer, and the #PreWGA Day pickets. In combination with their partnership with Green Envelope Grocery Aid in June, WGA Virtual Mix helped provide over $15,000 in grocery funds to PreWGA writers, support staffers, and lower-level WGA writers.