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ON THE PAGE: Join professional script consultant Pilar Alessandra as she demystifies screenwriting and answers your questions about script craft and story.

941. The Fab Five 06/20/2025

941. The Fab Five The five writers selected for the 2025 CBS/Paramount Writers Mentoring Program talk about the craft and career lessons they’ve learned from the program and each other. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/37040540

940. Young Storytellers 06/13/2025

940. Young Storytellers Bill Thompson discusses his exceptional arts non-profit Young Storytellers and the new report, Growing Pains, which centers around the concerns and tastes of Gen Alpha. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/36965300

939. “What’s the Most Interesting Version of This?” 06/06/2025

939. “What’s the Most Interesting Version of This?” From procedurals to features, writer David Loong (The Hunting Party) challenges himself to find the most creative way to tell a story. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/36877360

938. The Perfect Song 05/30/2025

938. The Perfect Song Pilar hijacks the Rock Solid Podcast listeners to curate a list of perfect songs from iconic movies. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/36781855

937. Scripts with a Conscience 05/23/2025

937. Scripts with a Conscience Writer Troy Mann combines his Texas roots with his world travel and years of teaching experience to create genre scripts that are also intense morality tales. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/36656100

936. The Happiest Killer 05/16/2025

936. The Happiest Killer Writer/director Josh Stolberg (Saw X, Spiral and Jigsaw) returns to talk about the July release of his next indi-horror movie Skillhouse. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/36591005

935. Finding Story from Family 05/09/2025

935. Finding Story from Family Narrative and documentary filmmaker Oanh-Nhi Nguyen makes movies about her family, their past and the intergenerational experience. Here she talks about what she’s learned as a writer-director and how she makes sure that networking is a regular part of her process. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/36444375

934. Disaster is My Muse 05/02/2025

934. Disaster is My Muse Award-winning documentary director Molly Bernstein discusses the process and narrative approach that went into researching, developing and directing her documentaries about Maus creator Art Spiegelman and magician Ricky Jay. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/36393295

933. Baseball Stories 04/25/2025

933. Baseball Stories Screenwriter and major league baseball scout J.D. Elliby talks about the authenticity, character arcs, obstacles, and emotional moments that help create a great on-screen baseball story. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/36290100

932. Film Techniques That Tell the Story 04/18/2025

932. Film Techniques That Tell the Story Lenses, lighting, looks, and "oners.” What are the filming techniques that help tell the story beyond the page? Writer/director Jeremy Walton breaks it down for us. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/36214960

931. Philip Barantini (repeated episode) 04/11/2025

931. Philip Barantini (repeated episode) This episode was originally recorded in 2021 with director Philip Barantini, currently best known as the director of “Adolescence” a four-part series on Netflix. This episode focuses on his independent feature film Boiling Point, also shot in one take. Hear how he kept the camera moving while also telling a rich story of an intense night in a restaurant. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/36093100

930. Smart Popcorn 04/04/2025

930. Smart Popcorn Up and comer Billy Zeinert talks about writing "smart popcorn," familiar stories with novel twists. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/35983260

929. The Making of Dead Deer High 03/28/2025

929. The Making of Dead Deer High Married creative partners Joshua Dean and Jo Rochelle describe the shared teaching experiences that inspired the writing of the independent feature Dead Deer High and the adventures they encountered while making it. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/35899950

928. Saraswathi Buyyala and the Dancing Atoms 03/21/2025

928. Saraswathi Buyyala and the Dancing Atoms Writer/director Saraswathi (Vani) Buyyala talks about her journey from being a teenager in India to becoming the head of Rhythm and Hues Asia and eventually following her creative passions with her production company Dancing Atoms. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/35801865

927. Writing Act Three 03/14/2025

927. Writing Act Three Pilar takes a moment to talk about the themes, triggers and ah-hah moments that work to create a strong act three in a feature film. Surprise announcement at the end of the episode! /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/35681660

926. The Art of Being Yourself 03/07/2025

926. The Art of Being Yourself Writer Craig T. Williams talks about his approach to making industry relationships, nailing interviews and about the fact that all of his opportunities, including his first writers room job, happened after the age of 50. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/35534310

925. Oscar Talk 2025 02/28/2025

925. Oscar Talk 2025 Pilar and her friends Brian Pope, Mike Musa and Alex Troxler get together for their annual discussion about the best screenplay and best adapted screenplay Oscar nominees. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/35455920

924. The Scaffolding Method 02/21/2025

924. The Scaffolding Method Television writer Taylor Vaughn Lasley talks about her latest Peabody-award nominated project and the unique method of building story she teaches her students at Syracuse University's Newhouse School. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/35375640

923. "That’s Another Story!” 02/14/2025

923. "That’s Another Story!” On the Page “rising star" Tamar Feinkind has found stories from her dad, herself, her motherhood and her Jewish identity. Here, she talks about her projects, pitches and a pivotal name reclamation that helped change everything. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/35281215

922. Finding Humor In the Darkness 02/07/2025

922. Finding Humor In the Darkness Political turmoil! Climate disasters! How can a comedy writer find the funny? Marc Warzecha, writer, comedian and director of The Sketch School, is here to help. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/35174605

921. On Call With Tiffany Bratcher 01/31/2025

921. On Call With Tiffany Bratcher Writer Tiffany Bratcher worked her way up from writers PA to writer for the Amazon Prime series On Call and story editor for Chicago PD. Here she talks about writing procedural and half-hour drama, police ride-alongs and the need to always be pitching. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/35091850

920. The Women’s List 01/24/2025

920. The Women’s List Writer Jan Kimbrough discusses The Women’s List, a nonprofit spotlighting production-ready scripts by women writers. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/34988900

919. When Your Life Becomes a Movie 01/17/2025

919. When Your Life Becomes a Movie Pilar and her husband Pat describe how their real life story felt like a movie story as they evacuated Los Angeles during the wildfires. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/34889820

918. Playdate to Red Carpet 01/10/2025

918. Playdate to Red Carpet Filmmaker, author, comedian Sari Karplus made a movie with her kids on a lark and ended up winning film festivals! Listen to her take on working with kids, how she wrote four childrens' books and how taking time to “look at the trees,” might just be the key to a work / life balance. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/34791565

917. The Short 01/03/2025

917. The Short Writer/director/educator Rae Shaw discusses her new book, The Short, emphasizing the many forms of short form storytelling and the different approaches that can be taken to writing it. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/34706485

916. Logline Competition 2024: Part 2 12/28/2024

916. Logline Competition 2024: Part 2 Pilar reads and gives feedback on the loglines that didn’t make the top fifteen lists for the 2024 Logline Contest. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/34637795

915. Logline Competition 2024 12/27/2024

915. Logline Competition 2024 Pilar and Aadip read, evaluate and vote on feature and TV loglines sent in by listeners! /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/34616295

914. 2024 Writing Year in Review 12/20/2024

914. 2024 Writing Year in Review Career coach Lee Jessup returns to discuss the industry changes and writing trends of 2024 and shares what’s ahead for the new year. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/34543995

913. “You Can’t Not Do It" 12/13/2024

913. “You Can’t Not Do It" Writer/Director Coley Sohn talks about the fun and frustration of writing and directing her independent movie “Mudkey,” which satirizes the right/left divide during one miserable day on a Florida island. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/34425915

912. "The Product is Never the Story" 12/06/2024

912. "The Product is Never the Story" Writer/Publicists Alexandra Grizinski and Jenny Beres talk about ways that screenwriters can mine their personal story to get interest in their scripts as well as the ways they can expand to different media to help them get work and get noticed. /episode/index/show/onthepage/id/34298485

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