Christopher Akerlind, has designed lighting, and occasionally scenery, for over 650 productions of theater, opera, and dance across the U.S. and around the world, including 24 shows on Broadway. Chris’s recent work includes Waiting for Godot at Theatre for a New Audience, Lynn Nottage’s play Clyde’s on Broadway and at the Mark Taper Forum, The Ligh…

Laura Pliskin is a talented art department coordinator who has contributed to some of the most visually stunning sets in film and television history. Laura has worked on projects like "Twisters," "Drive-Away Dolls,", and "Out of the Furnace." She's also been part of blockbuster hits like "The Dark Knight Rises" and the critically acclaimed TV serie…

The writer, Jon Kremer, has lived in Bournemouth, a town on the south-coast of England, since he was a teenager, coinciding with the start of the 1960s. That famous decade of cultural change allowed him to experience many aspects of the UK music industry via both the ownership of his town’s original vintage vinyl shop, Bus Stop Records, which opene…

My guest today, the noted muralist, John Cerney, is a Salinas, California native whose artwork can best be described as ‘giant cut-out plywood art’ that’s ordinarily viewed from the comfort of your car. There’s a sense of Norman Rockwell to his work, with a dash of Christo. After earning an art degree from Cal State Long Beach in 1984, John worked …

Veteran theater and film actor James Sutorius has performed for the most prestigious regional and repertory theater companies including The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, Center Theatre Group, South Coast Repertory, and Pasadena Playhouse. He’s also performed at Lincoln Center, Yale Repertory, Long Wharf Theatre, Seattle Repertory, and many more. I…

Novelist John David Bethel was a speechwriter to Cabinet Secretaries at the Departments of Commerce and Education during the Bush 41 and 43 administrations. He also served as a press secretary and speechwriter to members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Additionally, David worked as a communications strategist for a number of nation…

TV and movie editor, Tim Stepich, was captivated by the films and TV shows of his youth in the 1970s. By the time he was in high school, he set his sights on working in show business. Tim’s abiding interest in editing goes back to when, as a teen, he’d make music montages on his home stereo. He studied television and film at Emerson College in Bost…

Okema T. Moore is an Emmy Nominated PGA producer and rising director. She’s created unscripted and branded content for Lifetime, Netflix, and Disney/Marvel, including: Beat Bobby Flay and The Kitchen on Food Network, Oprah’s Color of Care, Founding In Color on Peacock, and Nomad with Carlton McCoy on CNN. Most recently, she developed and produced D…

Steve Skrovan has worked as a stand-up comedian, actor, and TV comedy writer since the early eighties. He’s written for many shows, most notably, Seinfeld, Hot in Cleveland, Til Death, Wendell and Vinnie, School of Rock, and the entire nine-year run of Everybody Loves Raymond, a show which he has also adapted internationally in Russia, Israel, and …

This is Paul Chitlik’s second appearance on StoryBeat. Paul has written for all the major networks and studios in both English and Spanish. He was story editor for The New Twilight Zone, and staff writer for the Showtime sitcom, Brothers. He’s directed episodes and been coordinating producer for “Real Stories of the Highway Patrol” and “U.S. Custom…

The noted author and teacher, Joseph B. Atkins, is a veteran writer and professor emeritus of journalism at the University of Mississippi. Joe’s latest book, Harry Dean Stanton: Hollywood’s Zen Rebel, won the Bronze Award for biography from the Independent Publisher Book Awards in 2021. Regarding Joe’s novel, Casey’s Last Chance, Edgar Award-winnin…

Ryan Raddatz is a Los Angeles-based TV writer and producer who has worked on numerous broadcast sitcoms and kids shows including: The Neighborhood on CBS and WordGirl on PBS. And he’s developed more than a dozen pilots at various networks. Ryan won two Daytime Emmys for his writing on WordGirl and another three for his work on the Ellen DeGeneres S…

Filmmaker and author, Dan Mirvish’s recent feature, 18½, starred Willa Fitzgerald, John Magaro and Bruce Campbell as the voice of Nixon. The award-winning film played in 25 festivals, had a 60-city theatrical release, played on 7 airlines and is now available on Starz. Prior to that, Dan directed Bernard and Huey, scripted by Oscar and Pulitzer Pri…

Max Kinnings has written the feature films, Act of Grace, Alleycats, and The Pagan King, as well as various film projects currently in development including a film adaptation of his critically acclaimed play, Wireless Operator. He’s the author of four novels, Hitman, The Fixer, Sacrifice, and Baptism. I’ve read Baptism and can tell you it’s a treme…

The actor, singer, and podcaster, Patrick Oliver Jones has been in the performing arts, both onstage and onscreen, for more than 30 years. Originally from Birmingham Alabama, he brought his Southern charm to New York City in 2008 with dreams of Broadway. And he’s gotten close with roles in off-Broadway world premieres, touring nationally with The A…

Doug Pray is a documentary filmmaker of great range and substance. His portraits of subcultures and creative visionaries have led him to numerous Sundance premieres, critical raves, and awards. His feature documentaries include: “Love, Lizzo,” “Surfwise,” and the Emmy Award-winning “Art & Copy.” His first two films, “Hype!,” the story of the Seattl…

Jimi Fritz is a filmmaker, musician, writer, entrepreneur, raconteur and roustabout. He’s written two feature-length screenplays, numerous articles, and a non-fiction book about rave culture. He’s also made numerous films and music videos. His latest book, entitled, The End of Everything, An Ironic Black Comedy, is about an older man simply named F…

Dr. William J. Carl is a Greek scholar, screenwriter, playwright, and lyricist. He’s also a former professor, seminary president, and pastor, who’s been a U.S. Senate Guest Chaplain. He’s been a speaker at Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton, Cornell, Boston University, Carnegie Mellon, as well as in Russia, South Africa, India, China, South Korea, Taiwan…

David Stenn was hired by the TV series Hill Street Blues immediately after graduating from Yale, becoming the show’s youngest writer ever. David then wrote She Was Marked For Murder, an NBC movie that earned an Edgar nomination from the Mystery Writers Guild of America. David returned to television as Producer of 21 Jump Street, then Supervising Pr…

The phenomenal screenwriter and novelist, Joey Hartstone, had his first two feature films directed by no less than Rob Reiner. The first film, LBJ, which was named to Hollywood’s highly respected Black List in 2014, starred Woody Harrelson as LBJ. Joey’s second feature, “Shock and Awe,” featured Woody Harrelson, James Marsden, Tommy Lee Jones, Jess…

The author, ghostwriter, copywriter, and freelance editor, Megan Woodward recently published her beautifully written and illustrated debut picture book, This Book is Definitely Not Cursed, which is published by Simon and Schuster. She’s also the author of the forthcoming book, Jake Maddox Dance, Gymnastics, and Cheerleading Jokes. Megan specializes…

Madolyn Smith Osborne had the kind of fairy tale show business beginning that most can only fantasize about. While still in school at The University of Southern California, she won her first paycheck with a serendipitous audition before famed choreographer, Gower Champion, when a lead dancer and understudy had to be replaced in the Broadway-bound p…

The great director, Rob Marshall, has made numerous films that have been honored with a total of 30 Academy Award nominations — winning 9 in all, including Best Picture for “Chicago,” which alone won a total of 6 of those Oscars. Also, for “Chicago,” Rob received the Directors Guild Award, and nominations for Best Director for the Oscar, Golden Glo…

Stephen Cole is back on StoryBeat for the second time. An award-winning writer of musical theatre, non-fiction books, short stories, and novels, Stephen’s work has been recorded, published, and produced worldwide, from New York City to London to the Middle East and Australia. With Matthew Ward he wrote the musicals After The Fair, Merlin’s Apprenti…

Maria Baltazzi is a Happiness Explorer. And an extraordinarily fascinating one at that. Her experiences as an Emmy-winning producer of hit TV shows, a wellbeing teacher, world traveler, and luxury travel designer specializing in transformative adventures, has given her a unique lens into conscious living. Maria was one of the original supervising p…

Author Scott M. Hoffman was a witness to historical events concerning major mob families. His book, Inside, tells the eye-opening tale of the son of a mobster growing up learning the harrowing life within a ruthless crime family. Scott absorbed the inner workings of the mob from his dad, who loyally served The Chicago Outfit for over 55 years –neve…

Richard Skipper is an entertainer, singer and host known for his award-winning tribute to Carol Channing, which was endorsed by Carol herself. He can be seen in the film, Carol Channing: Larger Than Life. Richard’s appeared in legendary venues from Atlantic City’s Taj Mahal and Hilton to Carnegie Hall. And he’s shared stages with some of the bigges…

Dr. ‘Niyi Coker, Jr., is a Professor and the Director of the School of Theatre, Television, and Film (TTF) at San Diego State University in California, which is ranked by the Hollywood Reporter as a top 10 Film production program. ‘Niyi has served as Visiting Artistic Director to several theatre companies including: K3 at Malmo Hogskola in Sweden, …

What a wonderful fun and funny interview with a fellow who’s toiled at the highest peak of Hollywood as a screenwriter. TV and film writer, Steven Kunes, has worked on numerous sitcoms and movies. At the age of 26, legendary TV producer, Norman Lear, hired Steven to write and develop half-hour comedies for his company, Embassy Television. This led …

Danielle Sunberg, a multi-award winning author and TEDx speaker, coaches high performers and advises social-impact organizations on authentic leadership. Specializing in conscious self-development, she guides individuals and groups to cultivate personal mastery as the key to experiencing our full potential. A former commercial litigator at a Washin…

Noted author and teacher Andrew Erish’s first book, Col. William N. Selig, the Man Who Invented Hollywood, was hailed by the L.A. Public Library as “One of the best books of 2012.” And The Huffington Post declared, “…it may well be the film book of the year.” Andrew’s most recent book, Vitagraph, America’s First Great Motion Picture Studio, receive…

Rosanna Staffa is an Italian-born playwright and author. Her debut novel, The War Ends At Four, is a beautifully rendered tale about an Italian acupuncturist in Minneapolis who returns home to Milan and rediscovers all that she left behind, who she is, and what her life is really about. I’ve read The War Ends at Four and found it to be a moving and…

This is Charles Rosenay’s second time on StoryBeat. He’s been in the entertainment business for over four decades as an actor, promoter, music aficionado, entertainer, MC, DJ, humorist, and author. Recently, he released his latest book, The Book of Top 10 Beatles Lists, which contains dozens of top ten lists from pop-culture notables, like Pete Bes…

Terry Press recently joined Amblin Partners in the newly created role of President of Strategy and Communications. Terry oversees the execution of all elements of marketing, publicity, consumer products, and communication for the film and television divisions of Amblin Partners and Steven Spielberg, who said of Terry, “Since the earliest days of Dr…

Jimmy Roberts is the composer of the second longest-running Off-Broadway musical in New York theater history, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, which ran for over 5000 performances. It’s been produced around the world in languages as diverse as French, Spanish, German, Finnish, Mandarin and Cantonese. Jimmy's second Off-Broadway show The Thin…

Branden Cobb is a 15-year Marketing executive at the forefront of industry evolution. In a time of heightened concern regarding Artificial Intelligence, content generation, and responsible Marketing, Branden stands out for merging innovation with market insights, by insisting that successful Marketing is a dynamic fusion of both art and science. As…

Actor-director Michelle Danner is also an acting coach at the Los Angeles Acting School who specializes in the Meisner, Strasberg, Adler, Hagen, Chekhov and Stanislavsky techniques. Alongside Larry Moss, she’s also the founding and Artistic Director of the Edgemar Center for the Arts. In 2006, Michelle made her feature film directing debut with, Ho…

What a great deal of fun it is to chat with the dynamic John Vorhaus, who is making his second StoryBeat appearance because you never know which direction he's going to take in any answer. John is best known for his classic comedy writing textbook, The Comic Toolbox: How to be Funny Even if You’re Not. Now available in five languages, John’s “bible…

I had a blast chatting with the great Australian-born actor and world-class raconteur, Thaao Penghlis, about his career and creative process. If you’re a fan of NBC’s long-running soap opera, Days of Our Lives, then you’re also likely to be a fan of Thaao's. He's had a remarkable four-decade, 1500+ episode run on the show playing both the seductive…

Writer-director Richard Bakewell is a veteran cinematographer and television camera operator who has worked with major media figures like Gordon Ramsay and Oprah Winfrey, and on noted TV docuseries such as Cops, Last Chance U, and Cheer. Richard has written and directed the feature film, Roswell Delirium, as a response to both his own journey back …

Damyanti Biswas is a Singapore-based fiction writer. Her short fiction has been published at Smokelong, Ambit, Litro, and Puerto del Sol, among others. And she's the coeditor of The Forge literary magazine. Her popular blog damyantiwrites.com, where she speaks about the writing life and interviews publishing professionals, turned 15 this year. She'…

Fritz Coleman is a 5-time Emmy Award Winning Stand-Up Comedian and former NBC Weathercaster. He’s opened all over the United States for entertainment icons like Ray Charles, Debbie Reynolds, Jay Leno, George Benson, the band America and too many more to mention. He made 8 appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and Jay Leno. He spent 40 …

Skye Fitzgerald founded Spin Film to bear witness to unfolding crises with the intent to deepen empathy and understanding. He recently completed a trilogy of films on the global refugee crisis. The first, 50 Feet from Syria, focused on doctors working on the Syrian border and was voted onto the Oscar® shortlist. The second, Lifeboat, documents sear…

Shelley Herman is an Emmy-nominated writer, actress, and host whose career began as an NBC Page in Burbank, CA. Shelley’s written over 1000 hours of television, contributed to numerous books for Dove/Phoenix Books, starred in the TV series Off the Wall and Night Rap, and co-hosted ESPN's Battle of The Monster Trucks and Mud Bog Spectacular. In addi…

Leslie S. Klinger is the multi-award-winning New York Times best-selling editor of more than 75 books, focusing primarily on the history of crime and supernatural fiction. In addition to heavily-annotated editions of classics like the stories of Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, Frankenstein, the work of H. P. Lovecraft, and most recently, Robert Louis Ste…

Making a return for his second appearance on StoryBeat is the great jazz and world flutist, Michael Mason. Michael’s been playing professionally for more than 40 years. He’s led off for Trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, had master classes with James Newton, been influenced by Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson, performed with New Orleans Saxophonist Edward “Kidd”…

Author-publisher Stephen Games came to publishing after a lifetime of reflecting on the creative arts. Stephen is a former architecture correspondent for The Guardian, documentary maker for the BBC, and opinion writer for the Los Angeles Times. He has a PhD from Cambridge University for research into the work of the celebrated German architectural …

The actor and writer, Joe Coyle has appeared in such movies as Jack Reacher with Tom Cruise, Promised Land with Matt Damon, Frances McDormand, Emily Blunt, and John Krasinski, and Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, starring Cate Blanchett. Joe hails from Sewickley, Pennsylvania. He’s been a paperboy, journalism student, university newspaper writer/photog…

Al Olson is one of a select handful of eccentric, quirky, and entertaining people who helped grow American Renaissance Festivals into being a very popular ticket. He shares his story in his comprehensive book, A History of the American Renaissance Festival. While attending the University of Minnesota, working nights in a parking ramp and pumping ir…

Screenwriters/Producers, Brian Gunn and Mark Gunn, are cousins who grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and attended the same high school and college, where they launched a sketch comedy troupe and began writing together. They moved to Los Angeles and landed their first job by writing the MTV movie 2gether, a spoof about a fictional boy band. It spawned …