Bulletproof Screenwriting™ Podcast

April 17, 2025

BPS 415: From Indies to Producing Oscar Winners with Cassian Elwes

April 10, 2025

BPS 414: Billie Eilish and Truth to Filmmaking with RJ Cutler

Our guest today, RJ Cutler opened up 2021 with his raw, emotional, and remarkable new documentary Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry. He’s a phenomenal documentary and TV director and producer with nearly thirty years of experience in the business.<br /><br />The $2 million dollars documentary film which was directed, written, and produced by Cutler centered around singer-songwriter teen sensation and Grammy Award artist, Billie Eilish --- Revealing the creation process of Eilish's debut studio album ‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’<br /><br />The very intimate telling of Eillish’s solid support system and family, navigating the ropes of the music fame as a young artist depicted unconventionally and astoundingly.<br /><br />From college, Cutler started off as a theater director in New York for nine years until he transitioned to filmmaking in 1993 with his debut film, The War Room. The film follows James Carville and George Stephanopoulos, at first during the New Hampshire primary, and then mostly in Little Rock, Arkansas, at the Clinton campaign headquarters. Producing the film, he was able to combine his journalism and theater directing backgrounds. The film went on to win an Oscar®.<br /><br />He’s taken on great subject matters and big presences in his documentaries; the likes of legendary John Belushi, Anna Wintour, and Dick Cheney.<br /><br />Belushi, released in 2020, <b><i>examines the too-short life of comedian, actor and musician, John Belushi, original SNL cast member, using previously unheard audiotapes recorded shortly after John Belushi's death. </i></b>Cutler credits his storytelling to the ability to connect the subject to the processes. People’s desire to have their stories told, especially in documentaries, transcends the technicalities of making a documentary.<br /><br />Other well-known films or shows from Cutler are The September Issue (2009), Thin (2006), and Dear… (2020)<br /><br />Dear... profiles game-changing icons and the people whose lives they’ve inspired.<br /><br />Inspired by Apple’s groundbreaking “Dear Apple” ad for the Apple Watch, Dear... is an inventive approach to biographies of the influential people who are shaping culture and society today using letters that fans have written to them. Dear... focuses on key moments from subjects’ lives and their work that has profoundly impacted not only the individuals who have written letters but the world at large. All episodes are available to watch now on the Apple TV app with an Apple TV+ subscription.We talked a lot about Cutler's journey in the industry and how he landed the project to direct the first TELL ALL of the coolest 19-year-old in the US right now.<br /><br />Enjoy my enlightening conversation with RJ Cutler.<br /><br />Become a supporter of this podcast: <a href="https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bulletproof-screenwriting-podcast--2881148/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss">https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bulletproof-screenwriting-podcast--2881148/support</a>.

April 3, 2025

BPS 413: The Problem with Abusive Film Sets with Greg Hemmings

Let me introduce to you all, filmmaker and award-winning film-preneur, Greg Hemmings – Chief storyteller and CEO of Hemmings House Pictures limited. I wanted to address the serious problem of verbal abuse interns and other crew persons face on film sets from directors, producers, or others in charge.Why would I invite a CEO to discuss this topic?<br /><br />Well, Gerg’s company, Hemmings House Pictures creates content that inspires positive action. Their essence is to spread kindness and positivity within the work environment and through the content they produce.One example is the heartfelt music film When You Are Wild: A Day in the Life of J. Willis Pratt, which shows the power of friendship and how a community rallied together to help one of their own.The moral model of Hemmings House Pictures is one that many in the industry can learn from.Hemmings has produced and directed countless documentaries, branded content, and commercials, featuring some of the most inspiring stories. One of which is his 2021 documentary, Sistema Revolution – a video case study that explores the impact that the Hemmings House Pictures documentary “Sistema Revolution” had on a community.Besides film and commercial production, Hemmings Film Pictures also curates courses to employ other filmmakers to create positive social change.Without further ado, let’s get into it.<br /><br />Enjoy my conversation with Greg Hemmings.<br /><br />Become a supporter of this podcast: <a href="https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bulletproof-screenwriting-podcast--2881148/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss">https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bulletproof-screenwriting-podcast--2881148/support</a>.