In honor of the late writer, director, and actor Adrienne Shelly, we are reposting The Writers' Hangout Episode dedicated to her story in the month she passed. This is an opportunity to get to know this talented and amazing woman whose life was cut short by a tragic event. The PAGE International Screenwriting Awards sponsors the WRITERS' HANGOUT. Executive Producer Kristin Overn Creator/Producer Sandy Adomaitis Producer Terry Sampson Music by Ethan Stoller  👍 If you enjoy the show, please...

On today's show, Kevin Bacher, the winner of the 2018 Page Awards Grand Prize, is here. Kevin was a guest on The Writers Hangout last Spring, Episode 69, where we discussed his movie, THE INHABITANT, starring Dermot Mulroney and Leslie Bibb. THE INHABITANT was released last year in theaters and can be found on Amazon Prime and Hulu.   Besides being a screenwriter, Kevin is an EMMY-winning WGA documentary director/writer. If you have watched The Discovery Channel, you must have seen his work....

Happy Halloween!! Hang out with Sandy, Terry, and special guest screenwriter Mark Steen as they recap "Ghost and Mr. Chicken," starring Don Knotts from "The Andy Griffith Show" fame.  Directed by Alan Rafkin and written by James Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum, "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" is about a timid typesetter who hasn't a ghost of a chance of becoming a reporter - until he decides to solve a murder mystery and ends up spending a fright-filled night in a haunted house.  You don't need...

Thanks for hanging out with us! In this episode, Sandy and Terry discuss a Twitter thread that provides valuable insights into how signed writers found their representation—special thanks to Tyler Clair Smith, the writer on X who inspired this episode. Follow Tyler Clair Smith @tclairsmith - we certainly did! In this episode, we discuss helpful internet programs for screenwriters. The Writers’ Hangout Podcast did not receive payment for our opinion. The PAGE International Screenwriting...

We discuss Terry’s love of The Marx Brothers and his appreciation of improvisation.  The Marx Brothers were a famous comedy act that succeeded in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in 14 motion pictures between 1905 and 1949. The American Film Institute selected five of the Marx Brothers' fourteen feature films as among the top 100 comedy films. Critics, scholars, and fans widely regard the Marx Brothers as some of the greatest and most influential comedians of the 20th century. They perfected the...

Hang out with Sandy and Terry in their discussion about the 20th anniversary of School of Rock and the process of generating creative ideas when a screenwriter begins to write a movie. We find the process intriguing - from when an idea strikes the writer, often while in the shower, to how they shape it based on their life experiences. Research for this episode included: One Great Rock Movie Can Change the World: An Oral History of ‘School of Rock’ written by Angie Martoccio...

Hang out with Sandy and Terry as they discuss what is going on with the writer's strike, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), and writing in winter in Vilnius.  Research for this episode relied heavily on the NIH National Institute of Mental Health. nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/seasonal-affective-disorder  Other...

 Hang out with Sandy and Terry as they discuss the "big idea" - a high-concept premise that can persuade studio executives to read your script and turn it into a movie. Terry shares his opinion on the best pizza in the San Fernando Valley, while Sandy gets serious about New York bagels.  The PAGE International Screenwriting Awards sponsors the WRITERS' HANGOUT. Executive Producer Kristin Overn Creator/Producer Sandy Adomaitis Producer Terry Sampson Music by Ethan Stoller  👍 If you enjoy the...

Sandy and Terry hang out and discuss Sandy being sexually harassed and bullied but still pitching a Humanitas Prize-nominated idea to Disney/ABC/ RECESS with her former writing partner. 👍 If you enjoy the show, please remember to follow us and leave a review where you listen to podcasts.  📸 Check out our IG for photos @thewritershangoutpodcast💙 If you have an idea for the podcast or would like to comment, please get in touch with us @[email protected]  You can follow us on...

Hang out with our guests, John Wirth and Gail Matthius, a Hollywood couple who met in high school, fell in love and moved to Hollywood to pursue their dreams.  Gail was a cast member on Saturday Night Live in 1981 and is known for her voice acting work in animated shows, including Bobby's World, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, and The Tick.  John Wirth is a television showrunner, producer, and writer.  His credits included HELL ON WHEELS, WU ASSASSINS, TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR...

Hang out with our guests, John Wirth and Gail Matthius, a Hollywood couple who met in high school. Gail was a cast member on Saturday Night Live in 1981 and is known for her voice acting work in animated shows, including Bobby's World, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, and The Tick.  John Wirth is a television showrunner, producer, and writer.  His credits included HELL ON WHEELS, WU ASSASSINS, TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES, and NASH BRIDGES.   In part one of this two-part episode,...

Hang out with Sandy and Terry as they talk procrastination with a capital P! Everyone deals with it, but how do you stop procrastination? Then, once you do, what do you write your screenplay about? You have three great ideas, but which one do you write? We address this in the latest episode and have a few laughs.   Research for this episode includes articles from the following publications. “Leonardo da Vinci” by Walter...

Hang out with Sandy and Terry as they discuss THE BLIND SIDE controversy over Michael Oher, the NFL veteran whose life inspired the movie and who is suing his conservators, Sean and Leigh Ann Tuohy, for  $15 million. The former Baltimore Ravens and Carolina Panthers Tackle says in his filing that he gave the rights to his life story away to 20th Century Fox in 2007 without any payment whatsoever and that he was missing profits from John Lee Hancock’s 2009 film, which grossed $309 million at...

How do they do it? How do successful writers become successful? They must all lead charmed lives. One imagines a successful writer who works hard, gets up at 4 a.m., goes to the gym, then slides behind the laptop for four hours. Afternoons they take their doodle around the block of their tony neighborhood, then put in another two solid hours of editing. Healthy dinner with friends, then bed for a brilliant night's sleep. Well, dear writers, as we know on The Writer's Hangout, it doesn't...

Time to play – The Writers’ Game Show!!!!  Sandy will give a brief synopsis of a movie that involves music, one sentence at a time, and we’ll see how many sentences Terry and you take to come up with the movie's name.  We are going for a low score here.  If you get it on the first sentence, you give yourself a one, the second sentence a two, etc.  All synopsizes are courtesy of Google.  The PAGE International Screenwriting Awards sponsors the WRITERS' HANGOUT. Executive Producer Kristin...

Today, we have a great guest on the show, best-sell author and screenwriter Claire McGown.  Claire was born in Northern Ireland and grew up in a village where she said, “The most exciting thing that ever happened was a herd of cows getting loose in the road.” Clair now lives in London, and her latest mystery thriller book, LET ME IN, was just released. The Irish Times said, “A knotty, twisty tale…unfolds at a cracking pace.” I had so much fun getting to know Claire that I didn’t want to stop...

Friend of the pod and production coordinator extraordinaire Kathy joins us to look at the WGA and SAG strike through the lens of the people behind the scene.  What happened to everyone else working as a production assistant, gaffer, or script coordinator just a few months ago?  When will the strike end?  What are the writers and actors looking for?  Tune in, and all will be explained.  The PAGE International Screenwriting Awards sponsors the WRITERS' HANGOUT. Executive Producer Kristin...

On this episode, we invite you to hang out with Sandy as she takes a look at Hollywood's most iconic landmark, the Hollywood Sign.  Originally built as “Hollywoodland” as an advertisement to lure in real estate investors, it has seen tragedy, facelifts, and even a couple of good pranks over the decades. The Hollywood Sign is celebrating its 100 Anniversary throughout 2023.  

We dive deep into the 1980s class miniseries V. V: The Original Miniseries is a two-part science-fiction television miniseries written and directed by Kenneth Johnson. V aired in 1983 and initiated the science-fiction franchise concerning aliens known as the "Visitors" trying to gain control of Earth and of the ways the populace reacts. Alone, the behind-the-scenes exploration of V: The Original Miniseries is an interesting story, but for writers, learning about classic television, films,...

We are back!  The Writer’s Hangout is back with a brand-new episode.  We break down the current WGA Writers’ Strike and whether A.I. can write a screenplay better than a human.  We introduce A.I. Theater, where Terry reads from three scripts written by bots.  Writers, we challenge you not to laugh at these delightful screenplays.  The scripts are all written by bots and can be found on the Instagram Account: @bot_scripts 👍 If you enjoy the show, please remember to follow us and leave a...

Rewind -- British screenwriter Ian Mackintosh's plane went missing on July 7, 1979, nineteen days before his thirty-ninth birthday, over the Gulf of Alaska. What happened remains a mystery. Join us as we tell the story of Lieutenant Commander Hamish Ian Mackintosh, a British Royal Navy officer, a writer of thriller novels, and a screenwriter for British television.  Ian's series, THE SANDBAGGERS, was groundbreaking. The New York Times said "the best spy series in television history." Ian...

We wanted to “jump on the mic,” as the kids say, and give you a Writers’ Hangout update.  Terry and I have been working on some projects that took our time away from recording, but we’ve been working behind the scenes on future episodes and are excited about hanging out with you soon. I miss you guys a lot.  In the meantime, here’s a favorite episode of mine and Terry's entitled; WRITING REAR WINDOW WITH HITCHCOCK AND HAYES.  Learn how a short story from a dime store magazine turned into one...

REWIND of two more PAGE Awards Judges, Dwayne Smith and Mike Kuciak continue the conversation on how they evaluate your screenplay. Mike Kuciak has two movies coming out in 2022; he's the writer-director and writer-producer of the other. He's a producer on a third film scheduled to begin production in late 2022. He has served as a producer and executive producer on several independent films. He was the senior vice president of development for a literary management-production company and,...

Rewind of Episode 3 -- Sandy and Terry Sampson discuss the little-known mystery of the 1997 disappearance of screenwriter Gary Devore. Gary was returning home after working out the ending of his latest script, which he claimed would blow the lid off government secrets when he disappeared without a trace. Did Gary step out to "buy a pack of cigarettes," or was he met with foul play? We'll delve into what happened that fateful night and revisit the rumors and conspiracy theories that continue...

  We are rewinding episodes 17, 18, and 48 -- The Unbelievable True Story of Elisabeth Finch and Grey's Anatomy.   Rising star and television writer Elizabeth Finch wrote many emotional scripts for GREY'S ANATOMY, exploring cancer, abortion, and sexual abuse using her life experience. In March of 2022, Grey's Anatomy writer Elisabeth Finch was investigated by Disney and placed on administrative leave by the production company Shondaland over concerns about her medical history. Elisabeth told...