Inspiration: Where does it come from, and how to keep it? (Cutting Room Floor #007)

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Inspiration: Where does it come from, and how to keep it? (Cutting Room Floor #007)

FromFilm School

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Length:

28 minutes

Released:

May 16, 2019

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

This week, Josh and Ira discuss the tools and techniques they use to find new ideas, and how they keep their inspiration going during the day-to-day grind. Where do you get your best ideas?!

Released:

May 16, 2019

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

A filmmaker and a writer tackle the AFI's Top 100 Films and beyond to educate themselves about movies and storytelling. Welcome to Film School!

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The French Connection (AFI Top 100 Films #93): New York Detective "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) and his partner (Roy Scheider) chase a French heroin smuggler. And believe us, it's *a lot* of chasing! Can the Hack-man and the Roy-boy get the baddies? DOES this movie have a badass car chase scene?... by Film School
70 min listen
What "Write Every Day" Really Means (Cutting Room Floor #002): “Write every day!” We’ve all heard the advice. How many of us have tried it and failed? How many of us are feeling shame RIGHT NOW because we have (or are currently) neglected the project we're working on? Ira and Josh have. But, dear... by Film School
22 min listen
Yankee Doodle Dandy (AFI Top 100 Films #98): Music is in the air! Vaudeville! Romance! Franklin Delano Roosevelt! It's the 1942 classic Yankee Doodle Dandy this time around, a movie neither Josh nor Ira had ever even HEARD of...so what put this movie on the map? Why is it on the list.... by Film School
74 min listen
12 Angry Men (AFI Top 100 Films #87): Jury duty: it's the nightmare for every working man and woman in America. But, what if it's also the pillar of our entire justice system? Henry Fonda offers a gripping story centered around the latter, and stars as the lone man who stands between a... by Film School
75 min listen
The Genius of Audiobooks and Phillip K. Dick (Cutting Room Floor #005): Ya boys share their love of both reading books in audio form, and of the amazing writer Phillip K. Dick and his classic short novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Audio is a GREAT way to read, learn, be entertained, and we live in a time that's... by Film School
19 min listen
The Last Picture Show (AFI Top 100 Films #95): The boys talk growing up as a small-town country bumpkin versus a city slicker, Sam the Lion, and about that empty feeling deep in the center of all of us. Why do we love it so much? And why is it that adults really actually have *nothing* figured... by Film School
85 min listen
Toy Story (AFI Top 100 Films #99): To Infinity, and beyond! Join Josh on his own personal journey to figure out if he's ever actually SEEN this movie, and Ira's dive into the Dark Night of the Soul. It's Toy Story time! by Film School
92 min listen
What is an Action Story? (Cutting Room Floor #009): Josh and Ira take a deep dive into the Action Story Genre. What makes an Action Story? And how similar is it to the Hero's Journey...or perhaps even the SAME THING? We go deep, this week on the Cutting Room Floor! by Film School
59 min listen
Blade Runner (AFI Top 100 Films #97): He's seen things us people wouldn't believe! Josh and Ira dive into one of the most influential SciFi films of all time and, amazingly enough, the first movie both of the boys have seen before. We've got opinions, oohhhh we've got opinions. Join us! by Film School
76 min listen
Bringing Up Baby (AFI Top 100 Films #88): Leopards, and loons, and lunatics, oh my! Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant star in this truly, breathlessly fast "screwball" comedy. It's all pratfalls, bits, and vaudeville; an era and a style of comedy that we just don't have anymore, all in... by Film School
66 min listen
What Is Genre? (Cutting Room Floor #008): Genre. It's the absolute #1 MOST IMPORTANT THING you can ever decide for your story. It informs eevveerrryyyything else. So...what IS genre, then? And WHY is it the most important thing for storytelling? Josh and Ira go over the 5-leaf clover of Genre... by Film School
33 min listen
Will Time Travel Ever Exist? (Cutting Room Floor #004): If time travel is to ever be invented, at least the time travel we imagine in our stories...would we know about it? Ira shares an epiphany he had on the subject, and Josh talks about how he's always had Deja Vu, ever since he was a kid. We're... by Film School
22 min listen
Do The Right Thing (AFI Top 100 Films #96): Fight the Power! Film School smokes its first Spike Lee Joint, and it's jazzy, wacky, funny, and edgy AF. A very young Mr. Lee makes a statement with his masterpiece both behind the camera, and in front...and in the process, is cooler than we could... by Film School
93 min listen
Ben-Hur (AFI Top 100 Films #100): Chariots, Revenge and Jesus, oh my! Josh and Ira kick off Film School with the first movie on AFI's Top 100 Films of all time with the sword and sandal epic Ben-Hur. Let's get this journey through cinema history started! by Film School
93 min listen
Sunrise (AFI Top 100 Films #82): Considered by many the greatest film of the Silent Era, Sunrise is a German Expressionist poem of a marriage on the rocks. It brings the visuals, helter-skelter sets, melodramatic performances, a sweeping score, and symbolism galore. It's the first... by Film School
61 min listen
Platoon (AFI Top 100 Films #86): Tom Berenger IS reality, folks. At least he is in Oliver Stone's intense, over the top, disturbing take on Vietnam which was released in 1986. The 80s, man; where more was more and the cocaine and steroids were flowing. The cast in this one is rather... by Film School
62 min listen
A Night At The Opera (AFI Top 100 Films #85): You can't'a fool me. There ain't no Sanity Clause! The Marx Brothers kick off their tenure of pictures at MGM with this zany musical comedy that features such classic scenes as the Stateroom Cabin, and the Contract Scene between Groucho and Chico. One... by Film School
57 min listen
Depression, Anxiety, and David Lynch (Cutting Room Floor #001): Our first Cutting Room Floor episode! This one from the recording of Toy Story covers the trials of moving (we always have 50% more sh*t than we thought we did), the pains and inspirations of a love affair that falls apart, and the effects of... by Film School
44 min listen
Titanic (AFI Top 100 Films #83): I'm the King of the World! This week, we dive into James Cameron's epic-in-the-classic-movie-sense love story. It made both Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet a star, and it features one of the most spectacular disaster sequences ever put to film. But... by Film School
84 min listen
How Blogging Every Day Changed My Life (Cutting Room Floor #003): Journaling, blogging, a diary; however you want to classify it, both Josh and Ira have found sitting down at the end of every day and taking a few minutes to write down their thoughts and feelings for the day. Is it for you? It might be! The boys... by Film School
44 min listen
What Movies Give You The Warm Fuzzies? (Cutting Room Floor #017): We all have those movies that just make us feel warm and fuzzy inside. They feel like home. This week, the boys talk about those movies for them, Josh's self-imposed project to watch more of them, and how these special stories can keep us all... by Film School
21 min listen
Swing Time (AFI Top 100 Films #90): Old movies feel like Disneyland. This, and many, many epiphanies are brought to you by the black and white classic romance Swing Time with the lanky, debonaire Fred Astaire and the drop dead gorgeous smokeshow Ginger Rogers. It's all about... by Film School
74 min listen
How Do We Balance Creativity and the Day Job? (Cutting Room Floor #019): We all have bills to pay. But how do we work full time week in and week out and still get our creative work done as well? What KIND of job allows us to do both and not get burned out? Josh and Ira have been in this situation for most of their adult... by Film School
27 min listen
Comparisonitis and Balancing Ambition vs Contentment (Cutting Room Floor #006): How can that person have done that thing we can't do? And, at such an early age?! We've all been there. Comparing ourselves to others can be so toxic...but then again, how can we improve ourselves without learning from others' success and failures?... by Film School
30 min listen
Spartacus (AFI Top 100 Films #81): I'm Spartacus! No, I'm Spartacus! No...WE are SpartacALLofus! :) We hit our second sword-and-sandal epic of the late 50s / early 60s. This one is directed by a very young Stanley Kubrick and stars Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier. Sweeping vistas.... by Film School
61 min listen
What is a Love Story? (Cutting Room Floor #010): BONUS! For our Patreon supporters each week, we also release an episode of the Cutting Room Floor which cover topics from personal updates to storytelling deep-dives to general Creative Life tips and how-tos. We thought we'd share one of those... by Film School
50 min listen
Goodfellas (AFI Top 100 Films #92): We're funny? FUNNY HOW?! Martin Scorsese is in the house, dropping what could arguably be considered the greatest mob/gangster movie ever made. Joe Pesci took home an Oscar for his role as Tommy, while Robert DeNiro, Lorraine Bracco and Ray Liotta... by Film School
72 min listen
Easy Rider (AFI Top 100 Films #84): 1960s counterculture gets its definitive film in '69's "Easy Rider." It was a breakout film for Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, and written and directed by Dennis Hopper...at least that's what Hopper would have the world BELIEVE! It's all about dudes,... by Film School
65 min listen
Pulp Fiction (AFI Top 100 Films #94): BIG. KAHUNA. BURGER. Pulp Fiction is one of the most iconic, impactful, most-quotable movies ever made. Like few other films in history, it inspired a generation of filmmakers and screenwriters. The boys break down Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece.... by Film School
94 min listen
The Sixth Sense (AFI Top 100 Films #89): He sees dead people. ALL THE TIME! This week, the AFI Top 100 list brings us our first entry that could be classified as an out-and-out horror. It's M. Knight Shyamalan's classic "The Sixth Sense" starring Bruce Will and a mind-bendingly-good... by Film School
87 min listen

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Saboteur (Alfred Hitchcock Deep Dive #28): Must I remind you that *you* are the fugitive from justice and not I? It's The 39 Steps: Part 2! Hitchcock returns to what is clearly a favorite premise: an innocent man on the run from a criminal conspiracy with the fate of the country at stake.... by Film School
71 min listen
Remembering Greatness, Forgetting the Rest (Cutting Room Floor #204): 400 episodes! Wild. This week, we're tackling the question of bad vs good vs great from the angle of seeking out new books, TV, and Film. It can be a hard road! Most stuff out there isn't great...so, how does one keep going, keep up the enthusiasm? We... by Film School
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Suspicion (Alfred Hitchcock Deep Dive #27) by Film School
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Commanding Intelligence (Cutting Room Floor #203): Can you fall in love, deeply in love love, with somebody you know isn't as smart as you are? We're not talking about pets, or kids, inanimate objects, or even sexual attraction. We're talking about grown-up, head over heels, enduring, inspiring LOVE.... by Film School
52 min listen
Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Alfred Hitchcock Deep Dive #26): If you had it all to do over again, would you have married me? Hitch takes on married life in its screwball form! These comedies were very popular at the time (see: Grant and Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby), so it's not surprising that our British... by Film School
69 min listen
The Wrong Direction (Cutting Room Floor #202): How do you know when you've gone in the wrong direction? What are the signs? And when you realize that you have, what do you do? Josh and Ira share their own personal insights on this question, covering the spectrum of a chronic over-planner to... by Film School
41 min listen
Foreign Correspondent (Alfred Hitchcock Deep Dive #25): There's a crime hatching on that bedeviled continent... World War II is in full swing when this movie releases. Or, at least it is in Europe. London is being bombed, and Hitchcock can't help but feel, well, helpless. And guilty for not being there.... by Film School
58 min listen
The Elements of a Great Film (Cutting Room Floor #201): What makes a good movie? What are the things that stand out? We all have our own personal versions of the answer to this question. Josh and Ira each answer for themselves without getting into the weeds as much as possible. Also, Josh recommends... by Film School
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Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock Deep Dive #24): Do you think the dead come back and watch the living? Mr. Hitchcock is in Hollywood! Alfred makes his first film in the States, and holy crap does he have some fun with his budget. Everything tinsel town had to offer in 1940 is on display: star power,... by Film School
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Hitchcock's British Period Takeaways (Cutting Room Floor #200): Hitchcock is moving to Hollywood! As the master of suspense makes his way west, we're taking a pause here to look back on his period in Britain. 13 years. 24 films (one of which has been lost since). An era that saw him struggle to fit in, thrive as... by Film School
57 min listen
Jamaica Inn (Alfred Hitchcock Deep Dive #23): CHAAADWIIIICK??!! Hitch teams up with dynamo actor Charles Laughton for a tale of piracy, lies, and corruption. The stage actor is riveting, even if the film has its flaws, and apparently he and Alfred had a hard time working together. There's a lot... by Film School
66 min listen
White Lies (Cutting Room Floor #199): A small lie. A sentence I didn't actually write, or a shot I didn't really shoot that I pass off as my own. Or I didn't actually do something the way I said I did. How big of a deal are these kinds of lies or omissions? Do they really matter? How... by Film School
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The Lady Vanishes (Alfred Hitchcock Deep Dive #22): Nuns don't wear high heels... A woman has disappeared into thin air, on a train no less. But when Iris Henderson reports it, nobody believes her. In fact, nobody on the train even knows who she's talking about. So, what gives? Is Iris crazy? Or is... by Film School
67 min listen
Good vs. Great (Cutting Room Floor #198): What's the difference between good...and great? Think about how each of those words makes you feel. The contrast is pretty dramatic, isn't it? Like, MILES different, not inches. So, if the difference between good and great is massive, how do we... by Film School
67 min listen
Young and Innocent (Alfred Hitchcock Deep Dive #21): Oh Robert, if only things would turn out all right... A woman's body washes ashore. A young man is seen fleeing from the sight of it. But...did he do it? That's the question the local constable's daughter must answer, even as she finds herself falling... by Film School
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You Need A Shock-Proof Sh*t Detector (Cutting Room Floor #197): Ernest Hemingway famously once said: "The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shockproof, shit detector." We all must be able to distinguish between good storytelling and bad storytelling. So...how strong is yours? (hint: it's... by Film School
60 min listen
Sabotage (Alfred Hitchcock Deep Dive #20): What goes on after hours in that cinema of yours...? Alfred takes on Joseph Conrad's popular novel The Secret Agent, about a man who's tasked with planting a bomb in London to create fear and terror. In this adaptation, he owns a movie theater, a... by Film School
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How To Create Great Side Characters (Cutting Room Floor #196): Frodo had Sam. Luke had Artoo. Harry had Ron and Hermione. Side characters are just as important to a well-told story as the main characters are. So, how do you make a great one? And what's the trap, sometimes, of a side character who's more... by Film School
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Secret Agent (Alfred Hitchcock Deep Dive #19): General Pompellio Montezuma De La Vilia De Conde De La Rue! Peter Lorre is back, this time as a sidekick assassin who goes by the name "The Hairless Mexican," and "The General," of which he is neither. Hitch has been on a roll with his newfound focus... by Film School
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If You Could Travel Anywhere (Cutting Room Floor #195): If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? What would top your list? Money is no object, neither is time. Dream as big as you want. Also, Josh recommends Deep Space Nine on Pluto TV and Paramount+, and Ira recommends both versions... by Film School
40 min listen
The 39 Steps (Alfred Hitchcock Deep Dive #18): Beautiful, mysterious woman pursued by gunmen. Sounds like a spy story... Widely considered to be the first modern spy movie ever made, Hitchcock is leaning into his strengths yet again (huzzah!): murder, conspiracy, and a man on the run. This time,... by Film School
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What is a Framing Device? (Cutting Room Floor #194): Framing devices can be a powerful storytelling tool...but what ARE they? What is an "epistolary," or a "flashback" or an "unreliable narrator"? And whyyyy would we use them? What effect can they have on a story? We talk about it! Also, Josh recommends... by Film School
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The Man Who Knew Too Much (Alfred Hitchcock Deep Dive #17): Goodbye for the last time. What could be more touching than that? Peter Lorre. That's the first thing to know about this movie: Peter. Lorre. Hitch teams up with his first truly enduring star, someone we still know to this day, and they're off on an... by Film School
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How Personal Should Your Story Be? (Cutting Room Floor #193): We all know the power of a personal story when we encounter one. Nothing cuts like the truth. But, turning that lens to our own work...just how personal should our own work be? Is it possible to be too personal? Sure seems like it is. By the... by Film School
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Inspiration: Where does it come from, and how to keep it? (Cutting Room Floor #007)

Inspiration: Where does it come from, and how to keep it? (Cutting Room Floor #007)

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from Film School