This episode features Rachel Shukert, showrunner behind The Baby-Sitters Club (Netflix) and executive producer on The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu), charting her fascinatingly unconventional path from New York memoirist and playwright to Hollywood showrunner.

Is television overstaffed right now? What’s the best way to get yourself into a writers’ room? How should writers think about the anxieties that both propel them and get in the way?

Brian and Bailey discuss all this and more with Rachel, including what she learned from her first chaotic writers’ room, what it was really like producing GLOW alongside Jenji Kohan, and how she has kept building her television career through Nine Perfect Strangers (Hulu) and most recently The 'Burbs (Peacock).

Produced by Brian Landwehr and Bailey Patterson

Links mentioned in this episode:

The 'Burbs on Peacock https://www.peacocktv.com/stream-tv/the-burbs

The Baby-Sitters Club on Netflix https://www.netflix.com/title/81005407

Everything Is Going To Be Great by Rachel Shukert https://www.amazon.com/Everything-Going-Great-Underfunded-Overexposed/dp/0061782351

Have You No Shame? by Rachel Shukert https://www.amazon.com/Have-You-No-Shame-Regrettable/dp/0345498615

Imagine writing for an animated Disney series. Now, imagine being invited to write for the Star Wars universe. And imagine that leading you to the Marvel universe.

And now, imagine your audience is preschoolers!

In this episode of Living To Write, Brian and Bailey talk with James Eason-Garcia, who has done all this and more.

His behind-the-scenes stories are fun and enlightening, and his industry and craft advice applies to far more than just animation and writing for kids.

Join us to hear everything from how the industry works to how to fine-tune your portfolio to get the attention your writing deserves.

And along the way, James even shares his strategy for storing 30,000 comic books!

Produced by Bailey Patterson and Brian Landwehr

Paul Schrader wrote classics like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The Last Temptation of Christ, directed American Gigolo, Affliction and First Reformed, documented the history of the transcendental style of film, and he’s still hard at work telling stories with impact.

In this special episode, we present his engaging Story Summit VIP Guest Lecture, recorded shortly after the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where he premiered his latest feature, Oh, Canada.

Hear how a strict Calvinist upbringing devoid of cinema led to Paul picking up the mantle of the transcendental style of filmmaking, and how he utilizes metaphor to draw audiences into his stories without all the handholding.

If you care about meaningful cinema with lasting impact, or simply want to hear what Taxi Driver is actually all about, don’t miss this episode.

Produced by Brian Landwehr and Bailey Patterson