The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast
The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast
1 Creator
1 Creator
All episodes
Best episodes
Seasons
Top 10 The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
S3E48: Brandon Routh's Been Thinking
The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast
11/19/24 • 91 min
S3E36: How To Make A Crypt Keeper
The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast
08/27/24 • 70 min
Here’s a stone cold fact: it is really, really, REALLY hard to create an iconic character like Tales From The Crypt’s iconic Crypt Keeper.
For one thing, you can’t set out to create a character that will become iconic. That’s because it’s not up to the character’s creators, it’s up to you – the audience.
It’s your embrace – how warm it is – how long it lasts – that determines whether a character can even enter the “iconic” conversation.
With the Crypt Keeper, we ticked off all the boxes.
We created a character that a wide and widening audience still embraces – thirty some odd years after its creation.
But, HOW do characters like the Crypt Keeper GET created? Don’t they just spring fully formed – more or less – from one person’s fertile imagination?
Well, not really...
Every horror icon’s creation is complicated in its own way. And more than one person played a significant part.
Take The Frankenstein Monster.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly – Frankenstein’s author –
and her husband – the Romantic poet Percy Bysse Shelly –
were traveling with friends through Germany down the Rhine River in 1816.
At night, the travel party told each other ghost stories. Mary and her friends were all intrigued by the latest science: using electricity to spark dead limbs to life.
And, as they traveled down the Rhine through Germany, they heard local stories about a crazy local alchemist named Johann Konrad Dippel.
Dippel robbed graves and experimented on corpses at a very real place called Frankenstein Castle.
And then Mary Shelley – all of 21 – filled in the blanks – and published her book anonymously. She put her name on the second edition though.
In time, Mary Shelley’s character found a literary audience. But then a guy named James Whale directed the movie version of the book in 1931. And whatever the character had been on the page became the character in the movie.
And that’s the Frankenstein monster most people think of when they hear the name “Frankenstein”.
Remove any of those elements from the Frankenstein equation and there is no equation.
As you’ll hear – if you haven’t already heard this episode – it took puppeteer Kevin Yagher to create the Crypt Keeper puppet plus John Kassir to create the Crypt Keeper’s voice plus me to create the Crypt Keeper’s inner life plus Gil Adler – who directed and produced the Crypt Keeper segments.
Take any of us out of the Crypt Keeper equation – and this equation isn’t happening either.
When Kevin and John and Gil and I got together for that very first time, we had never had this conversation before – about the Crypt Keeper’s creation story.
None of us knew the whole story ourselves – until we shared it with ourselves.
And you’ll get to share that discovery with us.
How do you make a Crypt Keeper? Well... it’s complicated – but quite fascinating.
And by the way – the young guy sitting in the dentist’s chair during our teaser?
That was me.
S2E32: “THAT Guy”
The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast
04/11/23 • 68 min
This week’s guest on the podcast is a world famous character actor who works all over the world in TV, film and video games from Thailand to South Africa to Berlin to Israel to good ol’ Los Angeles. Mark Ivanir works everywhere in between, too.
A sampling of MarkMovies! TV! Video Games!
Among Mark’s feature films – Schindler’s List, The Good Shepherd, The Terminal, Undisputed, 7 Days In Entebbe. On TV, he’s been in Babylon Berlin, Barry, Homeland and a kajillion other shows. Same goes for video games. If you’ve ever played Call Of Duty, you’ve fought alongside Mark. Or fought against him.
Mark’s Story
Mark’s own story is as fascinating as any show he’s been in. He was born in the Soviet Union. Well, in part of the USSR we now call Ukraine. His family migrated to Israel when Mark was seven. Like most Israelis, Mark served in the military. In his case, he served in an intelligence unit of the IDF (the Israeli Defense Force).
Mark’s unit took part in “Operation Moses”, a secret operation wherein the Mossad helped the Black Jews of Ethiopia – the Bet Israel – escape refugee camps in the Sudan for Israel. The Bet Israel’s story could be a TV series unto itself. Ironically, Mark would later end up acting (as the Mossad’s chief) in a movie – The Red Sea Diving Resort – about that very military operation!
Eventually, Mark found his way into the theatre world in Tel Aviv. Steven Spielberg hired Mark after his wife Kate Capshaw saw Mark’s face whizzing by on a video tape.
Robert DeNiro hired Mark for a very tough part in “The Good Shepherd”. We’ve got a piece of Mark’s performance here in the podcast (check out our YouTube channel!). Mark’s work is haunting!
Mark also worked with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken and Katherine Keener on The Last Quartet. He tells a great story about taking a cigarette break one day in Toronto with Hoffman and Walken and what happened when a fan rolled up.
On TV, it’s hard to find a show Mark hasn’t done. We’ll talk about his work in Israeli TV (and the golden age it’s enjoying), on Homeland and as twin assassins on HBO’s Barry.
Who’s That Guy?
By the time you get to the end of this episode, you won’t have to wonder anymore “who that guy is” – the familiar one you’ve seen a thousand different times.
You’ll know who he is and his name: Mark Ivanir!
S2E36: It’s FORBIDDEN!
The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast
05/09/23 • 85 min
Bill Malone fell in love with Robby The Robot the moment Robby entered the classic sci fi movie “Forbidden Planet“. Characters like Robby and the Creature From The Black Lagoon completely captivated Bill. They piqued something deep inside him. Like a lot of burgeoning movie-makers, Bill spent time with a super 8 movie camera as a kid. In Bill’s case, that love led him into a career making movies. It also gave him the chance to actually own the character that helped inspire that love: Robby The Robot!
Bill’s one of those great storytellers whose own story is pretty damned compelling. He’s been to some very cool places at some very cool times. He was backstage with a press pass at the Monterey Pop Festival, appeared as Beatle George Harrison in a feature film, designed the face mask that became THE original Michael Meyers mask, and he directed feature films and TV shows including one of the very best episodes of Tales From The Crypt ever!
We will do a deep dive into “Only Skin Deep”. It might just be Bill’s masterpiece!
Ah, but Hollywood’s fickle. Bill’s also experienced more than a few setbacks, too. Bad luck has found Bill directing several examples of how NOT to make a movie. That includes a TV movie we all did together for Fox – W.E.I.R.D World. Bill feels it’s the weakest thing he ever did. We’ll discuss!
We’ll also discuss Freddy’s Nightmares (the “Nightmare On Elm Street” TV series – we all worked on it), Masters of Horror, The House On Haunted Hill and everything else on Bill’s mind. Hell, because he worked for Joel Silver (Bill directed “The House On Haunted Hill” for Joel and Bob Zemeckis’ Cark Castle Pictures), Bill’s got Joel stories, too!
In our case, nothing’s forbidden!
Like happy endings. We’ll talk about how Bill’s passion for movies paid off in the end (to the tune of 5.38 million bucks!).
S2 Bonus Episode: Killer Talent/Talented Killer
The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast
07/16/23 • 33 min
We “met” Francisco Lacerda – a very, very talented Portuguese-American moviemaker – at this year’s Chattanooga Film Festival. That is, we met a short Francisco made called “They call it... Red Cemetery“. Red Cemetery is both an homage to Sergio Leone and his brand of exploitation moviemaking and a statement of moviemaking talent all by itself. We’d even call what Francisco’s got “killer talent”.
He’s got a very real talent for killing people. On film/video.
Like a lot of young film makers (from outside Hollywood), Francisco has had to find his own way (and find the money to make his movies). He’s struggled with crowd-sourcing (and he’ll talk about his troubles) and even with his own (Portuguese) government. The establishment film community in Portugal is pretty staid, reserved and unimaginative.
At least, they were. Francisco sees hopeful signs of change. Self-described horror movies are starting to find acceptance (and officially-sanctioned financing). Francisco has also found a home in the Troma-verse (some of his work can be found on Troma’s YouTube channel.
We’ll also pick at the early horror movie “wounds” – the ones that inspired Francisco’s own movie-making dreams and ambitions. Especially important to Francisco’s creative evolution: “Alien”. We will do a deep dive into how “Alien” helped shape Francisco’s vision and aspirations.
We compare Francisco to early Sam Raimi or early John Waters. Their early work pushed the envelope repeatedly but always with a big dose of irony. It’s what helped make them both the killer talents they became.
We really enjoyed meeting Francisco and we think you will, too. We’re dead certain that you’ll enjoy Francisco’s work, too.
You can find some at of Francisco’s work at the Troma YouTube Channel.
S2E48 Crypt Keeper CONFIDENTIAL
The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast
08/01/23 • 77 min
Odds are you’re here, reading this because you love “Tales From The Crypt” and its iconic Crypt Keeper character. We don’t blame you.; we love both of them, too!
We started this season (some 48 episodes ago) with a conversation that had never been had before about how exactly The Crypt Keeper came to be. He didn’t just drop from the sky “as is”.
Actually, it took the work of four different people to create him.
How To Make A Crypt Keeper
First, there was Kevin Yagher – the guy who created the puppet and all its animatronic bits and pieces.
Then actor John Kassir gave the Crypt Keeper its amazing voice. And that laugh. Wanna know where it came from? John will tell that story!
But, if you watch or listen to a Crypt Keeper segment from any season one episode and then any season three episode, you’ll notice a huge difference.
From Puppet To “Playah”
Lots of huge differences. That’s when Gil and I stepped in and took over writing and producing Crypt.
Among the changes we made to the show – in addition to getting the budget back under control and going after the biggest stars we could get – like Michael J. Fox and Kirk Douglas – we took the show back to its EC Comics roots as ironic, gleefully warped morality tales.
We also reimagined the Crypt Keeper and gave him a rich, interior life. We turned him from a scary puppet into a franchise. While I handled all the writing chores, Gil produced all the Crypt Keeper segments and directed a lot of them – including the Crypt Keeper segments in both Crypt feature films.
The truth is, if you take any of those four people out of this equation? There’s no equation – and we’re not having this conversation.
How do you make an iconic character that will stand the test of time? Well, there’s no book telling you how to do it. But, there is this episode.
In keeping with this episode’s “confidential” nature, we strip off the bandages and reveal plenty of secrets. How the Crypt Keeper’s whole existence is entirely accidental... how John Kassir created the CK’s iconic laugh... how writing the segments was like being tortured – by the Crypt Keeper... why there’ll probably never be another new episode of Tales From The Crypt.
What surprised all four of us (when we spoke) is how despite knowing that the CK was, is, always will be a puppet, each of us succumbed to his “magic”. That’s the strange thing about iconic characters like the Crypt Keeper.
They really do transcend their world and find a comfy place in ours.
S2E57: Un-Conventional Horror
The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast
10/03/23 • 49 min
Experience the fun as TALES FROM THE CRYPT takes over HORRORCON LA. We brought some friends along with us: one of our favorite actors SHERRIE ROSE, makeup special effects maestro TODD MASTERS and TV producer extraordinaire ED TAPIA (back then, Ed was the best assistant any producer ever had!). And meet THE CHIODO BROTHERS! I moderated their panel celebrating the 35th anniversary of their B movie classic KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE.
We had a monstrously good time meeting fans, signing autographs, taking pictures and just plain hanging out!
Panels, Panels, Panels!
We also did a couple of panels where – How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast-style – we talked about how we soared making Tales From The Crypt and then crashed and burned making Bordello Of Blood.
I also had the pleasure of moderating a panel for the Chiodo Brothers who are celebrating the 35th anniversary of their cult classic KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE which MGM is about to publish as a computer game.
Bravo, Chiodos – Charles, Steven and Edward!
Way, way, way back in the day, Gil and I had a couple of meetings with the boys where we explored the possibility of working together. We all love blending comedy into our horror.
If you’ve never been to a horror convention, you should! They’re a scary good time!
The Horror Community
There’s a great vibe to them because the horror community is made up of the sweetest people on planet earth.
But there IS something weird about it all.
As you look around, you notice everyone’s dressed up as Freddy Krueger or Jason or Leatherface for instance, but no one EVER dresses up as any of their victims.
Weird, huh? Except it makes total sense! The monsters are the empowered ones. They have all the fun. Just my opinion, but, I think that’s why horror fans embrace horror so passionately: because it empowers them.
This whole phenomenon began with Star Trek fans – Trekkies – which we talked about right here on the “How NOT To Make a Movie Podcast” with our guest Roger Nygard!
But, back to HORRORCON LA!
Our Crypt Panel
Our Crypt panel consisted of ED TAPIA – NOW a super successful producer in his own right – Ed produces Everyone’s All American for the CW – BUT, BACK THEN the greatest assistant a movie or TV producer could ever have... there was TODD MASTERS – Crypt’s makeup special effects maestro, and SHERRIE ROSE – our most favorite actor. We hired Sherrie three times fer Chrissakes!
While we were waiting to go on, we hung out with Tales From The Crypt alumni and fellow HORRORCON participant, actor KEVIN DILLON!
Finally, it was showtime. Here’s a bit of that first panel. We talked about “Getting naked”...
As Sunday – day two – of the convention dawned, Gil awoke feeling ill and prudently decided to stay home.
That left just me, my son Tristan and Ed Tapia to hold down the fort. I think we did a pretty good job!
Sunday, (Not So) Bloody Sunday
Sunday’s visitors were even nicer than Saturday’s!
I loved getting to have quality face time with everyone!
And – among the people I bumped into and connected with was SEAN CASSIDY – Lurch’s Son”. I’m not a starfucker in any way, shape or form. I’m not. But Sean’s dad Ted Cassidy – aside from playing Lurch in the original 1960’s ADAMS FAMILY – appears in one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite films.
He’s Harvey Logan in Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid.
He speaks an iconic line when Butch insist they go over the rules before they start their knife fight: “Rules, in a knife fight?” says Logan, “No rules!”
And then – oh-so-ironically (since there are no rules) – Butch Cassidy kicks Ted Cassidy in the nuts.
Stay tuned, kiddees – Sean Cassidy will be a guest on this very podcast in the very near future!
Sunday Panel
For our Sunday panel – since it was just me and Ed – we moved the chairs from the stage to the floor and we drew the audience in closer. We wanted them to feel like we were shooting the shit with em. Which was exactly what we were doing...
It was a great weekend – would have been even better of course if Gil hadn’t gotten sick – but in life as in movie productions, you zig when you have to and zag when you must and hope like hell that everything works out.
...
S2E60 Critical Mass
The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast
10/24/23 • 52 min
Like us, KRISTEN LOPEZ is passionate about movies (she’s a huuuuuge VERONICA LAKE fan). She’s passionate about the MOVIE BUSINESS, too. An ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST, she’s been THE WRAP’s FILM EDITOR since 2022. She created and co-hosts a great podcast called TICKLISH BUSINESS and wrote “BUT HAVE YOU READ THE BOOK: 52 Literary Gems That Inspired Our Favorite Films” where all of Kristen’s passion, considerable talent and delightfully puckish point of view – are on full display.
Kristen’s also an ardent advocate for disabled people. Her own story has a fantastic arc to it – where passion overpowers all resistance and wins the day. Really, do not get in Kristen’s way! It won’t end well for you.
Mostly, we talk about movies and our passion for the ones we love. We’ll also hit on a few movies we, frankly don’t love. Kristen’s journey through movies started with classics like The Wizard Of Oz. But, while her parents refused to let Young Kristen see PULP FICTION and CHASING AMY, they let her watch AMERICAN BEAUTY (go figure!). Her wit and insights won her a loyal adult readership at her high school newspaper where she reviewed movies that adults liked.
In time, her pithy POV found its way into VARIETY, MTV, TCM and ROGER EBERT.COM.
And then to THE WRAP.
If you love hearing people passionate about the movies surfing their passion? You’ll enjoy this one a ton. To quote Bogey at the end of “CASABLANCA”, it feels like “the beginning of a beautiful friendship”.
S2E63 Still Superman
The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast
11/14/23 • 27 min
When we left BRANDON ROUTH, back in S2E62, SUPERMAN RETURNS had just opened to great reviews and respectable numbers, but not respectable enough for WARNER BROS to continue the SUPERMAN REBOOT. They cancelled the next two movies. It’s devastating seeing your future vanish in front of you. But, in time, Brandon found his feet again. He became a regular on CHUCK and PARTNERS. He played TODD in SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD, and filled the uniform of another super hero in the LEGENDS OF TOMORROW (part of the DC UNIVERSE), THE ATOM.
In time, Brandon also re-donned the Superman cape. Turns out, you really can’t keep a good Superman down.
As Brandon describes it, breaking into the entertainment business is a challenge, but that isn’t the hardest part of it. That would be staying on the show biz mountain.
In this continuation of last episode’s conversation about being Superman, Brandon takes us deep into the highs and the lows of that rare experience. The best part: having found his own inner Superman – and put it to work – Brandon now wants to help everyone else find their inner Superman.
Brandon Routh is quite convinced that everyone has one.
S3E44: Is Show Biz Dead?
The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast
10/22/24 • 67 min
Show more best episodes
Show more best episodes
FAQ
How many episodes does The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast have?
The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast currently has 160 episodes available.
What topics does The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast cover?
The podcast is about Podcasts, After Shows and Tv & Film.
What is the most popular episode on The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast?
The episode title 'S2E8: Bill Sadler Is A Really Nice Guy' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast?
The average episode length on The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast is 61 minutes.
How often are episodes of The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast released?
Episodes of The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast are typically released every 6 days, 23 hours.
When was the first episode of The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast?
The first episode of The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast was released on Mar 23, 2022.
Show more FAQ
Show more FAQ