The Business (KCRW)

When comedian Kathy Griffin posed for a photo holding what appeared to be the blood-covered head of Donald Trump, she became a pariah overnight. So she did the only thing she could do to keep her career alive: turned her story into an act, and took it around the world.

Today, director Channing Godfrey Peoples and producer Neil Creque Williams finish each other’s sentences. More than a decade ago, they were just two graduate film students at USC. They’d each heard about the other’s work, but didn’t actually meet until a chance encounter in an elevator 11 years ago. They've been working together ever since. Now married, Peoples and Williams have made their first feature, the mother-daughter coming-of-age drama "Miss Juneteenth." 

Five months after firing their agents, members of the Writers Guild are still at war with the major agencies over packaging fees. In the heat of the ongoing union election, we explore a couple of perspectives on the two groups competing for Guild leadership. 

B.J. Novak knows a thing or two about comedic writing. He spent a lot of time in the writers’ room and starred as Ryan Howard on NBC’s hit series “The Office.” Now, he’s taking his writing skills to the big screen, debuting as a director in the comedy-thriller, “Vengeance.” “When you realize someone has a little regret in their eyes… you could be very careful with an actor and see how you could capture that in a shot,” he says. For him, it’s all the same, but “being able to learn how to write directorially is a very special and exciting opportunity.” On this episode of The Business, Novak discusses “The Office” origins, his standup comedy career and first acting job on MTV, and how he teamed up with Blumhouse producer Jason Blum to write and direct “Vengeance.” But first, Kim Masters and Matt Belloni banter about Netflix’s Q2 numbers. Netflix was projected to lose 2 million subscribers, but only lost nearly 1 million, which its CEO believes it’s “less bad” than feared. Is the streaming service really over the hump?

‘The Looming Tower’ on Hulu follows FBI agent Ali Soufan as he tries to prevent an Al Qaeda attack on U.S. soil. The real Soufan says watching an actor play him has been weird, but could have an important payoff: teaching people what led to 9/11 and preventing another attack. Soufan and ‘The Looming Tower’ author Lawrence Wright tell us how they adapted the complicated story for TV.

WBD is looking for a buyer for its Coyote vs. Acme film. Can it find one? Plus, an AI-generated Édith Piaf biopic is in the works at Warner Music.

Filmmaker Kristoffer Borgli talks with Kim Masters about his Nicolas Cage-led film, “Dream Scenario,” directing commercials, and how the Norwegian Film Institute unknowingly funded his projects conceived in LA.

In 1989, a young sailor named Tracy Edwards made history when she skippered the first all-female crew in a round-the-world race aboard a secondhand yacht named Maiden. Twenty-five years later, Edwards learned Maiden had been abandoned, and at the same time, someone wanted to make a film about her. Sailor Tracy Edwards and director Alex Holmes tell us about saving Maiden the boat, and making ‘Maiden’ the movie.

When comedian Louis C.K. created and self-financed his new web series Horace and Pete, he kept the production a secret and did absolutely no advertising. He tells us about risking his own money and making Horace and Pete completely on his own terms.

“Parasite” made history as the first foreign language movie to win Best Picture at the Oscars. The movie is now streaming on Hulu, so we’re revisiting our conversation with Director Bong Joon Ho, who also won Oscars for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Foreign Language Film. Plus, an all new banter: Some Southern states want to reopen businesses, but movie theater owners say not so fast.

First, HBO CEO Casey Bloys asked staffers to create fake Twitter accounts to fight critics of the network. What’s all the attention about? Plus, Disney is finally buying Hulu.

Actress-comedian Leslie Jones discusses her tell-all memoir, overcoming personal and career obstacles, and her relationship with ‘SNL’ creator, Lorne Michaels.

Peter Jackson generated whole worlds for his ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Hobbit’ trilogies. His latest project? A documentary that magically brings to life old footage shot on the front lines of World War One. The restoration of 100-year-old film was no easy feat. He tells us about his newest film, ‘They Shall Not Grow Old.’

Kim Masters and Matt Belloni look into the Tom Cruise-Warner Bros. deal and what that means for his projects at Paramount. 

Plus, Masters speaks to Jon Batiste about being the subject of American Symphony. The musician explains how the documentary was originally conceived to follow his composition and performance of a symphony, but following his wife’s recurrence of leukemia, the project evolved into an intimate portrait of the couple coping with a life-threatening illness. Batiste shares how director Matthew Heineman spent eight months with the couple, resulting in over 1500 hours of footage, a premiere at Telluride, and distribution by Netflix.

Documentary filmmaker Neil Berkeley desperately wanted to make a movie about the screeching comedian Gilbert Gottfried. But when he started spending time with Gottfried and his wife Dara, he found someone who was much different from -- and quieter than -- his onstage persona. Berkeley tells us about getting to know the real Gottfried and following him on the road, where he is shockingly frugal.

The new Netflix documentary “Disclosure” examines Hollywood’s portrayal of trans people over the years. Director Sam Feder uses decades of archival footage and personal anecdotes from trans people who were deeply affected by these depictions to tell the story of the industry’s evolving relationship with trans representation. Feder and executive producer Laverne Cox, who is also featured in the film, share why these on-screen portrayals are so powerful, especially for trans people coming of age. 

The coronavirus pandemic has shuttered studio productions of every major late- night talk show. Samantha Bee and Jason Jones — her husband, producer and fellow former “Daily Show” correspondent — tell us about taking  Bee's show, “Full Frontal,” into the woods outside their house in upstate New York. Jones is the crew, and Bee still opens every episode with her trademark speedy monologue. They now have no audience — except for woodland creatures. 

The streaming wars got real, writers fired their agents and time was up--or was it? Matt Belloni, editorial director of The Hollywood Reporter, and Lucas Shaw, entertainment reporter for Bloomberg, join Kim Masters to discuss top industry news stories of 2019. 

Kim Masters and Matt Belloni break down the latest NBA news at Warner Bros. Discovery. They also discuss activist investor Nelson Peltz’s decision to sell his entire stake in Disney, and why Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos thinks last summer’s biggest theatrical hits would have fared as well on the streamer. 

Plus, Masters speaks to the head of domestic distribution at Paramount, Chris Aronson. The long-serving executive explains why he believes that movie theaters will survive despite industry-wide gloom over waning box office numbers, and he argues that the lack of consensus about the length of the theatrical window isn't helping consumers or studios.

Banter buddies Matthew Belloni of The Hollywood Reporter and Michael Schneider of IndieWire and Variety join Kim Masters to mega-banter the year that was 2016. There were major mergers in play while others went away, Disney ruled the box office, Megyn Kelly took down Roger Ailes, and traditional TV ratings declined while thanks to Netflix, the number of shows continued to rise.

Filmmaker Sara Dosa’s childhood fascination and fear of volcanoes shaped her career. While finishing her last film “The Seer and the Unseen” about an Icelandic woman fighting to save a lava field from becoming a road, she came across archival footage from Katia and Maurice Krafft, the renowned French volcanologists. “They had shot hundreds of hours of footage, and Iceland was one of their absolute favorite places, so they did have extraordinary images of volcanoes,” she says. The scientist couple were killed in a pyroclastic blast at Mount Unzen in Japan in 1991. And though the documentarian doesn’t remember their tragic deaths, she and her team became transfixed by the duo. “Once we learned more about them as people, both as these unique, idiosyncratic, hilarious, and philosophical individuals [who had] this extraordinary life where they chased erupting volcanoes all around the world, we thought, this is a world we want to dwell in.” Dosa pieces together their imagery to make “Fire of Love.” It is an homage to the French couple, their love for each other, and devotion and fearlessness to studying volcanoes – a job that ultimately led to their deaths. The film also explores the Kraffts’ travels, writings, and lectures on the beauty and dangers of molten lava and blasts of hot gasses, and their ability to document and share their findings with a wide audience. But first, Hollywood media and tech moguls reconvene in Sun Valley Idaho this week, where large deals used to be brokered, but are now less likely.

When Ben Berman set out to make ‘The Amazing Johnathan Documentary,’ he figured it would be a poignant film about an ailing comedian and magician. But very quickly, Berman found himself wondering: was he making a movie about Jonathan, or was Johnathan roping him into a project of his own. Berman shares the crazy story of making ‘The Amazing Johnathan Documentary,’ which is now available on Hulu. 

Kim Masters and Matt Belloni examine the surprising decision made by the New York State Court of Appeals to overturn Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction. 

Plus, Masters speaks to writer Justin Kuritzkes about the rollout of his first effort at writing a movie, Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers. He talks about how the Zendaya-led film was inspired by a particular US Open match that turned him into a tennis obsessive. And he shares how he and his wife, Celine Song — known for her Oscar-nominated Past Lives — manage to keep their work separate from their relationship.

Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin is usually the only Deaf person on a set. Matlin came to a big realization when making “CODA,” a breakthrough film featuring Deaf actors. “I’m the one typically going to my trailer by myself, and it’s just me and my interpreter. But in all honesty, I never thought of it until I got on the set of ‘CODA’ and realized there’s a whole different world out there I’ve been missing all this time,” Matlin says. “Realizing that here I am, on the set of ‘CODA,’ in my element at lunch time, because everybody is signing. The hearing crew — they’re signing, there’s Deaf cast members, and most importantly, our director learned sign language.” Director Siân Heder and Matlin tell KCRW about making their family drama “CODA,” which scored a record-breaking deal at Sundance last year and has already made history. For the first time, a film featuring a Deaf cast has been nominated for Outstanding Performance at the SAG Awards.

It’s a mid-May mega banter! NBC bounces the 2022 Golden Globes, Disney subscriber numbers disappoint, the stars of “A Quiet Place 2” make some noise over the movie’s theatrical run, and Ellen DeGeneres calls it quits. Kim Masters tackles it all with banter buddy Matt Belloni and Buzzfeed reporter Krystie Lee Yandoli, who broke the story on Degeneres’ alleged toxic workplace.

Bryan Fogel's original plan for his documentary Icarus was to investigate pervasive doping in cycling by becoming a human guinea pig. He recruited chemist Grigory Rodchenkov in Moscow to guide him. Then Rodchenkov was revealed as the architect of Russia's state-run doping program -- and he was ready to blow the whistle. Fogel helped Rodchenkov flee, and then things got really scary.

With news of Lionsgate partnering with an AI mining firm and Meta’s new AI chatbot voiced by celebrities, Matt Belloni and Lucas Shaw break down the latest industry forays in the world of artificial intelligence. 

Plus, Kim Masters speaks to Demi Lovato and Nicola Marsh about their new documentary, Child Star. The co-directors explain the challenges of persuading some of the best known former child stars—including Drew Barrymore, Raven-Symoné, and Kenan Thompson—to share their deeply personal experiences as young performers.

After a late Friday news dump, we re-banter about John Lasseter's departure from Disney, discuss why he had to go, and what this means for the world of animation. Plus, a look ahead to Tuesday's expected decision on the AT&T trial.

Better Things co-creator Pamela Adlon tells us about learning to stop second guessing herself and embracing many roles -- writer, director, producer and actor. And yes, we ask her about Louis C.K. We spoke to Adlon just days before the New York Times published a story alleging that C.K., her long-time collaborator, had a history of sexual misconduct.

Lucasfilm CEO Kathleen Kennedy has announced she will step down from her post at the end of 2025. How will this affect Star Wars? Also, Barbara Broccoli, heiress to the James Bond franchise, has sold the rights to Amazon. What could this mean for the 007 legacy? Kim Masters and Matt Belloni investigate. 

Plus, NPR’s Jeff Lunden speaks to songwriters Clément Ducol and Camille about creating the musical world of Emilia Pérez. After director Jacques Audiard handed the married songwriting team a 20-page treatment, they undertook a months-long collaboration on the full script. They also speak about the multiple controversies surrounding the film — including the criticisms from GLAAD and Mexican citizens, and lead actress Karla Sofía Gascón’s bigoted social media posts.

You may have never heard of Clarence Avant, but this enigmatic manager, producer and record executive has touched the lives of a wide array of people you have heard of: Bill Withers, Hank Aaron, Barack Obama. Director Reginald Hudlin tells us about his new Netflix documentary ‘The Black Godfather,’ which profiles the now 88-year-old Clarence Avant, the ultimate unseen mover in music, movies, politics and more.

Director Allen Hughes discusses his five-part FX documentary series “Dear Mama: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur,” his relationship with the late rapper, and why examining the life story of Tupac’s mother, Afeni Shakur was integral to the documentary series. 

Plus, after a dismal Q1 earnings report, Paramount’s shares fell 30%. It shut MTV News and cut 25% of its network staff. Will the company break?

Actress, director, producer Elizabeth Banks is a member of a very small club: women who make commercial big-studio movies. After directing ‘Pitch Perfect 2’ and a ‘Charlie’s Angels’ reboot set for release this fall, plus producing the heartfelt Hulu comedy ‘Shrill,’ Banks has even bigger ambitions. She talks about getting bored with acting and moving into producing, directing, and making it in the mainstream.

The third season of HBO’s award-winning black comedy “Succession” was supposed to premiere a year ago, but the pandemic halted production for many months. Series creator Jesse Armstrong says despite the delay, the cast was soon back in the zone when they finally reunited. Armstrong tells KCRW how the road to “Succession” began with a script about an imagined Murdoch family dinner, and explains why he re-writes his scripts — full of lacerating insults — throughout the production process. 

Multi-hyphenate Daveed Diggs has a lot going on, including writing and producing his new series on Starz, “Blindspotting.” The broadway hit “Hamilton” launched his career, but at this point, he’s moved beyond the version of himself that won a Tony and a Grammy. “That Daveed Diggs that everybody fell in love with in that show does not exist anywhere but on that stage,” he says. Daveed Diggs tells KCRW about developing the version of himself after “Hamilton.”

As week three of the writer’s strike continues, other unions and guilds show solidarity while studios cut costs to see quarter stock increase. Plus, we revisit our long pre-strike conversation with Tony McNamara, whose viciously satirical series “The Great” has just returned for its third season on Hulu. McNamara talks about his fascination with Catherine the Great, working with Hulu, and how he transported a world he originally created for the theater stage to the small screen.

After filmmaker Raoul Peck made his award-winning James Baldwin documentary “I Am Not Your Negro,” he had a lot of suitors in Hollywood. But it was HBO that didn’t blink when Peck explained what he wanted to do next: a project about colonization, extermination and genocide. That evolved into "Exterminate All the Brutes," a four-part series that zigzags through 700 years of colonial history.

Following Quibi’s announcement of closing, The Business e revisits an  interview with founder Jeffrey Katzenberg on his gamble to launch Quibi.

This week, while Kim Masters is out of town, we’re sharing an episode of the KCRW podcast, The Document. Our colleague Matt Holzman talks to married filmmaking couple Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi about why and how they made their dizzying new film, ‘Free Solo.’

The critically beloved sitcom “The Other Two” follows the trials of the older, struggling siblings of a 13-year-old overnight pop sensation. The series creators knew the first season got lost in the shuffle when it ran on Comedy Central. For season two, the show moved to HBO Max, and is a lot easier to find. Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider tell KCRW about the return of “The Other Two,” and how they decide which celebrities to skewer.  

A year ago, a satirical horror film about race relations in America would not have sounded like an idea for a hit movie. But ‘Get Out’ was a box-office smash and it’s nominated for 4 Oscars, including best picture. Jordan Peele is also nominated for best director and best original screenplay--not bad for someone making his directorial debut. Peele tells us about the years-long process of getting to ‘Get Out.’

Kim Masters and Matt Belloni take a look at the forthcoming Thanksgiving weekend box office projections and examine the unauthorized use of screenplays to fuel AI learning models.

Plus, Eric Deggans sits down with Grammy-winning songwriter Evan Bogart to discuss the state of the music industry — which Bogart assures us is “not all bad.” Bogart goes on to detail how independent artists are benefiting from major label consolidations and reorgs. Plus, he tells us the story of how he discovered Eminem while as a 19 year-old Interscope Records employee.

TV writer-producer Chuck Lorre has created some of the most successful multi-camera broadcast sitcoms ever, including Two and a Half Men, and The Big Bang Theory. Now he's entering a new stage in his career with two projects -- the Netflix pot comedy Disjointed and the single camera show Young Sheldon for CBS--that are pushing him outside his previous purview.

Kim Masters and Matt Belloni examine the secret battle for succession among the family of billionaire Rupert Murdoch. They also take a look at a curious Wall Street Journal profile on Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro. 

Plus, we revisit Masters’ conversation with writer Justin Kuritzkes about the rollout of his first screenplay, Challengers, now a full-fledged film directed by Luca Guadagnino. He talks about how the Zendaya-led project was inspired by a US Open match that eventually led to him becoming a tennis obsessive. And he shares how he and his wife Celine Song — who experienced a similar career whirlwind last year with her Oscar-nominated feature Past Lives — manage to keep their work separate from their relationship.

Over the weekend, the New Yorker published a second story by Ronan Farrow about Les Moonves. This one chronicled six more allegations of graphic sexual misconduct by the CBS CEO. Moonves is now out at the company.

Sarah Scott was a working actress in Hollywood with the usual ups and downs of a life in the entertainment industry. But, last year while shooting a pilot, Scott says she was harassed and assaulted by a fellow actor. She took the case to her union and the result was not completely satisfying. 

Telenovela star Pablo Azar often plays characters who live in a world of wealth. But Azar's reality is not so glamorous. Acting jobs with Telemundo come without union protections that are standard in English-language productions. Azar says even the stars of Spanish-language productions shot in the US are often forced to work other jobs. For him, it was driving for Uber. Then, writer-director Jonas Cuarón and actor Gael García Bernal tell us about their "political horror film" Desierto.

Director-producer Elizabeth Banks understood the challenges of making the mixed-genre horror-comedy “Cocaine Bear.”

 “I knew that if we could just create inside the movie the sense of chaos that the bear represented, that the title represented, that the ride was for theater goers, the comedy really came second to me,” she states. “I didn't want to make a comedy, if you will. It ended up being really funny, though.”

Banks talks about hearing the call of destiny with “Cocaine Bear,” releasing the raunchy R-rated horror-comedy in theaters, working with Ray Liotta, and how she has dealt with failures in her career.

But first, Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch defends company against Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit. Kim Masters and Matt Belloni discuss if his justification is surprising.

We look at high-profile movies that had their theatrical releases delayed for months. Tim Miller talks about dealing with the online blowback related to “Terminator: Dark Fate,” which he directed, and “Sonic the Hedgehog,” which he executive produced. And we revisit a chat with Damon Lindelof, co-writer of the movie “The Hunt.” Universal pushed the theatrical release of “The Hunt” from September 2019 to March 2020.  

Writer-producer Noah Hawley, recently Emmy-nominated for both writing and directing in season two of Fargo, tells us how he gets so much writing done, why he doesn’t ever want to work in broadcast TV again, and what he knows so far about Fargo season three.

Kim Masters and Matt Belloni examine the latest developments in the Disney proxy fight. They also take a look at a peculiar lawsuit filed against CBS Studios and Paramount. 

Plus, Masters speaks to writer Tony McNamara about his Academy Award-nominated screenplay for the Yorgos Lanthimos film, Poor Things. He talks about how he and Lanthimos managed to take a book about Scottish nationalism and turn it into their film, which is nominated for 11 Academy Awards this weekend. He also shares why he likes splitting his time between film and TV, and why the voices he hears in his head dictate how he writes a screenplay.

Filmmaker James Mangold has been making character-driven dramas for more than 20 years, but lately, he's been in the X-Men superhero business. In his latest film, Logan, Hugh Jackman plays the slashing Marvel mutant one last time, so Mangold wanted to make something more nuanced than the usual comic-book movie.  

Gail Slater is Donald Trump’s pick to head the Justice Department's antitrust division. As she gears up to oversee cases against major tech companies like Google and Apple, how will the veteran antitrust lawyer view future mergers in Hollywood? Kim Masters and Matt Belloni dive in. 

Plus, Masters speaks to journalist Jacob Soboroff and documentarian Errol Morris about their film Separated, a sobering look at the Trump Administration’s 2017 child separation policy. They have a lot to say about those who were complicit in tearing thousands of children away from their families. Plus, Soboroff weighs in on Comcast’s refusal to release the film before the election.

Hollywood has dominated in making global blockbusters for years, whereas China isn’t making those hits yet, but it’s now the biggest generator of box office revenue worldwide. The book “Red Carpet: Hollywood, China and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy” explains that China is playing a long game. Plus, director Jessica Kingdon talks about her Oscar-nominated documentary, “Ascension,” which focuses on social class and consumption in modern China.

Filmmaker Peter Jackson was 3 years old when The Beatles first appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show” on February 9,1964. His family didn’t own a television and he didn’t see the original airing because he believes New Zealand didn’t broadcast the TV show. “Even though I was born in 1961, I kind of don't really have a story or any memory of The Beatles in the ‘60s, which is crazy because I lived all the way through that period,” Jackson remarks. His parents were not “rock and rollers,” he says, but he recalls hearing the band “endlessly through ‘65, ‘66, ‘67 because the radio was playing nothing else.” Sixty years later, he produced and directed the Disney+ docuseries “The Beatles: Get Back,” about the making of the 1970 documentary “Let It Be.” Jackson’s series has been nominated for several Emmys, and the award-winning director discusses what led him to tackle this documentary project, and how his labor of love morphed from being a feature film to a series. But first, Kim Masters and Matt Belloni, founding partner of Puck News, discuss the Disney+ positive quarterly results, and what the decision to raise subscription prices mean for consumers, and the future of its streaming services. 

Writer/director Billy Ray talks about the making of his Showtime limited series “The Comey Rule,” which stars Jeff Daniels as former FBI director James Comey and Brendan Gleeson as Donald Trump.

Mike Rinder spent most of his life as a member of the Church of Scientology International. He joined as a child, and by the age of 18, he signed the organization's Sea Org contract, pledging loyalty and allegiance to the church, while committing all of his future lifetimes to it as well. But after years of emotional and physical abuse, he left the organization in 2007. “I didn't make it all the way through to the end, that's for sure,” he says. Now, Rinder discusses his just released memoir “A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology,” in which he exposes a harrowing account about the church that only someone of his former high rank could provide. But first, Netflix has made several adjustments recently due to competition. Kim Masters and Matt Belloni look into whether they will need to make more changes to survive. 

Scandals! Legal duels! Ousters! Looming strikes! Even by Hollywood standards, this week’s industry news has been fit for, well, Hollywood. To make sense of it all, The Business presents a special spring Megabanter in which host Kim Masters teams up with Banter compatriot and Puck News founder Matt Belloni and Bloomberg entertainment and media head Lucas Shaw to break down some of the biggest Hollywood stories of 2023 so far — from a misconduct shakeup at NBCUniversal and Disney’s tête-à-tête with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to Tucker Carlson’s Fox departure  and the latest on the impending writers’ strikes. 

“Squid Game” creator Hwang Dong-hyuk had never written a TV series before, but after a decade conceptualizing it, he created an unprecedented global sensation. “Squid Game” is about a dystopian survival competition where hundreds of cash-strapped players aim for a multi-million dollar cash prize. The show has become No. 1 in 90 countries and the most-watched Netflix program of all time. The USC-trained filmmaker had big ambitions for the project, but was blown away by how many people worldwide are fans. “I wanted to make a global TV show. My goal was hitting number one in the U.S. Netflix rank. But I never expected this kind of big success,” he says. When Hwang proposed “Squid Game,” it was considered too weird and too violent. So while he searched for investors for that project, he directed three acclaimed films: “The Crucible,” “Miss Granny,” and “The Fortress.” In 2018, Netflix took a closer look, “got hooked,” and greenlit the show. The streaming service’s global platform gave the show visibility and a massive audience. With all the achievements, Hwang has agreed to work on season two, which could be out by the end of 2023 or 2024. And the streaming service may be spawning a “Squid Game” universe.

Kim Masters and guest Banterer Lucas Shaw of Bloomberg News discuss the latest twist in the Paramount saga: Just after billionaire Barry Diller raised his hand as a potential buyer, the Skydance-Paramount deal is resurrected from the dead.

Plus, Masters returns with an encore of her 2021 interview with Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky, two of the three showrunners behind the award-winning HBO Max series "Hacks." Downs and Statsky talk about how lead actress Jean Smart insisted the cameras keep rolling when her husband passed away with a week of shooting the first season left.

It’s TV staffing season: when writers look for jobs. But this year, writers have fired their agents in their battle over packaging fees. Still, showrunners Mike Royce and Valentina Garza say the seats in the writers rooms will be filled. They tell us about building a writing staff without agents, and Royce gives us an update on 'One Day at a Time.'

Jerrod Carmichael’s NBC series The Carmichael Show takes an old-fashioned approach to the sitcom--complete with a live studio audience. Still, the show tackles topical issues from guns to religion. He tells us why he loves the multi-cam set-up and what other modern day sitcoms are missing.

Julianne Moore joins us with her husband, writer-director Bart Freundlich, to talk about their careers and their new drama, ‘After the Wedding,’ the fourth film they’ve made together. Moore offers some advice to actors just starting out, tells us how she picks her projects, and she and Freundlich discuss the struggle that comes with trying to get an indie melodrama like ‘After the Wedding’ financed.

Listen to a special preview of Kim Masters’ conversation with Daryl Hannah about her documentary Coastal. The film will be in theaters worldwide for one night only, on April 17th.

Could this be the year the Academy finally nominates Spike Lee for Best Director or Best Picture? ‘BlacKkKlansman’ is looking like a contender. The film is based on the true  story of black police officer Ron Stallworth, who went undercover with the KKK in the 1970s. Lee and his ‘BlacKkKlansman’ star John David Washington join us to talk about the film and get a little philosophical along the way.

Twice Academy Award winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy directed two episodes of Disney’s limited series “Ms. Marvel.” She shares with Kim Masters her path from making intimate documentary shorts in her home country of Pakistan, to animated features, to “Ms. Marvel” – her first live-action, narrative fiction series. “I know what ‘Black Panther’ did for communities across the world. And this is exactly what ‘Ms. Marvel’ is going to do for South Asian communities,” says Obaid-Chinoy. The mini series portays a teenage, Pakistani-American superhero, and within its first week on Disney+, it received a 97% score – the best reviewed Marvel series and film production on Rotten Tomatoes, a record previously held by “Black Panther.” The filmmaker also talks about how the real life heroes she has depicted over the years in documentary form are tied to “Ms. Marvel.” “Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel is a superhero who … is very much in line with the other characters that I had been filming throughout my career,” she explains, adding she desires to continue telling important stories in the future. But first, Bob Chapek’s latest miscalculated decision may have cost Disney subscribers. 

The new HBO series “Catch and Kill: The Podcast Tapes” includes a 2019 interview between Kim Masters and Ronan Farrow for his podcast “Catch and Kill,” which explores the fall of Harvey Weinstein. The Business airs a portion of that interview in which Masters elaborated on her interactions with Weinstein over the years.

KCRW resumes its conversation with James Andrew Miller, author of “Tinderbox,” the new book about HBO. He talks about more recent HBO history, including the 2020 launch of Warner Media’s streaming service. When asked whether he thought naming the streamer HBO Max was a good or bad idea, Miller responded, “I think it’s one of the great branding disasters of all time.”

Matt Belloni and Lucas Shaw examine four Disney executives poised to take the throne in 2026 following CEO Bob Iger’s proposed retirement.  

Plus, we revisit our conversation with Steven Yeun, who joined Kim Masters to talk about his Emmy winning limited series, Beef. The actor talks about his initial fears of not living up to expectations after being cast in what would become an Academy Award-nominated performance for Minari, why he and his Beef co-star Ali Wong broke out in hives after production wrapped, and how Netflix approached the A24 limited series with an offer that was too good to turn down.

Documentarian Alex Gibney is known for his award-winning investigative films on Enron, Wikileaks and Scientology. For his newest project, he took on the Volkswagen diesel-car emissions scandal and this time, it was personal. Gibney tells us about his new Netflix series ‘Dirty Money,’ in which his look at VW is one of six documentaries in a series on corporate greed.

Thomas Kail won a Tony for directing Hamilton on Broadway. Now he’s up for an Emmy after directing the TV musical Grease: Live on Fox. He tells us how having a specific vision for your project up front can save money in the long run. Then, actor Sterling K. Brown, also Emmy-nominated for his portrayal of Chris Darden on the FX limited series The People vs. O.J. Simpson, shares how he transformed into the complicated prosecutor.

Listen to a special preview of Jeff Lunden's conversation with Clément Ducol & Camille on their songwriting process for 'Emilia Pérez.'

Garrett Bradley's documentary “Time,” about one woman’s fight to release her husband from prison, was an award winner at Sundance last year and is considered a top Oscar contender. Bradley says “Time” was originally going to be a short film until it demanded more … time. Rahdi Taylor is one of the people who convinced Bradley that “Time” should be a full-length feature. Taylor supported the film as head of the Artists in Residence fellowship program at Concordia Studio, where Bradley was one of Concordia's first fellows.

Hollywood chased after Swedish writer-director Ruben Östlund following his well-received 2014 film Force Majeure. But Östlund isn't so sure he wants to be caught. He tells KCRW's Matt Holzman about staying in Scandinavia and his new movie The Square, a satirical dramedy that is his second film selected as Sweden's foreign language submission to the Oscars.

WGA leaders reached a deal this week with Hollywood studios, ending 148 days of work stoppage. What did they get? Where did they compromise? And will SAG-AFTRA be next? Plus, director Gareth Edwards discusses his new AI-centric film The Creator and its timeliness within our current cultural climate. He also gets real about behind-the-scenes drama on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Earlier in his career, Hugh Grant played the charming lead in romantic comedies. But lately, Grant has relished performing the role of the bad guy, including in the HBO series “The Undoing.” 

He talks about embracing his dark side on screen and reflects on his decade of work as an activist following the UK phone hacking scandal that engulfed the Murdoch clan a decade ago and continues to reverberate today.

For his new series Wormwood, documentarian Errol Morris used interviews and archival footage to tell the story of Frank Olson, an Army scientist who died a mysterious death in 1953. But he also cast Peter Sarsgaard to play Olson in scripted sequences. Netflix footed the bill, though no one quite knew what they were getting themselves into when they first took on the project.

For the new movie Call Me By Your Name, Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino started as a consultant but ended up as the director. He tells us about the decade-long journey making the film and how he convinced Armie Hammer to take the part of Oliver, a closeted graduate student who finds a passionate romance one summer in 1980s Italy.

With Hollywood mostly shut down, we check in with people dealing with this difficult time across the industry. We hear from an actor, cinematographer, writers’ room production assistant, costumer, and filmmaking team. They tell us how their lives have suddenly changed, how they’re coping while out of work, and how they think this pandemic could change Hollywood forever. 

The Netflix series 'Unbelievable' is based on a true story about how one team of cops pursued a serial rapist while another disbelieved and bullied a victim. Showrunner Susannah Grant tells us about turning a Pulitzer Prize winning news story into a scripted series. She also shares her thoughts on how to depict rape on screen and talks about speaking with the victim whose story is at the heart of the series.

Sometimes our guests have so much good stuff to say that we can’t fit it all into one show. So let out your belt a notch. This week we’re bringing you delicious leftovers from Ethan Hawke, George Tillman Jr., Kathy Griffin, and Aneesh Chaganty and John Cho. Plus, some early Oscar forecasting.

Author Margaret Atwood realizes that Hulu's adaptation of her Dystopian 1985 novel The Handmaid's Tale has gotten a huge PR boost, thanks to a turn of events that hardly seemed possible when work on the series was underway. Atwood and showrunner Bruce Miller talk about adapting the story for television and the eerie timeliness of the new series. 

Jeffrey Katzenberg ran Walt Disney Studios when it made hits like “The Little Mermaid” and “The Lion King.” He also co-founded DreamWorks. Now he’s launched Quibi, which lets you stream short shows on your phone. He remembers  his early days in the industry, and tells us why he believes Quibi will work.

Director Shawn Levy built a career on the Night at the Museum franchise, but wanted to break out of his box. He set out to produce, and this past year scored with the Netflix mega-hit Stranger Things, now up for 18 Emmys. He tells us how he went about getting the industry to reconsider him.

Chloé Zhao made history as the first woman of color to win Best Director and Best Picture, but the 2021 Oscars will be remembered for the awkward, COVID-era ceremony and blunt ending. Producers expected Chadwick Boseman to win Best Actor, but instead the Oscar went to Anthony Hopkins, who was asleep in Wales. 

When ‘Surviving R. Kelly’ showrunner dream hampton was conducting interviews with women who had been in the thrall of the infamous singer-songwriter, she had to choose her words. She tells us about having difficult conversations with survivors while lawyers listened to every question and about other challenges of making the docuseries, plus the recognition and blowback she’s experienced since.

“Daisy Jones & The Six” co-writer and co-creator Scott Neustadter talks about his early career, writing book adaptations, and the making of the sprawling rock ‘n’ roll limited series for Amazon. First, Kim Masters and Matt Belloni look into Disney’s announcement of a LGBTQ+ summit in Florida in September. Is Disney’s CEO Bob Iger clapping back at Governor Ron DeSantis?

“The White Tiger,” Aravind Adiga's darkly comedic novel about a clever servant’s rise out of poverty in India, won the Booker Prize in 2008. Thirteen years later, “The White Tiger” is a big hit for Netflix. The film adaptation is written and directed by Adiga's friend from college, filmmaker Ramin Bahrani.

We have interesting guests on The Business, and sometimes our conversations are too long to fit into one show. This week we give you stories that were too good to leave on the cutting room floor, including some sharp insights on making it in the industry from David Mandel, David Simon, Shawn Levy and Matt Reeves.

The new Netflix film “The Half of It” is writer-director Alice Wu’s second movie. She wrote a $1000 check to the National Rifle Association, an organization she does not support, and told her friends if the script wasn’t done in five weeks, that check was going in the mail. Wu talks about her extreme method for overcoming writer’s block and picking Netflix as the home for her new movie. 

Jerry Bruckheimer has credits on some of the most successful TV shows and movies of the last five decades. One thing he’s learned is that this business is unpredictable, so much that even he couldn’t have guessed that “Top Gun: Maverick” would be a breakout hit.

Hollywood responds to a perceived lack of urgency from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, a new twist develops in the Blake Lively/Justin Baldoni feud, and Donald Trump is unhappy with Comcast after comedian Seth Meyers makes fun of the incoming president. Kim Masters and Matt Belloni are here to help us all make sense of this relentless week. 

Plus, we revisit our conversation between Masters and Sing Sing director Greg Kwedar. Everyone involved in the production was paid the same daily rate, a model that Kwedar hopes could bring more parity to film sets. The movie stars Colman Domingo as a wrongly-convicted man staging a play inside the real Sing Sing prison. Much of the cast includes formerly incarcerated actors playing versions of themselves.

Noah Oppenheim spent his 20s working on NBC news shows. Then he left, hoping to make it as a writer in Hollywood. After a stint as an executive in reality TV, his first-ever script, Jackie landed on The Black List. Six years later, the film is finally premiering. Oppenheim tells us about watching Darren Aronofsky hand the project over to Chilean director Pablo Larrain, and his unusual career path, which has now taken him back to NBC, as a senior vice president in charge of Today.

Hollywood’s messy year: Strikes disrupted show biz, the box office surprised, studios and execs struggled, and streamers started licensing. Kim Masters, Matt Belloni, and Lucas Shaw look into the main Hollywood events of 2023.

New York Times Presents’ reporters and producers Rachel Abrams and Liz Day discuss “Sin Eater: The Crimes of Anthony Pellicano” two-part documentary on FX and Hulu. They explain the infamous Hollywood private investigator’s rise and fall, his 15-year sentence for illegal wiretapping and other crimes, campaigns of intimidation, and how almost all of his powerful clients walked away unscathed.

Steven Bochco, the writer-producer behind record-breaking Emmy winners Hill Street Blues, LA Law and NYPD Blue, fought battles with everyone from out-of-control actors to network censors in his long career. He isn't afraid to tell those tales in his new memoir, Truth Is a Total Defense. He shares some of those stories with us, plus gives an update on a possible LA Law reboot. 

Ryan Murphy oversees a small TV empire on FX, with series including American Horror Story, American Crime Story and his latest effort, Feud. The first cycle of that show focuses on the rivalry between movie icons Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. On all his shows, Murphy now has a strict rule: at least half of the directors and crew members must be women or minorities.

Kieran Culkin has found a defining role playing Roman Roy, the snarkiest of the siblings on HBO’s “Succession.” Culkin tells KCRW about acting from an early age, facing his fears while fulfilling a dream as host of “Saturday Night Live,” and how he sometimes finds it hard to turn off that very snarky Roman Roy persona.

Hell or High Water director David Mackenzie is Scottish, but he was instantly drawn to the Texas tale of two brothers turned bank robbers in the drought-stricken, post-recession American West. He tells us about his efficient, stripped-down approach to making one of the best-reviewed films of the year.

‘Blockers ’is comedy writer Kay Cannon’s directorial debut. When she was hired for the project, she had some work to do on a script about girls, written by a bunch of guys. Cannon tells us how she made ‘Blockers’ funnier and more feminist.