Making The Sausage

As a food stylist and producer of cooking shows, Tricia Clark knows what it takes to get perfect-looking food in front of a camera. Listen as she shares some of the tricks of her delicious trade, explains what a "stand-and-stir" is, and reveals which celebrity chef intimidated her the most. We don't make any actual sausage in this episode, but it's the closest we've come!Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the TV world continues to expand, writers -- both newbies and veterans -- are relying more and more on managers to help them navigate it. But what does a manager do, exactly, and how are they different from agents? Garrett Greer of Rain Management Group and Daniela Garcia-Brcek of Circle of Confusion are here to answer these questions and many more.   SHOW NOTES  Rain Management Group on Facebook @RainManagement Circle Of Confusion on Facebook @ofconfusionLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a long-time script supervisor for TV and film, Aprill Winney spent several years sitting right next to the director… until, while working on The Fosters, she got the call to slide over a seat and take the reins. Join us as Aprill shares the challenges of supervising every single department on and off the set, and find out why directing kids can be delightful and nail-biting at the same time.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You’ve heard Marieve Herington and Phil LaMarr’s talented voices on literally hundreds of shows, from Futurama to Doc McStuffins, and now they’re here to tell us what it takes to step into the recording booth and create all that magic… on a tight schedule, and often without a scene partner. How did Marieve find her Valley Girl accent? What does Phil mean when he talks about “pitch pipe lines”? There’s so much to learn, so put on your headphones and listen!  SHOW NOTES  Phil LaMarr's website Marieve Herington’s websiteLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We've talked about pilots before on Making the Sausage, but we haven't really talked about what it's like to be someone who's still trying to get your first one off the ground. Nick is one of those people, and he's enlisted his friend and fellow writer Josh Chesler to join him for a candid conversation about doing the real work of writing and marketing yourself, getting meetings, celebrating the successes and weathering the frustrations, and staying motivated through all of it.  SHOW NOTES  The Applicant (Josh's short film with co-director/producer/star Paul Connor) Chasing Ghosts (the movie Josh wrote) Links to TV show biblesLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You heard Rossanna talk about music supervision and song licensing in the second-ever episode of Making the Sausage, and now she’s back to talk about the Daytime Emmy she just won for Amazon’s The Snowy Day, on which she collaborated with none other than Boyz II Men. You’ll hear about her path to victory, the process of choosing an Emmy dress, and how a years-ago encounter with Paul F. Tompkins caused her to piss off the TSA on the way home.  SHOW NOTES  The Snowy Day on Amazon Rossanna Wright on TwitterLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As an in-house VFX artist for Bad Robot, Craig Kuehne is sworn to secrecy on a great many topics…but we still got him to open up about the decades he’s spent creating memorable effects for many of your favorite shows. Find out how technology has changed his job (and audience expectations), learn about the “invisible” visual effects that most viewers will never notice, and become an expert in spotting “gak” (don’t worry; it’s much less gross than it sounds)!   SHOW NOTES  Craig’s IMDB page Keen Shorts (Craig’s website)Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We go note by note with You’re The Worst’s Adam Blau. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before Heather Cocks was a Fug Girl, she was sifting through footage to craft storylines for the contestants on America’s Next Top Model. She’s joined by Grant Rickard, a reality TV veteran who’s worked his way up the producing ladder on everything from Top Chef to Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Listen as they share all their behind-the-craziness stories, and find out what it takes to turn a giant stack of tapes (or digital files, these days) into a compelling hour of television!  SHOW NOTES  Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan on Twitter The Royal We on AmazonLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How did Alias get Sydney Bristow onto a functioning oil tanker? How did Entourage beat every other show to the punch in finding the hottest new bars and restaurants? And how do over a hundred shows and movies film in Los Angeles every day without causing the residents to revolt? These questions are best left up to location professionals, and luckily for us, we have two of them on hand this week to explain how all the moving parts fit together. Jodi Strong is the Production Planning Director for FilmLA, the non-profit entity that handles permitting; and Mike Haro is a film and TV location manager who’s worked on dozens of complex productions. Find out how they work together to enable your favorite shows to film in real places with a minimum of hassle for everyone involved.  SHOW NOTES  Film LA Website @FilmLA on TwitterLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Riverdale’s Britta Lundin makes the transition from fan to writer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever wondered who comes up with all those immunity challenges on Survivor? Wonder no more, because we have one such person on the show this week: actor/comedian/puzzle guru Myles Nye. Find out how Myles parlayed his scavenger-hunt business (and his Survivor ultra-fandom) into a spot on the show’s challenge design team, hear his thoughts on what makes a game great, and allow him to debunk some of your Survivor conspiracy theories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Director of Production for NBC Universal’s digital media team, Joya Balfour supervised the creation of all sorts of web content — from blogs to webisodes — for shows like The Office and Parks & Recreation. We talk about her career at the intersection of TV and the internet, and get her predictions for how these worlds might change (or merge) in the years to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Editing is an amazingly complex and precise job, yet the work of an editor is often invisible in the final product. We talk with Micky Blythe, veteran of shows like Law & Order and Chicago Fire, about what it’s like to assemble a compelling story out of a mountain of raw footage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guests this week have the pleasure of working for one of the best comedic minds in TV history, but with all that fun comes a lot of responsibility: generating great ideas every day, producing and directing their own filmed comedy shorts at lightning speed, and sometimes following Conan across the globe. Find out how they pull it off week after week and still have a great time at their jobs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shooting an episode of TV is a complex and grueling process, and it’s only the beginning. Everything that happens once that footage gets turned in falls under the massive umbrella of post-production, and it takes a team of technical wizards to shape those raw materials into the slick, polished TV that appears on your screen. This week, we dive right into that process with Law & Order: SVU producer Mark Dragin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever see a TV show where two writers are listed with an ampersand between their names? That means they’re a team, working scripts together from start to finish. This setup is a great deal for the networks (since writing partners split a paycheck), but there are also a lot of upsides for the writers. We talk with Megan Lynn of The Fosters and Wendy Molyneux of Bob’s Burgers about how they work (and in Megan’s case, live!) with their respective writing partners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No, they’re not the assistant to the director! Assistant directors are the first and last line of defense on a busy production: the unflappable heroes keeping everything from descending into chaos. Find out what kind of personality it takes to handle this level of responsibility day after day for years on end, how to defuse tension between the creative side and the business side, and which parts of this immensely taxing job are actually fun. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Even in the DVR and Hulu age, network promos are crucial to keeping audiences informed — and excited — about new and ongoing shows. Creating a great thirty-second spot requires a precise combination of skills, knowledge, and often a great sense of humor — all of which our guests have in spades. Listen to Jeff and Jenna share the tricks of their trade, along with some great behind-the-scenes stories (like the one in the title)! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Being a successful quiz show writer demands both an encyclopedic brain and a Howard Hughes-level focus on the fine details. You’ve got an audience to please, contestants to challenge, and most importantly, hefty legal penalties to avoid (thanks, 1950s game show scandals!). Our guests this week tell us how they work within those difficult confines, coming up with questions that are novel, fair, and just difficult enough to keep the target audience on its toes. Find out what it means for a question to be pinned, how contestants are vetted and coached, and what My Little Pony and the Book of Revelations have in common. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Between the two of them, our guests this week have been thrown off buildings, dangled from helicopters, stunt-doubled for Jennifer Lopez, and gotten punched in the face by Katy Perry. And that’s just scratching the surface. Find out how stunt performers land their first gigs, what they do to stay safe in the face of extreme danger, and which stunts they wish they hadn’t done. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Even the most talented TV creators will readily admit that their shows would be nothing without a great cast, so this week we’re exploring what it takes to put that cast together — and we’re getting perspectives on the process from both sides of the table: the casting department, and the actors who are trying to land roles. First we talk with actors Sarah Baker and Sarayu Blue — both of whom have co-starred and guest starred on lots of big TV series — about their experiences with auditioning and getting cast on shows. Then, veteran casting professional Jennifer Cram shares her own stories about the decision-making process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On TV, the perfect song can often make the difference between a good scene and a great scene — or a great scene and a life-changing scene. But a lot of things need to happen in order to deliver those indelible moments, and they need to happen very quickly. Music supervisor Rossanna Wright and music licensing representative Carianne Marshall visit the podcast this week to explain what all those moving parts are and how they get handled. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John August and Stephen Falk on what's it like to work on a TV show that never sees the light of day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our very first episode of Making The Sausage, we’re starting from the bottom with production assistants. Who are they? What do they do? What do they see? And most importantly, are they ever used as drug mules? Get the answers to these questions and many others as Making the Sausage welcomes TV PAs “Judy” and “Marcus” (not their real names!) as well as your host Nick Rheinwald-Jones, who was a PA himself waaaaaay back in the day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices