Shannon

Kent Tessman, screenwriter of Chrome Noir joins Franklin this week for a one on one chat. They talk about how he came out to Los Angeles straight out of film school in Canada to write scripts, what lead to him creating the professional screenwriting software Fade In, and the early beginnings of writing his film noir with robots.

Welcome back to The Black List Table Reads with Franklin Leonard. Popular demand called for it, and we listened: Each earmovie is now a single episode. Today, we come to the end of our Season 1 earmovie binge-a-thon with our fourth earmovie - Kent Tessman’s Chrome Noir. Men in hats. Tommy guns. Robots. A film noir detective story that will have you riveted. Bringing the world of Chrome Noir to life is Colin Hanks, Zachary Levi, Rob Morrow, Katie Lowes, Billy Burke, Stephanie Drake, Matt Bohrer, Ben Schrader, Andrea Anders, and Cooper Thornton.

Ben Schwartz aka Jean-Ralphio of Parks and Recreation aka Clyde Oberholt of House of Lies joins Franklin for an in-depth conversation about how he became a writer. Ben tells us about his early days of submitting jokes to Late Night with David Letterman & SNL, sleeping in a tent at a friend's house when he came to LA to write for Robot Chicken, and how his Black List script El Fuego Caliente (a remake of the 1991 film Soapdish) came about. LA: Come see a LIVE stage reading of Ben's script El Fuego Caliente with special guests on November 21st at the The Montalban Theater at 8pm. Go to www.theblacklistlive.com for tickets!

Suzanne Allain, screenwriter of Mr. Malcolm's List, joins Franklin this week for a one on one chat. They talk about Suzanne's origins in writing early on as a child growing up in Tallahassee, Florida, adapting the original Mr. Malcolm's List novel into a script, and why taking constructive criticism is always a good idea

Welcome back to The Black List Table Reads with Franklin Leonard. Popular demand called for it, and we listened: Each earmovie is now a single episode. Today, we head across the pond and back in history about 200 years with our fourth earmovie - Mr. Malcolm's List from screenwriter Suzanne Allain. Bringing Mr. Malcolm’s List to life is a team of classy folk from the Commonwealth, we have Rose McIver, Ashley Madekwe, Tom Riley, James Bloor, Sarah Armstrong, Sonya Walger, Jon Fletcher, Ben Schrader, and Parminder Nagra.

Kevin Oeser, screenwriter of Terrible Parents, joins Franklin this week for a walk down his filmmaking memory lane. What do a high school field trip and financial pyramid schemes have to do with the writing of a comedy about upper middle class parents going to war over the last spot in a highly desirable private elementary school? Tune in to find out!

Recorded in New York City, Franklin chats with The Other Side writer Stacey Maltin. Franklin and Stacey sat down and talked about how a secular Jew from San Francisco ends up a voice over actress in Israel and then returns to Brooklyn to write about a Williamsburg hipster and a Hasidic Jew falling in love.

Welcome back to The Black List Table Reads with Franklin Leonard. Popular demand called for it, and we listened: Each earmovie is now a single episode. Today, we return to our second earmovie - The Other Side from screenwriter Stacey Maltin. Set at the nexus of the Hasidic and hipster communities of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, it’s a coming-of-age story about a boy who needs to decide how he wants to live his life. It’s about the clash between modernity and tradition, the high modern and the high holy. It stars Cooper Thornton, Darren Criss, Jerry Adler, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Andrew Polk, Tammy Blanchard, Wallis Currie-Wood, Pico Alexander, Ron Tsur, Bill Raymond, and Neal Lerner.

Franklin chats with BALLS OUT writers Malcolm Spellman (producer of Empire) & Tim Talbott (winner of the 2015 Sundance Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award) about the origins of the script beginning in an online message board for writers, the inspiration behind the protagonist Jim Simmers, and advice to any writers that want to do what they do.

Welcome back to The Black List Table Reads with Franklin Leonard. Popular demand called for it, and we listened: Each earmovie is now a single episode. Today, we return to our first ever earmovie - the obscenely funny BALLS OUT, written by Malcolm Spellman (Empire) and Tim Talbott (Stanford Prison Experiment) - in one bingeable package. That's right, the full earmovie. Narrated by Craig Mazin, it stars Paul Scheer, Jason Mantzoukas, Lauren Lapkus, Matt Walsh, Eugene Cordero, Casey Wilson, Chris Cox, and Joe Wengert.

No one knows story better than Lindsay Doran. Lindsay has been a substantial part in some of the most iconic films of the last four decades everything from This Is Spinal Tap to Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Lindsay joins Franklin to talk about growing up in the movie business of Hollywood, leaving to make movies in London after graduating UC Santa Cruz, working in Public Television for 7 years in Pennsylvania, becoming an executive for This Is Spinal Tap, and adapting her favorite book of all time Sense and Sensibility into a feature film.

The extraordinary talented screenwriter/director/actor Lorene Scafaria (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World) joins Franklin Leonard for an in depth conversation on this week’s Black List Table Reads. They’ll talk about how she would write action screenplays in 3rd grade growing up in New Jersey, being the real life Lisa Simpson in college, becoming writing partners with her old roommate Bryan Sipeto, what lead to Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and her latest film The Meddler.

Academy Award winning Screenwriter Graham Moore (The Imitation Game) joins Franklin Leonard for an in depth conversation on this week’s Black List Table Reads. They’ll talk about growing up playing in a band in Chicago, how he went from a sound engineer to writing The Sherlockian, which became a New York Times Best Seller, and his thoughts on content anxiety.

Screenwriters John August (Big Fish, Dark Shadows) and Craig Mazin (Hangover 3, Identity Thief) of the Scriptnotes podcast, a podcast about screenwriting and things that are interesting to screenwriters join Franklin Leonard for a in depth conversation on this week’s Black List Table Reads. They’ll talk about what lead them to start their podcast which has now hit over 200 episodes, the truth about paper teams, and when they realized when they were good as writers.

On this bonus episode of The Black List Table Reads with Franklin Leonard, we hear an in depth conversation with author Uzodinma Iweala. Uzo’s novel “Beasts of No Nation” was published when he was twenty three years old. In 2006, he won the New York Public Library’s Young Lions of Fiction Award, and a year later he was named one of America’s 20 Best Young Novelists by Granta magazine. Uzo joins Franklin to talk about growing up in Washington D.C. to Nigerian parents, his early fascination with paper, and how his novel (originally his Harvard senior thesis) “Beasts of No Nation” became one of the most anticipated films of this year's Awards season, directed by Cary Fukunaga, starring Idris Elba, and to be released by Netflix.

On this bonus episode of The Black List Table Reads with Franklin Leonard, we hear an in depth conversation with screenwriter and living legend Robert Towne as part of the Nantucket Film Festival’s Mentor’s Brunch Series. Robert Towne’s many credits include The Yakuza, Days of Thunder, Shampoo, and Chinatown. Robert talks about the role of film and TV in the arc of history, how he came to writing for the screen, the decline in good filmmaking, and working on the final season of Mad Men.

On this bonus episode of The Black List Table Reads with Franklin Leonard, we hear about the the story of Nightingale. On May 29th, Nightingale premiered on HBO. It was written by Frederick Mensch, directed by Elliott Lester, and stars David Oyelowo. It’s special to the Black List because it was the first movie made from a screenplay discovered on the Black List website. Frederick Mensch, Elliott Lester, and David Oyelowo join Franklin in studio for a special conversation on how Nightingale came into existence.

Jerrika Hinton aka Dr. Stephanie Edwards of Grey's Antomy joins Kamau, Kevin, and special co-host Dr. Melissa Hudson Bell this week to talk about being directed by Denzel Washington for "The Sound of Silence," episode of Grey's Anatomy. Jerrika shares how the cast and crew kept their cool around Denzel, the cinematic feeling he brought to the show, and a tease for her Top 5 Denzel movies.

Special guest Dr. Melissa Hudson Bell joins her husband Kamau and Kevin this week to talk about "The Sound of Silence," the Denzel Washington directed episode of Grey's Anatomy. They'll also share stories of Kevin's dating life and Melissa's Top 5 Denzel Movies.

This week Kevin and Kamau catch up on the saga of Kevin's TV situation, the most Denzelish moments of the Super Bowl, and the new Training Day TV show.

Grammy award winning singer-songwriter India Arie joins Kamau & Kevin to talk about Denzel Washington as Coach Boone in the 2000 sports drama Remember the Titans. They also discuss India's relationship with Denzel, what lead her to finally move to New York, and her Top 5 Denzel Movies of All Time.

Alice Wong, Founder and Project Coordinator for The Disability Visibility Project (http://disabilityvisibilityproject.com) joins Kamau to give her perspective on Denzel playing a disabled character in the 1999 thriller The Bone Collector. Plus, Kevin and Kamau talk about The Oscars Boycott, Stacey Dash's thoughts on the BET Awards, and Kevin's TV situation.

Taz Ahmed and Zahra Noorbakhsh of the Oprah Magazine endorsed #GoodMuslimBadMuslim podcast join Kamau to discuss Denzel in the 1998 thriller The Siege. The movie is about a fictional situation in which terrorist cells have made several attacks on New York City. It's probably Denzel's most problematic movies. Plus, Kevin calls in to talk with Kamau about Denzel being awarded with the Cecil B. DeMille award.

Actor Edi Gathegi and writer/editor Brandon Sonnier of The Blacklist on NBC join Kevin & Kamau this week to talk about Edi & Kevin's history, the diverse cast/crew on The Blacklist, and one of Edi's acting secrets. Then, Edi & Brandon share their Top 5 Denzel films, Brandon tells us about his close connection to Glory, and everyone gets deep into Out of Time. Plus, Sonari Glinton reveals the answers to last week's Quiz!

Happy New Year Denzealots! Sonari Glinton of NPR joins Kamau & Kevin to talk about the growth of Denzel's character in the 1993 film Philadelphia. Sonari also tells us about the moment he realized that he was real close to Black Judgement and his experience attending the White House Christmas party. Plus, Sonari leaves Denzealots with a special quiz!