Noted author and teacher Andrew Erish’s first book, Col. William N. Selig, the Man Who Invented Hollywood, was hailed by the L.A. Public Library as “One of the best books of 2012.” And The Huffington Post declared, “…it may well be the film book of the year.” Andrew’s most recent book, Vitagraph, America’s First Great Motion Picture Studio, receive…

Rosanna Staffa is an Italian-born playwright and author. Her debut novel, The War Ends At Four, is a beautifully rendered tale about an Italian acupuncturist in Minneapolis who returns home to Milan and rediscovers all that she left behind, who she is, and what her life is really about. I’ve read The War Ends at Four and found it to be a moving and…

This is Charles Rosenay’s second time on StoryBeat. He’s been in the entertainment business for over four decades as an actor, promoter, music aficionado, entertainer, MC, DJ, humorist, and author. Recently, he released his latest book, The Book of Top 10 Beatles Lists, which contains dozens of top ten lists from pop-culture notables, like Pete Bes…

Terry Press recently joined Amblin Partners in the newly created role of President of Strategy and Communications. Terry oversees the execution of all elements of marketing, publicity, consumer products, and communication for the film and television divisions of Amblin Partners and Steven Spielberg, who said of Terry, “Since the earliest days of Dr…

Jimmy Roberts is the composer of the second longest-running Off-Broadway musical in New York theater history, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, which ran for over 5000 performances. It’s been produced around the world in languages as diverse as French, Spanish, German, Finnish, Mandarin and Cantonese. Jimmy's second Off-Broadway show The Thin…

Branden Cobb is a 15-year Marketing executive at the forefront of industry evolution. In a time of heightened concern regarding Artificial Intelligence, content generation, and responsible Marketing, Branden stands out for merging innovation with market insights, by insisting that successful Marketing is a dynamic fusion of both art and science. As…

Actor-director Michelle Danner is also an acting coach at the Los Angeles Acting School who specializes in the Meisner, Strasberg, Adler, Hagen, Chekhov and Stanislavsky techniques. Alongside Larry Moss, she’s also the founding and Artistic Director of the Edgemar Center for the Arts. In 2006, Michelle made her feature film directing debut with, Ho…

What a great deal of fun it is to chat with the dynamic John Vorhaus, who is making his second StoryBeat appearance because you never know which direction he's going to take in any answer. John is best known for his classic comedy writing textbook, The Comic Toolbox: How to be Funny Even if You’re Not. Now available in five languages, John’s “bible…

I had a blast chatting with the great Australian-born actor and world-class raconteur, Thaao Penghlis, about his career and creative process. If you’re a fan of NBC’s long-running soap opera, Days of Our Lives, then you’re also likely to be a fan of Thaao's. He's had a remarkable four-decade, 1500+ episode run on the show playing both the seductive…

Writer-director Richard Bakewell is a veteran cinematographer and television camera operator who has worked with major media figures like Gordon Ramsay and Oprah Winfrey, and on noted TV docuseries such as Cops, Last Chance U, and Cheer. Richard has written and directed the feature film, Roswell Delirium, as a response to both his own journey back …

Damyanti Biswas is a Singapore-based fiction writer. Her short fiction has been published at Smokelong, Ambit, Litro, and Puerto del Sol, among others. And she's the coeditor of The Forge literary magazine. Her popular blog damyantiwrites.com, where she speaks about the writing life and interviews publishing professionals, turned 15 this year. She'…

Fritz Coleman is a 5-time Emmy Award Winning Stand-Up Comedian and former NBC Weathercaster. He’s opened all over the United States for entertainment icons like Ray Charles, Debbie Reynolds, Jay Leno, George Benson, the band America and too many more to mention. He made 8 appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and Jay Leno. He spent 40 …

Skye Fitzgerald founded Spin Film to bear witness to unfolding crises with the intent to deepen empathy and understanding. He recently completed a trilogy of films on the global refugee crisis. The first, 50 Feet from Syria, focused on doctors working on the Syrian border and was voted onto the Oscar® shortlist. The second, Lifeboat, documents sear…

Shelley Herman is an Emmy-nominated writer, actress, and host whose career began as an NBC Page in Burbank, CA. Shelley’s written over 1000 hours of television, contributed to numerous books for Dove/Phoenix Books, starred in the TV series Off the Wall and Night Rap, and co-hosted ESPN's Battle of The Monster Trucks and Mud Bog Spectacular. In addi…

Leslie S. Klinger is the multi-award-winning New York Times best-selling editor of more than 75 books, focusing primarily on the history of crime and supernatural fiction. In addition to heavily-annotated editions of classics like the stories of Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, Frankenstein, the work of H. P. Lovecraft, and most recently, Robert Louis Ste…

Making a return for his second appearance on StoryBeat is the great jazz and world flutist, Michael Mason. Michael’s been playing professionally for more than 40 years. He’s led off for Trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, had master classes with James Newton, been influenced by Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson, performed with New Orleans Saxophonist Edward “Kidd”…

Author-publisher Stephen Games came to publishing after a lifetime of reflecting on the creative arts. Stephen is a former architecture correspondent for The Guardian, documentary maker for the BBC, and opinion writer for the Los Angeles Times. He has a PhD from Cambridge University for research into the work of the celebrated German architectural …

The actor and writer, Joe Coyle has appeared in such movies as Jack Reacher with Tom Cruise, Promised Land with Matt Damon, Frances McDormand, Emily Blunt, and John Krasinski, and Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, starring Cate Blanchett. Joe hails from Sewickley, Pennsylvania. He’s been a paperboy, journalism student, university newspaper writer/photog…

Al Olson is one of a select handful of eccentric, quirky, and entertaining people who helped grow American Renaissance Festivals into being a very popular ticket. He shares his story in his comprehensive book, A History of the American Renaissance Festival. While attending the University of Minnesota, working nights in a parking ramp and pumping ir…

Screenwriters/Producers, Brian Gunn and Mark Gunn, are cousins who grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and attended the same high school and college, where they launched a sketch comedy troupe and began writing together. They moved to Los Angeles and landed their first job by writing the MTV movie 2gether, a spoof about a fictional boy band. It spawned …

Greg Weisman has been a storyteller all his life. His first professional work was as an Editor for DC Comics, where he also wrote Captain Atom. Greg was Director of Series Development at Walt Disney Television Animation, where he created and produced Gargoyles. Later, he wrote the Gargoyles and Gargoyles: Bad Guys comic books for SLG, and the Gargo…

Ron Destro is an award-winning writer, actor, director, and teacher. Trained in the US and UK, his mentors have included Royal Shakespeare Company founder John Barton, Oscar-winner F Murray Abraham, TV legend Lucille Ball, painter Pierre Matisse, and teachers at the Iowa Writers Workshop. He received the Kennedy Center New American Play Award for h…

The award-winning French Algerian American playwright, librettist and activist, Catherine Filloux, has been, for the past 3 decades, traveling to conflict areas writing plays that address human rights and social justice. Catherine’s new play, “How to Eat an Orange,” will open at La MaMa Theatre in New York City, and her new musical “Welcome to the …

My guest today, Dr. David Sharp is a writer, performer, and spiritual teacher. Through his business, Power for Life Now, David produces and presents workshops, retreats, videos, music and performances for personal and spiritual growth. David is an ordained Presbyterian minister and has worked as a pastor, university lecturer, and seminary professor…

The noted Connecticut artist, Amy Genser, has been creating mixed-media artwork for more than 20 years. She opened her studio after receiving her MFA in Graphic Design from the Rhode Island School of Design, where one class in paper making changed the arc of her career. Amy uses paper, paint and other materials to explore her fascination and obsess…

Peter Brosius has served as the Artistic Director of Minneapolis’s Children’s Theatre Company since 1997, where he’s directed the world premieres of Dr. Seuss’s The Sneetches The Musical; The Last Firefly; Seedfolks; Animal Dance; and many others, all of which were commissioned and workshopped by Children’s Theatre Company. Previously, Peter was th…

Actor-Writer-Director-Producer, Skip Lackey started his career as a Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus Clown after graduating from clown college. Skip’s acting credits include: Big River on Broadway, National Tours of The Secret Garden, Barnum, Big River, lots of Regional Theater, and numerous Off and Off-Off Broadway developmental musicals.…

Lisa Barnes has spent two tours of duty as an actress in New York. First, after graduating from the University of Southern California’s theatre department, she spent a number of years in the Big Apple. She acted in plays Off-Broadway and in regional theaters while studying with the legendary Stella Adler. As well, along with a favorite StoryBeat gu…

Stuart Ross wrote and directed the long running musical Forever Plaid, and its various offsprings: Plaid Tidings, The Sound of Plaid, and Forever Plaid: The Movie. Other New York Credits include: Radiant Baby, Enter Laughing, The Musical, Standing on Ceremony, The Gondoliers, and Fun with Dick and Jane. Stuart co-wrote with Jack Viertel The Secret …

Amy Powers is a Harvard-trained lawyer, Columbia University MBA, best-selling author, Emmy nominated songwriter, theater and film producer, online business owner, coach, and connector. After discovering that being a lawyer fed her bank account but starved her soul, she ditched that life to begin writing lyrics, finding multi-platinum success with a…

Steve Maher is a musician, and singer-songwriter out of Denver, Colorado. He combines vocals, lyrics, and piano into one cohesive pop-soul sound-style that doesn’t take itself too seriously while also touching upon life experience. Steve’s first solo album, Pathways, was recorded in Chicago in 2020 during the pandemic and released in July of 2021. …

Wayne Byrne is an acclaimed author and film historian from Ireland. He started his career working for local County Kildare newspapers before being invited to write for the iconic Irish pop culture bible Hot Press Magazine as a music, book, and restaurant critic. His debut book, The Cinema of Tom DiCillo: Include Me Out, was released in 2018. Wayne …

Jeff Harnar is an award-winning cabaret, concert and recording artist. His Carnegie Hall appearances include both the Cole Porter and Noël Coward Centennial Galas. Jeff’s televised PBS concerts include: The 1959 Broadway Songbook with music director Alex Rybeck, as well as American Songbook: Stephen Sondheim co-starring KT Sullivan, and Michael Fei…

Producer-Director Casey Childs founded Primary Stages, a leading New York City Off-Broadway theater, in 1984. Primary Stages has produced over 175 new plays, giving playwrights the opportunities to see their new works staged, including: Christopher Durang, Tina Howe, John Patrick Shanley, Lee Blessing, David Ives, Donald Margulies, Theresa Rebeck, …

The novelist Monte Schulz released his first novel, Down by the River, in 1990. He then spent more than twelve years writing the Jazz Age-based novel, Crossing Eden, for his father, the late, extraordinarily influential cartoonist, the creator of Peanuts, Charles M. Schulz. The book was initially released in three smaller volumes called This Side o…

Donna Loughlin is the Founder of LMGPR and known for her work with futurists and innovators. Since forming her agency in 2002, she’s launched more than 500 companies, taking them from stealth to market leaders. Donna excels in the realm of storytelling and uses those skills to propel new companies into the mainstream. She is also the host of Before…

Callum Woodhouse is a brilliant stage and screen actor originally from Durham, England. You may recognize Callum from playing Leslie Durrell in ITV’s much-loved series The Durrells. He’s also starred as Tristan Farnon in the Masterpiece TV adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small, and as James Marsden in series 6 and 8 of ITV’s beloved British c…

The actor, director, teacher, and author, John Shepard, began his professional career at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival where he was a company member for 4 seasons. Subsequently moving to New York, he worked in regional theatres like The Long Wharf, Yale Rep, Barter Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and many others. Off Broadway, he performed…

Melanie Zanetti, is an award-winning Australian actress of both stage and screen, who divides her time between Australia and the United States. Melanie voices the role of Chilli, in the popular, internationally renowned, Emmy Award winning animation series, Bluey. Her most recent feature films include Raven’s Hollow, which was written and directed …

Robert Crane is the co-author of eleven books including Crane: Sex, Celebrity, and My Father's Unsolved Murder, My Life as a Mankiewicz, Bruce Dern: A Memoir, and Jack Nicholson: The Early Years. He contributed a short story called Wingding to the recently published story collection, Beyond Where the Buses Run: Stories. Robert is also the co-writer…

Michael Elias is an award-winning writer, actor and director who’s written film, television, theatre and fiction. His new novel, You Can Go Home Now, is a timely and thoroughly entertaining psychological thriller featuring a female cop on the hunt for a killer while battling violent secrets of her own. I’ve read You Can Go Home Now and can tell you…

George Stevens, Jr. has crafted an extraordinary creative legacy over a career spanning more than 60 years as a screenwriter, director, producer, playwright and author. He’s enriched the film and television arts as a filmmaker and is widely credited with bringing style and taste to the high-profile, national television events that he has conceived.…

Ken Fallin began his career creating witty pen and ink caricatures for the long-running satirical revue, “Forbidden Broadway”. Intended as an homage to the legendary theatrical caricaturist, Al Hirschfeld, this concept was so successful that Ken continued to design artwork for the show’s phenomenal thirty-year run. Ken’s instantly recognizable, int…

Director-producer-author, Sheldon Epps has directed major productions on and off Broadway, in London and at many theatres across America. He’s also had an active television career helming numerous classic shows of recent years. Sheldon was first drawn to the stage while at Teaneck High School, and later graduated from Carnegie Mellon University wit…

Andrew Conte serves as the founding director of the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University. He writes the Pittsburgh Public Editor column at NEXTpittsburgh. And he was an investigative reporter at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, where he won numerous national, state and local awards. Andrew has published several books, including Death …

Robert Kosberg is best known in Hollywood as, “The King of the Pitch,” for his ability to sell movie and TV stories to producers. After graduating from UCLA’s film program, Bob took a succession of minor entertainment industry jobs, while also writing scripts. He then moved to New York to work for a producer, where he found the time to look for his…

Jimmy Ryan has been Carly Simon’s guitarist since the 1970s. He’s an American artist, composer, producer, and author with a career that has spanned six decades. Beginning at seventeen, he and his college band, The Critters, had their first top forty hit, “Younger Girl,” which was followed by three charting albums and two more top forty hits, “Mr. D…

Peter Smith and Laura Smith are co-authors of the book, “My Travels Through the Maelstrom of Punk Rock.” Peter is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Sunderland, in the United Kingdom. Though paralyzed from the neck down, Peter continues teaching students online, while researching and writing about a number of subjects. He recently published…

Leigh Marz is a co-author with Justin Zorn of the brilliant book called Golden, The Power of Silence in a World of Noise. Golden is a deeply researched, eye-opening revelation about just how important silence is, how much our world is currently lacking it, and ways to achieve silence that will enrich all of our lives. Leigh is a leadership and coll…

David McGiffert was First Assistant Director on close to 50 feature films including: all three of the Back to the Future films, Rain Man, Batman Returns, Tootsie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, The Fisher King, Absence of Malice, Witness, The Firm, Vanilla Sky, King Kong, An Officer and a Gentleman and dozens of others. David began working in film in 19…