Below you will find links and pics for UCLA Story Break Live (our live events) and UCLA Story Break (our podcast), as well as links to our sponsored podcast episodes with industry partners.

UCLA STORY BREAK LIVE

Created by Professional Programs Director Brian Fagan, and hosted by Professional Programs Writing for Television Lecturer Jill Goldsmith, UCLA Story Break Live is a live panel held at various film and television events, most notably at the Austin Film Festival each year.

During the event, the audience witnesses the controlled chaos of a professional writers room as prominent industry guests break a pilot or feature film in real time, with no prior knowledge of the story, and have it whipped into a pitchable state before the evening ends.Traditionally, a random participant from the audience gets the chance to join in and break the story with our guests. 

Story Break Live professional guest panelists have included:

Amy Aniobi (Insecure, Survival of the Thickest, Rap Sh*t, 2 Dope Queens)

Katrin Benedikt (the Fallen franchise, Expendables 3)

Shane Black (Lethal Weapon franchise, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Predator, Iron Man 3, Nice Guys, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Last Action Hero, The Last Boy Scout)

Steven Canals (Pose)

Micah Cyrus (The Dead Girls Detective Agency, All American)

Brian Fagan (Story Break Live creator, Professional Programs Director, Law & Order SVU)

Micah Fitzerman-Blue (Transparent, Painklller, Maleficent Mistress of Evil, Bambi, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood)

Jill Goldsmith (The Practice, NYPD Blue, Law and Order, Boston Legal, Ally McBeal)

Noah Harpster (Transparent, Painklller, Maleficent Mistress of Evil, Bambi, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood)

Dan Hernandez (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, 1600 Penn)

Charles Kim (Heroes, Ben 10, Dexter’s Laboratory)

Neil Landau (Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, Tad the Lost Explorer franchise, Melrose Place)

Cindy McCreery (Haven, I’ll Be There, Free Willy: Escape from Pirate’s Cove)

Ronald D. Moore (Outlander, Battlestar Galactica, For All Mankind, Electric Dreams, Caprica, Carnival, Roswell, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine)

Susan O’Connor (video game writer Bioshock, Far Cry 2, Tomb Raider, Gears of War)

Benji Samit (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, 1600 Penn)

Gursimran Sandhu (Game of Thrones, Fallout, We Were Liars, Invasion)

 

 

UCLA STORY BREAK PODCAST

Created by Professional Programs instructors Simon Herbert and Chris Kyle, this podcast interviews special industry guests to talk about their direct experiences creating feature films and television series to bring their stories, wisdom and advice from the renowned halls of Melnitz to listeners around the world.

 

Kranti Kanadé

Join Simon Herbert for an epic one-hour double issue podcast with National Award Winning Director and Professional Programs alum Kranti Kanadé. In addition to winning five National Film Awards he was India’s official entry to the Student Academy Awards. Since then, he has gone on to produce, write and direct movies that upend the Bollywood archetype. We learn what it was like to work with Harvey Keitel on Kranti’s first feature Gandhi of the Month, plus an in-depth look at his movies CRD and Peepal Tree; via insights into global distribution, eco-activism, and indie filmmaking.

 

 

 

Barbara Curry

Simon Herbert visits with Barbara Curry, a UCLA Professional Programs and MFA screenwriting alum, whose writing credits include The Boy Next Door, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Bosch: Legacy, Anything for Love and Interrogation. Barbara was as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in downtown Los Angeles for nearly a decade, working in the Major Violent Crimes Unit on federal cases that included murder-for-hire, prison murder, racketeering, arson, kidnapping, and bank robbery–that is, until Hollywood literally came calling.

 

 

Sacha Gervasi

Sacha Gervasi discusses the rerelease of Anvil! The Story of Anvil, his brilliant and timeless heavy metal documentary about the cost of refusing to give up on your dream. Sacha has built his career on the belief that if there’s something true in your heart, a story that you must tell, then you just can’t fail. Anvil! The Story of Anvil, which rereleases on 215 screens next week, is about the bravery and reality of being an artist. And it asks the question, What is success? Is success about money? Is success about external things? Or is success about being true to your passion and following it no matter what? In part 2 of our discussion with Sacha, we take a deeper look into his career.

 

 

 

 

 

Ed Solomon

Join Professional Programs instructors Chris Kyle and Simon Herbert as they pick the brain of Ed Solomon, writer of all of the Bill and Ted movies, the Now You See Me franchise, HBO’s Mosaic series, Levity, Men in Black and many more. Learn what Ed believes a screenwriter’s role is on set, why every movie has its own structure, why he took his name off X-Men, and — after having a major motion picture released in each of the last five decades — his plans for the future.

 

 

Billy Ray

Simon Herbert and Chris Kyle Zoom with writer/producer/director and UCLA alum Billy Ray, whose credits include Richard Jewell, Terminator: Dark Fate, Gemini Man, Overlord, The Last Tycoon, Secret in Their Eyes, Captain Phillips, The Hunger Games and The Comey Rule.

 

 

Billy Ray Part 2

UCLA Professional Program in Screenwriting instructors, Chris Kyle and Simon Herbert, talk to screenwriter/director Billy Ray for a second podcast about what it took to create “The Comey Rule”.

How did Billy Ray convince real-life Comey that he was the chronicler to tell his story; even as the country descends into polarized hysteria on the next roundabout? Billy answers this and more.

 

 

Liz Tigelaar

Simon Herbert and Chris Kyle visit with showrunner Liz Tigelaar, whose credits include Little Fires Everywhere, The Morning Show, Causal, The Astronauts Wives Club, Bates, Motel, Nashville, Revenge, Once Upon a Time, Melrose Place and Brothers and Sisters.

 

 

Felicia D. Henderson

Simon Herbert and Chris Kyle sit down with television showrunner and director Felicia D. Henderson, whose credits include Empire, Soul Food, The Punisher, Gossip Girl, Fringe, The Quad, Family Matters, Everybody Hates Chris, Sister Sister, Moesha, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and more.

 

 

Steven Canals

Simon Herbert and Chris Kyle visit with Pose co-creator Steven Canals, who shares his story and how he wrote the pilot of the acclaimed TV series while a student at UCLA. (46 mins.)

 

 

Susan Hurwitz Arneson

Simon Herbert and Chris Kyle sit down with television writer and producer Susan Hurwitz Arneson to discuss her journey from film school to writing for South Park, The Tick, Preacher and more. (36 mins.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Additional Podcasts We Have Sponsored Are Below