Fred&Dan Recommend Things!
Welcome to another edition of the Fred & Dan Blog! Our mission with Fred&Dan Productions LLC and this blog has always been to make people think in ways they’ve never done before - to spark creativity and facilitate conversation in unconventional ways. A place where you can open up your email and have a bit of creativity to take with you into your day or week!
As we’ve been starting every blog over the last couple weeks, a quick update on the writers strike. At the beginning of the month, writers pivoted from picketing outside of the corporate offices to picketing on location of TV shows and movies, forcing a more active shut down of current productions. We also saw our first award show without writers at the Tony Awards! Ariana DeBose hosted the show entirely without a script, and she did a really great job despite the occasional snafus.
To get the juices flowing this week we each have a list of recommendations from Dan to spur your creativity and from Fred to inspire your business. Enjoy!
Dan’s List of Recs
I will forever & always recommend the podcast You Must Remember This from Karina Longworth. It’s in depth Hollywood history that is amazingly researched.
For a fun, escapist listen try the audiobook Dungeon Crawler Carl! There’s a talking cat named Princess Donut who shoots missiles out of her eyes… need I say more?
Other newsletters I subscribe to and love (most about writing/creativity): how to be a woman on the internet, An Irritable Metis, Maybe Baby, Subtle Maneuvers, and for fun, gossip, and celebrity fashion I <3 Mess.
Shameless plug! If you’re looking for a fun quick watch, check out Jennifer & Chicken on YouTube!! Only 8 episodes that you can watch in an hour. Bonus: I directed 4 episodes (;
Fred’s list of recs:
Book on business I love: Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek. I could rave about this book all day long. You will come away from this book empowered and with nuggets of wisdom on how to lead a team and grow a lasting business.
Save The Cat by Blake Snyder. This is technically a screenwriting book, but I have heard it referenced so much outside of that. Learn this like the back of your hand and not only will you be able to tell funny, captivating stories at your next dinner party, you’ll be an expert on how to create a lasting brand story to draw customers in and keep them coming back for more.
Podcast to inspire anyone to get into entrepreneurship: How I Built This. I am ride or die for this podcast! Talk about the hero’s journey! Each story is the ups and downs you’d never know of from your favorite business or brand.
Podcast that all screenwriters should be listening to: Scriptnotes. I’m looking at you fellow screenwriters! If you’re new to “the biz”, or have an interest in the life of a screenwriter, check out this pod. It is heavy on the inner workings of writing but I love how the hosts always talk about the business side of being screenwriters.