{"podcast":{"title":"The Writers Panel","slug":"the-writers-panel-1063873","podcast_index_feed_id":1063873,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/64136d56d4086100118cc769","website_url":"https://benblacker.substack.com/","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/64136d56d4086100118cc769/show-cover.jpeg","author":"Ben Blacker","episode_count":649,"summary":"The definitive insider's guide to our current golden age of television, Ben Blacker's The Writers Panel is an ever expanding anthology of live convention panels and intimate in-studio interviews with the writers, producers, and show runners responsible for all the shows you can't stop watching. Over the course of nearly 500 episodes and counting, The Writers Panel has sat across from guests such as Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad), Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele (Key and Peele), Liz Meriwether (New Girl), and Damon Lindelof (Lost, The Leftovers) to talk about the art and business of creating great television. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-24T16:17:37.670443+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-writers-panel-1063873"},"episode":{"title":"Macon Blair (The Toxic Avenger)","slug":"macon-blair-the-toxic-avenger","published_at":"2025-08-26T08:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-writers-panel-1063873/macon-blair-the-toxic-avenger","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-writers-panel-1063873","url":"https://shows.acast.com/nerdistwriters/episodes/68a786bbe2f63983a74bb952","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/64136d56d4086100118cc769/e/68a786bbe2f63983a74bb952/media.mp3","summary":"Writer/director Macon Blair ( The Toxic Avenger ; I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore ) discusses managing a bigger production for his second feature, \"handmade\" films, balancing tones, writing a movie that's not \"accidentally stupid,\" and lots more. LIVE STUFF! A live Dead Pilots Society in LA (or available to stream on demand) on Sunday 9/14 2-4pm at the Elysian Theater. With scripts by Lisa Muse Bryant ( The Four Seasons ; Black-ish) and Jim Brandon & Brian Singleton ( Animal Control ; Mixed-ish ). Starring Amber Riley ( Glee ), Yvette Nicole Brown ( Community ), Kyla Pratt ( One On One ), Dan Gregor ( The Naked Gun co-writer), Phil Lamarr ( King of the Hill; Futurama ), Marcel Spears ( The Neighborhood ), Brian Safi ( Throwing Shade ), Jessica McKenna ( Dropout ), and more. Get live or streaming tickets here. The Thrilling Adventure Hour celebrates its 20th anniversary with shows in NY and London! Come see Paul F. Tompkins, Paget Brewster, Busy Philipps, Joshua Malina, Janet Varney , and more this fall! https://thrillingadventure.live for details. THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing , where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years, as well as access to exclusive live Q&As, meet-ups, and more: benblacker.substack.com SOCIALS: Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/benblacker.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bablacker/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"Writer/director Macon Blair ( The Toxic Avenger ; I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore ) discusses managing a bigger production for his second featu…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2210,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-writers-panel-1063873/episodes/macon-blair-the-toxic-avenger/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-writers-panel-1063873/macon-blair-the-toxic-avenger.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}