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Beehives, Greek Wisdom, & Invisible Hands: Pursuing Emergent Optimism with Byron Reese Part I

Byron Reese is a futurist and an optimist. His new book We Are Agora: How Humanity Functions as a Single Superorganism That Shapes Our World and Our Future is named after the Ancient Greek marketplace and suggests that we might be part of a bigger entity that shapes our ends. Does the book have the insights we need to revitalize a sense of optimism even amidst dystopian times though? Related…

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Begin Again, Gattaca, Jerry Maguire and a course-correction quest

Hello again. The podcast has been on hiatus for a bit. I’m bringing back in video form at least for limited season. In this episode, I will discuss why I stopped doing the show, what brought me back, and where I hope to head in context of the films Gattaca, Begin Again, and Jerry Maguire. If you’re trying to find your way or just trying to stay the course, perhaps this is for you.

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Regarding the Bluebird Cafe and Taylor Swift

Regarding the Bluebird Cafe and Taylor Swift ...

Brian A. Loschiavo, the director-producer-editor of the Bluebird documentary, was first exposed to The Bluebird Cafe through the show Nashville, a series for which he developed supplemental digital content. The now iconic country-music venue that has been instrumental to the careers of so many musicians including Faith Hill, Garth Brooks, and Taylor Swift made enough of an impression on Brian…

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Sheriff of Mars: the Long-Lost Musician Who Inspired Townes Van Zandt

Sheriff of Mars: the Long-Lost Musician Who Inspired Townes Van Zandt

Premiering at Nashville Film Festival 2019, The Sheriff of Marsis a music documentary that tells the story of Daniel Antopolsky, a country and folk musician who was friends with Townes Van Zandt and who, the film suggests, helped to inspire Townes’ now iconic outlaw country song “Pancho and Lefty.” Wanting to escape the dark influence of the 1970s outlaw country music scene, Daniel retreated to…

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Will the Robots Save Us: Byron Reese on AI

Will the Robots Save Us? Acclaimed author, speaker, and GigaOm publisher Byron Reese comes on the podcast to discuss the challenges and questions posed by next-gen AI. Short answer: it could change everything!

Byron Reese is an acclaimed author, speaker, and entrepreneur. He’s spoken at TEDx Austin and SXSW and has been featured in Bloomberg Businessweek, Wired, and The Washington Post. Byron is also the publisher of GigaOm and hosts the Voices in AI podcast. 

Byron’s latest book, The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity, is one of the most thought-provoking…

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When a Comedy Documentary Turns Tragic

What's Eating Ralphie May won Best of the Fest at Nashville Film Festival. On this podcast, I discuss the film with wife of Ralphie May, Lahna Turner, and director, Cat Rhinehart.

What’s Eating Ralphie May won Best of the Fest at Nashville Film Festival and Documentary of the Year at Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival. The film was initially intended to be a weight-loss documentary that followed beloved comedian Ralphie May and his family, but it turned into a raw and intimate portrait of a family dealing with addiction during the last years of Ralphie’s troubled life. 

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Two Notable Shorts from Nashville Film Festival

Two Notable Shorts from Nashville Film Festival: Every Two Minutes and Bubble. I interview the directors for both on this podcast episode.

My podcast coverage of Nashville Film Festival continues in this short-films episode where I interview the directors for two different short films that got my attention at the festival. One has more of a documentary feel while the other one is a more stylized film with elaborate production design, so I paired the two interviews to explore how shorts can come together and the creative…

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How to Make an Award-Winning Film with a Two Person Crew: The Planters

How to Make an Award-Winning Film with a Two Person Crew: The Planters

Hannah Leder has a variety of acting credits including Deep Impact, Pay it Forward, and Judd Apatow’s Love series. She also has a recurring role on Apple TV+’s The Morning Show.

On this podcast episode I interview Hannah about her work on The Planters, a quirky, character-driven comedy that won Best of the Fest, Best Cinematography, and Best Song at Nashville Film Festival. Along with…

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Nashville Film Festival 2019 Recap

My podcast recap of Nashville Film Festival 2019 starts with this episode.

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend and do podcast coverage at the 50th Nashville Film Festival. While there, I interviewed a number of filmmakers and filled an entire notebook with observations about the various films and events I attended.

My Nashville Film Festival podcast coverage began with this interview I did with some of the filmmakers behind Lost Bayou. More…

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Capturing Authentic Cajun Culture on Screen: Lost Bayou

Capturing Authentic Cajun Culture on Screen: Lost Bayou

My podcast coverage of Nashville Film Festival begins with Lost Bayou, a film that premiered at Tribeca and went on to win Best Picture at the El Dorado Film Festival. Lost Bayou tells the story of a struggling addict who returns home to the Louisiana bayou to reconnect with her faith healer father, only to discover he’s hiding a troubling secret aboard his houseboat.

During the Nashville Film…

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The NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW Will Return!

The NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW Will Return!

Just a quick update about the recent hiatus, and where I’m at with the show. Short version: the podcast will return with my coverage at the 50th Nashville Film Festival.

Special thanks to Stephen T. Hoover. His script Damage Controlmade it into the top-four finalist round for half-hour pilots in the festival’s screenwriting contest, and he was the impetus for me to attend and cover the…

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How to Write Songs for Alan Jackson, Lady Antebellum, & Randy Travis

How to Write Songs for Alan Jackson, Lady Antebellum, & Randy Travis

Some songwriters would kill for the chance to work with just one multi-platinum artist. Songwriter Brent Baxter has worked with a handful of them. One of his songs even made it onto Rolling Stone‘s list of the 40 Saddest Country Songs of All Time. How does a songwriter get to write for multi-platinum artists, and what’s it like writing songs for Alan Jackson, Lady Antebellum and Randy Travis? I…

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Louisiana International Film Festival Recap #LIFF2018

Louisiana International Film Festival Recap #LIFF2018

This year, I had the chance to interview several filmmakers screening films at the Louisiana International Film Festival.  On this episode, I recap some of those interviews and share some of my experiences and takeaways from LIFF2018.

Here are my prior interviews from #LIFF2018. On the recap below, I share some of the highlights from each interview, what it was like getting to screen my short at…

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How $100,000 Kickstarter Campaign Became Crowd-Pleasing Sci-Fi #LIFF2018

How $100,000 Kickstarter Campaign Became Crowd-Pleasing Sci-Fi #LIFF2018

My coverage of LIFF2018 continues with Tinker producer Tom Bhramayana.  Tinker is a sci-fi film that started as Kickstarter campaign which brought in over $100,000. A few year later, it has won 19 best-of awards at festivals around the country, and all three screenings at this year’s Louisiana International Film Festival have sold out.

The term producer has many connotations, but Tom wasn’t just…

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Louisiana Live-Action Shorts #LIFF2018

Louisiana Live-Action Shorts #LIFF2018

My coverage of this year’s Louisiana International Film Festival continues as I talk to some of the filmmakers showing work at the Louisiana Live Action Shorts block on Saturday April 21, at 9:30 AM.

This episode includes interviews with

Steve Herold, the director of Death of an Umbrella Salesman, a character-driven comedy that pays homage to the comedies of an earlier era

Jency Griffin Hogan,…

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Brimstone & Glory: Doc on Fireworks & Danger! #LIFF2018

Brimstone & Glory: Doc on Fireworks & Danger! #LIFF2018

Brimstone & Glory is a documentary produced by the Department of Motion Pictures that tells the story of Tultepec, a town in Mexico dedicated to the making and celebration of fireworks. It’s a poetic, visually stunning film that the National Board of Review recognized as one of the top five documentaries of 2017, and it is screening at this year’s Louisiana International Film Festival.

Director V…

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Kevyn Aucoin, Complicated Makeup Artist Celebrity #LIFF2018

Kevyn Aucoin, Complicated Makeup Artist Celebrity #LIFF2018

My #LIFF2018 coverage continues with makeup artist and documentary filmmaker Tiffany Bartok. She’s the director behind Larger Than Life: The Kevyn Aucoin Story.

Prior to seeing the documentary and doing the interview, I wasn’t aware of Kevyn, but then the few makeup artists I’m aware of tend to be special-effects luminaries like Jack Pierce (Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein) or Rick Baker (An…

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