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0:32

I'm working outside today. How

0:35

is it? It's

0:37

so nice. There's a breeze.

0:39

I can hear birds. It's

0:41

very peaceful. I

0:44

think it's too hot to work outside where I am. Plus

0:47

the only birds I would hear are chickens. Yes,

0:50

it would be too. I wouldn't be able to

0:52

hear you if you worked outside. Right. You'd just

0:54

be like, caw, caw. Yes. But

0:57

I am enjoying it immensely. Yeah. Hi

1:06

and welcome to Happier in

1:08

Hollywood, the podcast about how

1:10

to be happier, healthier, saner,

1:12

more creative, more successful and

1:14

more productive in a backbiting,

1:16

superficial, chaotic, unpredictable, fundamentally

1:18

insane world. I'm

1:20

Sarah Fain, a TV writer and producer

1:23

living in Ojai right outside of L.A.

1:25

And with me is my high school

1:27

friend and writing partner, Liz. That's me,

1:29

Liz Kraft. On this podcast, we talk

1:31

about being writers in Hollywood, how we

1:33

balance a career and friendship and how

1:35

to survive the war of attrition that

1:38

is life in Los Angeles. Today, we're

1:40

going to talk about what phase of

1:42

work we're in. It's one of my

1:45

favorites. Then we've got to take a

1:47

hike inspired by Liz's recent Saturday afternoon

1:49

outing. And hit some bombs. Sarah gets

1:52

a hit and we have a roar

1:54

24 related bomb. Then

1:57

Sarah has a tech related Hollywood hack.

2:00

and I have a fun documentary, Rick.

2:02

And Liz, before we dive in, I

2:04

have a quick update. My stepmom is

2:06

visiting and in episode 371, we

2:09

talked about encouragement. And

2:12

last night, she told me a story,

2:15

something that happened at least 50 years ago. She

2:18

was in the process of getting a

2:20

divorce from her first husband before she

2:22

married my dad. And she was at

2:24

the courthouse and it's a very stressful

2:27

thing. And she said, this woman came

2:29

up to her and said, this

2:31

is really hard, but you're gonna get

2:33

through it. And I

2:35

mean, 50, maybe 60 years later,

2:38

she still remembers this. So that goes

2:40

to how important encouragement is. You just

2:42

never know when you're gonna hit someone

2:44

at that moment where it's exactly what

2:46

they need to hear. Yeah, it may

2:48

not even be someone you know, as

2:50

it was in this case, but it

2:53

can still make a huge difference. So

2:55

keep that encouragement going, everybody.

2:58

Yes. Okay, Sarah, it's time

3:00

for from the treadmill desk of, in

3:02

which we discuss what's most pressing in

3:04

our work psyches. And today

3:06

it's all of the stuff we're

3:08

consuming for work. I

3:10

mean, it's like a hot dog

3:13

eating contest, basically. We're just like

3:15

shoving everything in at

3:18

an incredible rate. Books,

3:20

TV shows, podcasts, scripts, we're just

3:22

shoving it all in. Yes, it's

3:25

like we have to consume all

3:27

of this material before anything can

3:29

come out. It's sort of like

3:32

a paper shredder, something

3:34

like we're putting it in and it

3:37

comes out hopefully in a different form.

3:39

There's another metaphor here that we're... There

3:41

are many metaphors. Indeed.

3:44

We were trying to count up how

3:46

much we have consumed in the last

3:48

few weeks. And this is not a

3:51

total count. This is just what we got to before

3:53

we were like, oh my God, it's a lot. We've

3:55

read at least 10 books. We've

3:58

watched at least 20 hours. of

4:01

various shows. We also read a

4:03

couple scripts. I mean,

4:05

we're just, there's a lot. Yeah,

4:07

and it's, I always just spend

4:09

hours and hours listening, because

4:11

I've just, for whatever reason, I'm very

4:13

much in a listening phase. And

4:16

we have discovered, Sarah, it takes longer to

4:18

listen to a book than to read it,

4:20

because you'll be done. And

4:22

I'm like eight hours later, I'm

4:25

still trying to finish the book. So

4:27

I need, the next book we're reading,

4:29

I ordered as a book. Cause I

4:31

said, okay, this is nuts. I gotta

4:33

get through this faster. Yeah, my Kindle

4:35

is like heating up from all the

4:37

use it's getting. And that's because, you

4:39

know, as we have discussed right now

4:41

in Hollywood, IP is, I was

4:44

gonna say king, but I'll say queen,

4:46

IP is queen. And so

4:48

we're just leaning into the IP

4:50

of it all. We are, and

4:53

it's, I was gonna say

4:55

hard. It's disconcerting, I'll say,

4:57

because it doesn't feel like work. It

4:59

just feels like we're having a beach

5:01

vacation without the beach all the time.

5:04

Just like reading, reading and watching and

5:06

watching. Oh, I have to watch this

5:08

show now, sorry. But it is

5:10

work. And then we have

5:12

to analyze it and think about the pros and

5:14

cons of everything. And like that

5:17

part is very worky, but the reading

5:19

and watching part is pretty delightful. Yeah,

5:21

I mean, we said 20 hours

5:23

of various shows. It's probably more like 40

5:26

hours, really. Yeah. Yeah,

5:28

although I have to say, Sarah, you

5:30

and I might just for fun discuss

5:33

the merits of a book or a

5:35

TV show or, you know, a podcast

5:37

or whatever. So in that sense, that

5:39

barely feels like work. Whatever it is,

5:41

I have to say, I am enjoying

5:43

it. Yes, and it's funny because

5:45

sometimes when you're in a phase of work, you

5:47

feel like you're the only one. But

5:50

I've talked to other writers who

5:52

feel like they're busy all day

5:55

long doing all of this stuff,

5:58

but, you know, no one's getting. at

6:00

this phase, so it feels like

6:02

they're not actually working, but we

6:04

are declaring this work. So

6:08

everybody out there who's doing the same thing that

6:10

we're doing and kind of feeling

6:12

like you're playing hooky because you're not

6:14

actually writing, you're not typing anything, this

6:17

is work. It is work. Maybe

6:20

Liz, what we should do is start a Google doc

6:22

and just type our notes about

6:24

everything and then it'll feel more worky.

6:28

Well, we absolutely should do that, not

6:30

just so that it feels more worky,

6:33

but because in a month,

6:35

you know we'll forget what

6:38

we thought about something or did

6:40

we read the second book in the series

6:42

and did we both read it or did

6:44

just one of us read it and did

6:47

we meet on it? We know

6:49

if we don't write it down, we

6:51

will forget. How have we not done

6:53

this? Some things that seem obvious, they

6:57

trail behind and then suddenly you go, oh

6:59

crap, I should have done that. That reminds

7:01

me, Sarah, I was very proud of myself

7:03

because I did start a Google doc at

7:05

the beginning of the year of everybody we're

7:08

meeting with, but I feel that maybe I

7:10

fell off of it. I feel that it

7:12

might be behind. I know, I was just

7:14

thinking, I thought you were gonna say, and

7:16

I updated it yesterday. No,

7:19

now when you brought up a Google doc, I'm

7:21

like, oh my gosh, so okay, we've

7:24

gotta go back to every time we

7:26

have a meeting. Yes, and after this

7:28

podcast, after we record, we should update

7:30

it. Yes, because again, there are people,

7:32

I so wish we'd done this since

7:34

the beginning of our career because

7:37

someone's name will come up and we'll say,

7:39

oh, I know we met with them or

7:42

we may have even worked with someone and forgotten

7:44

if it was 10 years ago. So

7:47

keeping a record of all of this is

7:49

so helpful and now of course it's so

7:51

easy to do. Yes,

7:54

all right. So no one has the excuse not

7:57

to keep a record. Now we have our action

7:59

item, Liz. We know what we're going to start our

8:01

workday with when we're done recording. Yes. And

8:04

then we'll probably talk for a bit and

8:06

then go off and do some more consuming.

8:09

Indeed. So anyway,

8:11

curious to hear of others out there

8:13

feel like they're consuming a ton of

8:15

material. This is probably very specific more

8:18

than most of our segments to Hollywood

8:21

writers, but others may need

8:23

to read reports, read articles,

8:25

you know, medical journals. I'm

8:27

curious. Okay, Sarah, coming

8:29

up. I have a take a hike

8:31

related to my recent Saturday outing, the

8:34

first of spring. Liz,

8:41

when you and I first were able to access

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by state law. All right, Liz,

10:31

we're back with Take a Hike, where we

10:33

talk about physical, mental, and spiritual health. Today

10:35

it's mental. Yeah. So

10:37

the take a hike is go solo.

10:40

Okay. Go out by yourself

10:42

somewhere. And this was

10:44

inspired by my recent solo

10:46

outing. I have

10:48

been talking lately about a stylist

10:50

named Alison Bornstein because I talked

10:52

on, I think on Happier and

10:54

Happier in Hollywood, about how I

10:56

really want to up my style.

10:59

And a bunch of listeners told me

11:01

to follow a stylist named Alison Bornstein.

11:03

So I did, and I am. And

11:06

I saw that she was going

11:08

to be at the theory store

11:10

in Brentwood from one to three

11:12

last Saturday talking. And

11:15

it was free, which was a bonus. You

11:17

just had to get a ticket, but it was

11:19

a free ticket. And I thought, well,

11:21

I want to go to that. This is

11:23

perfect timing. So Sarah,

11:26

I thought about seeing if somebody wanted

11:28

to go with me. And

11:31

then I thought, you know what? I'm

11:33

just going to do this by myself

11:36

because it's really my interest this

11:38

way. If for whatever reason, something comes

11:40

up and I can't go, I don't

11:42

have to worry about it. But

11:45

if I feel like going, I can just, you know, get

11:47

in my car and go. I don't have to make a

11:49

plan. And so I

11:51

just decided I'm going to go by myself.

11:53

And I did. And it was really, really

11:56

nice. It was like I went on a

11:58

date with myself to the theory store. Did

12:01

you get anything at the theory store? That's

12:03

my first question. You know, I didn't. Now

12:06

one nice thing, they were having 15% off

12:09

while she was there for everybody who was

12:11

there to see her. And I

12:13

did try on some things, but I kind of

12:15

went on a bit of a shopping spree in

12:17

the last couple of weeks. So I did not

12:20

buy anything. Although I am keeping my eye on

12:22

a couple of things in case they go on

12:24

sale. But it was just

12:26

kind of empowering to pick

12:29

something I wanted to do, just

12:31

as my interest, my little

12:33

hobby, follow up

12:35

on it, go. I mean,

12:37

there were other people there were in

12:40

groups. Most people were with friends, but

12:42

there were a few other people there

12:44

by themselves. And had I been so

12:47

inclined, I probably could have made more

12:49

conversation and had been more social, but

12:52

I didn't feel the need. But

12:54

you know what was fun, Sarah, bonus. I

12:57

got her book while I was

12:59

there and I had her sign

13:01

it with my three style words,

13:03

which are current, clean and

13:06

confident. And she said, oh, three

13:08

C's, I love three C's. And

13:10

she wrote the words and under

13:12

it, she put three C's exclamation

13:14

point. So it was

13:16

just fun. See, I love doing things

13:18

solo. I'm so glad you have made

13:20

this discovery. Cause I think it's so

13:23

fun. Like I took a pottery class

13:25

by myself, which is

13:27

a little anxiety inducing, but it's

13:29

just fun. I love, maybe it's

13:31

because I'm an only parent. So

13:33

I feel like I'm always with

13:35

Violet when I go places and then, you know,

13:37

like, but when I go someplace by myself, I'm

13:40

like, what? Now,

13:42

let me ask you this question. Was it

13:44

anxiety inducing because you were alone or just

13:46

because you don't know how to do pottery?

13:49

I think a little both, probably

13:51

more because I don't know how

13:53

to do pottery. Although

13:55

I'm getting there. It's really good

13:57

just to be comfortable being by yourself.

14:00

Everybody says that you should be able to

14:02

go eat at a restaurant, for instance, by

14:04

yourself, which I used to do all the

14:06

time. You remember I had my Benihana lunch.

14:08

Yes. Saturdays. I

14:11

went by myself to Benihana with the

14:14

crossword puzzle many Saturdays. Wonderful. But

14:16

I haven't done it lately. Yeah, and I

14:18

love going, you know, to my diner work

14:20

lunches or like one of my favorite things

14:22

ever, or just

14:25

going with a book or a Kindle

14:27

and just hanging out. And, oh,

14:29

it's so nice. But

14:31

it's different, I think, like the pottery class

14:33

and going to see Alison Bornstein are different

14:35

because there are things that we kind of

14:37

had to look into and research

14:40

and events and plans. True. And

14:43

I think that's a really nice element to

14:45

it. Following your own interests. You

14:47

don't care if anybody else in your life wants to

14:50

make a pot. You want to make a pot. And

14:52

so you're going to. I want to make a pot.

14:54

Hopefully I'll get one as a gift one of these

14:56

days. Oh, you will for sure. Well,

14:59

for sure, Sarah, I want to hear if

15:01

this inspires anybody to go solo or if

15:03

you have a habit of going solo. What

15:05

do you do? This is something

15:08

I'm going to incorporate into my life more. And

15:10

it's a great summer time thing to do. Great

15:13

way to feel the summer

15:15

is to indulge in your

15:17

interests. Absolutely. Okay, Sarah, it

15:20

is time for hits and bombs

15:22

because Hollywood is all about big

15:24

hits and big bombs. Now,

15:27

you get a hit this week. I do. I

15:31

have been doing postcards to voters.

15:33

If you don't know what postcards

15:35

to voters is, it's an

15:37

organization. You can go

15:40

to their website, postcards to voters.org that

15:43

sends friendly handwritten

15:45

reminders from volunteers to targeted

15:48

voters, giving, in my case,

15:50

Democrats a winning edge in close key races

15:52

coast to coast. So I got

15:54

a bunch of postcards and I write

15:57

on them like, hey, reminder, this election

15:59

is coming up. There's a special election

16:01

here, reminder to enroll and vote

16:04

by mail if you haven't, that kind of thing.

16:06

And just you send out postcards

16:08

and they're like handwritten and feel

16:11

more personal. So people I

16:13

think are more motivated and you say thank

16:15

you for being a voter. So

16:17

I've done, how many have I done? I've done 50. Wow.

16:21

I'm working on my like 55th on

16:23

the kitchen table right now and I'm

16:25

planning to do it through the election.

16:28

So it's just an easy way to

16:30

get involved. It's just an easy way

16:32

to volunteer and be involved. So

16:35

that's been fun. Couple of questions. One, so

16:37

do you have to pay for postage? You

16:39

do. You have to pay

16:41

for the postcards and for postage. That's

16:44

part of the volunteer part. And do

16:46

you do fun postcards? Like do you

16:48

get oh hi postcards or do you

16:50

just get blank postcards? I'm just curious.

16:52

What kind of postcards are you sending?

16:54

I got blank postcards at first and

16:56

that's honestly kind of a mistake because

16:59

then you have to like do something

17:01

creative to make them look pretty and

17:03

it's a lot of work. So

17:06

I ordered just on Amazon some like

17:08

you know vote postcards and now I

17:10

just have to do the writing. All

17:12

right. Well that's great. You definitely get

17:14

a hit for that. Oh thank you for the hit. Now

17:17

Liz we get a bomb. The two

17:19

of us together. Well I don't know

17:21

if it's a bomb to us or

17:24

just the universe because I don't think

17:26

we did anything wrong. It's more that

17:28

the universe gets a bomb because

17:31

of your recent cold. Yes

17:33

it's a bomb to my

17:35

lungs. Yes exactly. So

17:38

I think we mentioned on the podcast that we were

17:40

going to do another one of our Roar 24s

17:43

that the Emerald Iguana Inn. Roar

17:46

24 is when we spend 24 hours

17:48

together being productive and having fun and

17:50

we are trying to do several of

17:52

these throughout the year. Our motto this

17:54

year is Hear Us Roar. That's why

17:56

we get the Roar. and the 24

17:59

is both 2024 and 24 hours. And

18:04

we like to do them at the Emerald Iguana

18:07

Inn because that's our favorite place in Ojai. And

18:10

we booked it, we were

18:12

excited, we had it planned,

18:14

we had our agenda, and

18:17

then you got hit with a nasty cold.

18:20

And the worst thing is we did have an

18:22

agenda. I mean, we had like, this is what

18:24

we're gonna talk about at lunch. This

18:27

is what we're gonna talk about after

18:29

lunch. This is what we're gonna talk

18:31

about in the evening. Like we really

18:33

had our plan all set up. And

18:36

now the worst part really is that

18:38

we're, I'm going out

18:40

of town, then you're going out of town. So we're

18:42

really not going to be able to do this until

18:45

August. Yes, the other bummer, Sarah, was

18:47

that we were within the cancellation window

18:49

or we were out of the cancellation

18:51

window, however you wanna put it. So

18:54

we had to give up some money.

18:56

But that is just the way life

18:58

goes. Sometimes you make a plan and

19:01

this happens. It does, but it's really

19:03

a bummer. Our Roar 24 was like

19:05

a hack, hack, hack, 24. Yes, a

19:08

hack, hack, hack, 24. But

19:10

we will do it again. These

19:13

things happen, people get sick. Although

19:16

I will say, Sarah, your illness made

19:18

me go, I wanna watch out what

19:20

I do this summer in terms of

19:22

being around a lot of people. Somebody

19:25

sent me a thing of, do you

19:27

wanna go to this crazy bingo night

19:29

with hundreds of people? And I thought,

19:32

maybe not right now. Maybe

19:35

not right now. Yes, because I think COVID numbers

19:37

are on the rise again around

19:39

here. And I didn't have COVID, I

19:41

just had a hacking unpleasant cough. Yes,

19:43

well, I'm glad you're getting better and

19:45

we will do our Roar 24. And

19:49

when we do, I have no doubt

19:51

that we will break it down on

19:53

the podcast afterward and talk about hopefully

19:55

how productive we were. Yes, we will

19:57

be super productive. All right, coming up.

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20:02

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21:34

All right Liz, we're back with a Hollywood hack.

21:37

This is something that I recently put in

21:40

my kitchen. It's an

21:42

Amazon Echo Show 15, which is like a

21:44

15-inch screen. You

21:48

can mount it on the wall or you can put

21:50

it on a stand, which is what I did. It

21:54

has Fire TV built in. It's basically

21:56

like an Echo Show, which has a

21:58

small screen. This one has a bigger

22:00

screen. You can see all the stuff

22:02

you want to see, whether it's weather

22:04

or your schedule, sticky notes, all of

22:06

these things, you can customize it to

22:08

be the way you want it. But

22:10

it also has a remote control, so

22:13

you can watch TV on it, which

22:15

is really nice. That is nice. One

22:17

thing, Sarah, is you're so good about

22:19

customizing something to make it work for

22:21

you. I know if

22:23

I got this, I would turn it on

22:25

and it would just be whatever's on it.

22:27

If the weather's on it, then every day,

22:29

would just show the weather and never show

22:31

anything else. You get the

22:33

most out of your devices. I try to,

22:36

although I have to say most of the

22:38

time, I'm just like, Alexa, set a timer

22:40

for 15 minutes. I mean,

22:42

it's in the kitchen, so it's very handy for

22:45

all that kind of thing too. And

22:47

I could see it'd be good

22:49

for recipes. Oh, very good, yes,

22:51

for recipes. I read a decluttering

22:53

thing recently that said people should

22:55

probably get rid of many of

22:57

their cookbooks, because in fact, we

22:59

all use the internet for recipes.

23:02

This is true, but I also, I

23:04

mean, I had a visceral reaction when

23:06

you said that. I was like, from

23:08

my cold, dead hands. I

23:10

love my cookbooks. Sarah,

23:13

this is a bit pricey. It's an

23:15

investment. It is, yeah. Depending

23:17

on if you get them when they happen to be on sale, they're

23:19

about 250 to $280, but

23:23

I just decided it was worth it, because

23:25

we also, you can use it for documentaries.

23:27

Violet does a lot of school in the

23:29

kitchen, and she can watch stuff

23:31

there. For us, it integrates really nicely into

23:33

our life. Well, I'm excited to see it

23:35

when I come to your house. I'm excited

23:37

for you to get your birthday present, which

23:39

I was gonna give you on our H.R.24,

23:43

or at our Benny Hana lunch, both

23:45

of which had to be canceled because

23:48

of my sickness, so sorry.

23:52

One of these days. All

23:55

right, finally, Sarah, I have

23:57

a recommendation. It is the

23:59

documentary, Bratz on Hulu.

24:02

So let me just read a quick

24:04

description and then I'll talk about it.

24:07

Bratz is a Hulu documentary from director

24:09

Andrew McCarthy, himself one of

24:11

the stars who fell under the

24:13

Brat Pack umbrella. It's focused

24:16

on the impact the moniker had on the

24:18

young actors of the 1980s who

24:20

were considered to be part of

24:23

the Brat Pack. So Sarah, in

24:25

the 80s, there were many huge

24:27

teen movies, Pretty in Pink, Breakfast

24:29

Club, St. Elmo's Fire, 16

24:33

Candles, it was peak teen

24:35

movie time. And

24:37

Andrew McCarthy was one of the

24:39

actors who starred in many of

24:41

these movies. Probably most famously,

24:43

he was in Pretty in Pink

24:45

with Molly Ringwald and John Cryer.

24:49

And I remember when this article came

24:51

out in New York Magazine and the

24:53

headline was the Brat Pack. So

24:56

obviously a take off on the Brat

24:59

Pack, Frank Sinatra's group. I

25:01

mean, it was all about all these young stars and

25:05

Andrew McCarthy and other members of the

25:07

Brat Pack, not all of them, felt

25:10

that being labeled the

25:13

Brat Pack hurt their careers. And

25:16

so this is really an exploration of

25:18

that and sort of how they all

25:20

felt and how they're doing now. And

25:23

Demi Moore is in it, Rob

25:25

Lowe is in it, Allie Sheedy,

25:28

it's just really fun to

25:30

revisit everybody. Emilio Estevez, I

25:33

highly recommend watching it. They all

25:35

seem to have come out just

25:37

fine, however. I mean, they're all

25:39

extremely successful. Andrew McCarthy writes books,

25:41

we've read some of his books.

25:43

He also is a television director.

25:45

We worked with him on The

25:47

Family. Yes. So they're

25:49

doing okay. Yes, but it's just interesting

25:52

how looking back, you go, oh, maybe

25:54

it wasn't such a bad thing. At

25:56

the time we felt very self-conscious called

25:58

the Brat Pack, but maybe it was

26:01

kind of cool. We all thought it

26:03

was kind of cool. Yes, we sure

26:05

did. I love those movies.

26:07

Now, I will say Molly Ringwald did not

26:10

participate. That was a big letdown. I would

26:12

have loved to hear from Molly Ringwald. Anyway,

26:15

I highly, highly recommend

26:17

Brats on Hulu. And

26:20

that is it for this episode

26:23

of Happier in Hollywood. Email us

26:25

or send us a voice memo

26:27

to happierinhollywoodatgmail.com. Thanks for listening

26:30

and please follow us if you haven't

26:32

already. Thank you to our executive producer,

26:34

Chuck Reed. And thanks to everyone at

26:37

St. Cola Sound. You can follow them

26:39

on Instagram at St. Cola Sound. Thanks

26:41

to everyone at Odyssey. And as always,

26:43

thank you to Gretchen Rubin. Happier in

26:46

Hollywood is part of the Onward Project.

26:48

Listen to the other Onward Project podcasts,

26:50

Happier with Gretchen Rubin and Side Hustle

26:52

School. Get in touch. I'm on Instagram

26:55

and threads at Sfane and Liz is

26:57

at Liz Craft. We also have a

26:59

Facebook group. Search for Happier in Hollywood

27:01

on Facebook to join in on the

27:04

conversation. Until next week, I'm Liz Craft.

27:06

And I'm Sarah Fane. Thanks for joining

27:08

us. It's a fun job. And we

27:10

enjoy it. ["Wake Up, Love,

27:15

Love, Love, Love,

27:18

Love, Love, Love,

27:22

Love, Love, Love, Love,

27:25

Love, Love, Love