The Business

“Squid Game” creator Hwang Dong-hyuk had never written a TV series before, but after a decade conceptualizing it, he created an unprecedented global sensation. “Squid Game” is about a dystopian survival competition where hundreds of cash-strapped players aim for a multi-million dollar cash prize. The show has become No. 1 in 90 countries and the most-watched Netflix program of all time. The USC-trained filmmaker had big ambitions for the project, but was blown away by how many people worldwide are fans. “I wanted to make a global TV show. My goal was hitting number one in the U.S. Netflix rank. But I never expected this kind of big success,” he says. When Hwang proposed “Squid Game,” it was considered too weird and too violent. So while he searched for investors for that project, he directed three acclaimed films: “The Crucible,” “Miss Granny,” and “The Fortress.” In 2018, Netflix took a closer look, “got hooked,” and greenlit the show. The streaming service’s global platform gave the show visibility and a ma

Tony McNamara's viciously satirical Hulu series “The Great” follows young Empress Catherine's adventures in her adopted country: 18th century imperial Russia. McNamara’s version is one with a lot of swearing, sex, and violence, and the series is now in production on its third season. As is typical for a streamer, Hulu doesn’t tell McNamara much about who’s watching. But he’s fine with that. “You sort of assume it’s going well because they renew it,” McNamara says. “But you're not locked into ‘what's the ratings this week? What's the data?’ So there’s a freedom in that.” McNamara talks about his fascination with Catherine the Great,  working with Hulu, and how he transported a world he originally created for the theater stage to the small screen.

Before he co-created the FX comedy series “Reservation Dogs,” Sterlin Harjo directed three micro-budget films in his home state of Oklahoma. He had knocked on Hollywood’s door but somehow he never could find financing. "I even heard, like, this film’s just a little too Indian," Harjo says. "Or, this film’s not Indian enough. So, it was very confusing." Now, FX is preparing to release a second season of “Reservation Dogs" and the series is looking to nab Emmy nominations this year.

Natasha Rothwell played Kelli on HBO’s “Insecure,” and the  beleaguered spa manager in “The White Lotus.” Now, she’s in the hit sequel “Sonic The Hedgehog 2.” With her own production company and an overall deal at ABC Signature, she plans to create movies and TV that skip the tired tropes and feature diverse casts. "I think so many scripts use page real estate in Act One just to justify someone's Blackness, or fatness or womanness, and then the story can start," Rothwell says. "We have to acclimate the audience to our otherness before we can tell a story, and I think that's bullshit." Natasha Rothwell talks about blossoming in the "Insecure" writers room, and says that she has big plans for her company, Big Hattie Productions.

The longest-running original series on Netflix is coming to an end. Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin have played “Grace and Frankie” for seven seasons, telling raunchy and honest stories of older women. After co-creating “Friends,” Marta Kauffman thought up the Netflix hit “Grace and Frankie,” which made it to an unheard-of 94 episodes. While Netflix has been offering a high volume of shows, only to drop many scripted series after a couple of seasons,  Kauffman is not surprised that the big-volume approach has led to problems. “We’re going to do a little bit of everything in the hopes they’ll be a niche audience for every show,” Kauffman says. “And there isn’t a niche audience for every single show.”

In 1970, a 21-year-old heir to a margarine fortune became a nationwide sensation when he vowed to give away his money to anyone who needed it. Michael Brody was deluged with thousands of letters, most of which sat unopened for decades, until documentarian Keith Maitland and his team decided to read them. “We started researching people, and we started tracking them down,” Maitland says. “And over and over, we kept discovering that almost nobody remembered having written these letters.” Director Keith Maitland and Executive Producer Ed Pressman talk about exploring a strange, poignant, and all but forgotten story with the film “Dear Mr. Brody.” 

Talent agent-turned-producer Theresa Kang Lowe had a pretty good idea of the challenges she’d face in adapting the novel “Pachinko” for television. A series almost entirely subtitled, largely set 100 years ago in Korea, with a huge budget — it wasn’t an obvious greenlight. “At the time when I was an agent and I came across a book, my job was to think about strategy. How are we gonna sell this?” Kang Lowe says. “So the immediate no’s were: period piece. The budget has to be significant for it to have scope and scale from a cinematic point of view. It also had to be an all Asian-led cast. And it had to be told in Korean, Japanese and English.” Kang Lowe was able to use her decades of experience to land the budget and support she needed at Apple. Kang Lowe discusses her career—including an interesting time as Ari Emanuel’s assistant, her rise to partner at William Morris Endeavor, and her move to become executive producer of the new Apple TV+ series “Pachinko.”

“CODA” won three Oscars this year: Best Picture, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, and Writing (Adapted Screenplay). When making “CODA,” Marlee Matlin, who won an Oscar in 1987 for “Children of a Lesser God,” realized she was usually the only Deaf person on a set. She told KCRW in January: “I’m the one typically going to my trailer by myself, and it’s just me and my interpreter. But in all honesty, I never thought of it until I got on the set of ‘CODA’ and realized there’s a whole different world out there I’ve been missing all this time. Realizing that here I am, on the set of ‘CODA,’ in my element at lunch time, because everybody is signing. The hearing crew — they’re signing, there’s Deaf cast members, and most importantly, our director learned sign language.” KCRW reairs its conversation with director Siân Heder and Matlin. Also in a new Banter, Matt Belloni talks to Lucas Shaw about what happens now as the WarnerMedia Discovery merger is imminent. 

Writer Ellen Rapoport’s workplace comedy “Minx,” about a Playgirl-style magazine, was hard to sell. Set in 1972, the series follows an idealistic young Vassar graduate who teams up with with a pornographer to create a magazine featuring feminist articles alongside photos of naked men. With “Bridesmaids” director Paul Feig as a producer, Rapoport was pretty sure the show was a slam dunk. “We took it to everyone. Every buyer. Buyers I didn’t even know existed. Networks I’ve never heard of. And everyone said no,” Rapoport says. Ellen Rapoport describes how “Minx” eventually found a home on HBO Max, and how she made her way from Harvard Law to Hollywood.   

The downfall of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has inspired books, podcasts, and now the hit limited series “The Dropout.” Showrunner Liz Meriwether (“New Girl”) admits she was surprised when Hulu asked her to pitch her vision for the project. “I was a playwright before I was a screenwriter, and maybe they had some belief in my ability to do something besides write sitcoms. I really don’t know why they came to me. And in fact, when they called me, I was like, ‘really?’”

Bringing Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel “Dune” to the big screen was considered a daunting proposition. But Mary Parent, a top Legendary Entertainment executive, gave filmmaker Denis Villeneuve the biggest budget of his career to realize his vision. Still, it wasn’t Marvel-sized funding and Villeneuve says he’s actually grateful for that. “It’s good to have restrictions, it brings discipline. And I needed that discipline. I’m serious about that. I don’t think I would be comfortable to make a movie without limits,” says Villeneuve. “Dune” was a success, and it’s now up for 10 Oscars, including Best Picture.

Hollywood has dominated in making global blockbusters for years, whereas China isn’t making those hits yet, but it’s now the biggest generator of box office revenue worldwide. The book “Red Carpet: Hollywood, China and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy” explains that China is playing a long game. Plus, director Jessica Kingdon talks about her Oscar-nominated documentary, “Ascension,” which focuses on social class and consumption in modern China.

Filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” is the first Japanese film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. He’s also the first from his country to be up for Best Director since Akira Kurosawa back in 1986. And for Hamaguchi, the success is a lot.  “I have been working with very small budgets, very small films,” Hamaguchi says through an interpreter. “So to think that my own work is lined up in a place like the Oscars where Hollywood stars are all there, and to think that my film is part of that — it’s really hard not to feel some kind of hesitation, not knowing what to do with myself.”

Before he even landed the job, director Reinaldo Marcus Green could tell that the film “King Richard” was a special project for the superstar sitting across the table from him – Will Smith. “I could sense that this was a really, really important role for him,and that he was going to give everything to it, and that I was the guy to help him get there.”   Though he had only directed two features before, Green was hired and got to work building his filmmaking dream team. Although filming hit snags because of pandemic shutdowns, “King Richard” has nabbed six Academy Award nominations, including Best Actor for Will Smith. The story of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams, and the family effort behind their success, is also up for Best Picture.

ViacomCBS has rebranded as Paramount, but investors did not respond well. How long will Shari Redstone hang onto control of the company her father built? Plus, there’s chaos at CNN following the ouster of executive Jeff Zucker. A mega-banter with Matt Belloni of Puck News and Lucas Shaw of Bloomberg gets into all the details. Also, who could win the big prize at this year’s Oscar Awards when there’s no clear frontrunner for Best Picture? The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg gives predictions.

Kamau Bell talks about his new documentary, “We Need to Talk About Cosby.” Also, the Oscars won’t require COVID vaccinations to attend, and Disney+ boasts a growth in subscribers.

Filmmaking team Phil Lord and Chris Miller have been making movies together for years. “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” “21 Jump Street,” and “The Lego Movie” are just some of their many credits. In 2017 they were fired from the Star Wars spinoff movie “Solo,” but bounced back with an Oscar for Best Animated Feature with “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” And they’re currently working on the two sequels for that. Meanwhile, they’ve just dropped the murder-mystery spoof “The Afterparty” on Apple TV+. Chris Miller admits it’s a lot. “The trick is not to sleep,” Miller says. “There were days when we were shooting ‘The Afterparty’ where — I have pictures of Phil in a field with a laptop, rewriting a scene for ‘Spider-Verse.’ … That’s the kind of balancing act we have to do to try and make these things be as good as they can be.”

Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin is usually the only Deaf person on a set. Matlin came to a big realization when making “CODA,” a breakthrough film featuring Deaf actors. “I’m the one typically going to my trailer by myself, and it’s just me and my interpreter. But in all honesty, I never thought of it until I got on the set of ‘CODA’ and realized there’s a whole different world out there I’ve been missing all this time,” Matlin says. “Realizing that here I am, on the set of ‘CODA,’ in my element at lunch time, because everybody is signing. The hearing crew — they’re signing, there’s Deaf cast members, and most importantly, our director learned sign language.” Director Siân Heder and Matlin tell KCRW about making their family drama “CODA,” which scored a record-breaking deal at Sundance last year and has already made history. For the first time, a film featuring a Deaf cast has been nominated for Outstanding Performance at the SAG Awards.

To get a shot at directing his remake of “A Star is Born,” Bradley Cooper passed on an upfront payday in exchange for a piece of the profit. And that gamble paid off. But as Cooper is painfully aware, the movie business has changed. “Those days are completely gone,” Cooper says. “So, there is trepidation I have with that, no question. And I have thought: I really have to actively start thinking about other ways of making revenue that have maybe nothing to do with movie making.” In part two of KCRW’s interview with Bradley Cooper, he shares his worries about the streaming future. He also remembers picking up filmmaking tips on the set of “Alias.” And he shares how he created the memorable voice of Marvel’s Rocket Raccoon.

Multi-hyphenate Bradley Cooper is out with two new films. There’s “Licorice Pizza,” in which he plays real-life wild man producer Jon Peters, and “Nightmare Alley,” where he stars as carnival worker-turned-con man Stanton Carlisle. Cooper commits to all his roles but says it was a challenge to bare all in Guillermo del Toro's dark drama, “Nightmare Alley.” “It demanded that we be naked — emotionally and soulfully and even physically for me, which actually was a big deal,” Cooper says. “I still remember that day, just to be naked in front of the crew for six hours. … It was pretty heavy.” In the first of a two-part interview, Cooper talks about how he prepared for each role. His short but memorable turn as Jon Peters was just nominated for a SAG Award. And Cooper has another connection to Peters — Cooper made 2018’s “A Star is Born,” a remake of a 1954 film that producer Jon Peters had already re-made in 1976 with his then-girlfriend, Barbra Streisand. Cooper tells KCRW why he was so committed to writing and d