Martini Shot

Today, Rob Long explains Hollywood’s world of hierarchy and one-upmanship, where having not one but THREE assistants tells the world just how much busier you are than others. It’s all a bit of an ensemble comedy, this business, but at this particular moment, strike and all, Rob says it feels as if the studios and streamers believe they should have top billing. Netflix Variety Hour anyone? A full transcript is here for paid subscribers. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theankler.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the writers strike upon us, WGA member Rob Long presents the story of two friends and their three-bean salad as a cautionary tale for writers and streamers, er, rather just streamers. And why, sometimes, everyone throws up at once. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theankler.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rob identifies the standard rules in the entertainment business to make a creative idea work. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theankler.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rob Long explains why, for the first time in his 33 years as a WGA member, he’s supporting a strike action. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theankler.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rob explains why rewrites of existing scripts can go on for years — all in the quest for that one teeny tiny note scrawled in the margin. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theankler.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An encounter at Brentwood Country Mart with a former Mr. Ed writer sends Rob Long wondering about the binge-and-purge nature of this industry, where insiders suddenly can find themselves on the outside. Rob suggests ways to persist and keep showing up despite disaster, similar to the way Angelenos remain indifferent to L.A.’s mudslides and fires. Because, as he learned long ago, you may still end up in the equivalent of the Sinatra Room at Chasen’s.For a full transcript, click here. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theankler.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While helping a friend on-set with his television pilot, Rob Long encounters two mysterious men, both named Larry, hanging around the soundstage. Nobody knows who they are, or what they actually do. And therein, says Rob, lies the problem with the current state of the business as our host, under the influence of too many Larrys, takes a dramatic turn in his opinion on the looming writers strike.For a full transcript, click here. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theankler.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When is a network like a fast food restaurant? Rob answers, and explains why he wishes his Hollywood overlords would ask if he'd like with fries with that more often. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theankler.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rob explains his personal regimen for maintaining his mental health and why it's important to be grateful for a free trip to Azerbaijan (it's a metaphor). This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theankler.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the business braces for a potentially bruising writers’ strike, Rob Long tries to remember that in show business, everybody ends up working for — and with, and next to — each other. It’s an org chart that makes no sense, except it’s the only one that works.This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theankler.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices