Brent shares his newest project—being a digital nomad! He and his husband Michael are traveling the world as digital nomads. They do their normal writing work, except they get to do it from Miami, Italy,...

Media Carnivores

Where Are Brent And Michael Going?

We haven’t checked in about our own writing and publishing. Brent talks about the possibility of a new Geography Club TV show and what it was like to be nominated for an Edgar Award for...

What’s Up With Our Writing? – Episode 088

Writers exist on a sort of continuum: the best selling phenomenons at the top, and then a long tail of writers of various success as you go lower and lower on the continuum. What truly...

What Does Stephen King Have That We Don’t? – Episode 087

This special bonus episode of Media Carnivores is about Brent’s new book, The Otto Digmore Difference. Otto is a recurring character from the Russel Middlebrook series (he appears in both the original series and the...

What Is The Otto Digmore Difference? – Episode 086

Movies can make us fall in love all over again. But they also can show us terribly inaccurate stories about love. Brent and Erik talk about movie love stories—the good, the bad, and the fantasy. Brent and...

What Do Movies Get Right (And Wrong) About Love? – Episode 085

The Lord of the Rings was an important moment in recent cinema: the scope of its filmmaking and audacity in filming three movies at once, the elevation of the fantasy genre, its pioneering special effects,...

Does The Lord of the Rings Hold Up? – Episode 084

“Political correctness” is an unfortunately-named shorthand description for how we talk about gender, race, privilege, and more. As it applies to stories like movies and TV, questions can arise about how certain tropes, characters, or stereotypes...

Should Movies And TV Be ‘Politically Correct?’ – Episode 083

How technology and science are portrayed in movies and TV is always changing. Science fiction writers have dealt with this for years, but what about non-science fiction stories. How are these things treated in stories...

How Is Technology And Science Portrayed in Movies and on TV? – Episode 082

Food is everywhere in movies, TV, and books. Why does the camera linger so much on a grilled cheese sandwich in the movie Chef? Why do meals create such good drama? In preparation for Thanksgiving, Brent...

Why Do We Spend So Much Time Watching Food? – Episode 081

In this episode, Brent and Erik talk about alien invasions—when are the aliens the monsters and when are we the monsters? We cover the fear alien invasions inspire, and the deeper issues about how aliens can force us to...

Why Do Alien Invasions Make For Good Movies? – Episode 080

In this episode, Brent and Erik talk about how politics and power are portrayed in movies and TVs. How are US politics portrayed? How does Game of Thrones speak to our modern politics? We also talk...

What Are The Best Movies And TV Shows About Politics? – Episode 079

In this episode, Brent and Erik talk about the choices writers face as they consider their future career. “Would you rather be a bestselling hack or a critical darling who never sells?” How writers approach...

Would You Rather Be a Bestselling Hack Or A Critical Darling Who Never Sells? – Episode 078

In this episode, Brent offers up a theory about how to write something that will be successful over the long run: either write something perfect or write something with just one great thing that outweighs any...

Is One Great Thing The Secret to Success? – Episode 077

Summer 2016 felt a little different, especially when it came to movies. Sequels bombed, and Netflix killed it with Stranger Things. So did something change? Was Summer 2016 a tipping point somehow? Brent and Erik...

Was Summer 2016 Different? – Episode 076

Calvin and Hobbes ran for ten years from 1985 to 1995. Bill Watterson, its creator, is famously protective of his creation. He retired at the top of his career, he has never authorized any merchandising...

What Makes Calvin and Hobbes So Great? – Episode 075

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