Jimi Fritz is a filmmaker, musician, writer, entrepreneur, raconteur and roustabout. He’s written two feature-length screenplays, numerous articles, and a non-fiction book about rave culture. He’s also made numerous films and music videos.

His latest book, entitled, The End of Everything, An Ironic Black Comedy, is about an older man simply named Fritz, who spends his days in a psychiatric institution plotting his own suicide while contending with the extraordinary insanity all around him. I’ve read The End of Everything and can tell you this is one of the most unique stories I’ve ever had the pleasure to peruse. Deeply intellectual, smartly psychological, and wildly hilarious, The End of Everything had me turning pages and wanting neither the story nor Fritz to end. If you like darkly comic storytelling, I highly urge you to read it.

Previously, Jimi published Confessions of an Ethical Drug Dealer, which is a psychedelic travelogue and memoir. Jimi takes his readers on a journey both geographical and philosophical, while sharing a half-century of adventures in buying, selling and consuming psychedelic drugs. Along the way we learn the difference between smart drugs and dumb drugs, the truth about religion, and how to make a perfect cup of tea.

Jimi Fritz professes to be a heterodoxical polemicist, a sceptical polymath, an iconoclastic antitheist, and an aficionado of Stoicism.

PLEASE NOTE: This show contains a discussion about assisted suicide. Experiencing thoughts of suicide or self-harm can be distressing. Speaking with someone about your feelings could help with your distress. Either talk to someone close to you, or there are services with volunteers who are trained to listen.

If you are considering suicide or self-harm or are in danger, please call your local emergency services or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at: 1-800-273-TALK (8255) immediately to ensure your safety.

Please also consider seeking the assistance of a mental health professional. They can provide you with support over a longer period of time.

You may also find it useful to establish a safety plan which can be designed to help you navigate suicidal feelings.

Jimifritz.ca

Dr. William J. Carl is a Greek scholar, screenwriter, playwright, and lyricist. He’s also a former professor, seminary president, and pastor, who’s been a U.S. Senate Guest Chaplain. He’s been a speaker at Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton, Cornell, Boston University, Carnegie Mellon, as well as in Russia, South Africa, India, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Rwanda, and Canada. Further, he’s also the former President of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

William has authored eight nonfiction books (including lectures he gave at Princeton, two of which have been translated into Korean) and one novel, Assassin’s Manuscript, which is a “Dan Brown meets Daniel Silva”-style thriller. No less than Alex Haley, the author of Roots, encouraged him to write it. I’ve read Assassin’s Manuscript and can tell you it’s an action-packed international page-turner in which politics, religion, and history play essential roles. I highly urge you to check it out.

William’s screenplay, Maggie’s Perfect Match, won the Telluride Indiefest Screenwriting Contest and the Dallas Screenwriting Contest, and it was a Quarter-finalist in the Nicholl and the Austin Screenwriting contests. Not only did William turn Maggie’s Perfect Match into a play, but he’s also adapted it into a musical.

Since 2000, William has also lectured on the brain at medical schools and medical conferences.

David Stenn was hired by the TV series Hill Street Blues immediately after graduating from Yale, becoming the show’s youngest writer ever. David then wrote She Was Marked For Murder, an NBC movie that earned an Edgar nomination from the Mystery Writers Guild of America.

David returned to television as Producer of 21 Jump Street, then Supervising Producer of Beverly Hills, 90210.

David's first biography, Clara Bow: Runnin' Wild, which was published by Doubleday and edited by no less than Jacqueline Onassis, became a national bestseller. Variety raved, "Only rarely will you find a book that is as total a winner on every level as Clara Bow: Runnin' Wild."

His second biography, “Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow, again, edited by Jacqueline Onassis, was cited by the New York Times as one of the year's notable books.

“It Happened One Night…At M-G-M,” David’s discovery for Vanity Fair of Hollywood’s best-suppressed scandal, brought vindication to rape survivor Patricia Douglas after sixty-six years in hiding and is now considered an historical progenitor of the MeToo movement. The story was adapted into Girl 27, a documentary film that David directed.

I’ve read David’s excellent book on Clara Bow and seen Girl 27. Both are powerful pieces about Hollywood’s long history in how power players treat both celebrities and those who wish to become celebrated.

David then served as Co-Executive Producer of The L Word and Supervising Producer on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire. His most recent screenplay assignments have been for Martin Scorsese; Leonardo DiCaprio/Warner Bros.; and Working Title.

David is a passionate supporter of film preservation. He serves on the Film Committee of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Board of Directors at the UCLA Film & Television Archive in Los Angeles.

The phenomenal screenwriter and novelist, Joey Hartstone, had his first two feature films directed by no less than Rob Reiner. The first film, LBJ, which was named to Hollywood’s highly respected Black List in 2014, starred Woody Harrelson as LBJ. Joey’s second feature, “Shock and Awe,” featured Woody Harrelson, James Marsden, Tommy Lee Jones, Jessica Biel, and Milla Jovovich.

He was a member of the writing staff for the first two seasons of “The Good Fight.” He is currently the showrunner and an executive producer of Showtime’s “Your Honor,” starring a favorite StoryBeat guest, Bryan Cranston.

Joey’s debut novel, “The Local,” a legal thriller about an East Texas patent attorney’s first murder case, was published in the spring of 2022 by Doubleday, and is being developed as a series with CBS Studios and King Size Productions. I’ve read “The Local” and can tell you it’s a brilliant, fast-paced, thoroughly entertaining legal murder mystery very much in the vein of John Grisham and Scott Turow. I highly recommend “The Local” to you and am very glad that it’s being developed for TV. Who knew Intellectual Property law could be so exciting?

Joey and his wife, Abby, are adapting the book “In the Blood: How Two Outsiders Solved a Centuries-Old Medical Mystery and Took on the US Army,” as a feature film with Star Thrower Entertainment.

For the record, Joey and I have known one another for many years having graduated together from UCLA’s famed MFA in Screenwriting program.

The author, ghostwriter, copywriter, and freelance editor, Megan Woodward recently published her beautifully written and illustrated debut picture book, This Book is Definitely Not Cursed, which is published by Simon and Schuster. She’s also the author of the forthcoming book, Jake Maddox Dance, Gymnastics, and Cheerleading Jokes.

Megan specializes in all things humorous and finds no greater joy than making kids laugh. She’s also a produced comedy screenwriter and the scriptwriter for the Chicago Thanksgiving Parade.

Megan holds an MFA in screenwriting from UCLA, where, for the record, Megan she I met while in school together.

When she’s not writing, or procrastinating from writing, you can find her cooking, hiking, singing, laughing or working part time at a children’s bookstore called Green Bean Books.

For all those reasons and many more, I’m so very happy to welcome to StoryBeat today my friend, the very funny writer, Megan Woodward. Megan, welcome to the show…

Twitter and Instagram @womeganwo

www.meganwoodward.com

Madolyn Smith Osborne had the kind of fairy tale show business beginning that most can only fantasize about. While still in school at The University of Southern California, she won her first paycheck with a serendipitous audition before famed choreographer, Gower Champion, when a lead dancer and understudy had to be replaced in the Broadway-bound production of Pal Joey starring Lena Horne. Madolyn’s passion for musical theater as well as her training with beloved choreographers Bill and Jacqui Landrum, prepared her well for the opportunity.

A year later, on the eve of graduating from USC’s School of Dramatic Arts., her mentor, the late, iconic theatre and film producer and Academy Award-winning actor, John Houseman, launched a swan song of sorts for her with a production of Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well, in which Madolyn starred in the role of Helena.

Mr. Houseman had invited various industry professionals to see the show in the 99-seat Stop Gap Theater on campus, including his former protege, film director, Jim Bridges, who, upon seeing Madolyn’s performance, invited her to play the role of John Travolta’s mistress, Pam, in the cult classic, Urban Cowboy.

Madolyn went on to give multiple award-winning performances in the L.A. theater scene. Among her triumphs, she created the title role of Emily in Stephen Metcalfe’s play of the same name, which was directed by the renowned producer-director, Jack O’Brien, during its premiere at San Diego’s revered Old Globe Theatre.

When Madolyn was studying with legendary actress, Kim Stanley, and opera singer, Gloria Lane, she became a founding member of L.A. Theatre Works.

Madolyn also enjoyed a terrific TV and film career in which she found herself starring in features opposite the likes of no less than Steve Martin in All of Me, Roy Scheider in 2010: The Year We Make Contact, Chevy Chase in Funny Farm, Joe Pesci in The Super, and in TV shows like Due South, Cheers, If Tomorrow Comes, and Sadat. But at the height of her powers, all of that was abruptly interrupted by a chronic illness that she fights to this day.

Madolyn resides in Toronto, Canada with her husband, former NHL hockey great, Mark Osborne, and 2 adult daughters who live nearby.

For the record, Madolyn and I have known one another for more years than either of us will admit, having met and worked together on a few productions while we were both in drama school at the USC.

The great director, Rob Marshall, has made numerous films that have been honored with a total of 30 Academy Award nominations — winning 9 in all, including Best Picture for “Chicago,” which alone won a total of 6 of those Oscars. Also, for “Chicago,” Rob received the Directors Guild Award, and nominations for Best Director for the Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA awards. Additionally, he won Best Directorial Debut from the National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics Online, as well as the American Choreography Award.

Most recently, Rob directed and produced the live-action feature, “The Little Mermaid” for Disney, starring Halle Bailey, Melissa McCarthy and Javier Bardem.

Rob’s other directorial achievements include multiple nominations for award-winning features like: “Memoirs of a Geisha,” “Nine,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” which went on to gross over 1 billion dollars worldwide, “Into the Woods,” and “Mary Poppins Returns.”

Rob executive produced, directed, and choreographed the NBC TV event “Tony Bennett: An American Classic,” for which he won his second Directors Guild Award. He’s also won 3 Emmys for Direction, Choreography, and Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special. He directed and choreographed the Disney/ABC movie musical “Annie,” which received 12 Emmy nominations and won the prestigious Peabody Award. For choreographing Annie, Rob also received an Emmy and an American Choreography Award.

He’s received the Humanitas Prize for co-writing Mary Poppins Returns, and other awards from the Art Directors Guild, the Cinema Audio Society, the Costume Designers Guild, as well as the Annie Award, the Hamilton Award, and the Chita Rivera Award.

Rob’s extensive stage work includes the Broadway productions of “Cabaret,” “Little Me,” “Victor/Victoria,” “Damn Yankees,” “She Loves Me,” “Company,” and “Kiss of the Spiderwoman.” He’s been nominated six times for the Tony Award, and he’s a George Abbott Award winner.

For the record, Rob and I are both graduates of Taylor Allderdice High School here in Pittsburgh. Rob is also an alumni of Carnegie Mellon University’s top-rated School of Drama.

Stephen Cole is back on StoryBeat for the second time. An award-winning writer of musical theatre, non-fiction books, short stories, and novels, Stephen’s work has been recorded, published, and produced worldwide, from New York City to London to the Middle East and Australia.

With Matthew Ward he wrote the musicals After The Fair, Merlin’s Apprentice, Rock Odyssey, and Casper (which originally starred Chita Rivera), The Night of the Hunter and Saturday Night at Grossinger’s (with music by Claibe Richardson), and Dodsworth and Time After Time (with music by Jeff Saver), which has recently been revived at the Children's Theatre of Cincinnati.

In 2005 Stephen and composer David Krane were commissioned to write the first American musical to premiere in the Middle East. The result was Aspire, which was produced in Qatar. Their hilarious cross-cultural experiences resulted in another show titled The Road To Qatar! which has been produced in Dallas, New York and the Edinburgh International Festival (where it was nominated for Best Musical). His most recent musical, Goin’ Hollywood, was produced in 2023 to rave reviews and sold-out audiences in Dallas.

Stephen has written continuity, narration, and special material for fifteen different Drama League Shows including all-star tributes to Kander and Ebb, Liza Minnelli, Chita Rivera, Liz Smith, Peter Stone, Angela Lansbury, Patti LuPone, Kristin Chenoweth, Audra McDonald and Neil Patrick Harris.

As an author, Stephen has published That Book About That Girl, I Could Have Sung All Night: the Marni Nixon story (which is currently in development as a feature film), Noel Coward: A Bio Bilbliography, and the Charles Strouse memoir Put On a Happy Face.

A prolific short story writer, Stephen’s first novel Mary & Ethel…and Mikey Who? was published in January 2024. I’ve read Mary & Ethel…and Mikey Who? It’s what’s you call a real hoot, especially for lovers of old broads on old Broadway. It’s the most entertaining time-slipping story I’ve read since Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five.

Stephen is a recipient of a Gilman-Gonzales Falla Commendation for musical theatre as well as the prestigious Edward Kleban Award.

www.stephencolewriter.org

https://www.facebook.com/steve.cole.5076798

https://www.instagram.com/stephencolewrit