818 Inside the Mind of a Master Storyteller with Tom Fontana
The Terri Cole Show
Terri Cole
4.9 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 2 April 2026
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How does a 3-time Emmy winner create the most psychologically complex characters in TV history? Join me and the legendary Tom Fontana, showrunner of many series including "Oz" and "Homicide: Life on the Street" as we deconstruct the creative process, storytelling, and the human psyche.
In this episode, we dive deep into the "Origin Story" of a master storyteller. Tom shares his unique 3-part framework for building three-dimensional characters and explains why everyone has a story they are dying to tell—if only someone would ask. If you've ever felt "stuck" in your creative journey or want to understand the moral complexity behind groundbreaking dramas like Netflix's Borgia or Saint Elsewhere, this conversation is for you.
Read the show notes for today's episode at terricole.com/818
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Well, hello there, and welcome to this very special episode of the Terry Cole Show. |
| 0:07.2 | I am in a deep and lively conversation with Tom Fontana, who is a mutual friend of a very close friend of mine who passed away last January and her husband, David, is still alive and we're all mutual friends. |
| 0:22.7 | That's how I know of Tom besides his massive career. |
| 0:26.7 | So he's an Emmy Award-winning television writer and producer known for creating and shaping some of the most groundbreaking character-driven dramas in modern TV, including Oz and Homicide Life on the |
| 0:41.1 | Street. Tom's work is known for its psychological depth, moral complexity, willingness to |
| 0:48.5 | explore sort of the messy reality of human behavior. And he's been working for, you know, we were talking about saying elsewhere. |
| 0:58.1 | I mean, there's so many shows that he's done. |
| 1:01.4 | He's also done Netflix, Borgia, as well as contributing to a zillion other things. |
| 1:08.4 | He's received three Emmy Awards, four Peabody Awards, three Writers Guild |
| 1:13.4 | Award, four Television Critics Association Awards, Cable Ace Award, Humanitarian, Humanitas Prize, |
| 1:20.1 | two Edgars and the first prize at Geneva's Cinema Tout, Ekron Festival. So many things. So what we're |
| 1:27.4 | talking about today is a lot of it is about the |
| 1:30.5 | creative process. I mean, for someone to write as much and as long and as successfully as Tom |
| 1:38.6 | Fontana has, there has to be some special thing happening in your brain. |
| 1:46.1 | And he also has written articles for the New York Times and Esquire. |
| 1:49.5 | But the conversation today was really about creativity and about how to stay inspired and what is inspiring. |
| 2:00.2 | So he also has recently a new substack that I'm a part of that I absolutely love, |
| 2:05.8 | that is super inspiring, something new comes out every Sunday. |
| 2:08.5 | You never know what it's going to be. |
| 2:10.0 | So anyway, I hope that you enjoy this lively conversation that I had with Tom Fontana |
| 2:15.3 | as much as I enjoyed having it. |
| 2:30.1 | Music conversation that I had with Tom Fontana as much as I enjoyed having it. This is the Terry Cole show, and as you might have guessed, I'm your host, Terry Cole. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Terri Cole, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Terri Cole and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.