James DeMonaco (The Home; The Purge)
The Writers Panel
Ben Blacker
4.7 • 796 Ratings
🗓️ 15 July 2025
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
James DeMonaco (writer/director, The Home, The Purge) discusses co-writing during lockdown, collaborating with Pete Davidson, the movie he passed on that got The Home made, advice from Francis Ford Coppola, and news of maybe a new Purge movie!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, this is an advert for the failing writers podcast. Which, despite the name, is all about |
| 0:04.6 | improving your writing and chances of success. Yeah, listeners say it's funny, informative, |
| 0:08.7 | refreshing and probably a bit too honest about writing. We thought being an arty-farty-farty |
| 0:12.8 | creative type, you'd really like our recent Libby Hawker episode celebrating 10 years of her |
| 0:17.3 | Take Off Your Pants Book. One of the best foolproof story outlining guides ever written, by the way. |
| 0:22.1 | Put it in your listen next cue now while you remember. |
| 0:24.4 | If you want to write, do write, struggle to write, or just love writing. |
| 0:27.8 | The Failing Writers' Podcast is for you. |
| 0:33.5 | Hey folks, it's me, Ben Blacker, the creator and host of the Writers' Panel. |
| 0:37.9 | Thanks, as always, for listening. |
| 0:42.0 | It's been a tough Q1. |
| 0:44.5 | It's a tough Q2, both in the industry and in the world. |
| 0:51.3 | The good news is I'm hearing some optimism about the television and film industries. |
| 0:58.6 | Things are changing really rapidly. The models for making stuff are changing. Television is |
| 1:05.7 | becoming more like film, indie film, in fact. It's getting harder and harder. But listen, if you're writing a |
| 1:12.3 | great script, someone's going to notice. So keep at it. That's kind of all I have for you right now. |
| 1:19.4 | Keep working. Keep at it. Honestly, these conversations that I've been having on the writers panel |
| 1:25.3 | and over on the newsletter, benblacker. |
| 1:28.7 | Dot substack.com, have kept me going. They are always enlightening and inspiring. And, you know, I end these conversations and I can't wait to get to work. |
| 1:41.3 | I learn something every time, even after all of these years of doing this podcast, |
| 1:47.1 | even after all these years of doing the newsletter. |
| 1:51.0 | If you would like to support the Writers' Panel |
... |
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