The Naked Gun
The Writers Panel
Ben Blacker
4.7 • 796 Ratings
🗓️ 29 July 2025
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Naked Gun writers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand (Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers) discuss the real stakes of a very silly movie, comedy fight scenes, not being referential, why Liam Neeson is integral to remaking The Naked Gun, having on hand an ungodly number of alt jokes, and more.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey folks, it's me, Ben Blacker, the creator and host of the Writers' Panel. |
| 0:05.7 | Thank you for listening and thanks for continuing to listen to this podcast, |
| 0:10.1 | which somehow persists in existing despite the industry not really existing anymore. |
| 0:18.4 | That's an wild over-exaggeration. But here we are in the second |
| 0:23.6 | half of 2025, and people are scared. People are anxious, not just writers, but producers and |
| 0:32.5 | directors and actors and executives and kind of everyone, but the people who are in charge of these major studios |
| 0:42.2 | and outlets, it's dire out there. I'll be honest with you. The conversations that I have |
| 0:52.1 | had with other writers, the vibe I've gotten at meetings at the WGA meetings that, you know, are really like get-togethers and hangouts and panels and stuff, the vibe is one of high anxiety and not in the fun Melbrook's way um something's got to give i i do remain optimistic |
| 1:16.8 | that like ultimately these companies need to make something which means the fear that buyers have |
| 1:25.1 | right now and which is exhibiting itself in not buying anything, |
| 1:31.1 | has to crack at some point because stuff has to get made. |
| 1:35.4 | And I think, like, the greatest lesson that the movies have taught us is that you can't guess |
| 1:42.8 | at what is going to be a hit. |
| 1:45.7 | You know, you can try as hard as you want to manufacture a hit, but it's the weird thing that slips through |
| 1:51.6 | that's going to be a hit. And like, granted, like, Disney knows what they are doing with a lot of |
| 1:56.4 | their stuff, but nobody counted on sinners. No one thought it was going to be as massive as it was. |
| 2:02.2 | And that is a movie that is a singular vision of a writer-director, and it is a stunning |
| 2:09.0 | movie that is weird and alarming and cool and wonderful. And like, you can't, you can't plan for't plan for that so look my advice to anyone who is |
| 2:22.4 | in the industry or who is looking to join the industry whether it's in television or film is to |
| 2:28.4 | write your stuff write the thing you want to see write that weird weird movie, write that personal TV show, that pilot |
| 2:37.7 | that's going to get passed around that people are going to get excited about, write your magic |
| 2:42.5 | script. You won't know you're doing it when you're doing it, which means every at-bat needs to be |
... |
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