Working: From Corporate Job to Broadway Playwright

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Music, Tv & Film, Arts

4.2 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2024

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, host Ronald Young Jr. talks to Bekah Brunstetter, a TV writer and playwright whose most recent project is the new Broadway musical version of The Notebook. In the interview, Bekah discusses her early career journey, when she was juggling a corporate job with her playwriting passion. She also talks about breaking into TV writing and working on the hit drama This is Us. And finally, she digs into her work on The Notebook and explains what it was like to adapt the classic rom-com. After the interview, Ronald and co-host June Thomas talk about receiving feedback, establishing routines, and choosing the correct creative tools for your project. In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Bekah shares the plot of the first play she ever wrote. Then she and Ronald talk about their experiences growing up in religious households and the impact it had on their cultural diets. Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com or give us a call at (304) 933-9675. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Working. Sign up now at slate.com/workingplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The most frustrating thing about being a human being is when someone doesn't understand you and you know cut to
0:14.4	being an adult working as a writer the most frustrating thing is when you feel like
0:19.0	you've conveyed something in a script and the person is saying I don't get it.
0:23.0	Slash that's not emotional to me and you're like what are you talking about?
0:28.0	Welcome back to Working. I'm your host, June Thomas.
0:33.2	And I am your other host, Ronald Young Jr.
0:36.7	Ronald, it is so nice to be chatting with you again.
0:39.7	Tell me though, whose voice did we hear at the top of the show?
0:43.3	That was Becca Brunstetter.
0:45.3	She's a writer for both screen on television and stage.
0:49.1	Her latest work is The Notebook The Musical, which is currently running on Broadway.
0:54.0	Oh my goodness and why did you want to speak with Becker right now
0:58.0	although of course the fact that she wrote the book for the notebook is pretty darn cool.
1:02.0	Absolutely.
1:03.0	So it feels like I've been tackling a lot of the folks who start with one career
1:08.0	and then transition into something they're more passionate about.
1:11.0	And Becca has a story similar to Wendy McNaughton and Carla Hall. passionate about started as
1:15.0	and Becca has a story similar to Wendy McNaughton and Carla Hall in that the work
1:16.1	that she was most passionate about started as either unpaid or part-time
1:20.7	before she fully grew into doing it full time for a living. I am fascinated by these
1:25.9	transitions and Becca has a great story. I too am fascinated by these transitions so I'm
1:32.1	really looking forward to this but tell me Ronald do you have anything
	...

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