Advertise on podcast: No Set Path: Entertainment Break-In Stories

Faith Liu is a writer/director who has written feature films for Blumhouse, FilmNation, Sony Pictures Animation, and Disney. Her directorial debut short “Sundowning” is available online at CryptTV’s YouTube channel after a successful festival run. She was a member of the CAPE New Writers Fellowship and Christina Hodson and Margot Robbie’s Lucky Exports Pitch Program. Today we are getting into how Faith landed paid distribution for her short film, how she got connected with opportunities to write features for major studios in traditional Hollywood and what she thinks there is to gain from the film festival circuit.  EPISODE BREAKDOWN: 1:31 START 2:00 - Sundowning, Faith’s horror-with-a-heart proof of concept short now out on CryptTV 4:10 - Getting paid distribution for a short: CryptTV 6:07 - What to gain from film festivals (especially genre festivals) 13:20 - Winning the Wes Craven Award 16:44 - Going from screenwriter to writer-director 19:10 - Crowdfunding $40k for Sundowning 23:20 - Signing with Faith’s longtime manager Max Goldfarb 26:33 - First jobs in support staff on writers rooms of “Warrior” and “Better Call Saul” 29:59 - Caren Dulles?  33:50 - CAPE (Coalition for Asian Pacific in Entertainment) New Writers Program & how to pitch yourself in 3 minutes 42:15 - Getting connected with writing for multiple Hollywood studios & landing Open Writing Assignment pitches 48:10 - Getting into Margot Robbie’s Lucky Chap Pitch Program & women who write action 51:40 - Faith’s advice for screenwriters 54:14 - How living situation has impacted creativity  56:00 - What helped Faith persevere  59:04 - TIME CAPSULE

Veronica Powers is a SAG actress, singer, and USC Summa Cum Laude graduate who has transitioned from a child performer on Conan to a viral comedy star for creators like Content Machine and Adam W. A versatile multi-hyphenate, she also lends her voice to global Netflix hits and works as a professional coach for aspiring talent. In this episode, we discuss the profound life lessons she learned after losing her home in the Palisades fire and the specific DM strategies she used to land major roles in the digital space. BREAKDOWN: 11:28 - Veronica’s origins, from Old Hollywood grandmother to acting as a child 18:11 - What Veronica DM’d to get cast in Instagram comedy sketches 19:23 - IG as the modern day business card 20:38 - opportunities & negotiations over Instagram DMs 25:38 - creating your own social content 26:38 - leaning into being a multi-hyphenate 29:28 - pursuing music through voiceover/dubbing contacts & training 32:38 - should new actors go SAG? 39:07 - TIME CAPSULE KEEP UP WITH VERONICA: IG: @officalvpowers | @confidencecoach101  KEEP UP WITH THE SHOW:  All platforms: @NoSetPathShow    www.NoSetPathShow.com www.bio.site/NoSetPath

Austin Kolodney is the screenwriter of “Dead Man’s Wire,” based on a true story and directed by Gus Van Sant, in theaters January 2026. He was named one of Variety’s 2025 Screenwriters to Watch. A director as well as writer, Austin’s work has been featured across major platforms including Funny Or Die, Syfy, Audible, Almost Friday TV, and Comedy Central. His narrative shorts, Two Chairs, Not One and Kiwi, earned prestigious Vimeo Staff Pick honors. Today we get into why Austin walked twenty miles round trip across LA to meet with Werner Herzog; working at the LA Zoo after the industry was ravaged by strikes and the pandemic; how he put himself through USC film school after two years at a community college; and the things he had in place to make reps pursue him for professional relationships that have lasted.  SEE “DEAD MAN’S WIRE:” Limited Release 1/07/26 | Out Nationwide 1/16/26 KEEP UP WITH AUSTIN:  IG: @awwwwstin KEEP UP WITH THE SHOW:  All Platforms: @NoSetPathShow www.bio.site/NoSetPath ANDREA’S GAMBIT PREMIERE TICKETS: https://mpi.swoogo.com/andreasgambit-la-premiere/10598619

KEEP UP WITH BECCA: TikTok: @beccawmann Instagram: @becca__mann KEEP UP WITH THE SHOW: All Platforms: @NoSetPathShow www.NoSetPathShow.com bio.site/NoSetPath Last Year's Episode with Becca: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/47-new-years-resolutions-for-filmmakers-w-becca-mann/id1676370871?i=1000682375575

With the Oscars broadcast headed to YouTube, studios including Fox hiring Head of Creator Studio, and YouTube surpassing Netflix to become the most watched streamer on TVs - where are the jobs headed in an industry that seems to be scaling back? The good news: there is one accessible sector that's growing, and may be replacing the bottom of the pyramid of traditional media. Mentioned articles/books: THR "Hollywood Is Dying—42000 Jobs Gone in Just 2 Years": https://nofilmschool.com/entertainment-industry-crisis Wall Street Journal: "L.A.’s Entertainment Economy Is Looking Like a Disaster Movie" https://www.wsj.com/business/media/los-angeles-entertainment-economy-downturn-7879105c Deloitte digital media trends data: https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/technology/digital-media-trends-consumption-habits-survey/2025.html The Women Who Built Hollywood by Susan Goldman Rubin: https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/recommended-books/?bookId=24944 Scott Galloway on Colin & Samir: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7vNHGUPEVtJanMq6lXaxUr Dhar Mann: https://www.dharmann.com/about/ Kinigra Deon: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9HvSOvNpFpjydzDkAQJCNw Try Guys on Colin & Samir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsvyA7O9hiY Michelle Khare on Colin & Samir 2025: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TlPHtxsBIA Zach Justice on the Karat Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2t2vq1kqfphXVXTew72ZA9 THR - Taylor Lorenz: "How Hollywood Learned to Love Influencers" https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/hollywood-influencers-new-era-fame-1236400405/ The Town with Matt Belloni - Did Hollywood Ever Have a Chance Against YouTube? https://www.theringer.com/podcasts/the-town-with-matthew-belloni/2025/11/20/did-hollywood-ever-have-a-chance-against-youtube TV Upfronts Data: https://videoamp.com/press/tv-networks-embrace-their-aging-audience-with-a-new-mantra-age-doesnt-matter/?utm_source=chatgpt.com Tina Fey on Smartless: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jc5ThwTxSM KEEP UP WITH THE SHOW: All Platforms: @NoSetPathShow www.NoSetPathShow.com www.bio.site/NoSetPath

KEEP UP WITH THE SHOW: All Platforms: @NoSetPathShow bio.site/NoSetPath www.NoSetPathShow.com

Today we get into how a film can land theatrical distribution without festival circuit buzz; how to leverage existing relationships into building a crew, cast, and distributors on your team; and how a cold email landed a distributor for two of his feature films. TICKETS FOR “THE WILDERNESS”: https://www.fandango.com/the-wilderness-2025-242791/movie-overview KEEP UP WITH SPENCER:  IG: @spencereking / @thewildernessmovie  KEEP UP WITH THE SHOW:  All Platforms: @NoSetPathShow  www.NoSetPathShow.com bio.site/NoSetPath

KEEP UP WITH THE SHOW: @NoSetPathShow bio.site/NoSetPath

Today we are getting into how to avoid stagnance when waiting for feature films to go, how to find representation that aligns with who you are as an artist and the most surprising things from directing three horror thriller features. EPISODE BREAKDOWN: 1:35 - Getting brought on to Bone Lake from an open directing assignment  3:00 - LD Entertainment 4:20 - Shooting in LA vs. Georgia vs. Canada 6:35 - Viral chess board shot  7:30 - Projects Mercedes’ agents sent her when they first signed her vs. now - elevated, surrealist, erotic horrors  9:10 - Upcoming features & how to play the movie stock market during the long process of getting projects off the ground  11:15 - Working on commercials 12:30 - Making previous features Fixation and Spoonful of Sugar with covid impact  15:15 - the unexpected positive outcomes of a storm preventing shooting the final scene of Bone Lake 17:00 - Art department chopping shrubbery down from the hotel as set dec  20:20 - Meeting long-term collaborators at USC (and cutting class to work on projects) 21:45 - Should you go to film school?  25:46 - Signing with a manager & an agent (UTA) 31:45 - How to finance a feature 35:30 - Advice for younger filmmakers + background in producing  37:30 - Working director vs. “selling out” 39:40 - Mercedes’ interest in filmmaking as a kid  42:49 - How living situations impact creativity  43:44 - How to persevere when you want to give up 48:59 - Thoughts on social media  51:55 - TIME CAPSULE KEEP UP WITH MERCEDES: Buy tickets for "Bone Lake": www.bleeckerstreetmedia.com/bone-lake Follow Mercedes on IG: @mercedesbrycemorgan Follow Bone Lake on IG: @bonelakefilm KEEP UP WITH THE SHOW: All Platforms: @NoSetPathShow bio.site/NoSetPath www.NoSetPathShow.com

KEEP UP WITH BECCA: TikTok: @beccawmann IG: @becca__mann Becca's Books: https://www.becca-mann.com/books KEEP UP WITH THE SHOW: All Platforms: @NoSetPathShow www.NoSetPathShow.com bio.site/nosetpath

Evan B. Matthews is an LA-based director whose feature directorial debut “Motherland” comes out this month, we’re recording in September 2025, in both theaters and VOD. Evan got his start under Mark Burnett, working on shows including Survivor, The Apprentice, An Inconvenient Truth, and The Hollow, among others; going on to produce the MTV Movie Awards.  Today we get into how Evan went from meeting with an executive to landing his first feature film directing job in just one week, what he focused on during his pitch for this open directing assignment, and how to pivot out of reality-focused projects when pigeonholed and be taken seriously as a narrative director. KEEP UP WITH EVAN: IG: @evanbmatthews KEEP UP WITH THE SHOW: All Platforms: @NoSetPathShow bio.site/NoSetPath

Michael Orion Downing is an LA-based, Alaskan-raised producer and Director of Development at A/Vantage Pictures, with credits spanning Netflix, Mandalay, A24, and Apple projects alongside independent films on Tubi. His work includes Ben Affleck’s AIR, Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest, and Sundance award-winning Under Darkness, as well as producing Maika Monroe’s directorial debut short at TIFF. Today we dive into how he went from a Paramount lot clerk to producing and developing major films, while constantly creating independent projects and seeking out new filmmaking collaborators. KEEP UP WITH MIKE: IG: @mike_orion KEEP UP WITH THE SHOW: All Platforms: @NoSetPathShow www.NoSetPathShow.com bio.site/nosetpath

Karl Stelter is a filmmaker whose commercial director / producer work has been recognized by  the Clio’s, Tribeca, Tribeca X, the ADDY’s, Telly’s, Webby’s, 1.4, ADCC, DUST, and over 15 Oscar Qualifying film festivals.  His recent Jury Award win at Sebastopol qualified him for the 2025 Oscars. His clients include Invisalign, Amazon, NFL, Telus, Western University of Health Sciences, and GHA Autism Supports among others. Today we get into how Karl convinced brands like Telus and Invisalign to buy documentary projects he was already making as passion projects and turn them into commercials and branded entertainment, how to make the most of a festival experience like Tribeca and how to pivot into a new type of work that’s different from what you’ve already built a portfolio in. BREAKDOWN: 2:43 – two(!) projects at Tribeca, both scripted and branded doc spot 3:03 – Swimming with Butterflies feat. Brand partner, Invisalign and TribecaX 3:53 – Balancing authentic story x branded, paying the bills x passionate 5:23 – Karl’s journey with the subject of the doc, Paralympic swimmer 9:03 – Gaining trust with documentary subjects 11:43 – Shooting underwater feat. DP Joe Simon 12:33 – Pitching a short doc to a brand (Invisalign) 16:33 – How much would a brand give as a budget? 19:13 – did Invisalign care about where the spot would live? 20:13 – Submitting to Tribeca documentary vs. TribecaX (branded counterpart) 21:38 – The Tribeca experience 22:53 – The Lord of All Future Space and Time: a maximalist cheesecake short film (rich & dense) 24:38 – repeat collaborators 27:23 – running his own production company, Journeyman Studios, since 2012 29:48 – Pivoting from weddings to corporate videos; how to pivot to new types of work 32:23 – don’t lose sight of your artistic side 34:08 – success in the industry is a game of time 37:05 – getting into a top tier festival while simultaneously being rejected from much less prestigious festivals 38:23 – realistic acceptance rate for festivals 39:08 – Pitching: collaborators and clients 42:53 – don’t lose your collaborators to be right 44:28 – how to enjoy Tribeca 47:28 – different financing models: Karl’s other shorts! 57:38 – how to have a family as a filmmaker 1:07:13 – TIME CAPSULE

Today independent producer and union production coordinator Sofia Snyder gets into the specific resources she utilized to help land her short films at festivals, including Tribeca; what a psychic told her that prevented her from quitting her job on Rebel Moon; and how she took what she learned from working on movies like Licorice Pizza and Barb and Star Go to Vista del Mar and applied it to the films she’s produced. EPISODE BREAKDOWN: 2:00 - Playing at Tribeca without a premiere 4:00 - How to strategize with film festivals to optimize odds of getting in - Festival Formula (HollyShorts, Poppy Jasper, Kino Presents the People’ Film Festival London, Montclair Film Festival) 12:30 - Getting into Tribeca after rejections from SXSW (and other random festivals) 14:08 - How runtime impacts your festival odds 17:30 - Making a short for $10,000 19:30 - Funding models for shorts - self-funding vs. crowd funding 20:30 - 6 years is an overnight success 22:30 - Sofia’s early journey as a producer: a doc about the ghost of a dead cat 25:20 - Developing projects on nights & weekends after 60-80 hours a week in a production office 28:15 - Why she didn’t quit her job on Rebel Moon to focus on producing 33:20 - Why Sofia wouldn’t recommend production office gigs for aspiring writers 35:55 - Sofia’s other shorts (In Old Ranchos directed by Matt Lucas, We Meet Again directed by Matt Lucas, One of These Days concept directed by Joe Blank, Don’t Leave Me Now directed by Monisha Dadlani) 37:20 - Shooting with UNREAL technology 35:50 - Shooting in phases before raising the entire budget 42:20 - Cranberry Heaven in 1997 44:30 - Things take time! 45:40 - Being a union production coordinator on $30million+ projects (Licorice Pizza, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar) 51:50 - Attending American University + moving to LA post-college with $10,000 1:02:30 - Development assistant vs. freelance/production office pipeline 1:05:30 - Pay for union coordinators + insider information about how coordinators discuss rates with each other 1:10:05 - TIME CAPSULE KEEP UP WITH SOFIA: IG: @sofiasny KEEP UP WITH THE SHOW: All Platforms: @NoSetPathShow www.NoSetPathShow.com bio.site/NoSetPath

Today's topic is "Conclave" - what the movie got right, what the movie got wrong, and the broader impact of a film misrepresenting a community, particularly without involvement from its members. 2:30 - AMERICAN POPE! 3:58 - “Conclave” 4:56 - The timing of the making of the movie 7:00 - The consequences of capitalizing on a community without involving members of that community 19:10 - Misunderstanding of Conclave as a version of American politics / presidential election 23:50 - Applying this to the movie “Conclave” 25:26 - What “Conclave” got right 27:17 - What “Conclave” meant was “Protestantism” 28:39 - What “Conclave” got wrong 36:17 -“Conclave” scenes and lies that are pure fantasy KEEP UP WITH THE SHOW: All Platforms: @NoSetPathShow www.NoSetPathShow.com bio.site/NoSetPath