Brian Koppelman (Billions)

Shaan shares a story about discovering Brian Koppelman's blog, which offers simple yet profound insights on writing and creativity.

"I was doing this over the weekend and we looked up Brian Koppelman. He's the guy who created Billions. We were talking about him for this other thing and then we went and looked up if he publishes anywhere or posts his thoughts anywhere.

We found his blog, briancoppelman.com. It's just a plain white and black blog. I'm going to read you one post titled 'Write What Fascinates You'.

He says, 'This seems simple, right? Of course we should write about what fascinates us and what we obsess over. But so many people approach writing, and especially screenwriting, as if it can be gamed, figured out, or strategized.'

He goes on to say, 'We need to calculate less. We need to look inside to find our subject matter, or outside at the world we see, but through a prism of enthusiasm. We must find subjects that are personally animating, inspiring, and engaging to us. Because once we do, we have a shot at making them inspiring and engaging for others as well.'

I thought this was awesome advice for content. The reason this podcast works is because we talk about what fascinates us. It's not something anybody could compete with because nobody else has the same weird taste palette that we have."