037: Writing for Milk Money and Creative Coffee

Catalyst: A Creative Industries Podcast

Catalyst is a Creative Industries podcast, from Chapman University. Each episode features Chapman students who have completed a Podcasting course through the Center for Creative and Cultural Industries at the university. Students who had no podcasting experience or technical ability in the genre before taking the course were able to contribute all the segments to Catalyst this season with the goal being that they will take this ‘hands-on’ experience and carry it over to the launching of their very own series. Each episode of season 5 consists of two segments, with each segment featuring a different interview by one or more CCI students, who explore different aspects of the Creative and Cultural Industries.

This week we begin with Sonny deNocker and Stephen Michaels score a major interview with John Mattson, Faculty member of Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. Mr. Mattson opens up to them about the reality of screen writing in Hollywood, as they discuss a variety of his work including his screenplay for 1994’s Milk Money, which sold to Paramount Pictures for $1.1 million.

Our second segment finds Clarissa Hui and Cam-Mi Nguyen sitting down (with their masks on, of course) to interview Contra Coffee and Tea barista, Theresa. They discuss how Contra is more than just your typical coffee shop in Orange County, differentiated by its ability to engender creative experiences, even engineering creativity into their customer service model, which Theresa reflects on as a tool Contra, and she, use in helping to build a sense of community.