Uploaded October 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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My guest in this episode is Julian Simpson, a London-based writer and director who has worked in film, TV and audio for the past 25 years. He made his directorial debut annoyingly young in his mid-20s with The Criminal and more recently worked on Spooks, New Tricks, Doctor Who and more. He created the Lovecraft Investigations, the Aldrich Kemp audio series and the Pleasant Green Universe. He runs a writer-led company called Storypunk and writes an excellent newsletter about the screenwriting life called, Development Hell.

== TIMESTAMPS ==
00:00:00 - Intro
00:02:20 - Julian's journey to here
00:06:59 - Disruption
00:08:34 - Making the film many times over
00:16:18 - Actors and trust
00:22:38 - The rise of development desks
00:28:57 - Changes in the age of digital shooting
00:32:32 - Writing slowly
00:36:04 - Outlines, PKMs, and just writing
00:50:28 - AI and writing
00:53:51 - One small thing
00:56:33 - Outro

== SHOW LINKS ==

== JULIAN ==
- Development Hell: developmenthell.substack.com
- Julian on IMDB: imdb.com/name/nm0801065
- Pleasant Green: pleasantgreen.co.uk
- The Lovecraft Investigations: bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06spb8w
- Cartoon Gravity cartoongravity.com
- The Virtual Production of The Mandalorian Season One: youtube.com/watch?v=gUnxzVOs3rk

== ANDY ==
* Website: polaine.com
* Newsletter: pln.me/nws
* Podcast: pln.me/p10
* Design Leadership Coaching: polaine.com/coaching
* Courses: courses.polaine.com
* LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/apolaine
* Mastodon: https://pkm.social/@apolaine
* YouTube: youtube.com/@apolaine