Podbit · The Bill Simmons Podcast
Sheridan pitched Billy Bob Thornton with one line about Bad Santa running an oil company. He told Helen Mirren, Harrison Ford, and Michelle Pfeiffer he wanted them before writing a word. When a role is built around the exact person playing it, it almost can't fail.
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At 2:02:18 · chapter starts 1:26:40
Sheridan traces the book's origins to around 2003-2004, when he met a heavily tattooed former career criminal at a West Hollywood gym — a man who'd spent most of his adult life in state and federal prison before discovering fitness and getting clean [1] — Taylor Sheridan "Sheridan met a tattooed ex-con at a West Hollywood gym who became a friend, a trainer, and eventually a single father in financial crisis. …" 1:28:55 . The two became close; the ex-con trained Sheridan's wife, eventually opened his own gym, and became the largest privately-owned personal training operation in LA. The friendship cooled during Sheridan's Wyoming move, then revived when the man called in 2021, a single father with a terminal health scare, an ex-felon unable to find stable enough work to support his young daughter, and one month's rent left. Rather than loan money (which Sheridan says has a 100% failure rate for friendships), he proposed a book modeled on Robert Young Pelton's The World's Most Dangerous Places: a travel guide to prison, written with the expertise of someone who spent 17 years inside. Simon & Schuster bought it quickly, and the two collaborated to produce what Sheridan describes as an honest, sometimes funny, genuinely deterring account of surviving incarceration.
Sheridan met a tattooed ex-con at a West Hollywood gym who became a friend, a trainer, and eventually a single father in financial crisis. Rather than give a loan, Sheridan pitched a book — a travel guide for prison — and Simon & Schuster immediately said yes.
Taylor Sheridan's co-author for How to Not Die in Prison spent 17 years in state and federal prisons as a career criminal before turning his life around through fitness.
Taylor Sheridan was the first film/TV production in the US to resume filming during COVID, convincing guilds to allow work by isolating crew on a Montana ranch.
Taylor Sheridan didn't begin screenwriting until age 41, having spent 15 years as a working actor with mostly small roles before quitting Sons of Anarchy to write.
Studio executives are mostly marketing and legal professionals terrified they won't understand the story — so they demand rewrites, backstory documents, and consensus. Sheridan demanded the opposite: pay him, stay out of his way, and he'll deliver. His track record proves it.
Robby Hoffman isn't fearless — she's terrified all the time. The difference is she does it anyway, because not doing it feels worse than the fear itself.
John Mulaney texted Robby Hoffman out of nowhere saying he'd been a fan for a while and wanted to make a Netflix special with her. Robby called it 'shocking, horrifying, anxiety-inducing, surreal and thrilling' — and said yes.
Mulaney is buttoned-up, suit-wearing, classy. Robby is gritty, raw, and undefined. Together they made the collab nobody expected. Batman and Robin. Eminem and Dido.
Music had Pope Gregory forcing notation. Comedy has had 'magical thinking' — he's just got funny bones. But jokes work through discoverable, teachable mechanics. Writing down the rules doesn't kill the magic; it gives more people access to it.
Howard Ashman had one insight nobody else had: animated Disney films should be Broadway musicals. The third song of every great musical is the character sitting alone explaining what they want. That's 'Part of Your World.' That structure — combined with Alan Menken's compositions — generated Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King, and turned Disney Animation into the most profitable creative engine in entertainment history.
The Lion King musical has been running for 30 years across Broadway, London's West End, and global touring companies. It has grossed over $11 billion in total revenue — more than Avatar, more than Avengers: Endgame, more than any album, more than any video game. It generates an average of $350 million in revenue every single year. Disney owns it outright.
The anonymous French artist Invader has hidden 1,500 pixelated mosaic artworks across Paris alone, with thousands more scattered across 80+ cities — affixed to the Eiffel Tower, the Hollywood sign, and even sent to the International Space Station. He might be even busier than Banksy.
The Flash Invaders app turns city streets into a treasure hunt, letting players scan Invader's hidden mosaics for points. Players have collectively logged over 47 million flashes. Unlike most mobile games that glue you to a screen, this one forces you to look up and engage with your surroundings.
New York draws thousands of young, talented performers every year chasing Broadway stardom — but the hard truth is that most of them never make it. Zelig Williams was one of the rare exceptions.
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