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We hit the boardwalk with Luke Korem—the Emmy-winning documentary director behind DEALT, MILLI VANILLI, and ACTION—and somewhere between a guy blasting EDM off a portable speaker and the bats under the bridge, Luke hands us a filmmaking philosophy worth bottling: it's all the same muscle. Doc, series, scripted—storytelling is storytelling, and the trick is knowing a series is a sprint and a feature is a marathon.
Luke walks us through the whole arc: his accidental first feature LORD MONTAGU (a chairman, a castle, fifty grand, and four guys who'd never made a film), the SXSW-winning DEALT about blind card magician Richard Turner, and how the real story is never the hook—when it comes to DEALT, it's a man learning to embrace his weakness. We get the gospel of "no control" (the studio that passed on MILLI VANILLI, then came begging six months later), why he prays his way through the gambles, and why AI makes real human stories more valuable, not less.
Then Ben hijacks his own podcast with the greatest one-that-got-away in doc history: the time he tried to con conman Frédéric Bourdin—subject of THE IMPOSTER — into a movie, got double-crossed, taunted by a Photoshopped postcard from the French Riviera… and learned years later the postcard was forged by his own friend in Paris. Luke's verdict: cut that out and make it its own episode.
Plus: Luke's mom's catering empire, his magician dad, the gateway drug of renting EDTV, and plenty of advice from a man with zero social media.
DISCUSSION LINKS:
LORD MONTAGU (2013) | DEALT (2017) | ACTION (2019) | THE NEW YORK TIMES PRESENTS (2020) | MILLI VANILLI (2023) | WINNEBAGO MAN (2009) | THE IMPOSTER (2012) | CHOP & STEELE (2022) | HIGH HOPES (2023) | CHEER (2020) | LAST CHANCE U (2016) | EDTV (1999) | FIELD OF DREAMS (1989) | THE KARATE KID (1984) | ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD (1994) | JURASSIC PARK (1993) | WHAT MAKES SAMMY RUN (1941)
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Two reluctant "documentary influencers" 01:00 Meet Luke — DEALT, the SXSW win & Richard Turner 01:40 LORD MONTAGU — the castle, the chairman, the first feature 03:00 ACTION, MILLI VANILLI & the NYT Presents Emmy 04:30 Texas A&M, no film school & the high-school broadcast suspensions 07:00 Doing anything for money → the uncle in the castle 08:00 Delegating your way to "all I do is direct" 09:20 On the bridge — the dancing guy with the speaker 10:30 Curiosity as the filmmaker's engine 12:00 Being authentic vs. taking the wrong job 14:30 Starting Keep On Running & selling a vision 15:30 Mom's catering empire, dad the author & magician 18:00 Every film is its own little startup 19:40 "It's the same muscle" — doc, series, scripted 22:00 Greg Whiteley's cold-call advice; sprint vs. marathon 26:00 Keeping gas in the tank; rich people making docs 29:00 Prayer, the spiritual side & character-driven stories 31:00 The hook is not the story — embracing weakness 34:00 Are your docs about you? MILLI VANILLI's real subject 36:00 The MILLI VANILLI origin & chasing Fab Morvan 40:00 Pitching & the brutal greenlight ratios 42:30 "No control" — the studio that passed, then begged 46:00 AI vs. the value of real human stories 48:00 Ben's THE IMPOSTER saga — buying Bourdin's life rights 51:30 The double-cross & the cease-and-desists 53:00 The postcard from the French Riviera 56:00 The one that got away 57:30 The twist — the postcard was forged by a friend 1:01:30 Stolen ideas & trusting no one in Hollywood 1:02:00 WHAT MAKES SAMMY RUN 1:03:30 Lightning round — EDTV, FIELD OF DREAMS, Spielberg 1:06:30 The thing he can't stop thinking about — will the show sell? 1:07:00 Where to find his work; no socials, just the Aggies
