Films Not Made

From analog rejection to digital resurrection. Films Not Made unearths both Hollywood and indie film projects too wild, weird, or ambitious to ever hit the big screen. Hosts Avi Zev Weider and Amy Hobby invite writers, directors, and producers to join them in ripping open old wounds by pulling out abandoned scripts, impossible casting lists, and brutal rejection letters. Honest conversations with creators and resurrections of the movies that got away.

Listen in podnod RSS feed Show website

17 episodes
Updated Tuesday

Episodes17

Newest first

Tuesday · 56 min
Roadside Attraction: The first statue to move for love
This week on Films Not Made, we hang with writer, director, storyboard artist and voice actor Conrad Vernon (Shrek 2, Sausage Party, The Addams Family) and comedian Harland Williams to talk about their not-made animated film Roadside Attraction — the true story of Mulligan the golf ball statue and Betty the blueberry statue, who stare at each other across Route 66 for 50 years before Mulligan becomes the first statue in history to move for love. Jeffrey Katzenberg (DreamWorks) greenlit it on the spot. But since the Gingerbread Man from Shrek and the Pee Drinking Cop from Dumb and Dumber are guests on Films Not Made, you probably deduced that Roadside Attraction is not coming to a theater anytime soon. We do have lots of stories, laughs and original sketches from our talented guests. This is a story about the strongest emotion in all of humanity: love. Go to https://filmsnotmade.com/ for info on the show, transcripts and more. Follow the show on https://www.youtube.com/@FilmsNotMade Subscribe to our https://substack.com/@filmsnotmade Harland Williams https://www.harlandwilliams.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/harlandwilliams/?hl=en YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/HarlandHighwayPodcast TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@harlandwilliams Conrad Vernon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conniev711/?hl=en Conrad Vernon IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0970447/
July 7 · 45 min
Repairman with Rex Pickett
Before Sideways swirled its way into a Pulitzer-caliber wine country classic, screenwriter-novelist Rex Pickett wrote Repairman — a script about a coin-op laundry repairman with fetal alcohol syndrome, a checkered past as an accidental arsonist, and an unshakable code of honesty in a world full of people skimming, scheming, and selling out. Rex is the novelist and screenwriter behind Sideways — the book-turned-Oscar-winning-film-turned-stage-musical-turned-Latvian-train-show — and the author of numerous screenplays exploring the messier corners of California life. Long before wine country made him a household name, Rex was sending Amy email dispatches about a script loosely inspired by his brother. On this episode: - The wild true story of how Repairman almost got made twice — first with Gil Bellows attached to direct, until a surprise phone call from Christina Ricci that blew up the whole deal - A nearly-greenlit $2.5 million, 35mm production at First Look — derailed when the studio asked to cut Rex's co-director from the deal - Why Rex still considers Repairman one of his most personal scripts, rooted in his real-life brother, Hack We run Repairman through our AI pipeline for a new deck, a Paul Dano–heavy casting board, and a trailer that doesn't quite land — then pitch it live to our AI exec Finn, who calls it "a quietly brutal portrait of what decency costs in a rigged world." Could it get made now? Listen and find out. Go to https://filmsnotmade.com/ for info on the show, transcripts and more. Follow the show on https://www.youtube.com/@FilmsNotMade Subscribe to our https://substack.com/@filmsnotmade
June 23 · 47 min
While You Were Breeding with Kristin Newman and Blair Breard
What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding Featuring Kristin Newman & Blair Breard Ten episodes. Three countries. One completed $50 million series — shelved by the network as a tax write-off the week after the 2023 strike ended. TV writer Kristin Newman (That '70s Show, How I Met Your Mother, Only Murders in the Building) and award-winning EP Blair Breard (Margot at the Wedding, Better Things, Scenes From A Marriage) sit down with Amy and Avi to finally tell the story they couldn't tell while they were still hoping to resell it. We're talking: a pilot shot in Latvia under full COVID curfew. A chemistry read that, in Blair's words, made the room melt. A Freeform rebrand that confused everyone. And a finished, fully produced, critically promising series that the network quietly wrote off and walked away from. This one actually got made. Which, it turns out, can hurt more. Go to https://filmsnotmade.com/ for info on the show, transcripts and more. Follow the show on https://www.youtube.com/@FilmsNotMade Subscribe to our https://substack.com/@filmsnotmade Kristin Newman site Kristin Newman imdb Blair Breard imdb Blair Breard site
June 9 · 1 hr 2 min
The Fall with Joe Maggio and Tom Hall
Filmmaker Joe Maggio joins Amy Hobby and Avi Zev Weider to resurrect The Fall, a dark comedy about a moral Niagara Falls attorney whose life spirals out of control after he commits a terrible sin and is unexpectedly rewarded with everything he ever wanted. The project, originally conceived as an existential drama inspired by Kafka and Joe's vicious, domineering grandmother, almost became Joe’s breakout film during the early 2000s Indie Boom. We are also joined by Tom Hall, Artistic Director of Montclair Film, who lends his expertise as a film festival programmer and "walking encyclopedia of film" to assess the project's concept and casting. Joe shares the incredible saga of The Fall’s near-production: from writing the script on his honeymoon and securing his dream lead, John Turturro, to the painful collapse of the deal. John Turturro perfectly captured the chaos, calling the process like "holding on to the horns of a bull and I'm wearing roller skates". We present Joe with a modern pitch deck for The Fall—complete with Paul Dano as the lead and a hot take from an AI film executive—forcing Joe to confront his “biggest regret” and consider if the bittersweet film that was not made is now ready for its resurrection. Tom Hall's Back Row Manifesto https://backrowmanifesto.substack.com/ Joe Maggio's Incidental Films https://www.incidentalfilms.com/ Go to https://filmsnotmade.com/ for info on the show, transcripts and more. Follow the show on https://www.youtube.com/@FilmsNotMade Subscribe to our https://substack.com/@filmsnotmade
June 2 · 19 min
Shot by Shot: Inside the AI Trailer Workflow
Host Avi Weider walks you inside the actual workflow behind the AI trailers we make for every guest — shot by shot, prompt by prompt. From Claude Code to GPT Image 2 to Kling to Premiere, nothing is theoretical here. And it's constantly evolving. This is what it looks like when the tools meet the timeline and you're still trying to make something that feels like a real movie. We're showing you how we use AI as a tool to finally see the films that never got made. Here's what that looks like behind the scenes. Go to https://filmsnotmade.com/ for info on the show, transcripts and more. Follow the show on https://www.youtube.com/@FilmsNotMade Subscribe to our https://substack.com/@filmsnotmade
May 26 · 57 min
DJ Natalie's Neighborhood with Natalie Weiss
Musician and playwright Natalie Weiss has come to resurrect her children's show concept, DJ Natalie's Neighborhood, which she pitches as “Pee-wee’s Playhouse meets Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood set to a DJ beat”. The series is rooted in her real-life, viral "Baby DJ School" and features Natalie as the host alongside her zany puppet roommates in a magical Brooklyn apartment, including Ms. Hay Hay, the glamorous horse diva, and LD the glow worm lighting designer. The core premise is teaching kids musical concepts and ASL to solve everyday problems. Despite getting her foot in the door with top-tier executives at networks like Netflix and Sesame Street, Natalie learned the industry was shifting away from adult hosts in favor of child protagonists. The executives "wanted sanitized boring Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood". Natalie got a renewed sense of purpose, leaving her energized, as she states, with a "total fire under my ass. I just want to work on this again." Come to the playhouse "where beats are dope and life is good." https://www.natalieelizabethweiss.com/ https://www.instagram.com/djnatalienyc/ Go to https://filmsnotmade.com/ for info on the show, transcripts and more. Follow the show on https://www.youtube.com/@FilmsNotMade Subscribe to our https://substack.com/@filmsnotmade #DaveedDiggs #DonaldGlover #BillyPorter #AyoEdebiri #AliWong #KeeganMichaelKey #StephenRoot #FilmsNotMade #DJNataliesNeighborhood #BabyDJSchool #NatalieWeiss #KidsTV #PuppetShow #UnmadeProjects #KidsMusic #IndieFilm #ChildrensTelevision #PeeweesPlayhouse #MrRogersNeighborhood #Brooklyn #MusicEducation #ASL #PodcastLife #HollywoodDevelopment #WhatIfWeMadeItNow #HollywoodStories
May 19 · 24 min
Backlot: Adam Schartoff of Filmwax Radio
Adam Schartoff of Filmwax Radio is a veteran nearing 900 episodes interviewing everyone from Gus Van Sant to Werner Herzog. Filmwax began in 2011 as a small film series in a Brooklyn bar, quickly evolving into a podcast by 2012. Adam, Avi and Amy discuss the biggest challenges in getting a film seen, changes in distribution, incorporation of AI, and working from the heart. We asked his dream guest: Jim Jarmusch, the ultimate New York indie filmmaker he’s been "orbiting" for 15 years. Put that wish out there! Find Adam’s terrific archive at FilmwaxRadio.com.
May 12 · 53 min
Stamp & Deliver with Dan MIrvish
Dan Mirvish, co-founder of Slamdance, comes on to talk about the unmade film that haunted him for years. Stamp & Deliver was a darkly comic postal western — think No Country for Old Men meets Office Space — and it got closer than most. Sets were built in Austin. Brittany Murphy auditioned. Ed Asner and Peter Fonda were in. Neil Young was going to produce and score it. Then 9/11 happened. We go through the whole story, run the original script through our AI pipeline, and give Stamp & Deliver the trailer it never got and still deserves. Our film executive Meredith also stops by with notes — and sounds exactly like every development meeting you've ever sat through. If you love indie film, hollywood stories, development hell, and the ones that got away — this one's for you. https://linktr.ee/atomicfondue https://substack.com/@danmirvish https://www.danmirvish.com/Stamp-Deliver next film, Atomic Fondue (still raising money!) https://www.danmirvish.com/Atomic-Fondue" Go to https://filmsnotmade.com/ for info on the show, transcripts and more. Follow the show on https://www.youtube.com/@FilmsNotMade Subscribe to our https://substack.com/@filmsnotmade #FilmsNotMade #UnmadeFilms #DevelopmentHell #StampAndDeliver #PostalWestern #Slamdance #IndieFilmHistory #DanMirvish #IndieFilm #IndependentFilm #FilmHistory #AIFilmmaking #GenerativeAI #AITrailer #FilmPodcast #HollywoodStories #Screenwriting #MakingMovies #MovieTrailer
April 30 · 10 min
Backlot—The Amateur Pornographer Table Read
It's been over 25 years since Matthew Rhys first read the script of The Amateur Pornographer. This project broke the heart of writer-director Christopher Monger. In this special Backlot episode, actor Matthew Rhys, along with Ian McNiece and Meryn Williams Davies, share and read two scenes from the original screenplay. Chris and producer Ted Hope are in the room, reinvigorating the passion behind the script and desire to bring this Welsh film to life. Christopher said, "Seeing Matthew Rhys and Ian McNeice and Meryn Williams Davies read a couple of scenes made me both happy and sad. Happy in that, yes, I think it is a good script; and sad because, no, it did not get made. When I re-read Amateur Pornographer I was filled with the excitement I had when writing it." Go to https://filmsnotmade.com/ for info on the show, transcripts and more. Follow the show on https://www.youtube.com/@FilmsNotMade Subscribe to our https://substack.com/@filmsnotmade
April 28 · 1 hr 5 min
The Amateur Pornographer with Chris Monger and Ted Hope
Christopher Monger, a Welsh native, was fresh off the Miramax release of his film The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill but Came Down a Mountain starring Hugh Grant. His next project was to shoot in a small town in Wales, and producer Ted Hope felt it was a sure thing. The Amateur Pornographer was nearly made with a young Matthew Rhys and later got traction at HBO, with one note: Could the film be set in the United States instead of Wales? Christopher Monger IMDB Ted Hope’s Substack “Hope for Film” Check out our curated Letterboxd List for some New York mid 90s indie classics to go with our Ted Hope-Good Machine vibe. We have merch! Buy our awesome Films Not Made signature mug or 100% cotton t-shirt. Go to FilmsNotMade for the all transcripts and more. Follow the show on YouTube@filmsnotemade Subscribe to our Substack@filmsnotmade
April 14 · 1 hr 9 min
The Sisterhood: The Conspiracy Thriller That Was 15 Years Ahead of Hollywood
In 2007, producer Effie Brown and novelist Nichol Bradford put together a 40-page pitch deck for The Sisterhood — a global conspiracy thriller about a secret network of women of color who build an alternative system of wealth, protection, and care, and get targeted for it. The deck built an entire world around the project — a transmedia universe of community, content, and activism — before that phrase existed. Hollywood still said no. In this episode of Films Not Made, Effie Brown (producer of Dear White People and Real Women Have Curves, CEO of Gamechanger Films, Academy Board of Governors) and Nichol Bradford (author, technologist, Singularity University faculty, Executive in Residence for AI and the Future of Work at SHRM) join Amy and Avi to finally open the drawer on The Sisterhood — a project that hasn't been pitched in over a decade and somehow feels more urgent right now than ever. Effie's pitch: "Bourne Ultimatum meets House of Cards — but with sisters." A vaccine that could collapse the global drug economy. A murder. A reckoning. And the question underneath all of it: who actually runs the world, and what happens when someone tries to build outside the system? We run the full project through our AI pipeline: pitch deck, casting board (Angela Bassett, Danielle Deadwyler, Regina King, Lashana Lynch, Mads Mikkelsen with a satellite phone in a museum), a full trailer — and a live pitch to our AI film executive, who has opinions. Effie's verdict on whether this could be made now: 1,000%. Guests: Effie Brown Gamechanger Films Nichol Bradford Films Not Made resurrects Hollywood's wildest unmade films. Subscribe: YouTube@filmsnotmade filmsnotmade.com Substack@filmsnotmade Letterboxd@filmsnotmade #EffieBrown #NicholBradford #AIFilmmaking #TheSisterhood #FilmsNotMade #BlackWomenInFilm #DevelopmentHell #FilmPodcast #HollywoodStories #UnmadeFiles #Screenwriting #WomenProducers #BlackDirectors #BlackStorytelling
April 1 · 47 min
How to Tame a Fox with Heidi Ewing
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Heidi Ewing (Jesus Camp, Detropia) joins Amy and Avi to open the drawer on How to Tame a Fox — her shelved script about two Soviet biologists who secretly tried to domesticate wild foxes in Siberia while Stalin was busy persecuting anyone who liked science. Based on the true story of Lyudmila Trut and Dmitri Belyaev, this is a Cold War thriller disguised as an animal story — or an animal story disguised as a Cold War thriller, depending on how you feel about foxes that eventually sing. Heidi wrote a full pilot during COVID, had a dream cast (Daniel Day-Lewis, Cate Blanchett, Joaquin Phoenix), and then Putin invaded Ukraine and tanked the mood for celebrating Russian scientists. Timing is everything. We fed the script into our AI pipeline, generated a new pitch deck and trailer, and let our AI executive Finn weigh in. Heidi's verdict: still a f***ing good idea. We agree. Some projects don't die. They just wait. Loki Films: https://lokifilms.com Heidi Ewing on Instagram #FilmsNotMade #UnmadeFilms #DevelopmentHell #HowToTameAFox #HeidiEwing #LyudmilaGrut #DmitriBelyaev #FoxDomestication #SiberianFoxExperiment #FilmPodcast #IndieFilm #DocumentaryFilm #Screenwriting #PeriodDrama #FilmDevelopment #WarOnScience #SovietHistory #ColdWarDrama #StalinistRussia #MagicalRealism #DomesticationScience #AIFilmmaking #Cinephile #FilmPodcast
March 26 · 2 min
Backlot —Making the Theme Song
Every unmade film deserves a score. Here's how ours got one. From the backlot of the show, musician Joe McGinty takes us behind the scenes on how he composed the theme music for Films Not Made! From groovy Conn Electric Band drum beats, to Moog boogie bass lines, to ARP arpeggios, Musonics Vanilla melody, and more. Have listen and enjoy! https://www.joemcgintymusic.com/ https://www.instagram.com/joemcginty7/ https://sidgolds.com/
March 17 · 57 min
American Prometheus: The Other Oppenheimer
When Christopher Nolan options the same Oppenheimer biography you've been developing for a decade, is it a tragedy or just really, really bad timing? Writer-director Robert Edwards joins Amy and Avi to discuss his adaptation of "American Prometheus," the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer that he optioned in 2006—long before Christopher Nolan made it a billion-dollar blockbuster. The episode captures both the heartbreak of near-misses in Hollywood and the strange consolation of being crushed by one of the greatest filmmakers alive. We discuss what it means to have “your” film made by someone else, the ethics and anxiety around AI in filmmaking, and why Edwards’ take—an “atomic noir” focused on Oppenheimer’s 1954 security hearing—might still have life as OTHERHEIMER. Robert Edwards — Writer/Director (Land of the Blind, When I Live My Life Over Again) The King's Necktie "My One-Way Rivalry with Christopher Nolan": https://thekingsnecktie.substack.com/p/my-one-way-rivalry-with-christopher IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0250315/ 🎬 filmsnotmade.com | @filmsnotmade #UnmadeFilms #Oppenheimer #AIFilmmaking #DevelopmentHell #Screenwriting #AmericanPrometheus #JRobertOppenheimer #HistoricalDrama #IndieFilm #AtomicNoir #LostMedia
March 10 · 1 hr 5 min
Poodle Power: The Animated Iditarod Film That Didn't Cross the Finish Line
What if a team of standard poodles ran the Iditarod? Not as a joke—as a real animated feature film. Amy Hobby and Anne Hubbell spent nearly a decade trying to make "Poodle Power" happen. Based on the true story of John Suter, who actually raced poodles (alongside huskies) in Alaska's legendary sled dog race until the Iditarod committee banned non-husky breeds in 1990. The project went through countless iterations: from live-action rescue helicopter drama to animated adventure, from Blue Sky Studios meetings to pitch sessions with executives who loved it but wouldn't greenlight it. Amy reunites with her producing partner Anne Hubbell (Provincetown International Film Festival, Kodak) and animation veteran Kent Osborne (SpongeBob SquarePants, Adventure Time) to autopsy eight years of development hell. They dissect the original pitch deck, revisit brutal notes from Oscar-nominated animators, and explore why a perfectly good idea about lovable poodles couldn't cross the finish line. Then we feed everything into the AI pipeline—scripts, decks, news clips, character descriptions—and resurrect "Poodle Power" with a new pitch deck and trailer. Plus, we introduce Bob, our AI film executive, who weighs in on whether this project has legs now. Guests: Anne Hubbell - Producer, Co-founder of Tangerine Entertainment, Director of Provincetown International Film Festival Kent Osborne - Actor, Writer, Director (SpongeBob SquarePants, Adventure Time) Hosts: Amy Hobby - Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning producer Avi Zev Weider - Award-winning filmmaker From analog rejection to digital resurrection - Films Not Made hosts Amy Hobby and Avi Zev Weider unearth both Hollywood and indie film projects too wild, weird, or ambitious to ever hit the big screen. You'll hear writers, directors, and producers ripping open old wounds by pulling out abandoned scripts, impossible casting lists, and brutal rejection letters. These honest conversations with creators become AI resurrections of the movies that never were. Subscribe and follow on YouTube and all podcast platforms. Website: filmsnotmade.com Substack/Instagram/TikTok: @filmsnotmade Pod.Link: https://pod.link/1873083993 #UnmadeFilms #Animation #Iditarod #PoodlePower #IndieFilm #AIFilmmaking #DevelopmentHell
March 2 · 58 min
I Need Love: LL Cool J & Kool Moe Dee Love Story
What if the legendary 1987 beef between LL Cool J and Kool Moe Dee was hiding a forbidden romance? Filmmaker Michael Tully (Ping Pong Summer, Cocaine Angel) wrote exactly that script during COVID—a hip-hop fairy tale he describes as "Krush Groove meets Brokeback Mountain." And yes, he actually pitched it to Kool Moe Dee himself. We explore why Michael wrote a film he knew would "never get made," how he balanced parody with sincerity, and what happened when he approached one of hip-hop's legends. Then we take his script, run it through our AI pipeline, and create a pitch deck and trailer to resurrect this impossible film. Joining the conversation is Loren Hammonds (Peabody Award-winning producer, Time Studios, former VP at Tribeca Film Festival), who brings his perspective as both a documentary curator and former hip-hop emcee "Mojo the Cinematic." Guests: Michael Tully - Filmmaker, founding editor of Hammer to Nail Loren Hammonds - Head of Documentary, Time Studios Hosts: Amy Hobby - Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning producer Avi Zev Weider - Award-winning filmmaker, SXSW From analog rejection to digital resurrection - Films Not Made hosts Amy Hobby and Avi Zev Weider unearth both Hollywood and indie film projects too wild, weird, or ambitious to ever hit the big screen. You'll hear writers, directors, and producers ripping open old wounds by pulling out abandoned scripts, impossible casting lists, and brutal rejection letters. These honest conversations with creators become AI resurrections of the movies that never were. Subscribe and follow on YouTube and all podcast platforms. Website: filmsnotmade.com Substack/Instagram/TikTok: @filmsnotmade Letterboxd "I Need Love" Pod.Link: https://pod.link/1873083993 #UnmadeFilms #HipHopHistory #AIFilmmaking #LLCoolJ #KoolMoeDee
February 10 · 2 min
Coming Soon: Films Not Made
What if you could finally see the films that never made it to the screen? Films Not Made is a revolutionary new weekly podcast launching March 3 that uses AI to resurrect Hollywood's most bizarre and heartbreaking unmade projects. We give filmmakers closure and audiences a front-row seat to the greatest movies never made. Subscribe on your favorite platform to hear the stories—and follow our video show to see the films for yourself. Visit FilmsNotMade.com for more.

Films Not Made

Roadside Attraction: The first statue to move for love

Repairman with Rex Pickett

While You Were Breeding with Kristin Newman and Blair Breard

The Fall with Joe Maggio and Tom Hall

Shot by Shot: Inside the AI Trailer Workflow

DJ Natalie's Neighborhood with Natalie Weiss

Backlot: Adam Schartoff of Filmwax Radio

Stamp & Deliver with Dan MIrvish

Backlot—The Amateur Pornographer Table Read

The Amateur Pornographer with Chris Monger and Ted Hope

The Sisterhood: The Conspiracy Thriller That Was 15 Years Ahead of Hollywood

How to Tame a Fox with Heidi Ewing

Backlot —Making the Theme Song

American Prometheus: The Other Oppenheimer

Poodle Power: The Animated Iditarod Film That Didn't Cross the Finish Line

I Need Love: LL Cool J & Kool Moe Dee Love Story

Coming Soon: Films Not Made