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Blank Check Productions

Not just another bad movie podcast, Blank Check reviews directors' complete filmographies episode to episode. Specifically, the auteurs whose early successes afforded them the rare ‘blank check’ from Hollywood to produce passion projects. Each new miniseries, hosts Griffin Newman and David Sims delve into the works of film’s most outsized personalities in painstakingly hilarious detail. Produced by Ben Hosley.

Blank Check with Griffin & David

This is the podcast. These are the (two) friends. Drink full, and descend. The famous “Atomic Bomb” episode of The Return stands as one of David Lynch’s most defining works, an “origin story” for Twin Peaks, and one of the most experimental hours ever to air on narrative television. In a rare moment of “double dipping,” Twin Peaks S2 guest Connor Ratliff joins us again to discuss this landmark episode, offering a David Lynch impression that is superior to Griffin’s, which you probably thought could not be topped. We’re offering theories and explanations this episode, but we’re also talking about when Charlie died on Two and a Half Men and how to dodge LIRR fares because, of course. Gotta light?

Listen to TinyDinos
Check out Connor’s one-person show “The Acting Class” 
The George Lucas Talk Show, Live and LIVESTREAMED! In NY 
The George Lucas Talk Show at SF Sketchfest
Try and find Connor’s cuts of Twin Peaks: The Return and Sully (Secret Videos) on the Blank Check Website, Sully knows the password.

The Box Office Game is Sponsored by Regal Cinemas:
Sign up for Regal Unlimited today and get 20% off your 3 month subscription when using code BLANKCHECK

Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on.

Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.
Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook! 
Buy some real nerdy merch
Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord
For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twin Peaks: The Return (Episode 8) with Connor Ratliff

Dougie gets it on (or, more accurately, Naomi Watts gets HER Dougie on), guest Fran Hoepfner pitches her artisanal slime for adults (don’t steal the idea), and we relitigate LOST for the hundredth time in this penultimate episode of our Twin Peaks: The Return coverage. Can adults get mono? Why is it so hard for Lucy and Andy to buy a chair? THAT is the Audrey Horne plot? Will someone please have sympathy for David Sims, who isn’t going gray yet and desperately wants a cool subway-themed videogame?

Listen to Slow Xmas 4 now on Bandcamp!

The Box Office Game is Sponsored by Regal Cinemas:
Sign up for Regal Unlimited today and get 20% off your 3 month subscription when using code BLANKCHECK

Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on.

Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.
Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook! 
Buy some real nerdy merch
Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord
For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twin Peaks: The Return (Episodes 9-13) with Fran Hoepfner

What year is it? Well, it’s 2024 - but not for long. It’s our last episode of the year! Director of this year’s I SAW THE TV GLOW Jane Schoenbrun joins us to talk about the conclusion of Twin Peaks: The Return, and, by default, the conclusion of our David Lynch series. In a show that intentionally defies the very concept of resolution, how do we put a bow on things? Well, we try! Shout out to Freddie and his glove. Oh, and Merry Christmas. Trauma is originary and unending.

Stream I Saw The TV Glow on MAX
Check out The Search for the Zone site
Spotify playlist of music from the films of David Lynch

The Box Office Game is Sponsored by Regal Cinemas:
Sign up for Regal Unlimited today and get 20% off your 3 month subscription when using code BLANKCHECK

Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on.

Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.
Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook! 
Buy some real nerdy merch
Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord
For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twin Peaks: The Return (Episodes 14-18) with Jane Schoenbrun

2025! Blank Check Year 10! Year of Miracles! In honor of our record 10th year of podcasting, we’re doing something we’ve never done before - going back to fill in the gaps on a filmography we’ve previously only partially covered. And what a filmography it is - folks, welcome to PODRASSIC CAST. We’re starting our exploration of the first half of Steven Spielberg’s career with his remarkable 1971 debut feature DUEL, a movie that was originally made for TV but later released with extra footage for a theatrical run. Driving is scary. Being this talented right off the bat is ALSO scary but in a different way. Beep beep, honk honk.
The Box Office Game is Sponsored by Regal Cinemas:
Sign up for Regal Unlimited today and get 10% off your 3 month subscription when using code BLANKCHECK
Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on.
Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.
Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook! 
Buy some real nerdy merch
Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord
For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duel

Young whippersnapper Steven Spielberg continues his run of dusty, road-centric films with 1974’s THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS, and we’re along for the (surprisingly chill) ride. Writer Esther Zuckerman joins us to discuss the cinematic persona of Goldie Hawn, William Atherton’s strange period of leading-man roles, the harmonica stylings of Belgian jazz legend Toots Thielemans, and Spielberg’s brief but fruitful collaboration with cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond. Note - we recorded this episode a few months in advance. We no longer endorse the whole Hawk Tuah thing.
Buy Esther's Book
The Box Office Game is Sponsored by Regal Cinemas:
Sign up for Regal Unlimited today and get 10% off your 3 month subscription when using code BLANKCHECK

Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on.

Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.
Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook! 
Buy some real nerdy merch
Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord
For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Sugarland Express with Esther Zuckerman

Dunnnh dun. Dunnnh dun. Never before had two notes provoked such terror as they did in JAWS, the 1975 classic that invented the summer blockbuster, catapulted Steven Spielberg to Hollywood legend status, and inspired generational trauma about water. Actor and recognizable famous person Timothy Simons joins us to talk about this classic shark tale, and we go long on Scheider, Dreyfuss, Shaw, and the career of journeyman director Joseph Sargent (?). Which member of the Blank Check crew would be least likely to get attacked by a shark? Obviously Ben, because he respects water. What the hell did Chief Brody think he was gonna do when he apprehended the shark - arrest it? Why isn’t Griffin familiar with the concept of a ferry? We dare to ask these questions, just as the citizens of Amity dared to go into the water.

The Box Office Game is Sponsored by Regal Cinemas:
Sign up for Regal Unlimited today and get 20% off your 3 month subscription when using code BLANKCHECK

Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on.

Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.
Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook! 
Buy some real nerdy merch
Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord
For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jaws with Timothy Simons

Five curious tones. A mountain of mashed potatoes. Bob Balaban with a beard speaking french. After the industry-changing success of JAWS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND feels like a classic “blank check.” But it’s a little more nuanced than that! JD Amato returns for his 10th mainfeed appearance this week, and we’re getting into all of the production drama, real nerdy practical effects shit (cloud boxing!), and the complicated feelings we have towards the behavior of the adults in this movie. Seems like young Stevie Spielberg has some divorce trauma he’s working through! Has anyone ever made that observation before?
Decade of Dreams Theme and sound design composed by Alex Mitchell 

Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your 
pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on.

Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.
Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook! 
Buy some real nerdy merch
Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord
For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Close Encounters of the Third Kind with J.D. Amato

He invented the summer blockbuster. He inspired millions of people around the world to “watch the skies.” And now, he has sent Griffin Newman into an existential crisis over the question “what is comedy?” Our friends Mike Mitchell and Nick Wiger of The Doughboys join us to talk about Steven Spielberg’s infamously unfunny 1941. Why IS this film - loaded with so many comedic superstars - boring as shit? Is the opening scene one of the most embarrassing exercises in hubris ever committed to screen? Would this movie be better if they just inserted the entirety of Dumbo into it? Why does Eddie Deezen keep getting banned from dining establishments? Someone has to ask these things.

Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your 
pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on.

Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.
Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook! 
Buy some real nerdy merch
Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord
For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1941 with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger

You’re a young movie fan. It’s 1981. STEVEN SPIELBERG is teaming up with FREAKING GEORGE LUCAS (!?!?!) to make a movie with HAN SOLO…can you imagine how hyped you’d be?? Marvel Comics legend Brian Michael Bendis joins us to recount the colossal impact of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK in this rollicking adventure of an episode. Jewish mysticism and weird Nazi stuff! Alfred Molina getting covered with a bunch of live spiders! Karen Allen coming up with an incredibly detailed backstory for Marion and Spielberg being like, “sure, whatever”! Danny DeVito almost being cast as Saleh?!?! You bet we’re getting into it, snakes and all.

Check out JinxWorld
Check out Brian’s Comics

Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your 
pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on.

Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.
Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook! 
Buy some real nerdy merch
Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord
For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis

We’re putting out a bit of a throwback episode for the most iconic (literal) blankie in film history - this week’s E.T. episode is guestless, with Griffin going rogue off the dossier, David making fun of Griffin for being an adult who likes toys and animation, and Ben getting emotional over a family film…decade of dreams, baby! Join us as we gush over the child performances, creature creation, and authentic emotionality of Spielberg’s canonical hit. Did you know that the Italian guy who designed E.T. kind of looks like E.T.? Or that Researcher JJ wrote his doctoral dissertation about the Reese’s Pieces product placement in this movie? Open the schools! But please - no frog dissections.
﻿Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your 
pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on.

Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.
Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook! 
Buy some real nerdy merch
Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord
For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Vroom vroom! Michael Mann is BACK. Bilge Ebiri is BACK. How do you say “we’re so back” in Italian? Join us as we talk about cars that go fast (Ferraris), hair that grows long (Adam Driver’s, normally), faces that have seen smart phones (Shailene Woodley’s) and character actors that could have been in this movie (Paul Giamatti, but specifically as Pig Vomit). Masculinity is a cage, machines that work the best are the most beautiful, and we all think that the Mille Miglia seems like a bad idea. No grazie!

This episode is sponsored by:
Read Bilge’s writing 

Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.
Follow us @blankcheckpod on Instagram, Threads, Facebook and X! 
Buy some real nerdy merch.
Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord
For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ferrari with Bilge Ebiri

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