Martini Shot

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Martini Shot

When you’re filming a movie or a television show, when it’s the last shot of the day, the first assistant director will call out, “This is the Martini Shot!” I call these stories “Martini Shots” because they’re exactly the kinds of stories we tell — and lessons we learn — after we’ve wrapped for the day. - Rob Long theankler.com

  1. 2D AGO

    The Lineman TikTok TV Show

    Languages other than English have special words for special situations (looking at you Germany and your fingerspitzenfühl). Now, Rob Long proposes a new local lexicon to help capture this particular moment now in the industry, a place where schadenfreude is giving way to another, strange new feeling: Hope for even someone else’s show, any show, to get made. Even if it’s about linemen in buckets. Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler or apply to The Ladder, a new members-only hub for early career entertainment professionals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    10 min

  2. MAR 12

    A Priest Walks Into a Pitch Meeting...

    Mid-life, Rob Long has gone back to school. Princeton Theological Seminary has been a nice timeout from Hollywood — no profanity, shouting or the pressure to wrap up every meeting with a joke. But Rob is not ditching Hollywood. Instead he ponders bridging the secular and ecclesiastical divide by showing up to his next meeting in a priest’s collar to watch what happens. Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler or apply to The Ladder, a new members-only hub for early career entertainment professionals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    9 min

  3. FEB 26

    James Bond's New Corporate Suit

    Brand extensions? Prequel? Janet Bond?? Rob Long bets meetings at Amazon are underway with those bullet points in a PowerPoint now that the franchise has been wrested away from its legendarily impossible owners, the Broccolis. Corporate-controlled and obligated by fiduciary responsibility, 007 has secured the plot of his next adventure: shaking every last dime out of his Savile Row suit. Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler or apply to The Ladder, a new members-only hub for early career entertainment professionals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    13 min

  4. FEB 5

    The Garbageman's Vanity Card

    One of the problems facing showbiz right now: Too many production companies, private equity investors, and celebrity shingles — but not enough set-up projects. That’s why it’s worth remembering the actor-producer-garbageman Rob Long once hired, whose business card was a reminder of simpler times: the producer’s vanity card. Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler or apply to The Ladder, a new members-only hub for early career entertainment professionals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    10 min

  5. JAN 29

    ‘You Guys Are All the Same’

    New streamers all want to be the place that gets it. They’ll say, “Come here and be creative! Give us your quirky, oddball stuff!” But before you know it, Rob Long finds they’re giving notes on the act break and telling writers to raise the stakes. But anybody that’s been in this business awhile, or had any degree of success, can relate — it’s easy to forget that you don’t know all the answers. Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler or apply to The Ladder, a new members-only hub for early career entertainment professionals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    13 min

  6. JAN 22

    Craft Services Warning Signs

    When the streets of L.A. and New York hummed with production, Rob Long would pass so many shoots that he’d zip through and stealthily swipe a coffee and pastry. Now, though, as production shrinks, artisanal donuts and Nespresso pods have given way to Dunkin’ and off-brand coffee. And you know the industry’s in really bad shape when rumors about having to pay for valet parking at your own agency pop up — and everyone believes them. Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler or apply to The Ladder, a new members-only hub for early career entertainment professionals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    10 min

  7. JAN 15

    Wanted: A Hollywood Happy Ending

    When tourists come to Manhattan, some check out “historical landmarks,” like the Sex and the City cupcake shop, where a bite of buttercream frosting can spark the fantasy of a romantic adventure in the Big Apple with best friends. Indeed, Rob Long believes showbiz is at its greatest when, in hard times, it lets the audience daydream. Especially today, amid so much ash and smoke, when the people who make movies and TV need their own escape. Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler or apply to The Ladder, a new members-only hub for early career entertainment professionals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    10 min

  8. JAN 9

    Gelson's, Ralph's and the Palisades

    “Gelson’s is gone.” That’s what Rob Long heard the TV newscaster say solemnly as he watched flames engulf the grocery store. Rob loved that now burned-down market off Sunset in the Palisades, now in the midst of catastrophic loss. All kinds of industry folk — executives, crews, a couple of famous faces — also did. Now with an industry-wide contraction, he understands you might be asking yourself: “Is it time to go?” But the industry’s best trait has always been to ignore and adjust. And start again. Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler or apply to The Ladder, a new members-only hub for early career entertainment professionals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    13 min
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    About

    When you’re filming a movie or a television show, when it’s the last shot of the day, the first assistant director will call out, “This is the Martini Shot!” I call these stories “Martini Shots” because they’re exactly the kinds of stories we tell — and lessons we learn — after we’ve wrapped for the day. - Rob Long theankler.com

    Information

    • Creator
      TheAnkler.com
    • Years Active
      2021 - 2025
    • Episodes
      121
    • Rating
      Clean
    • Copyright
      © Ankler Media
    • Show Website
      Martini Shot

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