A stubborn lunatic's guide to making great art

A conversation with director Alex Gibney

credit: HBO

Happy Saturday, we have a new one for you!

25 years ago, The Sopranos, the best television show ever created, premiered. This week, a new documentary called Wise Guy asks the question: how did a show considered so risky & uncommercial even get made? We’re interviewing Wise Guy director Alex Gibney about that question, and about how stubborn lunatics like him and David Chase got to make the projects they wanted to make.

Also, check out Incognito Mode, our ad-free, no-rerun, bonus episode feed.

This week in the comments, if you have are a creative person and you make stuff, and have figured anything out about making good things right now … throw it in the comments.

Two brief recommendations this week

I stumbled on this song, weirdly, from that New Yorker piece about Kanye West’s architectural misadventures. He recommended it to someone in a text message that, I believe, later showed up in an affidavit. Good song.

And if you want to check out more of Alex Gibney’s work, here’s a great place to start.

This is a short newsletter this week

Sometimes my mind is an surprisingly empty place. How many more sentences does the internet need on it?

See you next week,

PJ