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Two Mikes and a Film Called Bound

BOUND – with Michael O’Neill and Mike Pniewski

When we heard that actors Mike Pniewski and Michael O’Neill were teaming up to film a 10-minute short written by Pniewski – we couldn’t wait to get in on the action! Wouldn’t it be cool to follow along in the process and see what it was like to create a film from start to finish?

Both Mikes were up for it! From getting to know their personal backstories, to fun Hollywood inside scoop, to how the actual filming went, we set up a series of interviews, with some of your questions included.

Now when the film BOUND comes out – you’ll feel like you were part of the crew all along!  Follow the series and become a film-making insider!

Interview Series

Michael O'NeillMichael O’Neill

Just SOME of the places you have seen him!
Council of Dads
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan
Dallas Buyer’s Club
Scandal
Grey’s Anatomy
West Wing
Rectify
Catch up on our past interviews with Michael O’Neill.

In this interview from 2013, Michael talks about the very unusual way he was “discovered,” what his two requirements were before he took on the part of the crazed gunman on Gray’s Anatomy, and how he still lives with the insecurity of the acting business. Plus… his sex scene in Rectify, and how he didn’t recognize Matthew McConaughey on the set of The Dallas Buyer’s Club movie.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN to the interview

In this interview from 2020, we chat about the award-winning film Clemency, how it personally affected him, and how wonderful Aldis Hodge was in it. And how that role on Grey’s Anatomy changed him personally.  Plus, how Michael felt about Sons of Anarchy and Sea Biscuit, and what he appreciated about Al Pacino.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN to the interview

NEW!! Interview with Michael O’Neil posted 8/4/22

In this very vulnerable interview, actor Michael O’Neill shares insight into his characters and how it can affect an actor’s mental health when a job is finished.

In this interview taped right before the filming of BOUND, we find out how he felt about Council of Dads getting cancelled, why he went into therapy after one of his roles, and what it’s like to work with Shonda Rhimes. Plus, why he liked the character of Butterfield on West Wing so much and how HE says I bring out the worst in him!

Click on the player below to hear the chat with Michael and Pam

Mike Pniewski

Just SOME of the places you have seen him:
Hightown
The Good Wife/Fight
Madam Secretary
Blue Bloods
Law and Order/Criminal Intent/SVU
Mean Girls 2
Remember the Titans

INTERVIEW ONE with MIKE PNIEWSKI

You’ve seen Mike Pniewski in everything from The Sopranos to The Good Wife/Fight, Law and Order (just about every incarnation!) and now Hightown on STARZ. He’s a face you don’t forget.

He’s also a writer and an author. And calls fellow actor Michael O’Neill one of his best friends.  So it was only natural that they would want to do a project together. When nothing right came along, they decided to create their own! Pniewski wrote the script for a 10-12 minute short film that featured just the two actors.

In our first interview with Pniewski, we found out how dissecting human cadavers changed his career trajectory, how he found out he got a part on The Sopranos, and how people sometimes respond to him in public!

Plus, insight into his character Ed on the show Highttown, a rapid-fire round of shows he’s been in, and a question from listener Rebecca Griffith. Oh – and what it’s like to act next to a Spit Bucket!

Click on the player below to hear the chat with Mike and Pam

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Intelligence Expert & Bestselling Author Bob Baer on The Fourth Man

Intelligence Expert & Bestselling Author

Anyone who is a spy history buff will know that American Intelligence caught three high-profile Russian spies in the 90s: Aldrich Ames and Edward Howard from the CIA, and Robert Hanssen from the FBI.  But did you know that there have always been rumblings that there was a fourth man?

Bestselling author and intelligence analyst for CNN, (one of the most accomplished officers in CIA history), Robert Baer says it’s time to talk about The Fourth Man (the title of his new book!) – someone who may be the greatest traitor in American history – and who may still be alive.

In our chat we find out how the intelligence organizations discovered the three moles within, and why there is credible belief that there was a fourth mole – the Fourth Man – and how these spies allowed Putin to come to power. In addition, we discover why people become spies, what the state of US spycraft is today, and what is the biggest danger in the world today. Plus – how he made ME part of the spy story!

Click the player below to hear the chat with Pam and Bob

About Bob Baer
Robert Baer, one of the most accomplished officers in CIA history, is a bestselling author and intelligence analyst for CNN. Over several decades, he served everywhere from Iraq to New Delhi and was awarded the Career Intelligence Medal for his efforts. Baer is the author of four New York Times bestsellers, including his first book, See No Evil, the basis for the Academy Award-winning film Syriana. He is considered one of the world’s foremost authorities on the Middle East and frequently appears on all major news outlets. Baer has contributed to TIME, Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.
For his book, The 4th Man: Click here

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Debut Author Ebony LaDelle Talks about Love Radio

Debut Author Ebony LaDelle

What makes a book so hot that there are 11 publishing houses bidding in an auction for it? Today we find out as publishing professional and debut author Ebony LaDelle shares her experience as the author of a new YA novel – Love Radio. She tells us what actually makes a YA novel, and why music and Toni Morrison figure so prominently in the book. Plus – we talk about high school angst, the missing genre of books that her Love Radio fills – and why Shonda Rhimes needs to be dialing her up post haste!

Click the player below to hear the chat with Pam and Ebony

About Ebony LaDelle
Ebony LaDelle is a marketing pusher by day, storyteller by night. Born in Michigan, awoken at Howard University, and cultivated in Brooklyn, Ebony can usually be found searching for her next live concert, scouting out the latest food craze to try, or being the undisputed Mom Friend of any group. She cohosted Why Not YA?, a @Belletrist and @EpicReads monthly video series where she interviewed authors in the young adult space.

For more about Ebony: Click Here
For her book, Radio Love: Click here
Follow her on Twitter: @EbonyLaDelle
Her Instagram is: @EbonyLaDelle
Check out her TikTok: @EbonyLaDelle

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Bestselling Author Daniel Bergner on the Mind and the Moon

Bestselling Author Daniel Bergner Talks Mental Health –
Are there more options than just drugs?

Odds are you probably know someone in your life who deals with anxiety, or bipolar disorder.  Maybe someone who deals with delusions, or hears voices.  And maybe it’s even you. For example, I get panic attacks when I drive on the freeway. But we haven’t always done a good job in dealing with mental issues. We are only now starting to talk about it in any kind of meaningful way. It used to be that we only talked about it in whispers, or in private conversations, but never out in the open.

Bestselling author Daniel Bergner says it’s time to talk about the mind -and its mind of its own- and he does just that in his new book The Mind and the Moon. In our chat he talks about what we used to do to people dealing with mental challenges, what we know about drugs being used today (not much), and what exactly happens in a lobotomy. It’s an eye-opening discussion that hopefully will encourage you to start a conversation with friends and family about mental health.

Click the player below to hear the chat with Pam and Daniel

About Daniel Bergner
Daniel Bergner is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and the author of five previous books of award-winning nonfiction: the New York Times bestselling Sing for Your Life, What Do Women Want?, The Other Side of Desire, In the Land of Magic Soldiers, and God of the Rodeo. His writing has also appeared in the Atlantic, Granta, Harper’s Magazine, Mother Jones, Talk, and the New York Times Book Review.

For his book, The Mind and the Moon: Click here
Click here to for more about Daniel Bergner

 

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Retired Fighter Pilot and Best-Selling Author Dan Hampton on VALOR

We’re All in Need of a Hero
Dan Hampton Has One for Us

Lt. Bill Harris was a WWII hero you probably haven’t heard of. Award-winning author and retired fighter pilot Dan Hampton plans to change that. His new book VALOR introduces us to the Saga of One Man’s Defiance and Indomitable Spirit in a style that reads like an adventure novel.

We chat with Dan about Lt. Harris, the power of resilience, why he thinks Ukrainian President Zelensky is so successful, and why the US Air Force is the best in the world. Join us for this fascinating and inspiring chat.

Click the player below to hear the chat with Pam and Dan Hampton

About Dan Hampton
Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Dan Hampton flew 151 combat missions during his twenty years (1986– 2006) in the United States Air Force. For his service in the Iraq War, Kosovo conflict, and first Gulf War, Col. Hampton received four Distinguished Flying Crosses with Valor, a Purple Heart, eight Air Medals with Valor, five Meritorious Service medals, and numerous other citations. He is a graduate of the USAF Fighter Weapons School, USN Top Gun School (TOGS), and USAF Special Operations School. A frequent guest analyst on CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC discussing foreign affairs, military, aviation, and intelligence issues, he has published in Aviation History, the Journal of Electronic Defense, Air Force Magazine, Vietnam magazine, and Airpower magazine, and written several classified tactical works for the USAF Weapons Review. He is the author of the national bestsellers Viper Pilot and Lords of the Sky, as well as a novel, The Mercenary.

For his book, Valor: Click here
Click here to follow him on Facebook

 

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The magic behind character actor Michael O’Neill


The magic behind character actor Michael O’Neill

In this interview from 2013, we talk to Michael O’Neill … one of the most respected character actors in Hollywood… about taking a one-day stint on The West Wing and turning into a 6-season job. He is one of those actors you see on the TV or movie screen and say “Oh, THAT guy!”

We have a delightful chat talking about the very unusual way he was “discovered,” what his two requirements were before he took on the part of the crazed gunman on Gray’s Anatomy, and how he still lives with the insecurity of the acting business. Plus… his sex scene in Rectify, and how he didn’t recognize Matthew McConaughey on the set of The Dallas Buyer’s Club movie. You will LOVE this guy!

Click the player below to hear the chat with Pam and Michael O’Neill

About Michael:

You’ll remember actor Michael O’Neill  as “Larry Mills” in the critically-acclaimed drama series on NBC –  COUNCIL OF DADS.  Or perhaps as  “Chaplain Kendricks” in the critically acclaimed feature film, CLEMENCY, which won the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize. He was also “Senator Mitchell Chapin” in Season 2 of TOM CLANCY’S JACK RYAN on Amazon. Other recent appearances for O’Neill include the series’ THE ROMANOFFS, THE RESIDENT, 11.22.63, SHOOTER, S.W.A.T. and a five episode arc in the final season of SCANDAL.

Previous television credits include his four season role on the award winning Sundance TV series, RECTIFY, the CBS series, EXTANT with Halle Berry and A&E’s BATES MOTEL. O’Neill’s memorable TV roles include GREY’S ANATOMY and fan favorite “Special Agent Ron Butterfield” on THE WEST WING, as well as NECESSARY ROUGHNESS, VEGAS, THE GRIM SLEEPER, NCIS, SONS OF ANARCHY and THE UNIT. In feature films, O’Neill played FDA Agent “Richard Barkley” in the award winning DALLAS BUYERS CLUB and his vast credits include J. EDGAR, GREEN ZONE, TRANSFORMERS, SECONDHAND LIONS, TRAFFIC, SEA OF LOVE and SEABISCUIT. O’Neill also recently completed two feature films, THE STAND AT PAXTON COUNTY and INDIVISIBLE.

A native of Alabama, O’Neill has a degree in Economics from Auburn University and will be the Winter 2019 Commencement Speaker.  He was also the 2018 commencement speaker at the University of Montevallo in Alabama. He began his acting career under the mentorship of Will Geer, and his daughter Ellen, at the Theatricum Botanicum in Los Angeles. He is married to Mary O’Keefe O’Neill and they have three wonderful daughters, Ella, Annie and Molly.  O’Neill has served on the Board of the Hollywood Branch of the Screen Actors Guild and has often participated in the SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s BookPALS program, reading to elementary school children.   He has also been involved in Teach for America, Habitat for Humanity, and Focus on Recovery in Birmingham.

For Michael’s facebook page: Click Here
For Michael’s IMDB page: Click Here

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Author and Speaker Cy Wakeman on dealing with a messy life

Cy Wakeman’s new book
Life’s Messy, Live Happy

Do you feel like your life is messy? That things are often in chaos and sometimes life just seems so unfair?

Cy Wakeman wrote a book to give us hope. Titled Life’s Messy, Live Happy, she tells us that we are often the source of our own suffering, and how we can flip the switch from suffering to self-reflection. The subtitle is even more inspiring: Things Don’t Have to Be Perfect for You to Be Content.

We’ll talk about how we’re NOT a self-help project, she’ll give us tips on avoiding the roller coaster of emotions, and we’ll hear the story of Good, Bad, Who Knows? It’s a fun chat with lots of good info tucked in to help you Life Happy, even if life IS messy!

Click the player below to hear the chat with Pam and Cy Wakeman

About Cy Wakeman

Cy Wakeman is a drama researcher, international leadership speaker, and consultant. In 2001 she founded Reality-Based Leadership. She is the author of three books: Reality-Based Leadership: Ditch the Drama, Restore Sanity to the Workplace and Turn Excuses Into Results (2010), NY Times Bestseller, The Reality-Based Rules of the Workplace: Know What Boosts Your Value, Kills Your Chances, and Will Make You Happier (2013), and her new release No Ego: How Leaders Can Cut the Cost of Workplace Drama, End Entitlement, and Drive Big Results (2017). In 2017 and 2018, she was named as one of the Top Global Leadership Gurus by Global Gurus, a Top 100 Leadership Expert to Follow on Twitter, and was deemed “the secret weapon to restoring sanity to the workplace.”

For more about Cy Wakeman: Click Here​
For her book, Life’s Messy, Live Happy: Click here
Follow her on Twitter: @cywakeman
And on Instagram: @cywakeman
Click here to watch her videos on YouTube
Click here to follow her on Facebook

 

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NatGeo Explorer Gabby Salazar on Women Explorers and Scientists

No Boundaries!
NatGeo’s Gabby Salazar on  her New Book
No Boundaries – 25 Women Explorers & Scientists

When I was a little girl, all the astronauts were men. We would watch TV shows about Dr. Leakey, the archaeologist. And of course, we loved watching the shows with Jacques Cousteau.

These were amazing people.  But where were the women? We never saw role models at the time in science and exploration to inspire us. Could we even BE scientists and explorers?

Fortunately, now we are starting to hear more of the stories of the women who pioneered the way in those areas. And for young women, and girls, National Geographic brings us No Boundaries… 25 Women Explorers and Scientists Share Adventures, Inspiration, and Advice.  It’s a wonderfully colorful book, filled with bits and pieces of wisdom, and backstories on these women scientists.

In this episode, we talk with Gabby Salazar, one of the authors, and a nature and conservation photographer and social scientist, who has traveled the world, living in tropical rain forests and on tropical islands. We’ll ask her how they chose the women to be included in the book, which story inspired her, and what she hopes girls and young women will take from this book. It’s a conversation sure to inspire you – and the young girls in your life!

Click the player below to hear the chat with Pam and  Gabby Salazar

About Gabby Salazar

GABBY SALAZAR is a National Geographic Explorer, a nature and conservation photographer, and a social scientist. As an Associate Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers, she has worked on environmental photography projects across the globe, spending months at a time living in tropical rainforests and on tropical islands. Salazar has an MSc in Conservation Science from Imperial College London and is currently a doctoral student at the University of Florida’s School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Science, where she studies environmental marketing. She is committed to environmental education and uses photography to get kids outdoors and to connect them with nature.

For more about Gabby Salazar: Click Here​
For her book, No Boundaries: Click here
Follow her on Twitter: @gabbyrsalazar
And on Instagram: @gabbyrsalazar

 

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Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Michael H. Cottman: Segregated Skies

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Michael H. Cottman on
David Harris – the First Black Commercial Airlines Pilot

When you get on a plane to fly somewhere, do you think much about the pilots in the cockpit?  I mean, sure, you hope this isn’t their first flight, and that their eyesight is good. But do you wonder if the pilot is white or black?

Back in the 60s, you wouldn’t have to wonder because the pilots were all White. That is, until David Harris came along.

Pulitzer prize-winning author Michael H. Cottman takes us through the story of Harris, the first Black commercial pilot, in his new book “Segregated Skies: David Harris’ Trailblazing Journey to Rise above Racial Barriers.”

Written for young adults, the book is a good read for all ages. In our chat, we learn some of the things that David experienced as a black man in the military and at American Airlines in the 60s. We learn about David’s tenacity, persistence, and doggedness and how he eventually became a role model for all pilots at American Airlines. Plus, how his swagger helped him change the status quo!

In our chat, we also talk about how Michael himself was racially profiled, run off the road and called names. Listen in as we talk about an aviation pioneer, and find some life lessons we can ALL take from this book.

Click the player below to hear the chat with Pam and  Michael Cottman

About Michael Cottman

Michael H. Cottman is an award-winning journalist and author. He is currently program editor for the NBCUniversal News Group’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Team – NBC News/MSNBC/CNBC. He was formerly editorial manager for NBCBLK and worked as a political reporter for the Washington Post and a reporter for the Miami Herald. His past books include Shackles From the Deep, The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie, and Million Man March. He has appeared on National Public Radio’s Tell Me More, CNN, The History Channel, and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Cottman was also part of Newsday’s reporting team that won journalism’s highest honor, the Pulitzer Prize, in 1992 for coverage of a deadly subway crash in New York. He lives in Maryland, where he spends most of his time reading, researching, writing — and looking for the next big adventure to share with readers.

​For his book, Segregated Skies: Click here
Follow him on Twitter: @mhcottman
And on LinkedIn: Click here
Go to his website: Click here

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Racial Extremism & the US Military – Dr. Megan McBride of CNA

A surprising portion of the people charged for 1/6
have some sort of military experience.
Do we have a problem in the US Military?

Of the 600+ people charged in the 1/6 insurrection, 12% had some sort of military experience. Both leading up to and in the wake of 1/6, a series of reports called attention to the potential threat posed by extremists in the military. Dr. Megan McBride, a research analyst on both domestic and international terrorism, co-wrote a CNA report about racial extremism in the military, and what needs to be done. How big is the problem? How does the culture of the military fit in to solving this problem? What needs to be done?

Dr. McBride shares some surprising insights and reminds us that the sexual harassment/assault issue in the military hasn’t been solved yet – but we can learn from the approach the military is taking.

If you’re worried about racial extremism in the military, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.

Click the player below to hear the chat with Dr. Megan McBride & Pam

About Dr. Megan McBride

Megan McBride, PhD, a research analyst in CNA’s Center for Stability and Development, is an expert on international security issues including terrorism, radicalization, and ideological violence. Her work on domestic and international terrorist movements includes anti-abortion terrorism, environmental terrorism, and Islamist terrorism. Her current focus in on extremism in the information space and the evaluation of countering violent extremism and reintegration programming. She is also a fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

For her full report on Racial Extremism in the Military: Click Here

For more deep-dive information from CNA, check out their research page: Click here