Episodes

  • Episode 113: Harvey Araton

    Episode 113: Harvey Araton
    May 26 2026
    Harvey Araton is not quite ready to set down his pen. After covering sports for more than 40 years for the Staten Island Advance, the New York Post, the New York Daily News and The New York Times, where he served as a "Sports of the Times" columnist for more than 15 years, he continues to write. His latest book, The Goal of the Game, a soccer novel for young adults about a seventh-grader who discovers the power of the beautiful game to hurt and to heal, was just published by Koehler Books. The book takes its place on Harvey's ever-expanding bookshelf alongside one of his best-known books, When the Garden Was Eden: Clyde, the Captain, Dollar Bill, and the Glory Days of the New York Knicks, which was later adapted for an ESPN "30 for 30" documentary, and now appears especially relevant as the Knicks are once again captivating Madison Square Garden crowds in pursuit of another championship. Throughout his career, Harvey has written mostly about basketball, but he's also written about baseball—never more compellingly than in his New York Times best-selling book, Driving Mr. Yogi, about the unlikely friendship between Yankee legend Yogi Berra and then Yankee ace Ron Guidry. He's also covered 10 Olympic games, the Super Bowl, and virtually every major tennis tournament, and contributed regularly to every section of the newspaper, including the obituary section, where he continues to write advance obits for many of the athletes he used to cover. Join us for a conversation on what it takes to report on the athletes who roam our fields of play, and to be on the constant lookout for ways to write about sports that transcend the game and speak into the human condition. Learn more about Harvey Araton: WebsiteInstagramFacebookOur Last Season: A Writer, a Fan, a Friendship Please support the sponsors who support our show: Gotham Ghostwriters' Andy AwardsRitani Jewelers Daniel Paisner's Balloon DogDaniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television PilotHeaven Help Us by John KasichUnforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey JacobellisFilm Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountLibro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membershipFilm Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef SuttonEveryday Shakespeare podcastA Mighty Blaze podcastThe Writer's Bone Podcast NetworkMisfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountWizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount
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    1 hr and 10 mins
  • Between the Lines: The Maple Crew

    Between the Lines: The Maple Crew
    May 19 2026
    Join us for our "Between the Lines" feature, as we shine an extra shaft of light on the work of our podcast guest. In this installment, we're highlighting a memoir entitled The Maple Crew, by pioneering filmmaker Jessie Maple, written in collaboration with As Told To podcast guest E. Danielle Butler. The book stands on Danielle's bookshelf as a compelling example of her work, and her commitment to capturing the voices of men and women who inspire her and crafting those voices into stories that can inspire others. For more on the life and career of Jessie Maple, you can check out her New York Times obituary, and visit the Criterion Channel to screen two of her best-known films—including "Will", the first independent feature-length film directed by an African-American woman. Please support the sponsors who support our show: Gotham Ghostwriters' Gathering of the GhostsRitani Jewelers Daniel Paisner's Balloon DogDaniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television PilotHeaven Help Us by John KasichUnforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey JacobellisFilm Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountLibro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membershipFilm Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef SuttonEveryday Shakespeare podcastA Mighty Blaze podcastThe Writer's Bone Podcast NetworkMisfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountWizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount
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    7 mins
  • Episode 112: E. Danielle Butler

    Episode 112: E. Danielle Butler
    May 12 2026
    Narratives that matter. That's the lane currently occupied by "collaborative storyteller" E. Danielle Butler, co-author of more than two dozen books, many of them written with business executives, pioneering artists, and faith leaders, helping to translate lived experience into lasting legacy. It's a path she didn't know she was meant to walk. In fact, she didn't even know what a ghostwriter was until she became one. "But what I can trace throughout my life are threads of Black writers and storytellers weaving humanity and justice together," she writes. "Our words are creation. For centuries, we've used them to ignite movements, capture legacies, and cement ideas." Over the course of her ghostwriting career, Danielle has given voice to men and women who inspire her, and she has made it her mission to ensure that their lives and careers can inspire others—as she set out to do in the book she co-authored with the trailblazing camerawoman Jessie Maple. Her forthcoming collaboration, Finding God Every Day, written with child star and "Kid Pastor" Luke Tillman, will be published this fall by Zonderkids, the children's division of Zondervan Publishing. Join us for an inspiring conversation on what it takes to shine meaningful light on lives well and purposefully lived… through story. Learn more about E. Danielle Butler: WebsiteInstagramLinkedInFacebook"The Maple Crew"Jessie Maple Collection on the Criterion Channel Please support the sponsors who support our show: Gotham Ghostwriters' Gathering of the GhostsRitani Jewelers Daniel Paisner's Balloon DogDaniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television PilotHeaven Help Us by John KasichUnforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey JacobellisFilm Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountLibro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membershipFilm Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef SuttonEveryday Shakespeare podcastA Mighty Blaze podcastThe Writer's Bone Podcast NetworkMisfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountWizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount
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    1 hr
  • Between the Lines: We the Women

    Between the Lines: We the Women
    May 5 2026
    In our latest "Between the Lines" installment, we shine a light on the best-selling collection of inspirational profiles by former "CBS Evening News" anchor Norah O'Donnell – the New York Times best-seller We the Women: The Hidden Heroes Who Shaped America, written with journalist and author Kate Andersen Brower. Brower, our current podcast guest, a former White House reporter for Bloomberg News, has written for The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Time, and The Washington Post. She is also the author of several books of her own, including the #1 New York Times best-seller The Residence, which was adapted into the hit Netflix series of the same name by producer Shonda Rhimes, as well as numerous other books, including First Women, First in Line, and Team of Five. As she shares in our As Told To conversation, We the Women is her first collaboration, but it is not so very far removed from her work as a political reporter, and as a seasoned chronicler of lives lived in and around our seats of power. Please support the sponsors who support our show: Gotham Ghostwriters' Gathering of the GhostsRitani Jewelers Daniel Paisner's Balloon DogDaniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television PilotHeaven Help Us by John KasichUnforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey JacobellisFilm Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountLibro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membershipFilm Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef SuttonEveryday Shakespeare podcastA Mighty Blaze podcastThe Writer's Bone Podcast NetworkMisfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountWizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount
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    8 mins
  • Between the Lines: Arsenio

    Between the Lines: Arsenio
    May 1 2026

    We're back with the second installment of our new "Between the Lines" feature here at the podcast factory—a bridge to take listeners from our current As Told To episode to our next installment.

    Here's a passage from Arsenio: A Memoir, the latest collaboration from podcast guest Alan Eisenstock. The book, an immediate New York Times best-seller, chronicles the life and career of comedian and pioneering talk show host Arsenio Hall. In it, you'll hear ghostwriter and subject take a wistful look back to a time when the idea of hosting a talk show was "a crazy, ridiculous, impossible dream."

    Why not double-back and listen to our conversation with Alan Eisenstock, for more on Arsenio Hall's unlikely journey, and more on what it takes to turn one successful writing career into an entirely other successful writing career?

    Please support the sponsors who support our show:

    • Gotham Ghostwriters' Gathering of the Ghosts
    • Ritani Jewelers
    • Daniel Paisner's Balloon Dog
    • Daniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television Pilot
    • Heaven Help Us by John Kasich
    • Unforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey Jacobellis
    • Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount
    • Libro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership
    • Film Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton
    • Everyday Shakespeare podcast
    • A Mighty Blaze podcast
    • The Writer's Bone Podcast Network
    • Misfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order
    • Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount
    • Wizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount
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    5 mins
  • Episode 111: Kate Andersen Brower

    Episode 111: Kate Andersen Brower
    Apr 28 2026
    What happens when a ghostwriter/collaborator looks on as the subject of her latest book becomes the lede of a story neither one of them set out to tell? That's the question at the heart of this conversation with journalist Kate Andersen Brower, co-author of the New York Times best-seller We the Women: The Hidden Heroes Who Shaped America, written with "60 Minutes" correspondent and former "CBS Evening News" anchor Norah O'Donnell. We the Women presents a vivid portrait of the unsung women throughout American history who have changed the ways we work and live—a book Melinda French Gates calls "a vital reminder of the importance of women's contributions to our history, and a call to action for anyone committed to carrying forward the work that they began." About that call to action: in the aftermath of the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 25, 2026, O'Donnell sat with President Trump for a lengthy "60 Minutes" interview, during which the president berated her for having the temerity to ask him to respond to the gunman's manifesto. The president called her "horrible" and "a disgrace." O'Donnell pushed back, and by the Monday morning of our podcast interview, the heated exchange was making headlines and filling social media feeds all over the world. "It was tremendous to watch," observes Brower, "and I hope that it inspired some younger women watching to want to become journalists, and to want to ask these tough questions." Kate Andersen Brower knows what it means to work the political beat. A former White House reporter for Bloomberg News during the Obama administration, she has written for The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Time, and The Washington Post. She is the author of the #1 New York Times best-seller The Residence, which was adapted into the hit Netflix series of the same name by producer Shonda Rhimes, as well as numerous other books, including First Women, First in Line, and Team of Five. Join us for a candid conversation on what it takes to speak truth to power—and then, to find a way to write about it. Learn more about Kate Andersen Brower: WebsiteInstagram Facebook SubstackElizabeth Taylor: The Grit & Glamour of an Icon Please support the sponsors who support our show: Gotham Ghostwriters' Gathering of the GhostsRitani Jewelers Daniel Paisner's Balloon DogDaniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television PilotHeaven Help Us by John KasichUnforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey JacobellisFilm Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountLibro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membershipFilm Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef SuttonEveryday Shakespeare podcastA Mighty Blaze podcastThe Writer's Bone Podcast NetworkMisfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountWizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount
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    1 hr and 14 mins
  • Episode 110: Alan Eisenstock

    Episode 110: Alan Eisenstock
    Apr 21 2026
    "Did I do that?" Yes, in fact, he did. After a successful career as a writer on hit sitcoms like "Mork and Mindy," "The Nanny," and "Married with Children," podcast guest Alan Eisenstock managed to step from television writing rooms and reinvent himself as one of the publishing industry's most sought-after collaborators. His most recent books include New York Times best-selling memoir Life's Too Short, written with Darius Rucker; Hang Time: My Life in Basketball, with NBA legend Elgin Baylor; the crime novel Flipping Boxcars, with Cedric the Entertainer; and the just-published memoir Arsenio, with comedian and pioneering talk show host Arsenio Hall—an immediate New York Times best-seller. "It was great, it was lucrative," he writes of his television career, which included a memorable turn behind the scenes of the ABC sitcom "Family Ties," where he came up with one of the most famous catch-phrases in television history—delivered in almost every episode by the show's breakout character Urkel, played by Jaleel White. "But I longed to return to my first love, writing prose, seeing my words in print, full-time." Join us for a conversation on what it takes for a writer to leap from the top of the Nielsen ratings to the New Releases table at the local bookstore, and to give enduring voice to some of our leading artists, athletes, newsmakers, and influencers. Learn more about Alan Eisenstock: WebsiteRaiders: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made Please support the sponsors who support our show: Gotham Ghostwriters' Gathering of the GhostsRitani Jewelers Daniel Paisner's Balloon DogDaniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television PilotHeaven Help Us by John KasichUnforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey JacobellisFilm Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountLibro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membershipFilm Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef SuttonEveryday Shakespeare podcastA Mighty Blaze podcastThe Writer's Bone Podcast NetworkMisfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discountWizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount
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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • Between the Lines: The Girl in the Green Sweater

    Between the Lines: The Girl in the Green Sweater
    Apr 14 2026
    We're trying something new here at the pod shop – a kind of palate cleanser to follow our latest full episode. What gives? Well, we keep hearing from our listeners that they'd like to sample one or more of the books under discussion in each of our every-other-weekly conversations with writers and creatives who write and create in collaboration, so we thought we'd offer a brief reading in this space between episodes. Here, in this inaugural installment of a segment we're calling "Between the Lines," we're pulling a book from the shelf and sharing a short passage that hopefully illuminates our most recent pod chat. Our latest guest, Doron Keren, is the son and grandson of Holocaust survivors. He's just out with a new English-language translation of a memoir written by his grandfather, Ignacy Chiger—which, as it happens, covers a lot of the same ground in the best-selling memoir As Told To host Daniel Paisner wrote with Doron's mother, Krystyna Chiger, in 2008. Listen, and consider not only what it's like to grow up beneath the shadow of the Holocaust, but also what it means to reassemble the stories of your life in a way that honors the different points of view of those sharing these stories, and to find truth and meaning in those differences. Links:
    • The Girl in the Green Sweater
    • Beneath the Lightless Sky
    • Beneath the Lightless Sky Facebook page
    • Beneath the Lightless Sky Instagram page
    • "In Darkness" official trailer
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    6 mins