Blank Check with Griffin & David
Blank Check with Griffin & David is a film podcast following the career output of directors who have had significant success and are then offered a figurative blank check to pursue their passion projects. Most episodes focus on a single movie from the director's filmography.[1] The show is hosted by The Atlantic film critic David Sims and actor Griffin Newman.
| Blank Check with Griffin & David | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Presentation | |
| Hosted by |
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| Genre | Film |
| Language | English |
| Updates | Weekly |
| Production | |
| Production | Ben Hosley |
| Audio format | Podcast (via streaming or downloadable MP3) |
| Publication | |
| Original release | March 23, 2015 – present |
| Provider | AudioBoom |
| Website | Blank Check |
Blank Check has been positively reviewed by Paste Magazine,[2] Decider,[3] and The A.V. Club.[4] The show was included in Esquire's list of the best 21 podcasts of 2018,[5] as well as on Paste Magazine's list of the top 30 podcasts of the decade.[6] It has also been featured in Vulture and Entertainment Weekly as a selection of the week.[7][8]
Notable guests have included directors David Lowery, Alex Ross Perry, Lulu Wang, Chris Weitz, comedians Demi Adejuyigbe and Chris Gethard, and actors Peter Serafinowicz and Paul Scheer.
History
Blank Check was originally a podcast called The Phantom Podcast that assessed the Star Wars prequel films as if in a universe where the other Star Wars films did not exist. Originally planning to spend 50 episodes on each film, producer Ben Hosley convinced the hosts to only do ten. Having used a lengthy analysis of a filmography as a means of discussing the films' director, Newman and Sims decided to use a similar approach in reviewing the works of other directors.[3]
On January 1, 2019, Newman and Sims created a Patreon page where fans could pay a monthly amount in exchange for extra content. As of March 2020, The Blank Check Patreon was ranked 16th in the podcast category based on the number of paying supporters.[9]
Series overview
| Miniseries | Title | Title reference | Director | Initial Release | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Episodes | First episode | Last episode | ||||
| 1 | The Phantom Podcast | Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace | George Lucas | 11 | March 23, 2015 | June 1, 2015 |
| 2 | Attack of the Podcast | Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones | 10 | June 22, 2015 | September 8, 2015 | |
| 3 | Revenge of The Podcast | Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith | 10 | September 21, 2015 | November 30, 2015 | |
| 4 | The Star Wars Sequels | N/A | 6 | December 6, 2015 | January 11, 2016 | |
| 5 | Pod Night Shyamacast | Name of director(s) | M. Night Shyamalan | 11 | January 25, 2016 | April 12, 2016 |
| 6 | The Podchowski Casters | The Wachowskis | 9 | April 18, 2016 | June 10, 2016 | |
| 7 | We Pod A Cast | We Bought a Zoo | Cameron Crowe | 10 | June 23, 2016 | July 26, 2016 |
| 8 | Podinator: Judgment Cast | Terminator 2: Judgment Day | James Cameron | 11 | September 18, 2016 | December 3, 2016 |
| 9 | Pod Me If You Cast | Catch Me If You Can | Steven Spielberg (The Dreamworks Years) | 15 | January 28, 2017 | May 20, 2017 |
| 10 | The Pod Knight Casts | The Dark Knight Rises | Christopher Nolan | 10 | June 25, 2017 | August 13, 2017 |
| 11 | Pod-19: The Widowcaster | K-19: The Widowmaker | Kathryn Bigelow | 10 | September 17, 2017 | November 19, 2017 |
| 12 | Podship Casters | Starship Troopers | Paul Verhoeven (English language films) | 8 | January 7, 2018 | March 4, 2018 |
| 13 | Podcast News | Broadcast News | James L. Brooks | 7 | March 18, 2018 | April 29, 2018 |
| 14 | The Podcastibles | The Incredibles | Brad Bird | 7 | May 13, 2018 | June 28, 2018 |
| 15 | Podback Mountcast | Brokeback Mountain | Ang Lee | 13 | July 1, 2018 | September 27, 2018 |
| 16 | Something's Podda Cast | Something's Gotta Give | Nancy Meyers | 7 | October 14, 2018 | November 25, 2018 |
| 17 | Podward Scissorcast | Edward Scissorhands | Tim Burton | 17 | December 9, 2018 | April 28, 2019 |
| 18 | Michael Mannsplaining/Cast of the Podhicans | Mansplaining/The Last of the Mohicans | Michael Mann | 12 | May 19, 2019 | August 4, 2019 |
| 19 | Howl's Moving Podcastle | Howl's Moving Castle | Hayao Miyazaki | 12 | August 11, 2019 | November 7, 2019 |
| 20 | Stop Making Podcasts | Stop Making Sense | Jonathan Demme | 16 | November 10, 2019 | March 19, 2020 |
| 21 | Mad Pod: Fury Cast | Mad Max: Fury Road | George Miller | 10 | March 29, 2020 | May 28, 2020 |
| 22 | You've Got Podcast | You've Got Mail | Nora Ephron | 9 | June 7, 2020 | August 2, 2020 |
| 23 | Pod & Basketcast | Love & Basketball | Gina Prince-Bythewood | 4 | August 9, 2020 | August 30, 2020 |
| 24 | TBA | TBA | Robert Zemeckis | TBA | September 6, 2020 | TBA |
References
- "Blank Check with Griffin & David". Retrieved August 28, 2019.
- Techler, Graham (July 5, 2018). "Blank Check and the Intersection of Comedy and Criticism". Paste Magazine. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
- Reid, Joe (January 28, 2016). "'Blank Check' Is the Movie Podcast You Need to Be Listening To (Especially If You're Into M. Night Shyamalan)". Decider. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
- Vanderbilt, Mike; Bulnes, Rebecca; James, Becca; Colburn, Randall; Brooke, Zach (August 14, 2017). "Griffin and David tackle Inception this week on Blank Check's podcast-in-a-podcast". A.V. Club. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
- Esquire Editors (December 27, 2018). "The 21 Best Podcasts of 2018". Esquire. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
- Jackson, Josh; Staff, Paste (October 28, 2019). "The 30 Best Podcasts of the 2010s". pastemagazine.com. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
- Wright, Megh (August 31, 2018). "This Week in Comedy Podcasts: A Blank Check–Las Culturistas Crossover". Vulture. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
- EW Staff (September 8, 2017). "This Week's Must List: Top of the Lake, The Deuce, and Le Carré's Latest". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
- "Blank Check with Griffin & David". Graphtreon. Retrieved March 19, 2020.