36 episodes

Every creative work you’ve ever loved has a hero’s journey behind it. On Spark & Fire, you'll hear creators tell the story of bringing one beloved work to life. 
Iconic creatives — like Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz, Pixar director Domee Shi, comedian Patton Oswald, musician Wynton Marsalis, and novelist Isabel Allende — share the endless iterations, the inevitable setbacks, and the breakthrough ideas along the epic process of creation. But this isn’t an interview show. It’s a story — told entirely in the artist's own words.
With host June Cohen, co-founder of WaitWhat and the former executive producer of TED Talks.
Transcripts and images for every episode are available at sparkandfire.com
Sign up for the weekly Spark & Fire newsletter.

Spark & Fire: Fuel Your Creativity Spark & Fire

    • Arts
    • 4.6 • 392 Ratings

Every creative work you’ve ever loved has a hero’s journey behind it. On Spark & Fire, you'll hear creators tell the story of bringing one beloved work to life. 
Iconic creatives — like Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz, Pixar director Domee Shi, comedian Patton Oswald, musician Wynton Marsalis, and novelist Isabel Allende — share the endless iterations, the inevitable setbacks, and the breakthrough ideas along the epic process of creation. But this isn’t an interview show. It’s a story — told entirely in the artist's own words.
With host June Cohen, co-founder of WaitWhat and the former executive producer of TED Talks.
Transcripts and images for every episode are available at sparkandfire.com
Sign up for the weekly Spark & Fire newsletter.

    Create from joy: Writer Phoebe Robinson on "You Can’t Touch My Hair"

    Create from joy: Writer Phoebe Robinson on "You Can’t Touch My Hair"

    There’s a commonly held belief that great creative work comes from pain. But comedian and writer Phoebe Robinson says that this is a myth. Instead, Phoebe believes great creative work comes from a place of joy. As Phoebe shares her personal story of writing her debut essay collection, You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain, she draws on the things that bring her the most joy in life, whether it’s her Peloton bike, or her obsession with the band U2. Her joy is what allows her to hone her unique creative voice, which she describes as having “a lot of pop culture references, but there's also some smarty smarty pants stuff that's going on.” Phoebe will inspire you to tap into what brings you joy, whatever it may be, and use it as fuel to create — and have fun doing it.

    Content Warning: This episode contains explicit language.

    Go to sparkandfire.com/download to download Spark & Fire's free creativity guide and access 100 activities designed to fuel your creative practice.

    Follow along (with transcript and photos) at sparkandfire.com/

    Subscribe to the Spark & Fire weekly newsletter for images, stories and creative prompts: http://eepurl.com/hkmyMr

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    • 32 min
    5 ways to handle creative conflict

    5 ways to handle creative conflict

    Creative conflict can destroy a work-in-progress — or it can push your work beyond good to great. What matters is how you respond. We’re going to hear from 5 creators in 5 very different fields who share actionable strategies (and great stories) about how to recognize, resolve, and harness conflict to create work that is visionary.

    Featuring “Frozen” songwriters Kristen Anderson Lopez and Robert Lopez, actor and comedian Cristela Alonzo, choreographer Bill T. Jones, salsa legend Rubén Blades, and “Queen’s Gambit” producers Bill Horberg and Allan Scott. 

    Listen to the full episodes that inspired this mixtape:

    “Frozen” songwriters Kristen Anderson Lopez and Robert Lopez: https://sparkandfire.com/frozen/ 

    “Cristela” creator Cristela Alonzo: https://sparkandfire.com/cristela/ 

    “Afterwardsness” choreographer Bill T. Jones: https://sparkandfire.com/billtjones/ 

    “Pedro Navaja” songwriter Rubén Blades: https://sparkandfire.com/rubenblades/ 

    “Queen’s Gambit” producers Allan Scott and William Horberg: https://sparkandfire.com/queensgambit/

    Follow along (with transcript and photos) at sparkandfire.com/

    Subscribe to the Spark & Fire weekly newsletter for images, stories and creative prompts: http://eepurl.com/hkmyMr

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    • 23 min
    Get to the fun part: Game creators Matthew Inman and Elan Lee on Exploding Kittens

    Get to the fun part: Game creators Matthew Inman and Elan Lee on Exploding Kittens

    To make something irresistible, get to the fun part — fast. That’s how Exploding Kittens became one of the world’s most popular games. When cartoonist Matthew Inman (The Oatmeal) and game developer Elan Lee (former Xbox) designed the card game Exploding Kittens, they took fun very seriously. This mindset unlocked their creativity in unexpected ways: They transformed a Kickstarter into a wildly successful interactive game, and radically simplified their instructions so their players could get to the fun part faster. In their story, you’ll find surprising lessons for any field on serving your audience and feeding your own creativity.

    Get the transcript, photos and original game sketches at https://sparkandfire.com/explodingkittens/

    Subscribe to the Spark & Fire weekly newsletter for images, stories and creative prompts: http://eepurl.com/hkmyMr

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    • 35 min
    Trust creates gold: Comedian David Cross on “Arrested Development”

    Trust creates gold: Comedian David Cross on “Arrested Development”

    Behind every masterpiece — comedic, artistic, or otherwise — is a deep well of trust. Case in point: the legendary sit-com, Arrested Development. As Comedian David Cross shares the story of bringing to life the brilliantly absurd character Tobias Fünke, you’ll hear how every moment of comedic gold on the show was made possible by trust — trusting his collaborators, trusting the writing, and trusting his instincts (“Send the stunt double home. I can do that my own…”).

    See David Cross on tour: https://officialdavidcross.com/pages/appearances

    Follow along (with transcript and photos) at sparkandfire.com/

    Subscribe to the Spark & Fire weekly newsletter for images, stories and creative prompts: http://eepurl.com/hkmyMr

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    • 30 min
    Let emotion be your North Star: Composer Kris Bowers

    Let emotion be your North Star: Composer Kris Bowers

    This episode follows the composer Kris Bowers’ personal story about composing the score for the culture-shifting and emotionally devastating work When They See Us. This award-winning series follows the true story of five boys, wrongfully accused in 1989 of the brutal rape of a jogger in New York’s Central Park. The narrative spans a quarter-century, from the night of the incident to their eventual exoneration as grown men. 

    To tackle this project, Kris let emotion be his North Star. Allowing his emotions to guide him led him straight to the heart of the story — and inspired a score that connects the audience to the characters.

    Follow along (with transcript and photos) at sparkandfire.com/

    Subscribe to the Spark & Fire weekly newsletter for images, stories and creative prompts: http://eepurl.com/hkmyMr

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    • 28 min
    5 strategies for overcoming failure

    5 strategies for overcoming failure

    Failure is a normal part — even an essential part — of any creative journey. But that probably isn’t what you want to hear after experiencing failure yourself. It’s easy to just want to crawl into a hole for a while. Today on Spark & Fire, we’re going to crawl out of that hole long enough to hear from 5 iconic creatives who have learned how to overcome failure to create something truly great. 

    Featuring actor and writer Randall Park on Always Be My Maybe, novelist Ann Patchett on The Dutch House, songwriting duo Kristen Anderson Lopez and Robert Lopez on Disney’s Frozen, producers Allan Scott and William Horberg on the hit series Queen’s Gambit, and singer/songwriter Ben Folds on the breakout album Whatever and Ever, Amen.

    Follow along (with transcript and photos) at sparkandfire.com/overcomingfailure

    Listen to the full episodes that inspired this mixtape:

    “Always Be My Maybe” writer and actor Randall Park: https://sparkandfire.com/randallpark/ 

    “The Dutch House” author Ann Patchett: https://sparkandfire.com/annpatchett/

    “Frozen” songwriting duo Kristen Anderson Lopez and Robert Lopez: https://sparkandfire.com/frozen/

    “Queen’s Gambit” producers Allan Scott and William Horberg: https://sparkandfire.com/queensgambit/

    Singer/songwriter Ben Folds: https://sparkandfire.com/benfolds/

    Subscribe to the Spark & Fire weekly newsletter for images, stories and creative prompts: http://eepurl.com/hkmyMr

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    • 28 min

Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5
392 Ratings

392 Ratings

Vacilando Siempre ,

Great Show!

I look forward to every episode! Hats off to everyone at Spark and Fire. Keep it coming!

Anotherbadupdate ,

Piano is annoying!

Why or why do a number of podcasts, including this one, insist on playing music (piano) while the guest is speaking? It is really annoying. I try to listen to what the guest has to say, not to hear cheesy elevator music. Can't listen anymore. Bye!

04Ry ,

This is great

Don’t stop. This is great and very much needed. You are inspiring people. This is important.

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