Creator's Cafe

44. Paula Deming - The Doors that Open

Paula Deming is an actor and creator based in Los Angeles.  Paula Deming makes board game comedy videos on Youtube in her series "Things Get Dicey". Her Youtube Channel also features playthroughs, silly strategy videos, and the occasional Top 10 List. You can also find her streaming board games on her Twitch channel, being a cast member of the Golden Geek winning podcast "This Game is Broken", talking about games on Watch It Played and Game Night Picks, and playing ttRPGs with channels like Good Time Society, Glass Cannon Network, and Push the Roll. She starred in the audio series “Deck the Halls with Matrimony” Website: https://www.paulademing.com/about Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/paolobandita/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thingsgetdicey.bsky.social  YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@PaulaDeming Creator's Cafe with Jessica Payne of Kika Labs Host Jessica Payne of Kika Labs breaks down the subtle and the sublime of the creative process with inspiring artists at the Creator's Cafe. Find out more info on the show and host Jessica Payne. Offering creative strategy, performance coaching, and more! www.kikalabs.com [http://www.kikalabs.com/] More info and resources at   | www.kikalabs.com [http://www.kikalabs.com/] Watch the video podcast on YouTube | YouTube Creator's Cafe Podcast Playlist [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyJaXRzomQCqaTDNDPKluG1SHS0TXt75H] Follow the Show | @creatorscafebykikalabs [https://instagram.com/creatorscafebykikalabs?igshid=MWZjMTM2ODFkZg==] Facebook Group | Creator's Cafe by Kika Labs [https://www.facebook.com/groups/785649439981589/?ref=share&mibextid=NSMWBT] Transcripts and YouTube Links at |  www.kikalabs.com/creators-cafe-shownotes [https://www.kikalabs.com/creators-cafe-shownotes] Theme Music Our theme music is composed and performed by Kyle deTarnowsky. www.kyledetarnowskymusic.com [http://www.kyledetarnowskymusic.com/]

44. Ashley Quach - What Lights You Up

Ashley Quach is a playwright and radio dramatist based in Los Angeles. She is best known for her award-winning romcom podcast “Deck the Halls (with Matrimony!)”, featured in 2020 as one of the New York Times’ Fiction Podcasts to Get Lost In. Quach has written original romance for Audible and recently completed a crime serial titled Chinook with executive producer Doug Liman and Realm, released by Wondery+ in spring 2024. Her play Suitor Princess Thief was a finalist for the 2025 Princess Grace Award and was a finalist in the B-Street Comedy Festival in 2023. She was a 2025 Mach33 fellow with Caltech university for the play The Null Test. Quach is also an author and illustrator, with such works as Santa's Husband and Princess Dinosaur. Her book Starring Sophie is due out from Scholastic in fall of 2026. Follow Ashley at https://www.instagram.com/sassquachcomics/ PS - my coffee is from Collar & Foam in West Hollywood  Creator's Cafe with Jessica Payne of Kika Labs Host Jessica Payne of Kika Labs breaks down the subtle and the sublime of the creative process with inspiring artists at the Creator's Cafe. Find out more info on the show and host Jessica Payne. Offering creative strategy, performance coaching, and more! www.kikalabs.com [http://www.kikalabs.com/] More info and resources at   | www.kikalabs.com [http://www.kikalabs.com/] Watch the video podcast on YouTube | YouTube Creator's Cafe Podcast Playlist [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyJaXRzomQCqaTDNDPKluG1SHS0TXt75H] Follow the Show | @creatorscafebykikalabs [https://instagram.com/creatorscafebykikalabs?igshid=MWZjMTM2ODFkZg==] Facebook Group | Creator's Cafe by Kika Labs [https://www.facebook.com/groups/785649439981589/?ref=share&mibextid=NSMWBT] Transcripts and YouTube Links at |  www.kikalabs.com/creators-cafe-shownotes [https://www.kikalabs.com/creators-cafe-shownotes] Theme Music Our theme music is composed and performed by Kyle deTarnowsky. www.kyledetarnowskymusic.com [http://www.kyledetarnowskymusic.com/]

43. Brian Abraham - Just Be Real

My guest Brian Abraham is an accomplished actor who has worked across Southern CA in film, TV, and Theatre, and is about to take on his third role on Broadway! Brian is an incredible acting teacher who is passionate about the process of breaking down a script and rehearsing moments to perfection. But he really shines as an actor embodying the work.  I’ve been lucky enough to act with Brian in a silly short where we were both dogs, and now get to go visit him as he kills it on Broadway.  Brian originated the iconic roles of Hagrid and the Sorting hat in Broadway’s “Harry Potter and the The Cursed Child”.  He also originated the role of the evil cook in “Life of Pi” where he is also the voice of Richar Parker and has to pupeteer a life size tiger in a fight scene in a boat! Next up, Brian is joining the cast of a modern adaptation of Oedipus on Broadway.  Follow Brian on IG at @brianthomasabrahamactor Creator's Cafe with Jessica Payne of Kika Labs Host Jessica Payne of Kika Labs breaks down the subtle and the sublime of the creative process with inspiring artists at the Creator's Cafe. Find out more info on the show and host Jessica Payne. Offering creative strategy, performance coaching, and more! www.kikalabs.com [http://www.kikalabs.com/] More info and resources at   | www.kikalabs.com [http://www.kikalabs.com/] Watch the video podcast on YouTube | YouTube Creator's Cafe Podcast Playlist [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyJaXRzomQCqaTDNDPKluG1SHS0TXt75H] Follow the Show | @creatorscafebykikalabs [https://instagram.com/creatorscafebykikalabs?igshid=MWZjMTM2ODFkZg==] Facebook Group | Creator's Cafe by Kika Labs [https://www.facebook.com/groups/785649439981589/?ref=share&mibextid=NSMWBT] Transcripts and YouTube Links at |  www.kikalabs.com/creators-cafe-shownotes [https://www.kikalabs.com/creators-cafe-shownotes] Theme Music Our theme music is composed and performed by Kyle deTarnowsky. www.kyledetarnowskymusic.com [http://www.kyledetarnowskymusic.com/]

42. Gabrielle Thomas - Championing the Fresh

Gabrielle and I dish on how to be a sneaky creator and get the wheel of creativity moving so much it feels inevitable.  My guest, Gabrielle Thomas, is a Director and Producer based in LA. She works across film, TV, commercials, and music videos as a digital specialist. She was the Creative Director at Alienware and an executive at Skybound Entertainment. Gabrielle directed the beautiful and dark short film Hunger, which explored our industry's challenging side, and then completely switched gears to direct "God of Work" for G4—a hilarious office mockumentary about video game heroes between gigs. Gabrielle is an incredibly versatile creative; she has directed stop motion commercials, beautiful music videos, and post-apocalyptic dramas starring children. She produced the podcast "The San Miguel Kidnappings," which was nominated for a CLue Award and featured in Variety. For animation fans, she directed and co-wrote the upcoming live show with the "Spike and Mike Extravaganza," which is hitting theatres soon. Gabrielle has been an incredible mentor to me, teaching me how to be a great AD and producer when we worked together on Rob Koteki’s psychological thriller “Safe+Sound.  And just this past weekend, we were together making high-end athletic apparel look amazing during a night shoot in a warehouse!  Please enjoy my inspiring conversation with my friend, Gabrielle Thomas. Follow Gabrielle: https://www.instagram.com/gabrielle.m4.thomas/ Creator's Cafe with Jessica Payne of Kika Labs Host Jessica Payne of Kika Labs breaks down the subtle and the sublime of the creative process with inspiring artists at the Creator's Cafe. Find out more info on the show and host Jessica Payne. Offering creative strategy, performance coaching, and more! www.kikalabs.com [http://www.kikalabs.com/] More info and resources at   | www.kikalabs.com [http://www.kikalabs.com/] Watch the video podcast on YouTube | YouTube Creator's Cafe Podcast Playlist [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyJaXRzomQCqaTDNDPKluG1SHS0TXt75H] Follow the Show | @creatorscafebykikalabs [https://instagram.com/creatorscafebykikalabs?igshid=MWZjMTM2ODFkZg==] Facebook Group | Creator's Cafe by Kika Labs [https://www.facebook.com/groups/785649439981589/?ref=share&mibextid=NSMWBT] Transcripts and YouTube Links at |  www.kikalabs.com/creators-cafe-shownotes [https://www.kikalabs.com/creators-cafe-shownotes] Theme Music Our theme music is composed and performed by Kyle deTarnowsky. www.kyledetarnowskymusic.com [http://www.kyledetarnowskymusic.com/]

41. Megan Green - Embracing Power in Heartbreak

Megan reveals how she stays committed to her craft through the tough times and creates stories of people rising above their situation.  My guest Megan Green is an award-winning screenwriter based in Los Angeles.  Megan's work has been recognized by the Austin Film Festival, Screencraft, Stowe Story Labs, Sundance Labs, and the Coverfly/Act Two mentorship program. ONLY HUMANS, the indie drama feature she co-wrote, premiered at the Napa Valley Film Festival. Her feature THE FAMILY HARVEST was later developed with Atlas Entertainment. Her feature biopic drama, ELEANOR & JACK, has ranked in the top 1% of projects on Coverfly and was a Nicholl Fellowship semifinalist twice.  Megan has both her MFA from UCLA and her MBA from UNC-Chapel Hill.  She used her expertise at the nexus of screenwriting, tech, and business to write her incredible drama pilot, DANNI’S HARD DRIVE.  I recently got to act in a Hollywood reading of this true story of the only woman to appear on the cover of The Wall Street Journal and Juggs Magazine, which won the Drama Division for CineStory’s TV Retreat and Fellowship and was selected for The Women’s List. Check out her work at https://meganwritesscreenplays.com/ [https://meganwritesscreenplays.com/] @meggersssss.bsky.social‬ IG: @meggerssssssss [https://www.instagram.com/meggerssssssss/] Mentioned: Save The Cat! [https://www.amazon.com/Save-Last-Book-Screenwriting-Youll/dp/1932907009/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E5ITV0MZYAH6&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.xzXse_WZarNIszhxvDLbJFynPvOUKA_HMiVW_ckfUnUl9yJHizTXbgJlo3uc6FpEE3sp-v_R_lSbqNIlYqOFnjDuodp37gO5V4njECsaDBoLOM6pvRZumSwpQCdrHE-yve9ZK0IYRl9QgByNe02zYQgpq7ONSFdJShchLvzf0AxXnNKP0VURyqcqgm_neFGdA_Zz6v0ctabfkahW4X4HP-vzPus1rZtAFCfkreRwrAk.1YwU2a8Fm92ZuAkKXdGCUhk4lMHhIimdAP6EO35dRFY&dib_tag=se&keywords=save+the+cat&qid=1758158610&s=books&sprefix=save+the+ca%2Cstripbooks%2C202&sr=1-1] by Blake Snyder SCREENWRITING: THE SEQUENCE APPROACH [https://www.amazon.com/Screenwriting-Sequence-Paul-Joseph-Gulino/dp/0826415687/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=8YYid&content-id=amzn1.sym.4efc43db-939e-4a80-abaf-50c6a6b8c631%3Aamzn1.symc.5a16118f-86f0-44cd-8e3e-6c5f82df43d0&pf_rd_p=4efc43db-939e-4a80-abaf-50c6a6b8c631&pf_rd_r=9010HZEEBSH71VSRTMPW&pd_rd_wg=FEDew&pd_rd_r=8e7fa34c-6d8c-4cac-a03c-cf1bd6f1651e&ref_=pd_hp_d_atf_ci_mcx_mr_ca_hp_atf_d] BY PAUL JOSEPH GULINO CINESTORY FOUNDATION [https://cinestory.org/meet-our-2025-tv-contest-division-winners/] THE WOMEN’S LIST  [https://www.thewomenslist.org/] Creator's Cafe with Jessica Payne of Kika Labs Host Jessica Payne of Kika Labs breaks down the subtle and the sublime of the creative process with inspiring artists at the Creator's Cafe. Find out more info on the show and host Jessica Payne. Offering creative strategy, performance coaching, and more! www.kikalabs.com [http://www.kikalabs.com/] More info and resources at   | www.kikalabs.com [http://www.kikalabs.com/] Watch the video podcast on YouTube | YouTube Creator's Cafe Podcast Playlist [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyJaXRzomQCqaTDNDPKluG1SHS0TXt75H] Follow the Show | @creatorscafebykikalabs [https://instagram.com/creatorscafebykikalabs?igshid=MWZjMTM2ODFkZg==] Facebook Group | Creator's Cafe by Kika Labs [https://www.facebook.com/groups/785649439981589/?ref=share&mibextid=NSMWBT] Transcripts and YouTube Links at |  www.kikalabs.com/creators-cafe-shownotes [https://www.kikalabs.com/creators-cafe-shownotes] Theme Music Our theme music is composed and performed by Kyle deTarnowsky. www.kyledetarnowskymusic.com [http://www.kyledetarnowskymusic.com/]