Ep. 465: Help! We Need Book Therapy!

Ep. 465: Help! We Need Book Therapy!

Author: The Onward Project April 9, 2026 Duration: 30:06
Liz and Sarah talk to their thriller writing mentor and book therapist, best-selling author Greer Hendricks, about how to approach tense and point of view in their work-in-progress novel, Bad Trip. Their biggest takeaway? There’s no one right answer. This week’s Hollywood Hack will help with those high gas prices: the Gas Buddy app. Plus, Liz had a major celebrity sighting at the iconic Mexican restaurant Casa Vega — rock star John Mellencamp. Finally, Liz recommends the Oscar-winning short film, The Singers, on Netflix.   Sign up for Liz & Sarah’s free weekly Substack newsletter at https://happierinhollywoodpod.substack.com. It’ll come right to your inbox!   Sign up for Sarah’s free weekly Substack newsletter Chickening Out at https://happierinhollywood.substack.com. It’ll come right to your inbox!   Get in touch on Instagram: @Sfain & @LizCraft Get in touch on Threads: @Sfain & @LizCra Visit our website: https://happierinhollywood.com Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/HappierinHollywood/ Happier in Hollywood is part of ‘The Onward Project,’ a family of podcasts brought together by Gretchen Rubin—all about how to make your life better. If you liked this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and tell your friends!   LINKS: Greer Hendricks: https://greerhendricks.com/   An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen: https://amzn.to/3PTPop8   Greer’s Substack — Sincerely, Greer: https://substack.com/@sincerelygreer?utm_source=top-search   Gas Buddy:  https://www.gasbuddy.com   John Mellencamp’s Pink Houses video; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOfkpu6749w   The Singers trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHkfy0GIwTE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For over two decades, television writers Liz Craft and Sarah Fain have navigated the unique pressures of Hollywood as a team, and their Happier in Hollywood podcast pulls back the curtain on that journey. This isn't just industry gossip; it's a candid conversation between two friends who have built a career and a life inside a famously tough town. Each episode feels like grabbing a table at the commissary with them, where they translate their personal and professional hurdles into relatable lessons. You’ll hear how a blend of stubborn optimism and pragmatic Midwestern grit helped them thrive in a male-dominated field, offering tangible advice that goes far beyond writing a script. Their discussions tackle everything from navigating office politics and difficult conversations to the small, daily practices that maintain sanity. This Happier in Hollywood podcast, from The Onward Project, transforms specific Hollywood struggles into universal themes about resilience, partnership, and finding your footing in any high-stakes career. It’s about the unglamorous work behind the glamour-the ass-kicking, the occasional ass-kissing, and yes, even the office yoga-that actually makes a sustainable life possible. Tune in for a surprisingly grounded perspective from two veterans who have learned to carve out happiness on their own terms.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Happier in Hollywood
Podcast Episodes
Ep. 473: Project Theme Songs & A Wrap On Whimsy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:14
As Liz and Sarah dive into the new draft of their novel, they’re experimenting with tense. They each wrote a scene in past tense, and now they’re going to write the same scenes in present tense. Which will they prefer? I…
Ep. 472: Baby Talk & Summer Schemes [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:18
Liz and Sarah are trying out a new pitch technique — instead of writing out their latest pitch word for word, they’re prepping it in bullet points to keep the flow more spontaneous. In The Mailroom, Sarah answers a quest…
Ep. 471: Financial Wellness In New Hollywood (Yes, It’s Possible!) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:31
Liz and Sarah talk to trauma-informed financial wellness coach Katy Chen Mazzara about the connection between money blocks and creative blocks, why it’s never a good idea to negotiate with a “starving artist” mentality,…
Ep. 470: Prepping Small Talk & Lazarus Projects [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:27
Liz and Sarah talk about why it’s helpful to prepare small talk topics before a Zoom meeting. Knowing how to fill that awkward time before everyone arrives will reduce your anxiety and improve meeting flow! In The Mailro…
Ep. 469: Putting Our Reading Into Our Writing [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:42
Liz and Sarah talk about how they plan to incorporate what they’ve gleaned from Natalie Goldberg’s book, Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within, into the next draft of their novel Bad Trip. Inner censor be dam…
Ep. 468: Schrodinger’s Cat Is Alive! Sort of. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:57
Liz and Sarah are wrapping their heads around the fact that in New Hollywood previously declared dead projects may come back to life unexpectedly. That’s great — but it can make it hard to gain momentum on new things. In…
Ep. 467: Let’s Celebrate Mimsy May! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:20
Every week on the podcast Liz and Sarah mention “how they balance a career and friendship.” They usually talk about the career part, but today they’re leaning into friendship. Find out what they’re doing just for fun and…
Ep. 466: 10 Things We Don’t Feel Bad About Anymore [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:53
Liz and Sarah are entering Phase Two of working on their novel, Bad Trip. Next up? They have a plan to be done tracking each character through the story by the end of May. In Take A Hike, they each share a list of ten th…
Ep. 464: Meet Our Pitch Coach! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:08
Liz and Sarah sit down with their amazing pitch coach, Jordana Oberman, to talk about how to create and deliver a pitch that will actually sell. One piece of advice? Lead with theme and emotion. Save plot for later. Also…
Ep. 463: Doubling Down On Our Novel Deadline! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:48
Liz and Sarah finally have some momentum on their novel, Bad Trip, about a group of friends who travel to Peru to do ayahuasca. And they’re vowing to finish the new break by April 1. In Take A Hike, Sarah shares why usin…