Cover art for podcast Spark & Fire: Fuel Your Creativity

Spark & Fire: Fuel Your Creativity

37 EpisodesProduced by WaitWhatWebsite

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 n… read more

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Farewell

February 22nd, 2024

0:39

An important message from RadioPublic

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

April 19th, 2023

32:32

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 …

5 ways to handle creative conflict

March 30th, 2023

23:20

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 …

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

March 23rd, 2023

35:17

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 …

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

March 15th, 2023

30:38

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 …

Let emotion be your North Star: Composer Kris Bowers

March 8th, 2023

28:49

This episode follows the composer Kris Bowers’ personal story about composing the score for the culture-shifting and emotionally devastating work

5 strategies for overcoming failure

February 27th, 2023

28:09

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 …

Fight for your dream: Comedian Cristela Alonzo

February 22nd, 2023

33:19

When the ABC show Cristela premiered in 2014, Cristela Alonzo made U.S. history, the first Latina to write, produce, and star in her own prime-time comedy. But this dream didn’t come easy: Cristela had to fight for her …

Find the people who see your dream: Actor Aasif Mandvi

February 15th, 2023

33:01

In the 1990s, Aasif Mandvi was a struggling actor looking for roles that didn’t seem to exist. So he wrote Sakina’s Restaurant — a solo show about an …

Always be iterating: Pomplamoose’s Jack Conte & Nataly Dawn

February 8th, 2023

39:14

Nataly Dawn and Jack Conte started the band Pomplamoose together in 2008. The band found success with their viral YouTube videos, which have hundreds of millions of views. And while we usually tell the story of a single …

Take responsibility for your creativity: Joseph Gordon-Levitt

January 25th, 2023

33:09

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a creativity master. Many of us know him as an actor and director, but Joseph also co-created the collaborative media …

5 strategies for starting something new

January 23rd, 2023

19:09

There’s an intimidating blank page. A blinking cursor staring you down. A looming deadline for a project you haven’t touched. Sometimes, starting something new is the hardest part of the creative process. In this …

Tell a universal truth: “Wicked” composer Stephen Schwartz

January 18th, 2023

41:11

Stephen Schwartz has a motto for songwriting: Tell the truth, and make it rhyme. In this episode, Stephen tells the story of composing the Broadway musical Wicked. Not only does Stephen reinvent a beloved classic for …

Sweat the details: Punchdrunk artistic director Felix Barrett

January 11th, 2023

38:38

Felix Barrett, MBE, is the artistic director of Punchdrunk, a British theater company that specializes in immersive storytelling. In this episode, Felix shares the story of Sleep No More, Punchdrunk’s most famous and …

Embrace your inner weirdo: Pixar’s Domee Shi on “Turning Red”

January 4th, 2023

33:44

When Pixar asked Domee Shi to create a feature film, she ran to her friend’s office and rolled on the floor with joy. It was a dream come true. But …

Generosity creates magic: “Frozen” songwriters Robert Lopez & Kristen Anderson-Lopez

December 21st, 2022

42:58

Finding the right collaborator, and growing together, is a creative feat. While songwriting duo Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez were writing …

Replenish your sense of meaning: Musician Kayhan Kalhor on “Silent City"

December 14th, 2022

35:52

Musician Kayhan Kalhor shares the story of composing and performing “Silent City,” his epic 25-minute piece for the kamancheh (Persian spiked fiddle) and ensemble. It’s a specific story about writing music to …

Find what you need to fuel your work: Mark Bradford’s “Unicorn Tapestries”

December 7th, 2022

35:34

Deep in the pandemic, visual artist Mark Bradford began work on an epic series called “The Unicorn Tapestries.” It’s inspired by the iconic medieval work of the same name, but created with everyday materials that speak …

Commit to your best work (always!): Novelist Ann Patchett on “The Dutch House”

November 30th, 2022

36:33

When Ann Patchett sat down to read through her first draft of The Dutch House, she realized she had made a terrible mistake. A wrong turn, on page 36, sent the entire rest of the novel careening down the wrong path. So …

How to recover your creative voice: Comedian Patton Oswalt on “Annihilation” & “I Love Everything”

November 21st, 2022

39:55

What do you do when you fear you’ve lost touch with your creative voice? You let yourself feel it, and then open yourself up to inspiration. 

When …

5 ways to get creatively unstuck

November 14th, 2022

20:08

You hit a creative dead end. You’re lost in the forest of thought. Let’s face it: you’re stuck. But getting stuck is part of the creative journey. 

We hear it in every story on this show. So today, we’ve chosen our 5 …

Be utterly honest: Musician Ben Folds on “Whatever and Ever Amen”

July 1st, 2021

38:35

Capturing an honest moment is one of the riskiest ways to create. But the results are real, and they stand the test of time. As musician Ben Folds …

How to spark others: Yo-Yo Ma on the Silk Road Project

June 24th, 2021

55:42

The Silk Road Project was an impossibly ambitious, creatively expansive idea to not only create a category of music that had never been heard before, but also create ensembles to perform it, and audiences who were …

Stick with it: "The Queen's Gambit" producers Allan Scott and Bill Horberg

June 10th, 2021

34:19

When you fall in love with a project, stay with it – for as many years as necessary. Its time will come. When screenwriter Allan Scott acquired the …

Trust your instinct: Salsa legend Rubén Blades on the iconic song “Pedro Navaja”

June 1st, 2021

41:53

“It’s too long. It’s too sad. It’s not danceable.” Just some of the feedback salsa legend Rubén Blades got from DJs and record labels about his iconic song "Pedro Navaja" on the album "Siembra," which went on to sell …

Stay authentic to yourself: Randall Park on making "Always Be My Maybe"

May 25th, 2021

35:59

How do you create something an audience will love? Start with everything YOU love. Actor Randall Park ("Veep," "Fresh Off the Boat," "WandaVision"…) tells the story of a passion project that's become a beloved …

Create the conditions for your own creativity: Yaa Gyasi on "Transcendent Kingdom"

May 18th, 2021

23:33

To make a creative leap, get to know your creative self. After publishing a blockbuster first novel, "Homegoing," followed by a year of touring (and …

Play to an elevated purpose: Wynton Marsalis on "The Democracy! Suite"

May 11th, 2021

29:26

“Everything you do in the arts gives meaning to your way of life." In a year of pandemic, racial reckoning, and threats to democracy, Wynton Marsalis creates a seven-song cycle that imagines how artists can shape the …

Cultivate a child's sense of wonder: "Knives Out" director Rian Johnson

May 4th, 2021

38:46

How do you create deeply imaginative work? There’s a method behind the magic. As Rian Johnson (Last Jedi, Looper, Brick) takes us on the journey of …

How to build your creative vision: Photographer Stephen Wilkes on the 2021 Inauguration Photo

February 23rd, 2021

33:06

Making art is a distillation of all your life experiences – from the half-remembered images from your childhood to your fascination with what's happening around you right now. Photographer Stephen Wilkes developed his …

Great collabs start with trust: Apollo Theater’s Kamilah Forbes on “Between the World and Me”

February 9th, 2021

37:46

"I want to make this into theater, in a way that’s never been done before." When Kamilah Forbes first reads "Between the World and Me," by her friend Ta-Nehisi Coates, she's moved, shaken, gutted by its truth and …

Creativity starts with play: Designer Thomas Heatherwick on NYC's The Vessel

February 2nd, 2021

35:14

How do you change the creative brief? You start with play. The designer Thomas Heatherwick was asked to create a monumental public work for the plaza of vast new development in the heart of Manhattan. The expected route …

Turn crisis into art: Choreographer Bill T. Jones on “Afterwardsness," his pandemic masterpiece

January 26th, 2021

43:29

When faced with a crisis, how do you move forward? Sometimes, you look backward first. It’s March 2020, and legendary choreographer Bill T. Jones is weeks away from a world premiere, when his company is forced into …

Turn memory into art: Isabel Allende on “The House of the Spirits”

January 19th, 2021

38:09

How do you write the stories of your life? Any time, any place, any order. Isabel Allende was 39, and a refugee from her native Chile, when she started writing a letter to her dying grandfather – recounting the family …

How to find inspiration: Chip Kidd on the "Jurassic Park" book cover

January 12th, 2021

32:43

What do you do when you’re stuck? Something else. Designer Chip Kidd got a dream assignment: Create the book cover for a soon-to-be-blockbuster: Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park. Oh, and make it iconic. When the …

How to begin: Susan Orlean on "The Orchid Thief"

January 5th, 2021

45:40

How do you move past that "wobbly moment" in your creative journey? Just move. From the moment she heard about it, Susan Orlean knew she had to tell the story of "The Orchid Thief" – a wild, true story of obsession set …

Oscar winner Pixar's Kemp Powers on "Soul": The best person for the project

January 4th, 2021

31:50

How do you create an authentic character? Start with your authentic self. When Kemp Powers joined the writers' room at Pixar, he found a story …

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