Story First Podcast

What happens when we stop treating creativity, emotion, and healing as separate things?
Brian McDonald talks with poet and therapist Jacky Power about the surprising connection between poetry and therapy—and the ways both can help us make sense of the human experience.
Jacky describes poetry as a bridge between the life we think we should be living and the life we actually are living. Together, she and Brian explore grief, dyslexia, creativity, vulnerability, community, technology, and what happens when we privilege intellect over the heart.
They also talk about an older understanding of the artist: not simply as someone who makes things, but as storyteller, healer, and even magician—roles that were once far less separate than they are today. Jacky calls poetry a kind of “human technology”: a way of witnessing experience, making meaning, and helping us recognize ourselves in one another. 
It’s a conversation about what art can do when it brings us back to the thing underneath all the categories:  our shared humanity.

Years ago, Brian McDonald met a young Gene Luen Yang at a comic book convention in San Jose. Gene was hanging around a group of working professionals, listening, learning, and soaking up whatever he could. Before they parted, he gave Brian a little comic he’d made himself.
For years afterward, Brian wondered what had happened to that kid.
It turns out he was busy becoming Gene Luen Yang.
Gene would go on to create American Born Chinese and Boxers & Saints, write characters including Superman and Shang-Chi, become a MacArthur Fellow, and serve as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.
In this archive episode of You Are a Storyteller, Brian catches up with Gene to talk about comics, storytelling, craft, and some of the lessons Gene took from Brian’s Invisible Ink.
It’s also a reminder of something that’s easy to forget when we’re starting out: we don’t know what we’re capable of becoming.
The kid standing next to you may someday become an important artist whose work reaches millions of people.
And if you’re the kid, you may not know it yet either.

Creative careers rarely begin with careers.
They begin with enthusiasm. With discovering the work that excites you, meeting people who share that excitement, and making things together before anyone knows—or particularly cares—where any of it might lead.
In this episode of the Story First Podcast, Brian McDonald talks with his longtime friend and collaborator Derek Thompson about the experiences that helped shape both of their creative lives. Their conversation moves through art school, comic books, Batman, Aliens, Comic-Con, Stan Winston's creature shop, and the early projects they created together.
But underneath those memories is something larger: the importance of finding your people.
The friends, mentors, collaborators, and creative communities we encounter along the way don't simply help us build careers. They help us discover who we are as artists.
Sometimes the beginning of a creative life is as simple as finding someone else who loves the same things you do—and deciding to make something together.

Stories aren't just entertainment. They're one of the ways human beings make sense of the world.
They carry the wisdom we need to survive. They give us hope when we're in despair, direction when we've lost our way, and inspiration when we're weary. Stories make the world—and they change the world.
And that kind of power comes with responsibility.
In this archive episode of You Are a Storyteller, Brian McDonald and Jesse Bryan explore the role stories have played throughout human history, why some of our truest stories are about princesses, pigs, dragons, and wolves, and what happens when storytellers use the power of story to manipulate rather than illuminate.
A story can be medicine. It can also be poison.
Understanding the difference is part of the responsibility of being a storyteller.

Long before Bruce Walters helped change the visual effects industry, he changed the way I see the world.
Bruce was my first mentor. Years before he became a department head at Industrial Light & Magic—leading animation, motion control, matte painting, and helping pioneer digital matte painting—he taught me one of the most important lessons a storyteller can learn: how to truly observe.
His work helped bring films like The Goonies, the Back to the Future trilogy, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Jurassic Park to life. But this conversation isn’t about visual effects.
It’s about learning to see.
Together, Bruce and I explore mentorship, storytelling, the relationship between art and technology, and why the greatest artists, regardless of their medium, learn to look beyond technique to discover what really matters.
Whether you’re a filmmaker, writer, artist, or simply someone who wants to become more creative, Bruce reminds us that every great story—and every great work of art—begins with careful observation.

Comic-book writer John Arcudi has spent decades telling stories across nearly every corner of the medium.
John is perhaps best known for his influential work on The Mask and his long collaboration with Mike Mignola on B.P.R.D., where he became one of the principal writers responsible for expanding the world surrounding Hellboy. His remarkably varied career also includes licensed titles featuring Alien, Predator, RoboCop, and The Terminator, as well as original and creator-owned work including Major Bummer, The Creep, Rumble, and Two Moons. 
This archive episode is also personal for me. John isn’t simply an accomplished writer whose work I admire; he’s a good friend and one of the genuinely good people I’ve been fortunate enough to know.
Join us for a conversation with a writer who has made a lasting contribution to comics while remaining thoughtful, unassuming, and deeply committed to the work.

Every creative journey is different.
Some people follow a well-worn path. Others discover there isn’t one—and have to build it themselves.
In this episode of the Story First Podcast, I sit down with animator, filmmaker, and educator Alex Zepherin to talk about the choices that shaped his career, from developing his craft to creating opportunities where none seemed to exist.
Our conversation explores far more than animation. We talk about finding your voice, taking creative risks, mentoring the next generation, and the challenge of building a meaningful career in an industry that’s constantly changing. Along the way, Alex shares lessons learned through years of experience, offering practical insights for anyone pursuing a creative life.
Whether you’re an artist, filmmaker, writer, entrepreneur, or simply someone trying to find your own direction, this conversation is a reminder that there is no single roadmap to success. Sometimes the most rewarding path is the one you create yourself.

This week’s episode is an archive edition featuring one of the great storytellers of American film and television: Carl Gottlieb.
Whether you know Carl by name or you’re discovering him for the first time, you’ve almost certainly felt his influence. He co-wrote Jaws, the film that forever changed the movie business and introduced the era of the summer blockbuster. He also co-wrote The Jerk with Steve Martin, directed Caveman, and was part of the creative explosion that reshaped American comedy in the late 1960s and ’70s.
Carl’s career began with The Committee, one of America’s pioneering improvisational theater companies, before he joined the writing staff of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, a groundbreaking television series that launched or nurtured the careers of writers like Steve Martin and Rob Reiner while changing what comedy on television could be.
When this conversation begins, I think Carl expects another interview about Jaws. But somewhere along the way, something changes. We stop talking about famous movies and begin talking about the craft itself. It becomes two storytellers comparing notes about writing, comedy, collaboration, and the work behind stories that last.
For me, that shift is what makes this episode special.

When Joel Madison and I sat down to record this conversation, we started somewhere I didn't expect: school.
Neither of us fit comfortably into traditional education. We talk about dyslexia, ADHD, and what it was like growing up before those things were widely understood. That becomes the jumping-off point for a much larger conversation about how creative people learn.
Joel went on to become a successful television writer and producer, but the path wasn't a straight line. We talk about his journey from stand-up comedy to the writers' room, the difference between writing jokes and telling stories, and why the best storytellers never stop paying attention to the world around them.
We also explore research, authenticity, dialogue, character, and the invisible work that makes stories resonate. Good storytelling isn't about showing the audience how clever you are. It's about understanding people well enough that they recognize themselves in the story.
Whether you're a writer, filmmaker, artist, or simply someone who's ever wondered if there was a different way to learn, I think you'll find something in this conversation.

This week’s episode is an archive edition from my old podcast, You Are a Storyteller, co-hosted by Jesse Bryan.In this conversation, Jesse and I explore a storytelling concept I call the outer boundaries.Every story teaches its audience how to watch it. Early on, a storyteller establishes the rules of the world—what’s possible, what’s impossible, and what kind of story they’re about to experience. Those expectations become a kind of promise between storyteller and audience.Break that promise, and you risk breaking the audience’s trust.Whether you’re writing fantasy, science fiction, comedy, or drama, understanding the outer boundaries of your story world is essential. Once the audience understands the rules, they will follow you almost anywhere—as long as you play fair.I hope you enjoy this look back at one of the ideas that has become a cornerstone of the way I think about storytelling.