THE SHOW

Originally started as a column, the goal was to reach out to our friends that are currently finding their own ways of breaking in to Hollywood.  We thought it would be great to hear the stories as they’re happening, rather then 10 years down the road.  We can all agree that we can learn a lot from the stories of Robert Rodriguez and Kevin Smith, but also agree that the business has changed a lot since those “breaking in” breaking in stories have happened.

Let’s hear from the people that are in the same boat YOU’RE in!

The Podcast was put on hiatus indefinitely due to Cheryl’s health issues (see below).

 MANNY

Manny Fonseca hails from Dearborn, Michigan and now lives in Long Beach, CA. Always knowing that he wanted something more than a menial job in retail or the auto industry, he attended Ohio University where he received his M.F.A. in screenwriting.

He quickly navigated the industry, landing a job at Kopelson Entertainment where he played mild-mannered exec by day, constantly looking for the next big script and turned into a Screenwriter by night. He left Kopelson when offered a position at Final Draft, Inc. in the marketing department. After Final Draft, Inc. he landed at Barnyard Media as their creative executive. He now does that along with working as a freelance writer. Sadly, his foul, yet honest, opinion is no longer attending pitchfests around Los Angeles.

For info, have a question or just want to tell him you love him, drop an email to breakinginthebiz@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @mannyfonseca.

  CHERYL

Born in New Fairfield, CT – one of six children to a steam fitter and a stay at home Mom, Cheryl Diffin, too smart for her own good and bored with high school, quit at 15 and went to work for IBM helping to design computer systems. After IBM, she worked in collections (where she gets her bad ass attitude), finance in the medical world (where she learned why Obamacare will work) and IT programming before moving to CA in 1998.

She was dragged into Hollyweird kicking and screaming when she met Manny and became a non-Hollywood part (much to his chagrin) of his columns.  Since then, using her vast knowledge of books (she’s read literally thousands) and movies (watched slightly less than books read), she has come to understand the numbers side of Hollywood along with the childish side.

In February of 2014, Cheryl suffered from a ruptured aneurysm in her brain and nearly died. We were told she would never walk or talk again. Exactly one year to the date of her surgery to fix her bleed, Cheryl “woke up.” She is now making great strides. She’s walking, talking and remembers a lot.

She, one day, would like to return to the podcast and write a book about her experience and struggle.