PMT DB
PMT DB
Brian Koppelman on Rounders and Billions, Plus Coach K and NFL Expansion
Coach K had himself an absolute masterclass in performance art following Duke’s loss to NC State. Big Cat and PFT break down the classic Coach K playbook: do the blow-by handshake when you’re a poor sport, then find the opposing team’s star player for a 'private' moment that just happens to be captured by every camera in the building. It’s about teaching the kids, even if the lesson is mostly that Coach K is the only one who can save them. PFT even found a silver lining in the loss by comparing it to the ultimate student of the game, Jameis Winston.
PFT CommenterJameis Winston is a future Hall of Famer because he throws so many interceptions to learn from
If you learn more from a loss and interception than you do from throwing a touchdown or winning a game like [Jameis Winston] is going to be—that's why he's a future Hall of Famer. He's just storing up all the knowledge right now.
Big Cat, meanwhile, is already looking at the bracket and the future for the Blue Devils, and it’s not looking great for the Dukies.
Big CatDuke has already lost the last game of the year
Duke has already lost the last game of the year, guys. I said it. Sorry. It already happened.
The Perfect NFL Schedule
The NFL is buzzing with talk of a 17-game season and playoff expansion, and while PFT is generally on board with more football, he sees the 17-game mark as nothing more than a pit stop on the way to 18.
PFT CommenterA 17-game NFL season is just a bridge to an 18-game season
17 seems like a weird number. It absolutely feels like it's just a bridge to get to 18 games. Like that's the finish line. It's going to be 18 games. No one's going to want a 17-game season.
Big Cat has the whole thing figured out already. He’s pitching a 19-week schedule with two bye weeks, giving the players Christmas off, and moving the Super Bowl to a day where we can actually recover from the wings and beer. It’s a vision for a better America.
Big CatThe perfect NFL schedule is 17 games over 19 weeks with the Super Bowl on President's Day weekend
I have the perfect NFL schedule... 17 games, 19 weeks, two buys, and you stretch it out so that the playoffs start in mid-January and Super Bowl Sunday is now President's Day weekend. Boom. So you get the Monday off... All Christmas week, just eliminate that week on the schedule of NFL football because you can watch bowl games.
They also floated some ideas for that extra week of scheduling, including cross-conference rivalries that actually make sense and a mandatory family feud on the gridiron.
Big CatThe NFL should guarantee cross-conference rivalry games like Giants vs. Jets every year
What I would want them to do as well is make a cross conference like guaranteed game every year. The Giants and the Jets should play each other every single year... there are certain rivalries that you could create out of this extra week that you play every single year and I think people would really like [it].
PFT CommenterThe NFL should mandate that brothers always have to play against each other
Brothers should always have to play a game against each other. Yeah. JJ Watt should play a game against TJ Watt and Derek.
Brian Koppelman
Brian Koppelman, the creator of *Billions* and the writer of *Rounders*, joined the show for an incredible look into the creative process. Koppelman is a PMT superfan who fits right in, especially when talking about the basketball skills of Hollywood A-listers. Apparently, George Clooney isn't just a tequila mogul; he’s got real game.
Brian KoppelmanGeorge Clooney is a college-level athlete
So Clooney's very, very good. He's college-level athlete. Full college level... [Clooney] was a great baseball player, like college-level baseball recruited for baseball and he really knows how basketball works. Like he knows how to do a pick-and-roll. He understands basketball.
He also gave Woody Harrelson his flowers, confirming that the *White Men Can't Jump* star wasn't just acting when it came to his vertical.
Brian KoppelmanWoody Harrelson has legitimate basketball hops
I thought I could beat Woody... and he destroyed me, man. He was up at the hoop. He could really get right to the hoop... Woody has hops. Yes.
Koppelman’s advice for aspiring writers was as blunt as it gets: stay out of hotel ballrooms. He’s a big believer that you can't teach creativity in a Radisson seminar and that the best way to learn the craft is to actually consume the craft.
Brian KoppelmanAll screenwriting books are absolute bullshit
I just said for the fuck of it one day: All screenwriting books are bullshit. All of them. Read screenplays, watch movies, and let those be your guide... if you have to go to a Radisson for a seminar, it's fake. It's fake.
Brian KoppelmanIf you are paying to attend a seminar in a hotel conference room, you are being scammed
If you have to go to a Radisson for a seminar, it's fake. No matter what the subject is, you're paying money to attend a conference room just at a hotel, you got scammed... if you're trying to fill that hole in a hotel conference room, don't go.
Before letting him go, Koppelman explained why the characters in his shows are rarely one-dimensional heroes. He likes the 'gray' area of humanity, and he’s learned that trying to please everyone is the quickest way to produce something boring.
Brian KoppelmanSuccessful creators must ignore the 'safe middle' and focus on what they find fascinating
Executives in any endeavor and any business will always try to get the safe middle. But if you're a creator, you have to ignore the safe middle and you have to be going for what's really fascinating to you... if you can make that stuff compelling enough then people will hang in.
Fyre Fest and PR 101
PFT’s Fyre Fest involves him talking himself into a wing-eating contest against Guy Fieri in Atlantic City, which is almost certainly going to end in disaster. In PR 101, the guys tackle the Greg Robinson situation after he was caught with 157 pounds of weed. Big Cat thinks Robinson missed a golden opportunity for a 'Browns made me do it' defense.
Big CatGreg Robinson should use 'I play for the Browns' as a medical defense for his marijuana arrest
You should just say, 'I play for the Browns, I should be allowed to smoke marijuana medically.'
Finally, Kevin Love gets a 'Sorry Not Sorry' for acting like a changed man the second his coach got fired. PFT compares the Cavs star to a certain Gotham villain who finally caught the car he was chasing.
PFT CommenterKevin Love is the Joker of the NBA for undermining his coach and then acting upset when he's fired
It sounds like with Kevin Love, he sounds like the Joker and Batman where he's like, 'I was just chasing cars. I don't know what I would do if I ever caught one.' So his thrill this entire year was just undermining his coach [John Beilein] and insinuating that he should be fired. But now that he actually got fired, Kevin Love's like, 'What now? What do I do?'
Hopefully, Guy Fieri doesn't make PFT eat the wings in a hotel conference room, or we'll know it's a scam.
