Hollywood Uncorked Podcast

Ever wonder who makes those infamous movie product placement deals? Or who ensures those beloved animated characters end up everywhere from the toy aisle to your kids' Happy Meals? Look no further than George Leon, longtime consumer marketing head for Sony Pictures, who's handled campaigns for film franchises like Spider-Man, James Bond, and Ghostbusters, among others. As we drink Rhone varietals from California's newest AVA, Ballard Canyon, George walks us through how these deals get made, how movie marketing has changed over the last 15 years, and why working with Hollywood directors can send some companies running for the hills.

When David Levine began his Hollywood career at the age of 21, he was just looking for a job that let him read for a living. Now the co-president of drama at HBO, David oversees such shows as Game of Thrones and Westworld, and reads more than 2,000 scripts per year. Over a few bottles of Chilean Cabernet, he shares some choice GoT war stories and gets candid about how HBO is adapting to the changing entertainment landscape, the fluid art of working with top writers, and what he wishes they would have done differently with the second season of True Detective.

A veteran agent at United Talent Agency, Charlie Ferraro grew up in Los Angeles and became convinced he wasn't meant to write or direct while attending USC film school. So he took a job at the UTA agency mail room and the rest is history. On today's episode, we sit down to discuss how the skills of a beginning agent are judged, why they have such infamously short attention spans, and the secrets of staying on top of a never-ending phone call list. Along the way, we sample three Argentinian Malbecs: a 2014 Crios ($12), a 2014 Achaval Ferrar ($26), and a 2011 Zuccardi Aluvional Altamira ($55). Also find out which member of the podcast just discovered he bought a house once owned by a porn star.

There are lots of ways to make a career in entertainment, and Steve Samanen is a fine example indeed. After earning a film degree from Florida State, he got his first job on a set in the art department -- and decided to make his career there. A graphic designer on such shows as Veep and Desperate Housewives, he's responsible for all the printed props a movie needs -- from a positive pregnancy test for Gwyneth Paltrow to a 47-foot billboard on Sunset Boulevard. Between bottles of Groth ($20), Merry Edwards ($40) and Favia ($75) sauvignon blanc, he spills on the people who make up an art department, what any aspiring Hollywood graphic artist should know, and the time he designed a vintage billboard for Milos Forman on Man on the Moon and got back: "It's beautiful. Shoot it."

Kirsten "Kiwi" Smith in unabashed that champagne helped her write such beloved and enduring comedies as Legally Blonde, The House Bunny and 10 Things I Hate About You. So we plied her with a bunch of the stuff and got her talking about Hollywood -- from the perils of pitching too much story, to finding her writing partner via a query letter, to her first gig driving Alyssa Milano to a movie set in her '85 Jetta.

As Nancy Meyers' long-time producing partner, Suzanne Farwell established her career making big studio films like The Intern, It's Complicated, The Holiday and Something's Gotta Give. She's stepping out as an independent producer with the upcoming Carrie Pilby, which premiered last week to rave reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival. In this episode, she sits down with us to discuss the state of female films, the battles of taking a small book to the big screen, and how an overnight "dialing friends for money" campaign saved Carrie Pilby from falling apart a month before shooting. Through it all, we drink three white burgundies whose Frenchy names are too long to account for here and also get the dish on Suzanne's first movie job working with an 11-year-old Lindsay Lohan in The Parent Trap.

As one of the early execs at New Line Cinema, producer Brian Witten (Spawn, Final Destination) had a seat at the 50-yard line of Hollywood's '90s heyday -- from being in the room when the first draft of Boogie Nights was bought, to personally settling the legendary daily disputes between American History X director Tony Kaye and star Ed Norton. This alone, of course, makes him the perfect guest to referee our discussion of three choice Napa Valley cabernets: a 2012 Carpe Diem Napa Valley ($25), a 2013 Snowden The Ranch Napa Valley ($50), and a 2013 Lail Blueprint Napa Valley ($75). Along the way, we talk about Brian's beginnings as a comic book writer, why studios don't have to be the enemy, and how Mike DeLuca lured him into the Hollywood executive ranks.

If producer Navid McIlhargey (RocknRolla) showed up to this episode with a few already in the tank, he came by it honestly. A longtime film executive for companies like Revolution and New Regency, he now navigates the tricky waters of independent film and is set to release the upcoming Hunter's Prayer with Sam Worthington. While the journey through Hollywood's ever-changing marketplace has admittedly left him jaded and cynical, it's also given him a particular capacity for helping us mow through three 2013 wines from noted Spanish producer Juan Gil: Juan Gil ($14), Clio ($39), and El Nido ($144). Along the way he discusses what it was like working for Joel Silver, the transition from executives pitching one-line ideas to relying almost exclusively on intellectual property, and what it will take to get the two-hour movie back into peoples' lives.

Whether you watched him in college on Talk Soup or heard him sneak dirty jokes into family programming over seven seasons of Wipeout, comedian John Henson is hilarious, sardonic and doesn’t drink. Which makes him the perfect guy to join us on a sober spin through the world of non-alcoholic wine. Okay, technically it's not non-alcoholic. It's de-alcoholized. But, as we learn, swill like this isn't worthy of any level of technical adherence. In this episode, we bravely endure three bottles of this genetically compromised grape juice as Henson discusses how to host 1,140 episodes of television with absolutely no creative oversight and how not drinking makes the last hour of a party far more fascinating.

With clients like Kiefer Sutherland, Viola Davis, director Marc Webb, and Oscar-winning screenwriters Josh Singer (Spotlight) and Chris Terrio (Argo), Jamie Feldman is a mainstay on Hollywood Reporter's list of power lawyers. He joins the podcast to talk about leaving a traditional legal career to make his mark in entertainment, the protocol of Hollywood's wine-gifting culture, and the appropriate amount of gluteal cleft in a nudity clause.

The Double-Double from In-N-Out. By itself, a cultural colossus. But pair it with wines hand-picked for compatibility, and this meat-and-cheese stomach bomb achieves a whole new level of flavor. Check out our all-new episode as Dan Perelli, operator of The Wine Hotel in Hollywood, helps us bridge the worlds of wine and fast food, and exposes us to his unique wine code, which had him threatening to leave the country in 1997 over California's over-blown wine market.

Chances are, you've been listening to the music of Grammy winner Heitor Pereira for a long time -- from his guitar work for the pop band Simply Red to the scores he's composed for movies like Despicable Me, If I Stay, The Smurfs, Minions, the recently released Angry Birds Movie, and many more. On this episode of Hollywood & Wine, Heitor gives away some of his songwriting secrets, discusses being out in Paris the night of the fall terror attacks, and helps the guys quaff their way through the favorite wines of the world's great composers.

Is Sabrina Taylor the real-life Olivia Pope? We're not saying, but she does speak six languages and is already having an "amazing" week on a Monday -- assets that come in handy for a publicist in Hollywood. In our new episode, she knocks back Aglianico with the guys as she talks about how to disappear a naked selfie from the Internet, being tutored by the legendary Ronni Chasen, and passing on representing Donald Trump.

Project Runway Executive Producer Barbara Schneeweiss got her big break in entertainment as Harvey Weinstein's assistant, where she quickly adopted the keys to his success: be super passionate and don't be afraid to work. Now VP of Film & Television at The Weinstein Company, Barbara joins the podcast to knock back some Viognier, spin a yarn or two about Miramax's heady days in the late '90s, and reveal why you should always perk up when someone at your first Hollywood job asks: "Hey, what are you doing right now?"

Best-selling YA author Patrick Carman started writing booksby secretly turning a story he used to tell his kids into amanuscript. He then paid to have 12,000 copies printed, and drovetown-to-town selling them out of his trunk. Millions of copieslater, The Dark Hills Divide became Carman's first hit in a careerthat has spawned 35 novels and even paved his way to Hollywood. Inour new episode, Patrick joins the podcast to sample threedifferent reds from Andrew Will and talk about how the work of anauthor really begins when a publisher comes along.

When the audition involved questions like "Are you claustrophobic?" and "Would you shave your head?" actress Naomi Grossman knew the role she was trying out for on "American Horror Story: Asylum" was anything but conventional. But she didn't totally see what she was in for until she was made up as Pepper, the tragic, malformed sprite who spanned two separate seasons of Ryan Murphy's groundbreaking series. In our new episode, Naomi joins Hollywood & Wine to taste Oregon pinot noir while giving us the inside scoop on one of the more shocking TV transformations ever.