Piecing It Together is a movie podcast that forensically analyzes the events and previous films that helped pave the way and inspire the current flock of movies. For example, how did James Bond, The Dark Knight and Lion King help inspire Black Panther? Piecing It Together carefully picks apart themes, motifs, and plot point pieces from previous movies to put together the “puzzle” of the modern day film.

One of the co-hosts of Piecing It Together, David Rosen, has a composer background and is able to pick out specific sound elements inside the films to further connect the pieces. Rosen is typically joined by a rotating guest of co-hosts to discuss the film at hand. Still a relatively new podcast, they’ve covered recent films like Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs, the thriller A Quiet Place, and Ready Player One along with other popular movies.

Discover Pods swapped some emails with Rosen and discussed how he differentiates Piecing It Together from other movie podcasts, the challenges of making the podcast, and some of his favorite podcasts. See below for our full interview.

Listen: Apple Podcasts

Discover Pods: How’d you get into podcasting?

ROSEN: I’ve been listening to podcasts for like five years now (specifically since the Richard Lewis episode of WTF with Marc Maron which I came across during a Curb Your Enthusiasm marathon haha) and my best friend had been trying to talk me into starting a podcast with him for pretty much just as long. He used to live here in Las Vegas but moved to Miami, FL ten years ago and we had always talked about how a podcast would be a great way to get back to doing something together. Finally last year we started the Bird Road Podcast, the first show on his All Points West Podcast Network. Once it was off the ground I realized that it was time for me to also start my own movie show, since movies are my first love.

DP: In your own words, why should listeners tune in to Piecing It Together?

ROSEN: I think that with Piecing It Together I’ve really come up with a unique way to approach a movie show… Focusing not so much on reviewing the movie we’re discussing, but on the connections and possible inspirations that led the filmmakers to make that movie. This format allows us to go on tangents about other films, create an awesome list of movie recommendations, and keep the discussion fresh. There are plenty of shows and websites where you can find out whether a movie is good or not. On Piecing It Together you might find out that a new movie may have been inspired by one of your favorites.

DP: With a composer background, are there specific musical and score elements you look for in movies?

ROSEN: I am a huge fan of film music, so absolutely yes, I am always paying attention to the music in a film. That also is an area where I can uniquely approach talking about a movie. Funny enough though, being a composer, I have really not taken the time to compose a lot of music FOR our podcasts yet other than the main theme! I’m definitely planning on making a bunch of new music specifically for the shows.

DP: What are some common inspirational movies (or threads) that have shaped the films we see today?

ROSEN: While different films in different genres all tend to have different inspirations… The one thing that’s come up the most so far in our first 10 episodes is Star Wars. I guess that’s not a huge surprise considering how deeply that series has become a part of our culture. One of the cool things about Piecing It Together having a revolving list of co-hosts is that I’m not constantly talking to the same person who may have their own preconceived notions that they bring to the conversation. If you are a huge Marvel fan for example, you may look at every big blockbuster action movie through the lens of Marvel. So having different voices helps make sure that we’re always finding new inspirations to talk about.

DP: What’s the biggest challenge you face as an indie podcaster?

ROSEN: I’ll give you the two biggest challenges… The first is time… And that goes for every aspect of life really, but definitely with scheduling, recording, editing, writing the shownotes… There’s a lot that goes into making the podcast the best that it can be, and it takes a lot of time… And time is something that none of us really have enough of. The second is continuing to reach a new audience. Our show has been what I would call very successful in the first couple months.The first 10 episodes have had a solid amount of growth, constantly getting more downloads, getting some great reviews and feedback, and building a steadily growing audience… But then I see someone else who had the amount of downloads we’ve had in two months but they got it in the first few days… That can be disheartening but luckily I know from my many years of making music that it takes time to build an audience and there’s no definitive formula for getting that kind of fast success… Just constantly and consistently making great content is the most important thing.

DP: Where do you want to take your podcast?

ROSEN: I want to build a solid audience that can continue the conversation we have on the show. I’d love to see more people adding in their own “puzzle pieces” (what we call other films and filmmakers that we think influenced the movie we’re discussing). I’d also love to eventually help promote screenings of movies at least here in Las Vegas and maybe elsewhere as well. Eventually a goal would be to get some of the filmmakers on the show to discuss our suggested puzzle pieces and tell us what they think of them and whether or not we’re right. This is of course all opinion, but I’d love to hear what some of these filmmakers have to say about our picks.

DP: What other podcasts are you listening to now?

ROSEN: Aside from our podcasts, my favorite podcast is How Did This Get Made. I also like WTF, Doug Loves Movies and Chapo Trap House. There are also a lot of movie related independent podcasts that I have actually been a guest on that I try to keep up on. You can find a list on my website http://www.piecingpod.com once it launches in late May.

DP: Anything else you’d like to add?

ROSEN: Along with continuing to build my podcast I am about to release my new album A Different Kind Of Dream. This is my fourth album and first in a new release strategy I’m planning where instead of releasing a full album every 2-3 years, I’ll be just constantly releasing new music. These first 10 songs I bundled up to kick it off, but after this, there will be singles, EPs and compilations all the time. I always play a piece of my music at the end of every episode of Piecing It Together to give our listeners a little taste of my albums. The albums including A Different Kind Of Dream are available on iTunes/Amazon/CD Baby/Bandcamp and basically everywhere digital music is available.

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