• Congrats on your channel! We need more good people on youtube!!

Thanks, He-Dad.  I hope you enjoy it.  If you do, please click on the "subscribe" button and perhaps tell some friends who you feel might be interested.  Word-of-mouth is the most powerful advertising and we're trying to build an audience.

We do a wide release announcement to fan and writer sites next week so we're hoping for a surge in viewership.  🙂

Episode 3 of Jack Olesker, A Writer's Life has just dropped at https://www.youtube.com/@jackolesker247/podcasts
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Hope you enjoy it!

Episode 4 has dropped at https://www.youtube.com/@jackolesker247/podcasts

Hope you enjoy it!

Episode Five has just dropped. You're really gonna like it!

https://www.youtube.com/@jackolesker247/podcasts

Episode 6 is waiting for YOU!

Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/@jackolesker247/podcasts

Episode Seven just dropped. Enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/@jackolesker247/podcasts
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Episode 8 just dropped at https://www.youtube.com/@jackolesker247/podcasts
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​​​​​​​I hope you enjoy it!

Episode 9 just dropped at https://www.youtube.com/@jackolesker247/podcasts
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Don't miss it!  It's killer!  See you there...

Episode 11 has dropped. Enjoy.

So Episode 12 dropped, tracing my ascent to being the Care Bears story editor.  True story and, in the bargain, pretty hilarious.  Welcome to the entertainment industry.  Heads roll and your sides ache.  :).  > https://www.youtube.com/@jackolesker247/podcasts

Episode 13 has dropped at

https://www.youtube.com/@jackolesker247/podcasts

wherein I talk about the writing "The Novel" and my surprising take on writing horror novels, of which I have written two.

Enjoy!

Episode 14 has dropped at

A very different kind of episode.  Buckle your seatbelts.  It'll have an impact...

Episode 15 of my YouTube Vlog has dropped at

https://www.youtube.com/@jackolesker247/podcasts

Kim and I are thrilled with the number of views in such a short time -- between 800 and over a thousand depending on which metric we're looking at -- especially considering we've only reached out to He-man fans so far.  Over this weekend Kim and I are reaching out to literally millions of animation fans and writers' sites on Facebook, so we're anticipating a surge after this soft opening.  I just wanted to keep it initially to MOTU fans for a short while to show my appreciation.

With that said, I also want to mention that I'm aware Episode 14 was a little 'dark'.  There were some hard truths about this writing, producing and directing business that needed to be said and I'm of no use to anyone unless I'm completely honest.  Of course writing in particular is my joy so it's really a happy place for me -- and I hope everyone else -- 98% of the time. The dark sides are few and far between, but I said what I had to say. 🙂

Now back to the fun stuff.  I'm loving Episode 15 and I think you will too.  We're back to my animation career in the 1980s with my work on Care Bears and The Get Along Gang.  And in this episode I also get the shock of my life -- remember I'm just a newbie kid at this point -- when DIC President Andy Heyward tells me he's taking me to see Judy Price -- the Great and Powerful Sorceress and VP of Children's entertainment at CBS -- on the very next day!  And remember too that there were only three broadcast platforms back them -- ABC, CBS and NBC.  So the heads of children's entertainment at the three platforms were basically demigods.  And here I am going to meet her...!

So come along with me on the journey.  I think you'll have fun and a few laughs along the way.  🙂

So Episode Sixteen of A Writer’s Life has dropped at   https://www.youtube.com/@jackolesker247/podcasts and I’ve got a hunch you’re gonna love it! 

I’m back talking about my career in animation at DIC Entertainment during the Golden Era of Television Animation – the 1980s.  In this episode I’m going to start introducing you to some of the characters I lived with every day during my yeas at DIC.  But no, I’m not talking about Heathcliff the Cat or Inspector Gadget or the Power Rangers.  I’m talking about the real life characters I worked with every day at DIC.  And trust me, they were every bit as fascinating, compelling and often amusing as Mario, Luigi, He-Man and Hello Kitty! 

Today’s episode covers Howard Cohen, a large-than-life story editor at DIC who had a fabled career even before he came to DIC, directing films for legendary Hollywood B-films producer Roger Corman.  I guess it was inevitable Howard and I would clash swords, but I think the outcome will surprise you.

I hope you enjoy the episode.  🙂

Here we are with Episode 17, dropping at https://www.youtube.com/@jackolesker247/podcasts

We’re getting back to the elements of writing, for a brief respite from my career in animation.  In this episode all you future bestselling authors – or those who admire them – are going to learn how they do it, through their characters, getting in touch with their own feelings and also their characters’ feelings. 

And I think you’ll be a little surprised and maybe even shocked when I give you some tips about how to achieve that.

Enjoy!

Okay.  Episode 18 has dropped at https://www.youtube.com/@jackolesker247/podcasts

Today’s episode will deal with writing and it’s decidedly different from the other episodes I’ve posted about writing.  It’s a bit controversial, but hey, I’m sometimes a controversial guy.

I recognize I’m going out on a limb here and I may risk losing a few viewers, but I’ve always called things as I see therm.  In this case it’s more about what I’ve experienced firsthand.  All of which is a circuitous route to saying this episode is about spiritual things as they relate to writing.  It’s not for everyone and everyone won’t get on board with it.  But it’s helped to advance this writer’s career and given him a lot of comfort over a span of more than four decades.

Enjoy.

Episode 19 has dropped at https://www.youtube.com/@jackolesker247/podcasts

And we’re going to have some fun and laughs after a couple of serious episodes about writing

Travel with me back to 1984 and 1985 when I’m the story editor for Care Bears at DIC Entertainment.  Everything’s going smoothly.  My writers are writing scripts and delivering them on time, I’m writing plenty of my own Care Bears scripts and I’m firmly entrenched at DIC.  I wouldn’t be overstating it to say I’m the Golden Boy at DIC.  I write fast, I write really well, I administer the other writers and I clean up well, so DIC’s president, Andy Heyward, correctly feels he can take me to important meetings with clients and studio execs.

In this episode that’s exactly what we’re summoned to do, the Care Bear’s owners, Those Characters From Cleveland, ask for a meeting with me and Andy.  The flight’s booked, the Lincoln Town Car is reserved, Andy and I are ready to go.  And then, on the morning we’re to leave for LAX, the very last thing you can imagine happening happens.  Hold onto your sides.  You’re gonna laugh your butts off!

And oh, Jack’s Tip Jar has a great tip for you writers out there in this episode.

Enjoy!

Episode 20 has dropped at https://www.youtube.com/@jackolesker247/podcasts   and my life at DIC Entertainment is changing in a number of ways.  Come with me now, back 1984, to learn more about how the television business works and how a television production company works. 

Oh it’s all very exciting…until your show is coming to an end, as Care Bears was for me.  I’d ridden the high road, but I recall that line from Wall Street when a broker tells Charlie Sheen’s Buddy Fox “You’re on a roll, kid.  Enjoy it while it lasts…because it never does.”

Fortunately, as I’d learn, when you’re good at what you do and you do it fast, there’s someone to catch you when you’re about to fall…at least for the time being.

Check it out in this episode and find out what baseball has to do with it!  

Episode 21 has dropped at   https://www.youtube.com/@jackolesker247/podcasts. And things are going very smoothly for me, Heathcliff and The Catillac Cats at DIC Entertainment. 

In this episode I make a big decision when it comes to how I’m going to handle being a story editor at DIC.  And I get to meet a whole cadre of new writers for this new series I’m working on.

I’m in the infancy of working on Heathcliff and The Catillac Cats when I come to a pretty startling realization about why this series is different from any other in animation…and why I like it so much.  

I hope you enjoy the latest episode, and, just for fun, go back and view a couple of earlier ones.

Episode 22 has dropped at   https://www.youtube.com/@jackolesker247/podcasts

Buckle your seatbelts because we’re going to cover a lot of ground in this installment as I jam on story editing Heathcliff & The Catillac Cats scripts.  Those two series are going sooooooo smoothly, it’s almost like I’m riding on greased rails.

With everyone for Heathcliff & The Catillac Cats on track, Lori Crawford throws me an unexpected but most pleasant curveball.  And speaking of curveballs, separately, we’ll revisit DIC Entertainment’s softballs team with yours truly on the pitcher’s mound again the vaunted Warner’s softball team.  And you’re not gonna believe who I have to pitch to at home plate!

Episode 23 has dropped early  https://www.youtube.com/@jackolesker247/podcasts <because we’re getting ready for our annual 4^th of July Party.  So Happy 4^th to one and all.

This was the most difficult episode I’ve recorded and, truth be told, it was hard for me to get through it and I came close to losing it a few times because I’m talking about a real body blow I took as a writer and a huge challenge I faced because of it. 

Still, when I started this Vlog I promised I’d tell you about all sides of my writer’s life and that what I’ve done in this installment.  It took a lot out of me to record it and I hope you enjoy it.

And along the way you’ll meet true Animation Royalty.  It’s funny how, sometimes, the Lord sends you exactly what you need at the exact moment you need it…. 

After an admittedly emotional and difficult Episode 23, Episode 24 has now dropped at https://www.youtube.com/@jackolesker247/podcasts and I’m happy to say it’s a much more upbeat installment.  Having wrapped up M.A.S.K. and getting ready to move to a new studio facility, we’re coming to the end of the Entertainment League Softball season.  And what a season it’s been.  But nothing could have prepared us – or you – for the shocker ending.

Yeah, I know that softball seemingly doesn’t have a lot to do with writing or the entertainment industry, but sometimes ya need a break, and the softball team has been perfect for all of us at DIC Entertainment.

Check it out!

Episode 25 has dropped at https://www.youtube.com/@jackolesker247/podcasts and I want to ask everyone who’s been following my Vlog to please check out this one because I’m asking for interaction with all of you. 

You’re also going to learn about my least favorite animated series I ever worked on. It’s weird, it’s wacky and, lo and behold, even though it started out as my least favorite, I got one heckuva lot out of it.