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I Used To Be A Hollywood Producer. Now I Work Construction. It’s An Upgrade – Nick Morton

Filmcourage

Published

July 9, 2026

[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]

Film Courage: Why did you take a construction job?

Nick Morton, Writer/Producer: Well, two things happened.

I was writing a show called Cooper’s Bar that starred Rhea Seehorn and Louis Mustillo, a tiny show.

It’s amazing that in the golden age of television I was only able to make one very small show but it was really fun and it didn’t get renewed.

So I lost that revenue stream.

Then my production company I was working for Whitewater films where we made many, many movies. Joey Soloway’s first film, Afternoon Delight, The Nee Brothers first film, Band of Robbers, Jacob Estes’ first film, Mean Creek and on and on.

That company shut down. It didn’t shut down. They’re still operating.

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They just made a movie in Kentucky called Kate Might Die, but they downsized the company and I was let go.

I lost that job and I lost my TV job.

I found that there just didn’t seem to be any interest from Hollywood.

I’d write a script, I would send it out, nobody would really respond to it.

The economics of Hollywood were getting more and more challenging.

I’m not getting any younger.

I just wasn’t feeling confident that another opportunity in Hollywood was going to present itself to me or I wasn’t sure how to create that opportunity either.

I mean, I do think when I started writing my Substack on Hollywood, I found that people I knew in Hollywood were reading it.

I couldn’t get them to read a screenplay, but they would read my Substack.

So, I was like, well, why would I go write another screenplay?

What’s the point? I mean as a screenwriter, you create this incredible…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).

About:

Nick Morton has produced nearly 30 movies / tv series which include RAY (Jamie Fox, Regina King, Kerry Washington), SAHARA (Mathew McConaughey, Penelope Cruz, Steve Zahn) and COOPER’S BAR (Rhea Seehorn). Nick is also a standup comedian, author, and host of a podcast on addiction and recovery called The Drunkalogues.