Death of Pilot Season, Big Pivots & Max Lugavere's Deeply Personal, Long-Game Doc ‘Little Empty Boxes’

The No Film School Podcast

As streaming reshapes the industry, pilot season is a thing of the past, leaving creatives to navigate constant demands and year-round pitching. How do filmmakers find balance when the lines between work and rest blur? And how can unexpected pivots lead to more meaningful projects? This episode explores staying resilient in a world without structure, featuring Max Lugavere's decade-long journey with Little Empty Boxes, a deeply personal documentary about his mother's battle with dementia that evolved in ways he never expected.

Max Lugavere is a filmmaker, health journalist, and New York Times bestselling author. After his mother’s diagnosis with Lewy body dementia, Max chronicled her experience in Little Empty Boxes. The film, which took over a decade to complete, shifted from an investigative piece to an intimate portrayal of love, loss, and resilience.

In today’s episode, No Film School’s Gigi Hawkins speaks with Jason Hellerman, Max Lugavere and Chris Newhard to discuss:

• The death of pilot season and how streaming has transformed the TV landscape
• The endless cycle of pitching and the impact on writers’ lives
• Finding balance between personal life and an unpredictable film industry.
• How unexpected creative pivots can lead to more meaningful work.
• Max Lugavere’s personal journey documenting his mother’s battle with dementia in Little Empty Boxes
• Chris Newhard’s role in reshaping Little Empty Boxes through fresh eyes, helping it evolve into a deeply emotional and impactful documentary

Memorable Quotes:

• “The thing with pilot season not existing is interesting because you still have network TV, right? Network TV still generally functions the way it always has, except for it doesn't embrace the buying and research and development behind pilot season anymore.” [5:36]
• “The anxiety of pitching year-round is that you're also assuming these execs are reading year-round. They need a break too.” [9:03]
• “There were likely overlapping skills that I had learned as a short form content creator that could be applied to long form documentary filmmaking, but of course the amount of money and time and personnel required to create a feature length documentary… it's so different.” [26:28]
• “Being in front of the camera allowed me access to some moments that I think you probably wouldn't have been able to catch on film had I not actually had been there.” [41:04]
• “I just simply found that going with the emotion instead of trying to fight the tide was more beneficial for me.” [53:24]
• “He spent a lot of time and a lot of money trying to make this movie happen. And the first thing I did is I deleted it.” [55:42]

Mentioned:

Max Lugavere on Instagram

Little Empty Boxes website

Max Lugavere’s website

The Genius Life podcast

Max Lugavere’s Books

Chris Newhard’s website

Chris Newhard on Instagram

Jason Hellerman on IMDb

Jason’s library of content on No Film School

Jason on Instagram

Jason on X

KYNO editing tool

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