What do you actually get paid to write a Hollywood film? Can someone steal your script if you put it online? And why does the man who worked for Leonardo DiCaprio's production company say talent alone won't get you hired?

Franklin Leonard is the creator of The Black List, the platform where any writer in the world can upload their script and get it in front of Hollywood.

We walk through the money side of an industry most people only know from the red carpet. If you work in a creative field, or want to, this one is a masterclass in protecting yourself financially when you never know where the next paycheck is coming from.

In this episode:

◼️ How Franklin Leonard turned a problem at work into The Black List, the platform that changed how Hollywood finds scripts

◼️ Information is power: why knowing what things pay, what's in demand and what the other side wants puts you ahead in any negotiation

◼️ What screenwriters really get paid, and what's left after agents, managers, lawyers and tax

◼️ Why the writers went on strike, and why Franklin says writers are working class people, not red carpet celebrities

◼️ His number one rule for creatives: always be writing something you own

◼️ His Hollywood Finance 101 for creatives: save your money and stay where you are

◼️ His unfiltered take on AI in Hollywood

◼️ Why your net worth should never define your worth

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The publishing industry pays writers last and cuts them first. Substack pays 50 of its creators over $1 million a year. One woman edited Women's Health, Cosmopolitan and Elle, saw where it was all going, and left to build the other side.

In this episode of Hot Girl Finance, Farrah Storr, Head of Substack International, breaks down exactly how the platform pays, who's getting rich, and why the industry that underpaid writers for a century is being replaced.

In this episode:

◼️ The Substack business model, explained in one breath, who sets the price, who takes a cut, and where the money actually goes

◼️ The answer to "but how would anyone find me?" and why you don't need to bring an audience to start earning

◼️ What Farrah makes from one piece of writing a week, and how it compares to her editor's salary at Women's Health

◼️ The story behind The Free Press: built on Substack, sold for a number that changed how writers think about the platform

◼️ Why almost everyone starts as a side hustle, and the exact signal it's time to go all in

◼️ The one way writers should never use AI, and why readers can always tell

◼️ Why she says you haven't missed the boat, Substack is only just launching in France, Italy, Brazil and Japan

The boat hasn't sailed. It's waiting for you.

Subscribe⁩ for new episodes every week.
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Should you be using Klarna, or is Buy Now, Pay Later just expensive debt dressed up in millennial pink?

We decode Klarna's origin story, who actually pays for "interest-free," the five ways Klarna makes money (late fees included), the psychology trick behind the pink button, and how to play it smart if you use BNPL anyway.

In this episode:

◼️Where Klarna came from, a Burger King friendship, a lost uni competition, and a valuation rollercoaster from $45.6B to $6.7B to the NYSE

◼️Who actually pays for "interest-free"

◼️Klarna's five revenue streams, including the one nobody talks about: your late fees

◼️The psychology trap: how present bias makes four small payments feel like not spending at all

◼️The stats: 68% of BNPL users say it's made them overspend, and 29% now use it for groceries

◼️What actually happens when you miss a payment — late fees, collections, and your credit score

◼️The hot girl BNPL strategy: five rules for using it without letting it use you

Subscribe for new episodes every week.

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