Veteran Broadway director Jack O’Brien (The Coast of Utopia, Shucked, The Roommate) and newcomer screenwriter Alan Fox (Spike Lee’s upcoming Highest 2 Lowest) are teaming up to cohost a weekly podcast of conversations that blend mentorship, creative reflection, and personal storytelling.
Notes With Jack, launching July 16, is produced by Jason Michael Berman (Air, Nine Days) under his A/Vantage Pictures banner. Highest 2 Lowest, A/Vantage’s debut feature opening August 15 is a contemporary reimagining of Kurosawa’s High and Low, stars Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, and Ilfenesh Hadera.
Each weekly podcast episode begins with a moment from O’Brien’s extraordinary five-decade career before diving into real-time dialogue between the two artists “as they navigate work, friendship, failure, and legacy.” Fifteen episodes have already been recorded and include three-time-Tony winner O’Brien’s behind-the-scenes tales from his recent productions of Ghosts at Lincoln Center and Shucked for London’s Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.
The series will continue this fall with coverage of Fox’s Highest 2 Lowest and O’Brien’s direction of The Sound of Music at the Kennedy Center (opening September 9). Episodes will be available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube and NotesWithJack.com.
“I tell everyone that Notes with Jack is like a podcast version of that old MTV Show Rob and Big mixed with Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet,” said creator Alan Fox, “One of the great gifts in my life is having Jack O’Brien as a friend and mentor. Notes with Jack is just my humble attempt to honor and share that gift with the rest of the world.”
Said O’Brien, “I was often told, everybody needs a note, and I took it seriously. My mentors gave wonderful notes and I saw things get better. So, it was inevitable that I would try to correct the ledger… Sometimes I can, and sometimes I can’t, but the way I see it…I have no alternative but to try.”
“This series,” said producer Berman, “embodies the emotionally driven, culturally resonant storytelling we built A/Vantage to champion. Jack and Alan’s dynamic is rich with wisdom and offers a rare window into creative life across generations.”
Notes With Jack is produced by Jason Michael Berman under his A/Vantage Pictures banner, with full production support from Paul Marra and 11K Films. Jeremiah Maestras serves as co-producer.
