Breaking The Meta

Welcome to Breaking The Meta, where we dive headfirst into the heart of difficult conversations. In a world filled with noise and division, we refuse to shy away from the tough topics. Whether it's politics, religion, or social issues, we confront the complexities with open minds and dialogue. Hosted by Mike Winson, each episode brings together diverse perspectives, fostering an environment where authenticity and empathy reign supreme. So grab a seat at the table, buckle up, and prepare to confront the issues that matter.

Breaking The Meta is a society podcast hosted by Mike Winson, with 142 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Mike Winson hosts Breaking The Meta, a society show with 142 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Breaking The Meta

  Musical Theater to Mafia Boss's Regret: Lexi Angel's Wild Vertical Drama Journey

  Aug 26, 202645 min

  Vertical dramas — the fast, addictive TikTok/ReelShort-style shows you've probably scrolled past a hundred times — have exploded into their own industry. Today we sit down with actress Lexi Angel, who went from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and a BFA musical theater program to starring in some of the genre's biggest hits, including The Mafia Boss's Regret, Single Farmer Daddy, and His Cure His Wife. Lexi opens up about trading Broadway dreams for viral vertical dramas, why these sets are basically "boot camp" for actors, working with intimacy coordinators, filming a drama in China with zero time to adjust, her favorite role ever (playing homeless), a two-hour underwater drowning scene, and the fan who slid into her DMs with a marriage proposal. Watch her new series "Honey Trapped: My Fiancé's Billionaire Rival," streaming now on ReelShort. Follow Lexi Angel: search "Lexi Angel" on Instagram, TikTok, and her website.

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  Breaking The Meta

  Rural Missouri Deserves Better: Corey Luebbering's Case for State House District 3

  Aug 24, 202622 min

  Corey Luebbering is running for the Missouri State House of Representatives in District 3 (Adair, Sullivan, Mercer, and Putnam Counties) — the first Democrat to run for this seat since 2018. In this episode of Breaking the Meta Podcast, host Leila S. talks with Corey about why he's running, what pushed him into politics after the Missouri legislature overturned voter-approved Prop A (minimum wage & paid sick leave) and Amendment 3 (reproductive rights), and what he's hearing from voters across rural Northern Missouri — from crumbling infrastructure to one of the state's worst healthcare and OB-GYN deserts. We also dig into what accountability actually means for an elected official, how Corey plans to stay directly accessible to constituents once in office, and his approach to working across the aisle in a deeply divided legislature. CONNECT WITH COREY LUEBBERING Website: luebbering4modistrict3.com Facebook: Corey Luebbering for Missouri State House of Representatives District 3 Instagram & TikTok: search "Corey Luebbering" (look for the "Chopping and Stuffing" series)

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  Breaking The Meta

  Inside the WILD World of Micro Dramas ft. Shanna Sinow & Lawson Greyson

  Aug 19, 202655 min

  Shanna Sinow — actress, dancer, singer, and one of the fastest-rising names in vertical micro dramas — sits down with Mike Winson to pull back the curtain on an entire genre most people scroll past without realizing how it's made. We talk musical theater obsessions, the insane pace of vertical drama production (up to 33 script pages in a single 12-hour day), the strange psychology of the "paywall episode," and the tropes every micro drama fan will recognize instantly. Then things get fun: surprise guest Lawson Greyson (from a previous episode) joins the show, and the three of us do a live, mostly-improvised table read of a micro drama script Mike wrote just for this episode — "Married My CEO Boss from Hell v2" — complete with a billionaire CEO, a scheming ex, a sick daughter, a contract marriage, and yes, a slap. We also get into: Why Shanna hasn't been cast as a villain yet (and the very specific "villain look" casting keeps asking for) The behind-the-scenes short film Shanna and Lawson shot with just three people and one camera The hard hat story from Shanna's third-ever vertical drama, "Escaping the Bridezilla" — filmed in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam The weirdest places they've ever filmed, including an abandoned mental institution outside LA and a literal "city of empty sets" in China Shanna's new queer romance micro drama, "The Apprentice," streaming now on DramaPops

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  Breaking The Meta

  5 Counties. Nowhere To Deliver A Baby | Casey Scott

  Aug 17, 202622 min

  Casey Scott is running for Missouri House District 2 — a rural district where, she says, five counties have no place to deliver a baby. She filed in four hours. An MRI technologist, a mother of two, and a lifelong Trenton native, Casey Scott is the Democratic nominee for Missouri's 2nd State House District — covering Grundy County and the rural counties of north Missouri. She has spent fifteen years inside the healthcare system she's now running to fix. Mike Winson sits down with her for a conversation about what actually breaks in a rural district when access disappears. WHAT WE GET INTO • Why the district lost its last OB in 2023 — and why she says the nearest delivery room is a hundred miles away in Kansas City • Paying $623 a month for health insurance in a district where she estimates the average income runs $32,000 to $40,000 • A prescription that went from $10 to $132 under the same insurer • Superintendents already planning staff and program cuts before the next school year • Veterans handed a transport van with nobody paid to drive it • PTSD described by local VFW members as "ghosts" — and a therapist who can't prescribe • The hidden homelessness she didn't know about until she started knocking on doors • Why she says conservative voters in her district agree with her more than either party expects • What accountability looks like when, she says, the area's congressman hasn't held a town hall in 24 years SUPPORT CASEY SCOTT Website & volunteer form: https://www.caseyscottformissouri.com She says her biggest ask isn't money — it's canvassers. Five counties, one working mother, a nine-to-five, and two kids.

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  Breaking The Meta

  AI Is Taking Their Jobs! They Are Fighting Back | Lawson Greyson

  Aug 12, 202645 min

  SUPPORT THE FILM GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-the-perfect-date-film Gratitud3 Productions: https://gratitud3.com Instagram: @gratitud3productions AI in Hollywood came for microdrama actors first. Lawson Greyson's face was replaced without her consent - so she co-founded a studio that won't use it. Lawson Greyson has been in more than 40 vertical microdramas. She has married billionaire CEOs, mafia billionaires, and at least one werewolf billionaire. She has worn over 30 wedding dresses on camera. And then a production put what she calls an "AI skin suit" on her friend and co-founder Brittany Marsicek - keeping her voice, replacing her face - and did the same thing to Lawson in a different show. Neither of them agreed to it. Most microdrama productions are non-union, which means SAG-AFTRA protections don't reach them. Many of the companies doing the AI work are based overseas, which means legal recourse mostly doesn't either. The result is an entire corner of the industry where an actor's likeness can be replaced and there is almost nothing they can do about it. So Lawson, Brittany Marsicek, and Phae Amara started Gratitud3 Productions - fully female-led, creator-led, and built to make films without generative AI or synthetic likenesses. Their first feature is a rom-com they describe as The Proposal meets Bridesmaids, and it's crowdfunding now. We get into what vertical microdramas actually are, why AI hit this corner of the industry first, whether AI can ever be used ethically on a film set, violence against women as a genre convention, acting with 50% hearing loss, and the twin brother who still doesn't know which of them is older.

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