This week’s guest is Sean Patrick Higgins, founder and CEO of Story House, a world-class film production facility located in Missoula, Montana. Sean and his colleagues at Story House are making the case that Montana should be considered a premiere location for all aspects of film production.In this conversation, Sean explains Story House’s goals of addressing housing affordability, economic development and film production in Missoula. He talks about the “bloat” in the film industry and the opportunity that Story House has to address that excess in a more cost-effective way. Sean also gets into the Montana Media Act, passed after the 2023 legislative session, which seeks to support Montana-based filmmakers and directors.

This week Justin is talking with Megan Torgerson, creator and host of Reframing Rural, a podcast celebrating rural people and their stories. Megan and her team recently launched their fourth season, Succession Stories.In this conversation, Megan talks about growing up on her family’s ranch and how she came upon the idea of Reframing Rural. Megan talks about the difference between a “living” and a “dying” town and Justin asks what is it about succession that has everyone talking.

We're switching things up this week.Justin interviewed Megan Torgerson of the podcast Reframing Rural this week for Montana Public Radio. For our Substack feed, we're giving you an episode of Reframing Rural to sample. If you're interested in more, find Reframing Rural here. And, make sure to listen to Justin's conversation with Megan on MTPR on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. or here on Substack.