The Poster Says...
The Poster Says... — the movie tagline podcast from voice actor, writer, producer, director and VO coach Nate Begle. Every week, Nate sits down with a fellow industry pro to dig into one film and the tagline that had to sell it: why it worked, why it didn't, and who actually wrote it. Horror to comedy, blockbuster to cult classic, 1950s to right now — no single decade, no single genre, no "films of" anybody. Episodes drop every Thursday at 7PM ET.
Superman (1978) — "You'll believe a man can fly." (with Noel MacNeal)
"You'll believe a man can fly."
Six words. No plot. No stars named. No genre signals. Just a promise so bold it should have been laughable — and instead became the most consequential tagline in superhero movie history.
Nate is joined by his longtime friend and colleague, puppeteer and performer Noel MacNeal — best known as the performer behind Bear in Bear in the Big Blue House, resident puppeteer on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and most recently making his Broadway debut alongside the Muppets — to dig into Richard Donner's Superman (1978). The film that told Hollywood that a...
Bonnie and Clyde (1967) — "They're young... they're in love... and they kill people." (with Christian Titus)
"They're young... they're in love... and they kill people."
Nine words. Two ellipses. One period that does more work than most entire sentences.
The structure is a masterpiece of weaponized grammar. "They're young" — in 1967, that single word carried the entire cultural weight of a generation. An ellipsis. Then "they're in love" — now you're in romance territory, Bogart and Bacall, screwball comedy, boy meets girl. Another ellipsis. The audience is comfortable. And then: "and they kill people." Full stop. Not an ellipsis. Not an exclamation mark. A period. Matter-of-fact. Unhurried. Unashamed. As if killing people naturally foll...
Sharknado (2013) — "Enough Said!" (with Kelsey Painter)
Some taglines add mystery. Some add stakes. "Enough Said!" adds nothing — on purpose — and that's exactly why it works.
This episode, voice actor Kelsey Painter joins Nate to unpack Sharknado (2013), the $2 million Syfy movie that turned a joke pitch ("Sharknado" — said once, in a room, as a bit) into a genuine cultural phenomenon. The tagline "Enough Said." is the rare anti-tagline: it points at the title, steps back, and lets SHARKNADO do all the work. Nate and Kelsey debate whether that's the laziest piece of copywriting ever produced, or the most confident.
Along the way: the sc...
True Lies (1994) — "When he said I do, he never said what he did." (with Rob Sogomonian)
Welcome to the very first episode of The Poster Says... — and we're starting with a big one.
True Lies (1994) was the first film in history to cross a $100 million production budget, and the third collaboration between James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger, following The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. It's also got one of the cleanest, sharpest taglines we've ever broken down: "When he said I do, he never said what he did" — eleven words turning a wedding vow into a punchline, a thriller setup, and a romance hook, all at once.
Nate is joined by fell...
The Poster Says... — Official Trailer | The Movie Tagline Podcast
THE POSTER SAYS... — OFFICIAL TRAILER
You know that line on the movie poster. The one that sold you the ticket before you knew anything else about the film. Five words. Sometimes ten. Written by someone nobody remembers — and somehow, decades later, you can still recite it word for word.
The Poster Says... is the movie tagline podcast. Every week, host Nate Begle sits down with a fellow industry pro — voice actors, puppeteers, writers, producers, and yes, Emmy winners — to break down one film and the tagline that had to sell it.
Why it worked...
