EP. 120
Keeping going when the work goes quiet
Director Elena Marsh on the two-year stretch in the middle of every film when the footage isn't working and nobody's clapping yet — and the small rituals that got her through it.
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01Hero
Now recording · Season 4
The Long Cut
A weekly show about the part of making things that nobody puts in the highlight reel — the doubt, the dead ends, and the work that finally clicks. Hosted by Nadia Reyes.
Latest · EP. 120 · Jun 4, 2026
Keeping going when the work goes quiet
Director Elena Marsh on the two-year stretch in the middle of every film when the footage isn't working and nobody's clapping yet — and the small rituals that got her through it.
52 min · with Elena Marsh
02Episode row
EP. 119
Charging what it's actually worth
Furniture maker Marcus Bell on the years he undercharged out of fear, the order that nearly broke him, and how he learned to put a real number on slow, careful work.
EP. 118
The art of actually finishing
Novelist Priya Raman on the drawer full of 80%-done manuscripts, the difference between a perfectionist and someone who's afraid to be judged, and how she finally shipped book one.
03Browse · tabs
Find your way in.
New here? Pick the version of you that fits — three episodes to start with.
04Writing · blog
Between the episodes.
Short pieces — half-formed ideas, things cut for time, and the occasional rant.
05Timeline
Four years in the middle.
- 2022
A microphone and a hunch
Recorded the first ten episodes in a closet in Lisbon. Nobody listened. Kept going anyway.
- 2023
The letter begins
Started the Sunday Letter as an afterthought. It quietly became half the reason people stay.
- 2024
One hundred episodes
Hit triple digits, quit the day job, and learned the boring middle is the whole job.
- 2026
Season four
Now 8,400 readers and a back-catalogue I'm finally proud of. Still recording every Thursday.
06About the host
The host
I'm Nadia. I make a show about the middle.
Beginnings get all the attention and endings get all the applause. The middle — where most of the actual work happens — gets nothing. The Long Cut is my attempt to fix that.
Each week I sit down with a maker — a director, a founder, a luthier, a novelist — and we skip the origin story and the victory lap. We talk about the eighteen months in between, when it wasn't working and they kept going anyway.
Before this I produced radio for a decade. Now I do this, from a small studio in Lisbon, with too much coffee and a microphone I'm sentimental about.
- Since
- 2022
- Episodes
- 120+
- Cadence
- Weekly
- Based
- Lisbon
07Support band
Support the show
Made independently. Kept that way by listeners.
No network, no ad-read gymnastics. The Long Cut is funded by members who want it to stay honest. Members get the full back-catalogue, bonus tape, and the occasional voicemail.
Become a member · $6/mo08FAQ · accordion
The usual questions.
How often do new episodes come out?
Every Thursday without fail, plus a letter every Sunday. If a week ever slips, you'll find out why in the show notes.
Can I suggest a guest?
Always. Reply to any letter or use the contact form — I read everything, even when I can't reply to all of it.
Is there a transcript?
Yes. Every episode page has full show notes, and complete transcripts are rolling out across the back-catalogue.
How is the show funded?
Entirely by members — no ad networks, no sponsored reads to skip. Memberships start at $6/month and keep the show independent.
09Subscribe & follow
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New episode every Thursday — get it the second it lands, wherever you already listen.
10Newsletter band
The Sunday Letter
The letter that thinks the episode wasn't enough.
Every Sunday: one idea from the week's conversation, expanded — plus what I'm reading, making, and second-guessing.
11Archive list
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Keeping going when the work goes quiet
Director Elena Marsh on the two-year stretch in the middle of every film when the footage isn't working and nobody's clapping yet — and the small rituals that got her through it.
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The middle is the job
Expanding on something Elena said off-mic: we treat the slow middle as an interruption to the work, when it's actually the entire thing.
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Charging what it's actually worth
Furniture maker Marcus Bell on the years he undercharged out of fear, the order that nearly broke him, and how he learned to put a real number on slow, careful work.
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On saying the number out loud
Marcus undercharged for six years out of fear. Most makers I know do some version of this. A few notes on the quiet violence of underpricing your own work.
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The art of actually finishing
Novelist Priya Raman on the drawer full of 80%-done manuscripts, the difference between a perfectionist and someone who's afraid to be judged, and how she finally shipped book one.
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Eleven people is not nothing
Theo's launch got eleven signups. We're trained to read that as failure. Here's why it might be the most important number you ever get.
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Launching to crickets (and continuing anyway)
Founder Theo Nakamura on the launch that got eleven signups, the eighteen months of quiet that followed, and why the boring middle is where his product actually got good.