Truly one of the biggest benefits of attending SeriesFest, is the sheer fact that you can meet big names and up and coming names. For this festival is host to a bevy of independent creatives that have come to show off their creation in front of an audience, and their passion and their drive is simply intoxicating and infectious and you are able to share in it all. For they are happy to speak about their work and break it down for curious viewers that catch them out and about at the festival and we here at NTG, were able to sit down with a few of them, such as Peter P. Clark. 
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For Peter is the mastermind behind the inventive and refreshing independent pilot, DOSE. A fascinating anthology series about the world of psychotropic drugs and how they might treat mental health in our world (read our review, here), and here is what Peter had to say about what inspired his magnificent pilot, its meaning, and so much more.

John Betancourt: What inspired you to create this series?

Peter P. Clark: Well, I felt that television, because it is becoming basically the primary form of communication and media now. I mean, feature films are still a big thing, but TV has really had a big Renaissance. See in the last 10 years with the advent of streamers, etc. And I found out you know, a lot of stuff on TV was sort of lacking some of the depth that I was looking for in a series, and I'm a huge fan of anthologies. I grew up watching The Twilight Zone, and I was a big fan of Black Mirror. So, I got the idea to do an anthology series based on psychedelics, and to kind of spin it in a way where each episode was to place a different setting, different characters, but that they're all kind of tied together sort of like how Rod Serling did with original Twilight Zone. Where he had like a repertory group of actors, and they would kind of appear in different roles at different times. But yeah, I just, you know, was very interested in the science behind psychedelics. I've been following the science for over 10 years, and I thought it was perfect time. So, I just started writing a script originally was just going to be… originally, I was looking to just do a couple short films to see where they will go. And then I just devised the series. So here we are.

John Betancourt: So, let’s talk about psychedelics for a moment, since they are a hot topic right now, heck, even Colorado just made them legal for treatments in the past year. So… what was it that called to you to focus on that in this story?

Peter P. Clark: I mean, I think you know, it's important that what we see on screen reflects society, what's happening right now, you know, I think the best films, sort of comment -- best films and TV shows comment on what's happening in the present day. That doesn't always have to be like a direct you know; we don't have to make a movie right now about, let's say, the war in Ukraine. But there might be films that have similar themes, let's say dominance or whatever, or political, you know, so there's, I think it's always important to reference the present day when you're creating something new. So that it is relatable. So yeah, I knew that psychedelics were having a renaissance, long overdue, and that the medical community was starting to really get behind it with, you know, authors like Michael Pollan's book, How to Change Your Mind, being a best seller. And yeah, so I thought it's just the perfect time to make the show.

John Betancourt: Now you mentioned, anthologies, and how they inspired you. What was it about them that calls to you as a writer and director?

Peter P. Clark: So, I have a shirt I wore last night that says, “to binge or not to binge.” (Laughter) I made it with iron on letters, but you know, I love both mediums. I love the feature... the 90-minute to 120- minute feature film. I love TV, episodics. You know, TV is built on the character driven model with the cliffhanger ending for every episode, to keep you watching over and over and over again. You know, there are people who cannot stop watching once they start watching right, so binge watching right? So, for me, I like the sort of feeling of… I don't want to say completion… but that feeling of encapsulation with a 90-minute movie or, or shorter now and I like a sort of self-contained idea. Something you can watch in one or two episodes… taken in moderation. (Laughter)

John Betancourt: I like that. If that’s not a good slogan for the show, I don’t know what is.

Peter P. Clark: I will say, I do have an alternate concept for the show called DOSE RX and that is a medical procedural episodic, featuring the doctor that you see in DOSE, in the pilot, Dr. Brand. It’s centered around her trying to open up or actually opening a psychedelic clinic where she's administering, in Denver, I set it here in Denver. And she's forced with dealing with the Federal Government and the Cartels that are trying to shut her down and Big Pharma. And so yeah, that's the other concept. If the anthology, you know, is not what the networks are looking for. I have another alternative version of them. It's very cool.

John Betancourt: Now, in keeping with the anthology theme, were there any other anthologies that inspired this besides the ones you mentioned? Because I caught hints of Tales from the Darkside in there.

Peter P. Clark: It has Tales from the Darkside. I grew up watching Amazing Stories when you know, when I was a kid, I always loved seeing that big logo come up, you know, Amazing Stories! And it was… actually Amazing Stories was based on an earlier show… I think they've done Amazing Stories about three or four times. I think it's based on a show from the 40s or 50s.

John Betancourt: See, I didn’t know that. But I did watch it on Saturday Night, and the Apple reboot as well. 

Peter P. Clark: You know, the reboots don’t always pan out so well, you know. Yeah, I love Jordan Peele. I love what he did with the new Twilight Zone, but it was only two seasons, but Netflix did order a new season of Black Mirror.

John Betancourt: Now digging into the story, it is this beautiful blend of science fiction and modern drug usage, and I’m curious as to what motivated that kind of blending in the story.

Peter P. Clark: Yeah, I definitely feel like in order for stories to work nowadays, you have to mash up genres. You can't just make a straight ahead, you know, the comedy or courtroom drama or whatever, you know, police crime film. You have to take elements from different films, or different genres and mash them together. I mean, it’s been happening for a while. You know, one of one of my favorite films is The Exorcism of Emily Rose with Laura Linney. You know, it's a horror movie, but it's also a courtroom drama at the same time, right. And that movie is like from like, I don't know, 15 years ago now. But you know, like, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies like, right, you know, that's, that's an extreme version of the mashup. So, when I was when I was creating this pilot, when I was writing a script, I was like, “Alright, first of all, I want this to be a love story.” I wanted to have elements of, you know, with themes of addiction, themes of corporate control. You know, the brands that you see in the in the pilot, and I wanted it to also have a drug element, but I didn't want it to be just about drugs. Because you know, the drug genre. It's… it's infused in our subconscious.

It's about crime, violence, people being strung out, you know, people acting stupid. And I feel like there's a whole swath of… there's a whole other realm of people out there that are either using psychedelics on their own or using them, now, in some medical sense, you know, I mean, ketamine is basically it's a schedule five, so, ketamine clinics are popping up, people are using, obviously psilocybin here in Colorado and also in Oregon. So, I mean, I think, you know, the concept of the quote-unquote, drug film drug movie, I think is… we've come a long way. We've come a long way from Less Than Zero and we’ve come a long way from Trainspotting. Those are all great movies. I grew up watching those movies, you know, Pulp Fiction, the thing in the heart. I love it, you know. But I think it's time for a different version of this quote-unquote drug film. Or drug show. I think we can be a little a little more grown up about it now.

John Betancourt: Yeah, the zeitgeist of the times, since now it’s not as taboo.

Peter P. Clark: Yeah, back then. I mean, you know, it was so illegal. It's so illegal to even possess, let's say cannabis. So, movies that portray cannabis were seen as subversive and exciting. And now it's just like you see someone using cannabis in a film and you’re just like, “yawn.” (Laughter) But, you know, I think a lot of people in a lot of parts of the country and all around the world don't know what Psilocybin is. They don't know what 5-MeO-DMT is. Or Ayahuasca and most people can't even pronounce Ayahuasca. So, you know, I think there's some education that needs to be done. And I don't know if you follow this in the news, but like, I think it was a week or two ago. A man was hung in Singapore for drug trafficking… for trafficking marijuana, and he was sentenced to die. So, you know, there are still places in the world where, you know, I mean, even we drove here from New York City, and we were driving through some of the Midwest states. And I said, I was saying to my partner, I said, you know, in some of the states, we could still get body slammed for just having a dime bag. Fortunately, we don't carry when we drive, or you know. But yeah, there are still places where people have never heard of some of this stuff, which is why I wanted to create a show that had mainstream appeal that people would enjoy, because it was entertaining. And we have I think we have enough documentaries. Now let's try and get people hooked. Hooked.

John Betancourt: Another good tagline!

Peter P Clark: That's trying to get people somewhat hooked on, you know, these themes so that they can start talking about them at the dinner table.

John Betancourt: Now, in keeping with the depth, was it intentional to dig in and really look at the negativity that accompanies self-medicating oneself to deal with trauma?

Peter P. Clark: Sure. I mean, you know, our character he is a bonafide you know, abuser. Abusing himself, abusing people around him, you know, abusing alcohol. Abusing, you know, he uses, he uses cocaine in the pilot. We never show it, but we see it on his table side, you know. And so, it's sort of ironic that, that going through all this trauma, he ends up in a clinical trial for you know, Psilocybin therapy.

John Betancourt: Now we’ve talked a lot about global goals for the pilot, on a more intimate level, what do you hope audiences take away from it?

Peter P. Clark: I mean, I hope they just take away some curiosity, you know, that actually you know, when they when they turn it off, that they open up their iPad and look up organizations like MAPS, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which some of this is based on. You know that they start to Google, just start to read up on some of the articles, that they maybe read Michael Pollan's book or Carl Hart's book or you know, that we just get people talking and start thinking outside of that stigma that has been basically ingrained in our brains since President Nixon declared the War on Drugs in 1968.

John Betancourt: What’s next for this pilot?

Peter P. Clark: Well, we would love to… we'd love to have an acquisition. You know, we'd love to have a Netflix or Hulu, or you know, any streamer really, or any network to see this as a as a great opportunity for their audiences. We think it's a great show. We think people will latch on to it. The feedback, the reactions, from the screenings we've had in New York and in Florida and other places have been really, really well. Really good reception. The men you know, the men enjoy it. The women enjoy it. It's a full… what we call a full demo, you know, male, female, young, old, it's basically for everyone.

John Betancourt: What are you most proud of when it comes to this pilot?

Peter P. Clark: I'm most proud of all the people I got to work with. The professionalism that they showed, the dedication that they showed, this was a self-funded project. It was not, we did not have… it was an independent project. So, I was just most impressed with all my crew, my cast of actors, and just everyone that stepped in and just gave a helping hand to, you know, to get it finished and get it here, where we are today... at SeriesFest.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Note: This interview was conducted on June 21, 2023, before the start of the SAG-AFTRA Strike, and during the WGA strike. Also, without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.

It is definitely safe to say, that Mary McCormack is nothing short of a modern screen legend. For she has appeared in countless films and shows and left a lasting impression with the characters she plays. Currently, Mary stars as Willie Day on the critically acclaimed and hit STARZ series, Heels, and we were fortunate enough to be able to sit down with Mary to discuss her character and season two of this incredible show.
John Betancourt: What does it mean to you, to be back for a second season?

Mary McCormack: I love acting. And I love this group of people. It's not always like this, you know, I've been on shows that have a great group of people. And I've been on shows where it's a little less… successful. And this is a great group of people, and Mike O'Malley is one of my oldest friends in the world. So, I just love it. I love the part. I love everything. I love everything about her, I love that they wrote her sort of whole, you know, I think sometimes for women, they, they can write them as… they have to be the moral center, or they have to know right from wrong, they have to sort of be like, all those things. And I like that she's, in some ways, totally together and in many ways, a complete mess up, you know, so I love that. I love… I love the part and I love season two for her because she gets to sort of start the women's division and, you know, fulfill all these dreams that I think have been causing her so much sadness for so long.

John Betancourt: What are you most excited for people to experience when it comes to Willie’s journey this season?

Mary McCormack: Yeah, I mean, I think that the way, that you know, when Crystal ends up the champ at the end of the first season, it's sort of the, I think it's a wonderful way for Heels, the show, to open up into the world of women's wrestling, which, of course we should be, it's like incredibly alive and dynamic and exciting. And also, just realistic. You know, we have to be doing that. But I think they came up with a really cool way of getting us into it, which is sort of, you know, here she is with the belt. And now what? Like, how do we sustain that in a realistic way? You know, she can't… she can't be beating every single male wrestler every week and she can't be beaten up by them every week. And then with Willie becoming her mentor, she gets to book matches, and she's writing and she's, you know, alive for the first time, I think in a long time, you know, really excited to sort of step in and do this. So, I think that's really fun to watch.

John Betancourt: What do you hope audiences take away from Willie’s journey this season? On a deeper level if you will.

Mary McCormack: Well, I don't know. I mean, I think that's pretty fun. I mean, I think that, you know, for me, those scenes are, are both really sweet, because of you see this sort of mentor relationship. And a little bit sad too, because sort of seeing… just generationally seeing Willie’s journey, you know, and the fact that she had to be a Valet and couldn't be a wrestler, couldn't be in the ring, which is where she was wanting to be, you know. So, I don't know, as a woman, I sort of see that and it's moving…. to me.

John Betancourt: Last question I have for you today, overall… what are you most excited for fans to experience in season two, in general?

Mary McCormack: You know, listen, the show continues to be really exciting in the ring. Like, I think the sequences in the ring this season are like, I was watching some of them last night, and I was like, “Ah! I can't believe insurance is letting this happen!” (Laughs) It's… nuts. I mean, these guys take it pretty seriously. These actors went to town, they really, really love wrestling and they get to the gym, and they work so hard not to let down the fans. And I mean, I think, you know, Kelli Berglund is like, otherworldly, like with what she's done. And you know, CM Punk and, you know, AJ Mendez is in it this season. And that's fun. And they're amazing, which just comes as no surprise, right? They're natural performers and they whine less than real actors. (Laughs)

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Note: This interview and the introduction below were conducted and recorded on July 6, 2023, before the start of the SAG-AFTRA Strike, and during the WGA strike. Also, without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.

It is definitely safe to say that Stephen Root is nothing short of a household name. For he has played some memorable characters throughout the years, such as Milton in Office Space, Monroe Fuches in Barry, and Gordon in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. Currently, this screen legend stars as Petey’s Dad in the new Freeform series, Praise Petey, and we here at NTG had the distinct honor of sitting down with Stephen to discuss his new role.
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But before we get to the interview… Stephen was kind enough during our interview, to introduce his new character from the show.

John Betancourt: What attracted you to this project?

Stephen Root: Mostly the writing. Because these days, you know, I'm lucky enough to just… I don't want to turn straw into gold, I want to… I want to turn gold into platinum. And the gold is really good writing. And if you're able to do good writing with character actors and actors, and voice actors -- let me stress that those are the Pros from Dover. We’re character actors and actors, but they're the Pros from Dover. But that’s the reason… writing and a great cast.
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John Betancourt: What did you enjoy the most about playing this character?

Stephen Root: Ah, probably the fact that even though I'm kind of separated from everybody, I got to… here's what I want to say. I think he's redeemable. I think this guy, as crazy as he is, is redeemable. He just thinks that everybody has to do what he wants to do. And I think anything that I have… to be able to play… where I can say, “No, he's really okay. He's, he's a good guy. But I know he's doing bad things.” And I've played that a lot, even within the Barry character, but it's, you know, they're all so entirely different. In the end, it always comes back to me because the writing is good. And you want to do an exemplary job to complement how good the writing is. So, in almost anything, like some say, “Do you enjoy doing Barry?” Yes, because the writing is so good. And I want to be able to do the best I can do for that writing. And the best thing about some shows is that you do it for the writing, and you're not doing it for yourself. You're doing an ensemble piece, and this is an ensemble piece.

John Betancourt: What are you most excited for audiences to experience with Praise Petey?

Stephen Root: The bleeped words. (Laughter) This is an adult show. So every once in a while you know you're gonna get some phrases that are dicey, but to me the interstitial throwaway lines in the show are the best things. They're really, really funny. So, I think people are going to enjoy the adult aspect of this show, because they're not expecting that I think, immediately. But as we get into episodes two and three, it's like, “What the Bleep are we doing here?” And those kinds of small, really fun things that come out in the script, are why I want to watch it because it's really funny.

John, John Cho is really funny in this show. Really funny. And it's not something I would know as a fellow character actor that he you know, could do that kind of comedy and he's phenomenal. And Annie, you know is great, and has done comedy for years. But that was nice to see that. I don't know if you guys know Paget Brewster, who's a beautiful voice over artist. Everything that comes out of her mouth is funny. So again, as a fan, I mean, I like to be a fan of the shows that I pick and not read the script too much because I want to see the end product. When I was doing Barry. I did a lot of prep work on my stuff, but I didn't want to read what was coming up so much. I wanted to see it as a fanboy. And I think that's kind of fun. You get to do it a little more with animation because it takes a lot more time to, you know, do the animation and you don't see it for nine months and you go, “Oh What was this about? I don't know!” But I think that's great. That's part of the deal.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Andrew Nock is accomplished documentarian, that as lent his researching, writing, directing, and producing talents to multiple shows over the years. His most recent project, Myth of the Zodiac Killer, is streaming now on Peacock and we here at NTG were fortune enough to sit down with Andrew to discuss his new documentary.
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John Betancourt: Let’s talk about the genesis of this documentary and what compelled you to tell this tale?

Andrew Nock: Yeah, I've always been fascinated by kind of weird macabre things growing up in England, and there was a serial killer that was active when I was a kid called the Yorkshire Ripper. And that kind of started things, that interest in the, you know, just the horrifying reality of killers. And when I moved to America, the Zodiac was still, you know, the most mysterious unsolved American set of murders. It's still an open case, as you know, to this day, and that was just something, you know, if I was going to try and do a documentary about a true crime, it seemed like, you know, let's do the most infamous, the one that's the most debated. And as I started looking into theories, I was kind of really struck by this massive community of Zodiac theorists and armchair detectives, and there’s 1000s, and 1000s of them of different websites, or forums, and they all disagree with each other. That's the strange thing, in this case, they all disagree with each other, they all have a single suspect that they believe, is the Zodiac and they won't be convinced by anyone else and anyone else's theories.

And it was just fascinating. Because it's unusual for this case that there's 1000s and 1000s of pages out there that you can go through, if know how to find them. Because it is still an open case, that's quite unusual. So, people study this. And then there was this one guy with really dodgy taste in shirts, who had this different theory, this professor from the Midwest, and not only did he have a very different theory, everyone disagreed with that theory. But when I kind of delve into his theory that these were not related crimes, it really was kind of eye opening. And I really wanted to kind of follow up to see if this theory had any truth to it. So that's why I wanted to kind of do a “boots on the ground” investigation, putting his theory into practice, I just thought it was the most controversial theory, but it actually had some sense to it.

John Betancourt: Why do you think the Zodiac Killer still captivates after all this time?

Andrew Nock: I think because people have created this idea of a super villain, right? He's a guy that's evaded every type of law enforcement, multiple agencies, the FBI, he's fooled everyone with these ciphers. He's terrorized people with letters, he had this costume that was almost like a super villain’s costume, you know, with a black hood and the symbol. And because it just was unsolved, and it's so… it's such a strange story. Because, you know, people try to kind of make this kind of progressive narrative of this one killer progressing and these different kinds of crimes. But if you look at the crimes, they are quite unrelated, in a lot of senses, you know, there's different weapons. There's different modus operandi, different victim profiles, different eyewitness statements, different locations. You know, he takes a trophy at one crime, but none of the others, you know, it's so complex, I think it's, it's, I call it like a hair ball, it's not really a rabbit hole. You know, and that's why people are so obsessed with it, because you can spend years studying it and going in different directions.

John Betancourt: What kind of challenges went into creating a documentary this grand and sweeping in nature?

Andrew Nock: Well, it took over a year. And I think, you know, the first thing was to go to the actual crime scenes, that was the biggest thing for me and then to try and talk to local law enforcement. You know, because it's still an open case, we weren't able to get a lot of assistance from San Francisco, PD, Napa County Sheriff's, Vallejo PD, it's an open case, they can't really discuss it, technically, they can't discuss it. So, you're left with the files that have been leaked, and 1000s upon 1000s and 1000s of those files. And Professor Horan's one of the few people that actually read them all, you know, I have now as well, and I think that's the biggest challenge was figuring out you know, what to focus on because it goes in so many different directions and following Thomas' theory was, was really the thing to do, you know, go to each crime scene, kind of in order to put his put his theories into practice, I think was that wasn't the biggest challenge. But it was the smartest thing to do just to see if there's any validity to this wild theory that he had. And I think trying to talk to people who've never been on camera before, or even discussed the case before, who were closely involved was the biggest challenge.

John Betancourt What did this journey teach you that you didn’t speak to in the documentary?

Andrew Nock: Well, I mentioned the Yorkshire Ripper before. So, when I was a kid growing up in the north of England, there was a serial killer who was infamous at the time, and he killed 13 women, and he sent letters to the press, and he sent an audio recording. And finally, when they captured Peter Sutcliffe, who was the Yorkshire Ripper, he was not the one that wrote the letters. He was not the one that did the audio recording. And what really stood out to me was, you know, the police in Yorkshire at the time were completely distracted by these letters and this audio recording, they were following voice clues to try and catch someone, when someone else, a copycat, had inserted themselves into the case, it's quite rare for people to do that. That's not unheard of, and… maybe that's what happened with the Zodiac. You know, maybe there was one for but maybe had nothing to do with the writers, maybe someone else had inserted themselves. And that was the biggest takeaway that, you know, Thomas always said, different killers, different authors.

But for me, it was like, you know, maybe the police got into their minds that they had to have someone that had to be in all, all the locations, was also responsible for all the letters, responsible for the ciphers, and finding one suspect that would match all those things, was as we know, impossible. And when I talk to friends of the victims and family members of the victims, and I told them this theory that you know, these are separate, unrelated crimes, and a certain person that wrote a letter possibly was a hoaxster, someone who, you know, just wanted to insert themselves into the case. That was kind of shocking to them, because as they told me, once the police tell you that the Zodiac that that's what you believe, and they believed that for 50 years. That was my biggest takeaway, and that's why I think I was able to get people on camera has never been on camera before. Because we had this new idea. And that was really intriguing to them.

John Betancourt: What you hope audiences take away from this journey?

Andrew Nock: I think they take away the idea, that's a good question… I think I just want them to be more open minded towards the case. You know, the people in the Zodiac community are convinced there’s one, supervillain criminal mastermind. But the facts really point towards something else: that these could be unrelated crimes. That the letter writers were multiple letter writers. And it's an era where it was, it was crazy, you know, the late 60s, you got the Sharon Tate-LaBianca murders happening in the front of the papers. You’ve got, you know, the Zodiac. You’ve got Heidi Hurst, I mean, it was just a really wild, crazy time. And it all kind of accumulated at the end there, the whole hippie dream ended and, you know, you got what's called the “Season of the Witch,” you know, turning from summer love into the “Season of the Witch” and the hard drudgery took over. You know, I think there's a lot of, you know, it really feeds into the time and place of American history that, you know, and the paranoia that was around, just in general, you know, between, you know, the older generation and the younger generation. I just think it's, you know, maybe this this Zodiac person, or maybe this Zodiac character, was kind of like, created as a part of the times that were people were living in, and to the reexamine the case and look at it as separate crimes would be very important.

John Betancourt: What you ultimately hope this does for the Zodiac case?

Andrew Nock: I hope we get justice for the families and the friends of the victims because I think since the detectives have been looking for this one person the whole time, maybe that's the reason they've had no justice over these years, and that they re-examine these cases as separate individual cases, and some of these cases have potential suspects, but because those suspects weren't at the other crime scenes, they were just discounted completely. I think they need to re-examine those individual crimes and not link them to the other crimes that are supposedly part of this Zodiac character. Maybe they’ll get solved.

John Betancourt: One can hope. Since this is a legend that has been around for as long as I can remember.

Andrew Nock: They only need to solve one of those crimes, and the whole Zodiac theory is blown apart.

John Betancourt: The myth really is a big deal, as though there’s a need to have this boogeyman out there.

Andrew Nock: Yeah, I mean, you know, we seem to kind of like that idea that there's a Jack the Ripper, there's a Zodiac… there’s this one boogeyman out there. I think that's something that you know, strangely appeals to us.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Christopher Miller, Phil Lord, and Anthony King are a trio of accomplished producers and writers that have worked on multiple massive franchises over the years. Currently, they all serve as executive producers and writers for The Afterparty on Apple TV+, and we recently had the honor of sitting down with all three of them to discuss season two and how this show has fulfilled them from a creative standpoint.

John Betancourt: How fulfilling is it as creatives, to tell this kind of unique and winding story?

Phil Lord: Oh, gosh, we don't do anything the easy way. And I think for us, it's just what is something that we haven't done before? And what you know, and what seems hard?

Christopher Miller: Yeah, it was really, really challenging to tell a story that's like an engaging murder mystery of funny, emotional storylines, with twists and turns and surprises. On top of that, having each episode be a totally different film style and genre. And having all those things play at the same time, and keep you interested and engaged, is a real challenge. But that's part of the fun, and then being able to play in these different film styles. Like you never get a chance to be like, “I'm gonna make a Hitchcock movie.” Or, you know, like, when on earth would we do like a Jane Austen costume drama, other than this show, and to be able to like, think about that, and, and why the choices are made in the films that we love and be able to like, like, get deeper on those things like, as students of film, it's like, actually, it's educational for us, as well as fun. And I think it keeps everybody on their toes, and everybody gets a chance to add something creatively to it. And the fact that we have this amazing team, that's all excited to make each thing cooler than the last. It makes it so special.

Anthony King: Yeah, when I think about watching this show, the audience that we’re hoping to watch it, we were looking to appeal to those people who like ‘who done its’, who want to try to figure out who the murderer is, before we tell you who the murderer is. But I think with the comedy in the genre, different film genres, there's also, if you don't care about that, there's a lot to watch that is fun, and hopefully emotional, and gives you something to care about, and to laugh at that, the murder is almost beside the point. For those viewers. And then of course, we also have viewers, there are puzzles hidden in the show. In this season, we have double the puzzles from last season, that are in the set design and will give you clues. And there's an audience online and on Reddit, who are masters, at least they were in the first season at solving those puzzles. And so, there's just so many different layers for the for different types of viewers to watch the show.

John Betancourt: So obviously, with those puzzles, it’s a bigger season, bigger story, what are you all most excited for audiences to experience this season?

Christopher Miller: Oh, man, I mean, yeah, I think the fact that we really felt confident to like, push the genres further and be bolder with the choices, to be able to do a costume drama, for example, or a film noir. That type of thing might have been too crazy to do in the first season. We don't know if people are gonna, like embrace the concept. But knowing that people were really excited about what made it unique and special gave us the confidence to feel like, “Let's go for it.” So, I'm really excited for the audience to see how much bigger and bolder and more twists and turns there are in the season. Because I'm really proud of it. I think it's… it's grown up from the first season.

Anthony King: Yeah, I think in the first season, most people's stories all took place in the night of the show. And we had one episode that was a flashback to high school that was very fun to get to see all these characters in a different phase of their life. And I think we really embrace that in season two. And a lot of the stories we tell have much larger backstories, some going back to when they're children or years in the past, and I think it just opened up the kinds of stories we felt like we could tell in season two.

John Betancourt: Phil, anything to add?

Phil Lord: No. I think these guys did a great job.
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This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.