We Survived Until '25!!

All around me I see signs that our industry is starting to recover. Job listings are trickling in. New projects are being launched. That feeling of existential dread is slowly lifting.

And yeah, there aren’t as many super-expensive, serialized narratives being made these days. But maybe that’s just the way it’s gonna be until somenoe finds that pot of gold under a rainbow?

I say that as someone who loves nothing more than making – and consuming – serialized narratives. And I don’t think that segment of the industry is going away altogether. But the people who hold the purse strings are being a bit more careful about the projects they give the greenlight. And maybe that’s okay?!?

I, for one, intend to rise to the challenge!

But before we look forward to all the good things to come, I want to take a minute to look back at 2024. Because even with all the cutbacks and cancellations, this little industry still managed to churn out some amazing work.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Hysterical

I was on the Hysterical bandwagon long before Apple named it the 2024 Show of the Year.

I could write an entire newsletter about all the things I loved about this series. But let’s face it, that would be kinda embarrassing…for me.

So let’s try to list the things I most loved about it, with as few spoilers as possible – just in case you haven’t listened yet.

The way it approached a complex topic in a way that was entertaining, but still respectful.

The LEE-roy / le-ROY debate and the callback at the end that made it all worthwhile.

The writing. Or maybe it was the editing and re-writing? The narration and interview tape weaved together seamlessly and managed to sound effortless, which – as we all know – takes a LOT of effort.

How the series managed to be much more than just a romp through a strange phenomenon that happened back in 2011. It explored history and brought in current events and showed how this phenomenon was still affecting people – and policy – today.

The perfectly timed F-bombs.

I loved all of these things. And more.

Really, I had no complaints. Which is really, really rare for me. As a story editor, my ear is always trained to find fault. And I often have trouble listening for fun.

But this was one of the rare times I could just let myself become immersed, without my editor brain snagging on something I wanted to change.

Beyond All Repair

Okay, I might be a bit biased on this one, because I worked with host Amory Sivertson for years, and she is a supremely kind and talented person.

So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that she produced a series that showcased her talent…and her heart.

It’s easy to start seeing things in black and white when you’re deeply immersed in a true crime investigation. Good guys are good. Bad guys are bad. And rarely do we really explore the possibility of something in between.

But one of the many things I really loved about this series is how Amory kept journalistic eye sharp – trained to spot inconsistencies and downright falsehoods – while also keeping her heart open to the possibility that multiple things can be true at the same time.

And she really stuck the landing. A rare feat.

The Good Whale, especially Episode 5: At Sea

I resisted this one for a long time. I saw it on all the lists, but I just didn’t care about the dumb whale and whether or not he was good.

No offense to whales. They’re just not really my thing.

But there are only so many true crime series a true crime girlie can consume before she’s looking for something different. And I finally decided to give it a try.

And wow, I’m so glad I did. This podcast was so good.

And incidentally, so was the whale, which turned out to be a bad thing. Exactly the kind of complexity I’m looking for in my storytelling!

But I don’t think it would have made my list if not for episode 5.

The episode is only 15 minutes long. Probably less than 10, if you skip past the commercials and the credits. And if I were to describe it to you, I would ruin the surprise.

But beyond that, if I were to describe it to you, you would think that it was a ridiculous gimmick.

It only works in the context of the whole. But in that context, it really, really works.

And it boils down to this. The storytellers needed to tell the story of a certain period of time. But they had zero actual data to go on. Only speculation.

They could have asked a few people to describe what they believed happened and built a narrative around that. But instead they decided to do something…different.

And they didn’t just slap this thing together to see if the idea would work. They committed. Fully committed. This took time. And effort. And money.

And the point here isn’t to suggest that we all do exactly what The Good Whale did. That would be ridiculous. (And expensive!)

The point is to say that when we find ourselves in a storytelling pickle, we should always be looking for new ways to solve it.

Keep innovating, my friends. Your ideas won’t always work. But when they do, it can be magic.

Before We Go

Full disclosure: Putting this podcast on my list is a bit self-serving, because I played a pretty big role behind the scenes.

The original brief was to make something simple, yet beautiful. A series that told a story, not just for the sake of story, but also as a way to educate and inspire.

And yeah, a podcast about death and dying sounds like it’s gonna be quite the downer. But spending 8-ish months working on this podcast was the opposite. There’s so much joy in this story. So much laughter. So much potential and possibility. So much beauty.

And the 8th episode might just be the best thing I’ve ever “written.”

I put “written” in quotes because this podcast was really assembled as much as it was written. It leans really heavily on tape from my conversations with the host, which replaced a lot – but not all – of the narration.

The result was a mostly-unscripted script that felt conversational and authentic. It also happens to be a whole lot cheaper and faster than the traditional way of writing a narrative podcast series.

I absolutely loved working this way. And I believe that there are some lessons here about how to cut budgets without cutting corners. (Or working for free!)

So yeah, give it a listen, and let me know what you think!