2017's coming to a close and who better to spend it with than Halley (writer, actress, currently co-writing The Last of Us: Part II, and has written on the TV shows Banshee, Westworld, and Emerald City) and Graham (writer, director, sound designer, currently writing and directing Rapid Eye, and has co-written Until Dawn, Until Dawn Rush of Blood, and Hidden Agenda)! They join us to talk moving from TV to games, writing solo vs with a partner, staring at the ceiling being work, pacing for the player's time, garbage passes, Steven Soderbergh’s Mosaic and his thoughts on video games, what makes something a game vs an interactive experience, how everyone is gaming literate now, lining up performances in a modular narrative, writing and recording out of order, trusting your actors and going easy on those parentheticals (unless you’re making a modular narrative), fan expectations, fan fiction, getting the audience to trust you, writing exposition, story burritos, characters saying their feelings, and challenging your audience.

Note:

• This episode has spoilers for Inside.
• Halley said she played a Game Gear game called Gems, but she wants you to know that she actually meant to say Columns.
• Halley was right about Playwright’s Horizons.

Our Guests on the Internet

Halley's Twitter.

Graham's Twitter.

Stuff We Talked About

Mosaic

soderbergh-interview-mosaic.html">Steven Soderbergh on Filmmaking, the Weinstein Scandal, and Why You Shouldn’t Call Mosaic a Video Game by Matt Zoller Seitz

The Three Levels of Dialogue

Woodcutters from Fiery Ships

Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.