A show for film lovers by film lovers. Hollywood Unscripted delves into illuminating and unique conversations with top professionals in the entertainment industry. Hear stories and lessons from behind the scenes of the biggest blockbusters and most-admired features in film history. Featuring candid conversations with Hollywood legends, moguls, auteurs and other industry insiders, host Jenny Curtis goes far beyond the standard celebrity interview to take listeners inside the creative process. Listen each week to find out how the most creative minds in film and television do what they do and what their work ultimately means to them. From CurtCo Media.
https://www.curtco.com/hollywoodunscripted
episode 41: 41 - Mary Laws (Monsterland)
Showrunner Mary Laws joins host Jenny Curtis to discuss her career, writing, and her new anthology series on Hulu, MONSTERLAND. Throughout the conversation they discuss:
0:37 - Finding her way to the arts as a young child.
2:20 - Receiving some harsh but beneficial advice from a teacher in undergrad.
3:36 - Starting out as a playwright and the first play she wrote, FINGAL’S CAVE.
4:50 - Tina Howe’s observation of Mary
5:35 - Going to NY and working at Rattlestick Playwright’s Theater
6:21 - Not giving up on getting into Yale
7:39 - Studying with Paula Vogel and taking lessons from her to MONSTERLAND.
8:51 - Going from playwriting to writing NEON DEMON with Nicolas Winding Refn.
11:55 - Writing with other people and creating now for a visual medium in film & TV.
15:36 - The experience of being a first-time showrunner.
16:43 - Adapting from Nathan Ballingrud’s book NORTH AMERICAN LAKE MONSTERS.
19:34 - The choice in naming the episodes after the locations they were set in.
21:07 - Staffing the writers room and creating an open environment.
24:24 - The first day on MONSTERLAND and challenges with wind.
25:33 - Creating one world that the anthology series exists in.
26:20 - The monster Mary is the most proud of and using practical effects.
29:11 - Wrap day on MONSTERLAND and the challenges of doing an anthology series
32:24 - The exciting opportunities of working in television.
34:55 - What storytelling has done for Mary on a personal level.
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Hosted and Produced by: Jenny Curtis
Co-Produced and Edited by: J Whiting
Executive Producer: Stuart Halperin
Theme Music by: Celleste and Eric Dick
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