INTERVIEW: New Wondery podcast keeps audience guessing until the end
Image: Courtesy of Wondery / Provided by RLM Public Relations with permission.
Today, there are numerous options for podcast lovers to satiate their palate. Whether it’s comedy or true crime or news updates, the content being serialized in the podcast world is wide, varied and diverse.
Wondery, producers of Dirty John and Dr. Death, are adding a new element to the sound-based medium with their latest podcast, Imagined Life. Here’s the elevator pitch: Listeners tune in to hear hosts Virginia Madsen (Sideways) or Robbie Daymond (Nickelodeon’s Breadwinners) recreate the early life of celebrities and famous people. The listening audience finds out all the details about the time before the spotlights and headlines changed these celebrities forever.
But here’s the wrinkle: The name of the celebrity is not revealed until the final moments, which leaves podcasters playing the guessing game throughout the episode. Celebrities featured on the series, which drops new episodes on Sundays, include J.K. Rowling, Elon Musk, Elton John, Princess Diana and many, many more.
Recently, Hollywood Soapbox spoke with Wondery’s chief content officer, Marshall Lewy, about the development of Imagined Life. Here’s what he had to say …
On what listeners can expect from Imagined Life …
“Imagined Life, as someone called it, is a narrative guessing game. It basically tells the story of somebody in the second person of what it was like to be famous before they were famous, and there are clues along the way. And then it’s only at the very end of each episode that you find out who the person is that you’ve been learning about. You’ve been walking in their shoes, and we’re really proud of the show here because there’s really nothing else like it that’s out there.
“The whole thing is in the second person as ‘you’ — ‘you are doing this, and you are doing that’ — and it really gives the listener an experience between the way it’s written and the sound design and the performance of the host that you’re going through this experience. And it’s really interesting and gratifying when you get to the end, and you find out that it’s this very famous person that you know, whether that’s Oprah Winfrey or Muhammad Ali.
“I don’t want to give too many away because I want people to discover it for themselves, but when you find out it’s these people that you know publicly, you’ve learned a lot about their life.”
On how the show was developed …
“We developed it in house. It’s actually Hernan Lopez, who is the CEO of Wondery. It was his original idea, and then we worked to pull it together and brought on Virginia Madsen and Robbie Daymond, who are the two hosts. My team, internally, we all worked to bring the idea of this style of immersive storytelling that we do in our other shows to this show.”
On the launching of the show, and how long will it continue …
“We launched with two episodes on the first day. It premiered at the beginning of this past month, on Nov. 4. It’s the first show that we are releasing on Sundays, so it drops during the day every Sunday. And it’s going to go in perpetuity, once a week, every week essentially.”
On the selection of celebrities for the big reveal …
“So far we’ve wanted to do people that everyone will know, or that almost everybody will know, but we can still keep their identity hidden. So there’s enough that’s not known about them, or … at least some part of their life is a mystery enough that we can keep the secret from the listener for a certain amount of time.”
On how the recording process works …
“We do one episode at a time typically. Even though it’s just talking in a booth, it still takes time, and then once they’ve recorded their part of it, our sound designer, Jeff Schmidt, will then bring it to life with sound and editing.”
On the selection of the two hosts for Imagined Life …
“We auditioned a lot of people for this show, probably more than we have ever done for another show, and I think because we knew it was very specific. These people are going to be inhabiting the lives and telling the stories of so many different kinds of people, and so we always want our hosts to be engaging and pleasant to listen to and have a power or a certain style to their voice. That’s an important part of all of our shows.
“And Virginia just has the most incredible voice. I just love her voice, and she does such a great job. She’s obviously such an amazing actor, and then Robbie, as well, he just has a lot of energy. He’s lively. He can really feel his way into so many different characters.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Imagined Life is now available from Wondery. New episodes premiere on Sundays. Click here for more information.
