Our Origin Story

Episode Description

What is the origin story of Origin Story? In this brief intro episode we break down who we are and the basic concept of the show. We'll be talking to artists across music, games, novels, and TV about how they got involved with their different craft and makes stories meaningful to them.

Hosted by Phillip Russell and Ben Thorp

Episode Notes

Follow us on Twitter @originstory_

Do you have feedback or questions for us? Email us theoriginstorypod@gmail.com

Cover art and website design by Melody Hirsch

Origin Story original score by Ryan Hopper

• Episode Transcript

  Phil 0:20
  What's good everybody? Welcome to origin story, the podcast that interviews creators about where they came from, to understand how they got here. My name is Philip Russell, and I'm with my co host, Ben Thorpe, and welcome to this new podcast called origin story. Really excited to kind of get this thing going and get it out in the world finally.
  
  Ben 0:44
  Yeah, and Phil, here we are, you know, we're gonna be interviewing a bunch of creators, we have a bunch of people on docket. But we wanted to take a moment to kind of set this show up. And in order to do that, listen, it's an origin story about us. We're the origin story interview.
  
  Phil 1:03
  That's pretty meta.
  
  Ben 1:06
  Yeah, this one ever happened. Again, don't worry, folks, we just want to help, you know, ground you in the world, and where things are gonna be?
  
  Phil 1:13
  Yeah, we wanted to make sure that you all realized it's, you know, we're real people. And, you know, we have some perspective that's worth sharing, and to be good guides for these conversations that we're having with creators across video games, music, our literature, film, and television, and anywhere else.
  
  Ben 1:34
  Yeah. And Phil, maybe maybe now would be a good moment just to talk about like, this kind of kicked off because you had this idea. And I think specifically, you saw a gap in kind of video games coverage. And the way that video game coverage kind of treats or talks about or doesn't talk about creators. So do you want to maybe talk about like, what that what that idea is?
  
  Phil 1:57
  Yeah, so it's probably at the beginning of the year, one of our one of my good friends on Twitter, Natalie Flores, who is a journalist, working for a fan by in a variety of other outlets had tweeted out this tweet about, you know, if you could have any opportunity in the games industry, Dream opportunity, what would it be? And, you know, I had sent a random tweet that was essentially like, I'd love to interview creators in games, about the human stories behind these projects. They make that I love. And, you know, I didn't think anything of it. And then Ben had responded to me, and was like, Dude, we could literally make this happen. And, lo and behold, here we are. But you know, the intern, basically, the ethos of the podcast was, it started in the games industry, where a lot of the time the projects are the focus, and the people who make the games are oftentimes put to the wayside, you don't really hear a lot about the concrete histories, and backstories of the people that make these things, and I was just really interested in talking to different developers, and gams and hearing their own stories about how they got started, maybe some some backstory on certain mechanics and influences in the practice that they're doing. And hopefully demystify a bit about how you get into games and how these things that millions of people around the world love are made. And, you know, since we started doing it, it's quickly expanded into talking to people from all these different backgrounds. And I think that's largely because Ben and I are both writers. And we both have produced podcasts in the past, where you have a very eclectic background and things that we like. So it felt pretty natural to make this almost interdisciplinary or intersectional. Podcast with art from all over. Right. And,
  
  Ben 4:01
  you know, I think it a lot of ways it's expanded out, we're talking about I think, you know, we're talking to both kind of writers, we're talking to musicians, but I think a lot of it, and correct me if I'm wrong, folks, kind of centers around stories and trying to unpack stories and writing and, and how that, you know, sometimes interacts with things like game design. But in a lot of ways they think, you know, the, the through line that you might find here is our interest in narrative. And so, you know, Phil, why origin stories, like what is it about an origin story that is interesting for people or is something that like, is a good in for having these conversations with folks?
  
  Phil 4:41
  Yeah, well, I think to start, you can you can tackle origin stories in two different ways. You know, there's the more biographical way where it's like, here are the facts here is, you know, XY and Z of somebody's life or somebody's history in relation to a project and how is created, which is what you might read on like a Wikipedia page or whatever it's kind of like the concrete things that are gathered your primary sources in some ways, but on the flip side, I'm really fascinated as a creative nonfiction writer of hearing people's own personal connections to their, their histories, and the projects that they that they create. Because in those ways, you don't have to start at the beginning, oftentimes, origin stories don't start at the beginning, they might start before we're even born, or they might start, you know, 20 years, 20 years later from from our birth. And I think that leads to really fascinating stories, and a fascinating lens to approach these different kinds of artistic projects that we that we love, right. So, for instance, you know, you all are going to hear in these conversations, I think, interesting insights into people's lives, and how they kind of flow into the projects, and unexpected ways that you're not going to get if you just, you know, look at the development history, or the, you know, the writing history or production history of whatever the project is, from a very, like, EagleEye perspective. So, largely, I think we wanted to start this project, to give creators, the agency to tell their stories in relation to the things that they make. And it's also just a way to, you know, document history, right, like, especially in games, these histories of the people that make them are like, largely never told, you know, I think that other mediums have done a better job of, of making sure to document those stories. But, you know, games is still has a long way to way to go and that way. So that's kind of where I started out no bad if you have other kinds of things that have interest you as we started the project.
  
  Ben 6:57
  Yeah, you know, I think the other thing and you kind of touched on on it, there is just like getting people's kind of personal perspectives to understand, you know, I think once you start getting the story of how people got into writing, or creating games, or creating TV shows, you start to, I think, be able to pick apart the art that they've created in a in a new and really interesting way, that once you have their own personal perspective that I think Phil is right, in a lot of ways, especially in games, you don't really get it suddenly kind of cast this new light and gives you a new kind of leg into some of these projects in a really interesting way.
  
  Phil 7:37
  For sure, and I mean, we don't want to spoil who, you know, we'll be talking to, but we'll just say that we're talking to people from a wide array of backgrounds. And it's, for me, it's like really exciting to kind of see these, this confluence of talent, and artistic perspective, all coming together into this to this one space. And I mean, at the end of the day, I think Ben and I have always been really interested in storytelling, and hearing people's stories, like Ben and I have known each other for just about a decade at this point. And, you know, you know, we're getting we're getting older, getting Gray, those wrinkles are starting to come in, they're coming in. And, you know, this isn't our first podcast, like we've done road trips around the country, interviewing people about death belief in the metaphysical. Ban also has a climate change podcast, that if you want to tell them a little bit about what's going on with that,
  
  Ben 8:33
  yeah, eschatology. So I have a good amount of climate dread, and was reading a ton and then thought, you know, in this in the Status way possible, oh, wow, I can I can turn this into a podcast, I can interview these people have these conversations, because I guess I should also say, I work in public radio, that's what I get paid to do. And so it allows me these options to talk to a lot of smart people about these different issues. And so that was something that I was like, thinking about a lot. And it was like, Okay, maybe this is something that I can do something with and try to turn some of that dread into, oh, I'm going to learn about this. And hopefully, you know, make it something that other people can learn about as well. Yeah,
  
  Phil 9:18
  yeah. So I mean, we're not going to keep you all here much longer. We're definitely excited to get the conversations flowing. And you can expect at least for this first kind of cohort of guests that, you know, we're gonna have many episodes, you know, to come and we're really excited to get started. So look out for more stories and origin story. And if you have any suggestions in terms of people that we should talk to suggestions in terms of how you think the show could be better or things that you'd love to see more of or less of, you know, we'd love to hear from you. And, you know, we can't wait to kind of get the ball
  
  Ben 10:00
  Rolling? Yeah, I think you know, once this launches, we're really going to open open the doors up and be interested in what people have to say or about who they want to hear from. Okay, so I think that should be everything that we need the basics for listeners who want to, I think follow us you can follow us on Twitter at origin story underscore, you can also follow me at sad underscore radio underscore lad. Phil, how can people find you?
  
  Phil 10:29
  Yeah, you can follow me on Twitter at 3d Cisco, like the musician on Twitter, or you can follow us at our website, origin story dot show.
  
  Ben 10:43
  The the music that you're you have been hearing and you're about to hear again, is produced by Ryan hoppers. So huge thank you to him. And the arts comes from melody Hirsch. So thank you to her for making that for us. If you have any questions, concerns, ideas, you can also email us at V origin story pod@gmail.com. Phil, anything else?
  
  Phil 11:07
  I think that's it. Once again, thanks for checking us out. If you do enjoy the show, you know, you've probably heard it a zillion times and every podcast you listen to, but leave a review, review. Give us some stars. Tell your friends we need them. We need them. You know like that shit does help. And yeah, if you have any feedback you've already heard heard us say it, you know, hit us up and tell us what you think. So we will see you all again here shortly on the first real conversation of origin story.