WEBVTT - Killer Thriller: Murdaugh Murders 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:07.840 Amy Roboc and TJ. 0:00:07.960 --> 0:00:15.440 Holmes present Killer Thriller with your Host Alisa Donovan. Hey, everybody, 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:20.840 welcome to the very first episode of the Killer Thriller Podcast. 0:00:21.079 --> 0:00:24.599 I am your host, Elisa Donovan, and I am so 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:28.479 excited to start this journey. Killer Thriller is going to 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:32.159 explore the dramatizations of real life crimes through the lens 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:35.839 of the actors, creators, and the people whose stories make 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:38.560 it onto the screen. And we're really going to dive 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:44.960 into how real human behavior, often extreme and sometimes horrifying, 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:49.599 can get transformed into character, performance, and narrative. 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:52.320 And I cannot express how. 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:56.360 Thrilled I am that Today this very first episode, we 0:00:56.560 --> 0:01:00.800 are going to speak with the creators of the Murdoch Podcast, 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:07.280 Mandy Mattney and Liz Ferrell. These women are incredible journalists 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:10.919 who broke open the case. So their podcast, the Murdoch 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:15.399 Murders Podcast, is what inspired this series, Murdoch Death in 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:17.720 the Family, and that is what we're going to be 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:21.600 talking about today. Mandy is the executive producer of Murdoch 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:25.720 Death in the Family, which is streaming on Hulu right now, and. 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:27.560 Let's bring him in. 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:31.440 Hi, Hi, how are you? 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:32.560 I'm great. 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:33.160 How are you. 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:36.400 I'm really good. It's so nice to meet you. 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:39.240 It is such a pleasure to meet you, Mandy. I'm 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:43.720 me Lisa. I'm wildly proud to meet the two of you. 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:47.080 And I really want to say how when we first 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:50.680 started talking about doing this podcast, I said, we have 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:53.480 to start with Murdoch Death in the family. That's what 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:57.600 I want to start with, because you know this series 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:02.080 of particular, it embodies to me everything that that matters 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:06.640 about these sorts of stories. There is such an utter 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:09.800 respect for everyone who's involved, and the drive to tell 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:13.919 the emotional truth of the story and really diving into 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:19.680 the nuance and the complexity of every person involved really, 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:24.600 which I think is quite a feat somehow. Uh, you know, 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:29.160 the family dynamics, the problems with growing up with generational 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:33.079 wealth and no accountability, and the list just is endless. 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:34.560 And so I'm. 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:38.839 Really truly thrilled that you two are taking your time 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:39.560 with me today. 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:41.680 So thank you, thank you. 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:44.679 That was thank you. That was so nice. 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:47.200 And I have to say I watched Clueless last night 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:49.239 just for a refreshure. 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:52.639 Toeah. 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:57.480 Yeah, and I meant to rewatch Sabrina the Teenage Witch 0:02:57.520 --> 0:03:00.200 because that was also one of my favorites when I 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:01.000 was a little girl. 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:03.640 So this is awesome. 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:07.480 So we really appreciate all everything that you just said. 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:11.679 It's been quite a feat, but we're here and we're 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:13.440 ready to dive in all. 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:15.239 So I just want to note that I saw Clueless 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:16.519 in the theater, so. 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:21.480 I love it. We're all old, but I'm a lot 0:03:21.520 --> 0:03:22.400 older than the two of you. 0:03:22.560 --> 0:03:26.440 That's your skin looks so good. I'm so jealous. 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:29.840 Oh listen, a little tweak on the filter of zoom 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:31.760 does like wonders for. 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:32.120 All of us. 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:33.680 I need to get that figured out. 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:34.120 Well. 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:36.840 I wanted to say first because it's top of mind. 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:39.040 This is not what I was planning to start with, 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:43.000 but I saw on Instagram last night, Mandy, your post 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:45.600 that it was the anniversary of your brother's passing, and 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:50.560 I didn't know that that piece was real from your life, 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:51.560 that that part. 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:56.680 Of that scene in the series came from you. 0:03:56.760 --> 0:03:58.840 I didn't know that. So first I wanted to just 0:03:58.920 --> 0:04:02.240 express my condolences to you. And I know grief is 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:07.160 a very rollercoaster of a journey and it never really ends, 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.080 and so I just want to send my love to 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:12.800 you on that. But I also wondering if you are 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:16.520 willing to just talk a little bit about that, And 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:19.880 I think you were saying that Britney really helped to 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:21.640 keep that in there. 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:25.279 Yeah, gosh, And I thank you for asking that, because 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:28.120 I've done a ton of interviews about murdoc death in 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:30.600 the family and nobody has asked about that. And I 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:33.880 really want to talk about that scene. I love that scene. 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:38.080 It meant so much to me and I actually got 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:44.479 to watch Brittany perform that scene. But circling back when 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:49.760 I first met Britney and she first called me, when 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:52.560 it was like a green light that it was for 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:54.400 real she was playing me, which by the way, was 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:56.520 like the most insane moment of my life. 0:04:56.560 --> 0:04:58.719 That was going to be my question later of like 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:01.240 did you just completely freak O out when it was like, 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:03.200 oh yeah, Britney, Snow's gonna be me. 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:07.040 I mean, yes, I am a typical millennial girly, like 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:10.240 I grew up watching John Tucker Must Die and Pitch 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:13.640 Perfect and all of her hits, and I'm obsessed with 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:19.200 her and I and also this we found all of 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:21.400 us out before the Hunting Wives came out, and she 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:23.480 like blew up again. 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:24.920 Which I'm so happy that she did. 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:28.560 She has the career that she deserves right now, and 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:32.000 I just absolutely love her and could not imagine a 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:36.720 better person to play me. And I really do mean that, 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:40.320 and this story is a part of that. So she 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:44.360 she wanted to call me the first time that we 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:46.760 connected on Instagram, and she was like, I just want 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:49.320 to get to know you. I want to have Margarita's 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:51.080 with you and Liz, because she read that in my 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:54.320 book that that's how Liz and I used to like 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:59.839 dissect cases over Margarita's. She devoured my book and like 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:05.760 days and when she called me, she knew that much 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:10.760 about my life and was wanting to ask me questions 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:14.480 about my brother's death, which was just, you know, surprising 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:20.800 and really really refreshing to hear that she wanted to 0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:25.239 dive that deep into my character. You know, she wasn't 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:27.839 just glossing over everything, and this wasn't a huge part 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:30.320 for her. She wasn't a main role or anything, but 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:33.880 she she not only knew the entire podcast, but she 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:38.680 knew my story and there were I don't know how 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:41.400 much I can say about this, but there was a 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:44.240 lot of debate back and forth within Hulu about how 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:46.520 much of a role I should have in the show, 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:50.719 because I was also an executive producer, and I know 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:54.800 that they were a little weird the higher ups about 0:06:54.839 --> 0:06:57.960 me having a storyline and how much of it. But 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:03.360 Brittany advocated for the scene where I am at Steven's 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:07.760 memorial and mentioning my brother's death, and the speech was 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:12.960 actually longer and it was even better, and they cut 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:15.400 some of it and it made her really mad and 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:17.640 she fought really hard to get the whole thing in. 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:21.080 And but my gosh, like to have as you know, 0:07:21.280 --> 0:07:25.040 as an actor, they don't have to do that much. 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:28.080 They don't have to. They don't have to, but the 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:28.720 good ones do. 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:32.200 And I just was so grateful that I had such 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:34.760 a good actor that cared so much about my story. 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:38.360 And she actually texted me to apologize that the scene 0:07:38.440 --> 0:07:39.040 was cut. 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:40.560 Like it was her fault, and I was like, oh, 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:41.880 my gosh, no, But. 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:47.040 I mean this is like welcome to Hollywood, you know, yeah, 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:50.680 so frustrating in so many ways. There's so many beautiful 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:55.240 things that come out of you know, this world, but 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:58.800 sometimes it's like you watch something and as an actor, 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:02.160 this has happened to be a million times I'm like, oh, that. 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:03.280 Whole scene's gone. 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:05.240 But when I come to the one where I was 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:08.240 in the bathroom, you know, it's so like these things 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:12.440 they really do, they're hard. It's like, you know, yeah, 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:14.760 they say like killing your babies, but it's like a 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:20.760 inevitably everything always serves the story, like that's the goal, 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:24.760 and that lesson that piece of having to let go 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:28.080 of certain things in order to drive something forward. 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:29.480 You kind of over. 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:33.040 Time see oh okay, I understand why they had to 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:36.679 do that, you know, but that is a real challenge. 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:40.160 So for both of you, this is one of my 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:45.959 biggest questions of how how hard was it or enlightening 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:49.480 or beautiful was it to watch these things both in 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:53.679 the process but then the finished product of saying, you know, 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:58.360 you got you women lived this in such a real way, 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:03.440 and there has to be sort of a like how 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:06.440 was it to watch these people embody these people that 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:07.520 many of whom you. 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:13.360 Know, Yeah, I don't think the first thing. That's so 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:18.080 I still haven't gotten the connection here. But we used 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:21.400 to sit and joke about this being a TV show 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:23.800 one day the work we were doing, like and not 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:25.960 with any sort of sense of it even though like 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:28.120 hopes and dreams and like you do hope one day 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:31.640 maybe that your work is that important or consequential that 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:34.360 it does end up in that format. It just I 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:37.080 still haven't I still haven't grasped that that, like Liz 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:39.640 and Mandy like back then, I just want to like 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:41.400 time travel and be like it's gonna happen. 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:46.839 Actually a joke that like warms my heart. 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:49.319 But I really feel like these are the things that 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:51.160 I mean, I'm gonna don't want to get too woo 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:53.280 woo about this, but I really do believe there are 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:56.959 certain things that are meant to happen, certain people that 0:09:57.000 --> 0:09:58.880 are meant to meet, projects that are meant to go, 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:03.720 like all of these kinds of things, and this clearly 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:06.040 is something that it was meant to be. 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:09.000 And you know, I've just rewatched as much as I could. 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:11.760 I had already seen the series, but I rewatched most 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:16.480 of it last night and this morning. And the scene 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:22.440 towards the end where Mandy you and Mark and he 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:25.800 he asks you if you feel guilty, and I felt 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:29.280 the same way, like Britney's expression is like what you know, 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:32.120 this sort of like of all the things that I 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:35.880 could feel because it just feels so vital what the 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:37.200 two of you did. 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:39.800 But again, that nuance. This is something that I think 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:40.640 this series. 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:45.440 Does so beautifully is it captures that nuance of he 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:48.439 can feel a little guilty, Like that's a real feeling 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:52.720 for this man. Perhaps you know that because you don't. 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:59.679 Nobody it's all so awful, but it's important to bring 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:03.640 all the things to light, like the justice was served 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:04.840 because of all of you. 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:06.920 Well, thank you for that. 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:12.719 And that scene is another really interesting tidbit that the 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:18.199 writers obviously and that I never knew how you make 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:20.800 a true crime and actual true crime into a TV 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:24.400 show and like what needs to be factual and what changes. 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:30.760 But our amazing creator and showrunner Michael D. Fuller always 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:37.040 stuck to the concept of emotional truth and that was 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:40.920 true throughout the show, and so there was always an 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:43.920 emotional truth to every little part of the show, including 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:46.959 that scene. And it was funny, like Mark Tinsley never 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:49.480 asked me that question, but I actually got that question 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:51.559 in a twenty twenty interview. 0:11:52.000 --> 0:12:00.319 In me know because I can imagine that, like what it. 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:06.280 Was my first interview ever, and like I was so 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:10.079 nervous and I had been interviewing with twenty two. I 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:13.400 think it was like two hours, and it was I 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:15.800 was just a nervous wreck, and then the last question 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:20.199 was that and I just was like and home. 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:22.920 I mean, thank god for everybody. 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:25.440 I think that they did not include it in the show, 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:29.280 but I kind of want that footage to see my face, 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:33.960 my reaction because I was like, it was just like 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:37.480 Brittany's like no, but they wanted to include somebody asking 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:41.000 me that question because that was a real question that 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:43.040 we got and we still to this day. 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:43.360 Liz. 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:45.240 I mean, I don't know about you, but I still 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:49.080 get weird messages that are like, yeah, if you I got. 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:51.840 I got a weird TikTok comment the other day that 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:55.520 was like, if you didn't poke around and get into 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:59.040 the Murdoch's business, then Maggie or Paul would be alive. 0:12:58.840 --> 0:12:59.400 Of the Lord. 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:02.800 And I would love to take not that we want 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:05.120 to give anybody the time of day who does these 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:08.400 sorts of things on the other but I would love 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:10.960 to take that like that idea, right, take it all 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:12.760 the way to the end. Okay, great, So let's say 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:16.960 you didn't do that the trail of other like deceit 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:21.400 deception and death and pain and brutality that would have 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:23.920 come anyway, It just would it would be a different 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:27.600 shade of it. Like this man was was an abomination. 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:30.440 He was doing horrible things and there was he was 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:36.520 not going to stop doing those things unless someone prohibits him. 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:39.040 So I just like that stuff makes me crazy. 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:44.360 I think, well, that conversation that happened between Andy and 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:47.600 Mark on screen happened between Mark and me behind the scenes, 0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:50.080 So I think that there's sort of like a combination 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:55.160 had right, Yeah, there was a It was a concern, 0:13:55.400 --> 0:14:00.480 and not because of anything that I think, I mean, Bear, 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:02.439 It's just it was just something that comes up. And 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:05.520 I think that's what it's important about the way this 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:08.800 show is handled, and it really honors the point of 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:11.560 our journalism, which is that and this is how this 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:14.400 podcast started, by the way that Mandy started this podcast 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:17.080 to clear the to get the truth out there, to say, 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:19.600 this isn't just a true crime story that you can 0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:24.080 fly in clever the most salacious aspects of and think 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:26.320 that you got the story. And you certainly could do that, 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:29.160 but with this case, there were so much more to understand, 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:34.760 and Martinsley certainly understood it, which is that the entire economy, 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:39.120 social economy, legal economy in that area relied on the 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:41.800 Murdocks and was controlled by the Murdocks, and in the 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:44.800 most silent of ways. So it's not like you can say, 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:48.080 and you saw it in the conversation that Ellak had 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:52.400 with his mother's caretaker. It's not a direct like I 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:55.360 need you to lie for me. It's a you know 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:57.960 it a lie for me. And you know, because I'm 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:00.360 saying these things if you were to repeat them back 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:03.840 and harassed you. So that's kind of what people in 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:06.920 the area were dealing with. And we lived an hour 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:09.600 and a half from Hampton, but we were in the 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:13.240 judicial circuit, so we knew it was affecting law enforcement 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:15.440 in our area as well. So it's something that I mean, 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:17.840 eighty six years, one hundred years of this kind of 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:24.760 informal rule kind of to capture that. I think that's 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:28.200 the success of death in the Family because it's not 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:32.040 just something that is about a dirty man who you know, 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:35.120 exciting his staff and he kills his family. It's really 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:37.720 just to understand the amount of pressure that was on 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:43.320 that man and self created totally right, and why he 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:52.800 would think that was a good solution to his problems. 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:04.960 These things and so easily be sensationalized, and this show 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:09.480 is not that. So I'm curious about how you both. 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:13.480 I'm sure were you just approached by a million showrunners 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:17.400 and writers and TV people going let me make your story. 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:22.000 And how did you wind up with Aaron and Michael? 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:25.880 I can tell you that cast from every obviously you know, 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:30.240 Jason Clark and Patrisharquette and Brittany are so well known 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:35.680 and so incredible. It's like a perfect cast. So how 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:39.240 did you guys come to Michael and Aaron? 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:45.000 So in twenty twenty one, Liz was working at the 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:48.479 Sheriff's office when my husband and I started the podcast, 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:51.640 but she was definitely with me behind the scenes for everything. 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:54.520 For every phone call that I would get from weirdos, 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:58.920 I would call them Hollywood weirdos like they write, and 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:01.960 I would call her and like be like this guy, 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:12.840 and she would be like, don't call them back, and. 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:11.240 This little town girl like this. 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:17.520 And they said the most insulting things to me, like 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:20.800 they just thought that I. Yeah, they thought I was 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:23.560 just this little small town journalist who had big dreams 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:27.360 of living in New York. City and one of literally 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:32.639 people said that to me and really just want and 0:17:32.720 --> 0:17:34.680 like they really thought I just wanted to get out 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:37.040 of South Carolina. And I'm like, I really like it here, 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:39.879 Like I don't like the politics, but like I live 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:42.919 on a Hilton Head It's a nice area, right. 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:45.760 I like my life here and I like what I do. 0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:46.840 I just. 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:54.520 Anyways, we and my husband was amazing. My husband was, 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:58.840 uh there is Covid was not full time working at 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:00.880 the time, but he just kind of figured out how 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:02.119 to navigate Hollywood. 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:03.359 He was a genius about it. 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:06.639 He would take phone calls with people just to like 0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:10.439 learn the language, see yeah, or learn like the linga 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:13.400 that y'all use that like nobody else understands. 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:19.960 He would take like spocan years, may see what it is. Yeah. 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:23.000 And so we spent kind of a whole summer just 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:27.800 taking meetings and phone calls from people, and and then 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:33.440 in September of twenty twenty one, everybody was still kind 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:35.399 of on the fence, like maybe I'll do a documentary, 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:36.359 maybe I'll do a show. 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:37.040 I don't know. 0:18:37.200 --> 0:18:40.960 In September twenty twenty one, when Alex Murdoch faked his 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:45.439 little roadside shooting debacle, and that was just ridiculous. 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:47.400 The story would not be crazy. 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:50.199 Yeah right, it's whenever I say it out loud, I'm like, 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:56.560 when that happened, it's so stupid. But when that happened, 0:18:58.080 --> 0:19:01.159 this story went from zero to two thousand, Like it 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:06.560 exploded into the outer universe in a way that I 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:09.639 had never seen anything before in my life. And so 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:14.359 at that point, all of these people, all these documentary people, 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:15.640 were like, it's go time, we. 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:19.280 Need to we need you to sign and. 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:23.880 Everybody was just kind of swooping in and hovering over 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:26.879 us and pressuring us, and it was really weird. And 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:30.400 at that point we decided to get an agent, this 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:33.399 man named Neil Cohen, which I know people go back 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:36.000 and forth about agents. He was at UTA at the time. 0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:41.160 He saved our lives because he, like these people were 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:46.120 pressuring us, specifically documentary people were pressuring us to sign 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:53.040 the sign away everything and be a consultant to them. 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:55.880 And it was on a Saturday, and I will never 0:19:55.960 --> 0:20:00.040 forget and we and he was just calling and calling 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:02.400 and was like you need to sign now. It's now 0:20:02.480 --> 0:20:05.199 or never, Mandy, and like and if you don't sign this, 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:08.160 your career is over like those types of things. So 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:11.000 we actually hired Neil in the first thing that he 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:14.000 did was email this guy back on a Saturday. It 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:18.879 is Saturday period. No one in Hollywood needs anything right now. 0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:25.880 That's so great, it's a Saturday period, and we were 0:20:25.920 --> 0:20:31.200 like hired. Anyways, Neil connected us with Aaron Lee Carr. Neil. 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:35.560 One of Neil's clients was Aaron Lee Carr, an amazing 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:40.320 documentarian and Liz and I had been watching her documentaries 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:42.960 for years and Liz, what was your. 0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:46.120 Reaction which documentaries she done? 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:49.399 Well, Heart's of Gold was the one that really pushed 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:52.760 me over the edge. Mommy Dead and Dearest, which I 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:56.960 believe that's what it's the Gypsy Lee Rose story. 0:20:57.119 --> 0:20:58.680 There was another one, Mandy, I Love. 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:02.399 God, I love you now Die is so good. If 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:03.160 you haven't seen it. 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:06.320 Oh my gosh, I didn't realize. 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:10.200 So that britneyears, Yeah, Britney versus spears. 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:13.560 So we knew her from all of it because we 0:21:13.560 --> 0:21:16.840 were like obsessed with these documentaries that she'd done, and 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:19.439 we had talked about them all at great length with 0:21:19.520 --> 0:21:22.320 each other, and I remember being so nervous to meet 0:21:22.320 --> 0:21:23.560 her for the first. 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:24.920 Time, and. 0:21:26.240 --> 0:21:28.800 When I first met her, it was originally we were 0:21:28.800 --> 0:21:32.119 talking about doing a documentary, but Aaron got the idea of, like, 0:21:32.240 --> 0:21:35.040 I want to do something besides document what if it 0:21:35.119 --> 0:21:39.520 was a scripted show. And then through that she met 0:21:39.560 --> 0:21:43.359 Michael D. Fuller, who is not only a great guy 0:21:43.560 --> 0:21:46.440 and a really great writer, but he's from South Carolina. 0:21:47.200 --> 0:21:51.280 And so that combination of and I knew that Aaron 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:58.159 could tackle really really difficult true crime stories, specifically involving women. 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:01.760 I knew that she was not in a She was 0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:05.600 not in the true crime space of like who done it? 0:22:05.720 --> 0:22:10.080 You know, the swoop in boring stuffs. She was really 0:22:10.119 --> 0:22:14.040 good at very complicated cases and staying factual and staying 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:18.320 victim focused. And the combination of Michael and Aaron it 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:20.959 just felt different. It was just like from all of 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:23.080 the phone calls that we had that summer and everybody 0:22:23.080 --> 0:22:29.160 else was just so exhausting and so typical Hollywood quote unquote, 0:22:29.720 --> 0:22:34.919 Michael and Aaron were just refreshing and kind. And it 0:22:35.000 --> 0:22:38.600 wasn't until last year that it was actually greenlit in 0:22:38.720 --> 0:22:42.280 September twenty twenty four, and then the ball just went 0:22:42.400 --> 0:22:45.600 rolling and Liz and I a year ago I think 0:22:45.680 --> 0:22:48.480 this week we went to LA and saw the writer's. 0:22:48.160 --> 0:22:53.640 Room, Jason Clark is, I don't even I have no words, 0:22:54.200 --> 0:22:58.640 like next level this man's performance, it's like an arc 0:22:58.880 --> 0:23:03.200 of a madman, like you actually see. I just he's 0:23:03.240 --> 0:23:08.359 incredible in this show on every level. Everybody's wonderful, but 0:23:08.480 --> 0:23:11.640 I am just I was like blown away by him. 0:23:11.920 --> 0:23:14.680 You can't take your eyes off of him. It's captivating 0:23:14.800 --> 0:23:18.119 and it really is true to who Elec was to 0:23:18.160 --> 0:23:22.320 some people. That energy that you know, I want to 0:23:22.359 --> 0:23:24.320 see what he does next because it's going to be 0:23:24.880 --> 0:23:26.040 not great but. 0:23:27.680 --> 0:23:30.560