WEBVTT - Esta Spalding - Mayfield Witches - Showrunner 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:01.760 It's in the news today, but it was actually on 0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:05.080 TV Reload, the podcast last week Their Life. Welcome back 0:00:05.080 --> 0:00:07.920 to TV Reload. My name is Benjamin Norris, and this 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:10.960 is your podcast to get all the inside goss on 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:14.080 the popular TV shows you may be watching from around 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:17.439 the world. Undeniably, our TV sets are a major part 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:20.599 of our home entertainment, and yet very little is known 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:24.000 about how our favorite shows get made. However, each week 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:26.360 I've been finding guests that want to dive just that 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:29.240 little bit deeper into the shows they're currently making, so 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:32.080 that you can hear all their exclusive stories and gain 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:34.760 access to the biggest names in television. I want to 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:38.199 thank you for downloading or subscribing to this podcast. I 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:40.760 love hearing your feedback, so make sure you leave a 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:44.519 review or a comment on your chosen podcast platform. On 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:48.600 today's podcast, I have Esther Spaulding, the AMC Plus showrunner 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:52.239 from the exciting new series Mayfeel Witches that is adapted 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:55.560 from the massively popular and Rice novels. Esther is an 0:00:55.600 --> 0:00:59.360 American author's, screenwriter, and poet and now has a fantastic 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:02.240 career in tel division writing and is the showrunner of 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:06.000 the Mayfield Witches, working on shows like The Bridge, Masters 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:08.480 of Sex and the reboot of Party of Five. You 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.479 would have seen her work over the years, and this show, 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:14.759 which has a double episode dropping on AMC plus this Sunday, 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:18.680 is definitely worth watching. I will talk to Esther about 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:21.160 her career and what it was like to write for 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:24.280 the Party of Five reboot. Esther will also talk about 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:27.440 the process of adapting the Mayfield Witch's novels and how 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:30.559 she chose what to include. We will also talk about 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:34.400 Tom Cruise, Harry Hamlin, Lisa Rinner, and how David Lynch 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:37.600 inspired some of the Mayfield Witches. Plus we'll get plenty 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:41.200 of exclusives from behind the scenes. Anyway, let's bring Esther 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:45.120 into the podcast and I hope you enjoyed this episode. Hi, Esther, 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:46.000 how are you. 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:48.400 I'm wonderful. Hi, thank you for talking to me. 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:51.080 I'm pretty excited to be talking to you because not 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:55.560 only am I loving Mayfield Witches, but I remembered that 0:01:55.680 --> 0:02:00.080 you produced the reboot of Party of Five, which I 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:03.560 really loved, like I rewatched it a few times. 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:05.960 Like Mayfair Witches, which you know, everyone who's worked on 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:08.160 the show are fans of the books. Party of Five 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:11.000 had so many fans, and it was such a labor 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:12.760 of love. It was great. I wish we'd had more 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:13.640 than the one season. 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:16.679 Was it fun though? To work with Amy and Christopher though, 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:19.160 because you know, they were on the project right from 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:20.839 the start in the first version. 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:22.680 And Amy and I have written together a lot. We 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:25.360 worked on a show together called Masters of Sex, which 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:28.919 was set in the nineteen sixties and was about sex researchers, 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:32.200 and we became really good friends doing that. So it 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:33.959 was exciting to be able to do Party of Five 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:36.239 together as well, and to like kind of go back 0:02:36.240 --> 0:02:38.800 to her roots with Chris when they were writing partners 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:40.400 when they were on Party of Five together. 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:42.840 Yeah, had you been a big fan of the source 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:45.240 material of that, Like had you watched Party of Five 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:48.480 when it was originally on television or did you rewatch it? 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:49.919 You know, getting ready to work with them. 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:53.280 It was completely new to me when I started work 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:55.480 on the show, and it was exciting. It was one 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:57.880 of those kind of nostalgia tours back to something that 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:00.120 I was not in touch with when it happened, but 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:03.400 you know it's like, oh, that's what people were talking about, 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:05.600 oh that moment. So yeah, it was wonderful. 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:08.080 It's literally my childhood. It was the first show that 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:10.720 you know, anything had ever really spoken to me and 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:13.919 I felt really seen, and it actually was the start 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:17.079 of my love of television. So forgive me while we're 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:19.440 talking Mayfield Witches to keep talking about it. 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:21.880 I'm going to pass that on to Amy and Chris. 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:24.960 That is wonderful to hear. It hit me in my 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:27.200 life at a time when I was too broke town 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:30.040 a TV set, and of course nobody was watching on 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:33.560 computers or laptops or phones back then, so I missed it. 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:36.760 You know, later acquired a television, but it was it 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:37.320 was too late. 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:39.120 It kind of worked in our favor, though, because I'm 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:41.240 assuming without a television, you just got to work on 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:42.440 your writing and your reading. 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:46.240 I started as a literature student. I studied, you know, 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:49.080 Renaissance literature. I just did so many things before I 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:50.160 became a television writer. 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:52.800 I was going to ask you how did that happen? 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:54.840 Because I mean, you, yes, you're a writer, and I 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:57.320 read that you're a teacher, But then what was it 0:03:57.480 --> 0:03:59.960 about television that made you want to write in that media? 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:03.160 I was trying to make a living and I was 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:06.800 writing poetry and publishing. I had published a novel and 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:08.920 I was just, you know, like trying to have a 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:11.440 job that would support those things. And I found my 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:14.160 way to someone who had started a TV show, who 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:17.520 was a showrunner looking for an assistant, and so I thought, 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:19.240 this is a great way to support my habit. I'll 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:21.159 be around writers whatever. So I applied to be this 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:24.720 showrunner's assistant, and the showrunner wouldn't hire me because I 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:27.400 did not type fast enough. This was a long time 0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:32.200 ago and there was typing. But he loved my poetry 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:34.840 books and was surprised to find out that I was 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:37.240 a pre med student. I had been pre med and 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:39.640 it was a show about a corner. So he invited 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:41.160 me to come and sit in the writing room, and 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:44.120 I completely fell in love with the process. I mean, 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:46.640 it's like being paid to play dolls all day, which 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:47.919 was what you know, if you could do as an 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:49.680 adult what you love to do as a kid, would 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:51.680 just sit in a room and make up stories. It 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:54.440 was so fun, it was so collaborative, and I just 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:57.599 never looked back. And he was very generous and you know, 0:04:57.720 --> 0:04:59.480 brought me into the writer's room, gave me a By 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:02.039 the end of the the first season a script to 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:04.560 co write, and I kind of got my start that way. 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:07.839 What shows had you watched growing up and had any 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:10.440 of the shows that you'd been watching growing up or 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:12.880 in your young adult life, has that inspired you in 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:15.159 the type of writing and producing that you want to 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:16.200 do well. 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:18.400 I'll tell you that one of the things that I 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:21.000 one of the shows that first hooked me on that like, 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:23.400 I must watch television every week and I have to 0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:25.000 sit down with a group of friends to watch it. 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:28.680 Whatever was La Law And so to get to have 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:34.200 Harry Hamlin on Mayfair Witch's was such a weird kind 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:37.320 of coming around the wheel of life, you know, it 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:41.760 seemed so far away. I watched it obsessively, in particular 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:44.880 the year that I was in graduate school studying Renaissance literature. 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:47.520 Never thought I would be a TV writer. So yeah, 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:50.240 it's really exciting to be working with Harry Hamlin. That 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:52.000 was also a year that I watched a lot of 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:55.200 Twin Peaks, which is a favorite favorite show of mine, 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:57.360 and that really got me in the grip of kind 0:05:57.360 --> 0:06:01.520 of serial TV watching and a very different tone from 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:04.800 Mayfair Witches, but that kind of feel of horror and strangeness. 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:07.640 And we talked a lot about Twin Peaks when we 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:10.880 were talking about like, what is the psychological space that 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:13.479 Deer dras in when she's in thorazine? What is that 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:15.600 space in her brain where she talks? And it was 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:18.120 sort of like it's a David Lynchian space. It's like 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:21.280 that scene in Twin Peaks. Whatever. So those were two 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:25.599 that in particular feel resonant for different reasons with this show. 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:29.479 And you know, I mean, I've so much television since then, 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:33.640 but obviously when TV sort of broke into you know, 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:36.680 mad Men and Breaking Bad and so on, the idea 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:39.520 of working on a show for AMC is just absolutely 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:41.320 thrilling to me because those are. 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:43.600 I remember my mom used to watch La Law on 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:46.360 a Tuesday night and it was the first show that 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:48.279 I was allowed to stay up and watch, and it 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:50.920 was kind of a novelty that, you know, I couldn't 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:53.599 really understand what was going on in La Law, but 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:57.880 I felt really happy to be, you know, on the 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:01.080 you know, grown up. And then funny that you've got 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:04.120 Harry Hamlin looking you know young again. You've you've made 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:05.240 him look quite youthful. 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:08.440 Right, took thirty years off of him in the pilot. 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:09.560 He's yeah, he. 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:11.040 Was so obsessed with La Loay. You were like, do 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:13.520 you know what, do you know what, Harry Hamlin, We're 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:15.760 going to make you look exactly like that again. And 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:18.040 he would have signed on the double line. 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:20.440 And he was so happy too, because when we shot 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:22.640 that scene. I went to his trailer the day before 0:07:22.640 --> 0:07:24.560 and I said, or maybe it was a few days before, 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:27.120 but said, okay, so it can be a snake or 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:28.960 it can be an alligator in the scene with you 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:31.160 in your party, which would you prefer. So he got 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:34.120 to audition, you know, a snake versus as an alligator 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:35.960 for that scene in the pilot, and he said it 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:38.440 was it was one of the most exciting, uh, you know, 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:40.480 like days getting ready for set. 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:43.400 I have referred to him now as Harry Hamlin because 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:46.360 his wife's on the Real Housewives and she only refers 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:48.800 to him as Harry Hamlin, and I was wondering, does 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:51.120 everyone refer to him as Harry Hemlin Totally? 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:53.960 It seems like, yeah, we have we have Lisa's habit 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:55.680 now it has to be both names. 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:58.080 Had you seen Harry Hamlin when he has his little 0:07:58.200 --> 0:07:59.200 I had not, but I. 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:01.920 Have now I can at least say I've watched the 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:04.080 birthday party episode his Birthday. 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:07.360 I love it. How did Mayfiel Witches come about? 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:10.920 AMC had optioned Anne Rice's material. They just felt like, 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:13.760 in all of these books and there are so many 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:16.880 of them, and they create this enormous universe that overlaps 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:20.200 and weaves together, that there was, you know, the riches 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:23.080 of all these stories to be told on their network. 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:26.320 And Mark Johnson, who's done so much work with them, 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:28.600 He you know, he was the producer on Breaking Bad 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:31.760 and Better Call Saul Halt and Catch Fire, so he's 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:35.000 worked a lot with AMC, was brought in to produce 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:39.320 the Anne Rice material. So I was I was, you know, 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:42.400 connected through Mark and sent the books through Mark and 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:45.319 a mutual friend Michelle Ashford, who helped me write the pilot. 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:48.640 Like Amy Littman a Party of Five, Michelle had also 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:51.320 worked on Masters of Sex. She was the showrunner on it. 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:54.440 So we had collaborated a lot and wrote together a 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:57.640 lot that was a very fun, tight knit, small writer's room. 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:00.440 And so Michelle and I and Michelle had worked with 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:02.560 Mark and the two of us talked to him about 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:04.840 how we would approach the material, and we were offered 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:06.760 the job. So it was a chance to work with 0:09:06.800 --> 0:09:10.280 another woman and collaborate and write about witches and of 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:13.439 course like be in the extraordinary world of Anne Rice 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:18.640 and her characters and her New Orleans. And I love 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:21.520 New Orleans so much. I love shooting there. I had 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:23.880 shot a show there called on Becoming a God in 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:27.319 Central Florida, which was set in Florida. So we shot 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:31.520 New Orleans as Florida. And to be able to embark 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:34.360 on a project where not only could we shoot New 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:36.840 Orleans as New Orleans, but that it was Anne Rice's 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:39.240 New Orleans, I mean, you know, she in some ways 0:09:39.720 --> 0:09:42.600 kind of gave you know, she's one of the people 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:45.520 who's given the mythology of that city back to the city. 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.200 And so to be able to do that and with 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:52.160 a crew who loved the material, were devoted to the material, 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:53.800 was really really thrilling. 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:56.640 People go one two of these places because I went. 0:09:56.520 --> 0:09:59.560 On a ghost tour myself when I was there shooting 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:02.120 last night, and I kept thinking they're going to be 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:05.040 talking about locations from art. It was very weird. I 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:07.080 was like, by next year, there will be you know, 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:09.680 our interview with a vampire, because of course there's also 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:13.080 interview with a vampire on AMC now, and you know, 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:16.079 if we were lucky, our Mayfair Witch is being referred 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:16.720 to in the tour. 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:18.880 Had you read the books back in the day, like 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:20.840 what was your relationship with Anne Ross? 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:23.640 I had not read the Witch's books. I had not 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:27.560 read Mayfair Witches when Mark put them in my hands, 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:30.960 and so it was like a whole new you know. 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:34.480 I described the beginning of it and starting to read 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:36.560 and it was like, oh, somebody threw open the doors 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:39.640 of Aladdin's cave and it's like mounds of gold and 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:42.600 treasure chests and jewelry and lamps and all this, and 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:45.400 then you think, okay, we have eight episodes to do 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:48.439 this book, Like how am I going to possibly take 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:51.000 the riches out of this room and do any kind 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:54.079 of justice to any of it? You know. So it 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:57.200 was it was heartbreaking in many ways because there was 0:10:57.320 --> 0:11:00.520 just so much that we couldn't do in one season. 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:03.120 We knew that the first season was going to be 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:05.000 the first book, and the second season would be the 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:08.640 second book and so on. So yeah, that was the 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:12.680 hard part. But it was you know, to be able 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:14.520 to have somebody hand you the books and say what 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:16.480 would you do with this? Was thrilling. 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:21.679 I read the original trilogy in nineteen ninety four. You know, 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:26.120 my mother was a child educator, and mum really wanted 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:28.800 us to read, so anything we said that we would 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:32.080 read or would read didn't matter what the age breakat was. 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:35.319 She was like, yep, you can read that. And I 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:37.920 was quite traumatized. I mean, I loved it because I 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:44.680 was disappearing into such a very well written world. 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:48.720 It's amazing that my mother was exactly the same way. 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:50.640 Any book you want, take it off the shelf. It 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:55.240 doesn't matter. Words can't hurt you. You know, that's a 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:57.160 but it's interesting that you were terrified. 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:02.800 I was fourteen, and I'd made a really big leap 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:07.240 from you know, children's novels really to then reading something 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:10.840 that was black. And it all came about because of 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:13.240 Interview with a Vampire. You know, that was the year 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:15.760 that was coming out. So I was like, well, I 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:18.360 hadn't seen that film yet, but I knew that the 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:21.200 Anne Rice books, you know, was the source material for 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:22.840 Interview with the Vampire. So I was like, oh, okay, 0:12:23.200 --> 0:12:25.760 So I read Interview with the Vampire first, and then 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:27.640 I read The Vampire of stat But then I went 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:30.560 and read the Witches because I had this roll Dal 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:34.120 obsession with the witches. So ultimately I went from what 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:36.480 I'm saying to you is I went from roll Dale's Witches. 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:41.120 Switches. Wow, that's a chef. 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:47.319 Like giving children acid, you know, and do all. 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:50.559 Is edgy too, but you know, it's like another level 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:51.200 with Ann Race. 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:54.040 I love Dan Rice as well, because I also loved 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.560 how vocal she was about her work. Do you remember 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:00.679 how outraged she was when she heard Tom Cruise was 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:02.080 going to play the Vampile of Stead. 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:05.680 I remember reading she took out a full page ad 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:09.000 in one of the newspapers, a national newspaper about it. Yeah, 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:14.600 I'm yeah, terrifying. Yeah, I would. When I was living 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:16.800 in New Orleans during the shoot, I was living about 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:20.280 eight blocks from the house on First Street where she 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:24.640 wrote the Mayfair Witch's books, and pretty much every day, 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:27.080 definitely at the beginning when I first got there. Later 0:13:27.160 --> 0:13:30.079 production got crazy, but I would say close to every day. 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:32.280 I got up in the morning and I walked to 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:34.840 this loop went past her house, and I would say, 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:38.720 I'm trying, Anne, I'm trying my best. You know, I'm like, 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:40.760 I know that house has ghosts in it, so it's like, 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:44.400 if you're there, know that I'm trying, you know. 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:46.920 Helps you understand that world a little bit more, just 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:49.920 being in the actual place. And whilst I probably don't 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:52.280 really believe in ghosts and all the rest of it. 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:56.320 Our locations manager grew up in that house and he 0:13:56.440 --> 0:13:58.120 said that there was a ghost that used to come 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:00.720 and pat his hair before he fell asleep when he 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:02.400 was a kid, and his parents said to him, Oh, 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:04.600 it's a nice ghost. Just let it pat your hair, 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:05.760 don't worry about it. 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:08.240 What do you think Ann would have thought of the 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:10.520 AMC plus tellings of you know, her work. 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:13.000 I don't. I mean, no one can know. We can 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:15.480 only just hope that we're you know, I'm sure she 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:17.760 would have felt like eight episodes wasn't enough. We can 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:19.840 only hope that we did the best we could with that. 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:24.800 What choices or conversations did you have about, you know, 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:27.560 the source material and where you wanted to take it, 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:31.240 because you were mentioning about how there was so much 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:34.320 to choose from, you know, what was that selection process 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:37.320 like when you got into the writer's room, so one thing, 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:37.880 you know. 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:40.000 There's a huge section in the middle of the first 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:44.080 book that is like all thirteen generations are the first 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:47.600 twelve generations of the witches, and I knew there was 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:50.520 no way we could contain all of that material, so 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:52.640 I thought, Okay, I would like to try to do 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:56.400 one of the generations, which is Suzanne's generation in Scotland, 0:14:56.480 --> 0:15:00.200 the origin story of Lash's relationship to the witches, and 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:02.280 to try to do justice to that. So that was 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:04.360 how the idea of having these little bits at the 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:07.880 beginning of the episodes about Suzanne was born. And then 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:12.840 my hope was to bring Suzanne's story into Rowan's story 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:15.120 so that it mattered in some way in the present day, 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:17.920 and that was through the character of Cyprian. And then 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:21.120 the other thing was just to in some way gesture 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:24.320 to all of those generations. In the finale, when Rowan 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:26.880 is kind of like on her way to the Witching 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:30.360 Hour and Lashers like sending her on this psychological journey, 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:33.880 we could see some of those rooms and some of 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:36.760 those women in those generations. So that's just an example 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:39.000 of you know, sort of like trying to respect the 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:43.120 source material as best we could with the compressed storytelling 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:46.960 and with needing to make it feel like television other 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:48.880 things where you know, we knew we wanted to start 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:52.640 with Rowan's birth in this kind of past sequence in 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:54.920 the pilot, and to end with Rowan giving birth at 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:56.480 the end of the season, which is how the first 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:59.680 book ends. So those two things felt like the right 0:15:59.680 --> 0:16:01.760 book ends for the season, and there were just a 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:03.920 bunch of choices like that. I thought, you know, midway 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:08.600 through the season, that's when she's Deirdre's funeral, the family, 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:11.200 meeting everyone in the family, and at the end of it, 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:13.920 she kind of goes through the looking glass into the 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:16.640 second half of the season, which where things become much 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:19.880 more witchy and she really gets in touch with who 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:22.680 she is, the good, you know, the evil, all of 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:25.600 it that's in her, the destructive force, the creative force. 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:25.840 And so on. 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:28.440 So it was those I guess there were sort of 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:32.360 certain pillars and partitions in thinking through what eight episodes 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:36.200 can do that help divide the material. 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:39.640 And the cost is great. You know, I'm loving Alexandra Jadaria. 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:42.880 You know, she's a fantastic actress. I've loved her and 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:46.200 basically everything that she's done, what might do right for 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:46.520 the role. 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:49.720 Do you think she just like, you know, she has 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:52.800 to be able to play witchy. She has, first of all, 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:56.040 those extraordinary eyes, but she also has to be able 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:58.520 to be a surgeon believably at the beginning and feel 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:02.120 like a professional woman who can you know, is commanding 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:04.560 in a room and all that stuff, and then pivot 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:07.600 to being emotional and vulnerable and close with her mother 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:11.640 and those turns. I mean, Michelle Ashford and I met 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:14.200 with Alex and we were both just absolutely blown away 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:16.480 by her and thought, she can do all of that. 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:18.600 She can do that I'm going to be scary and 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:21.680 witchy and kill someone part, She can do the vulnerable part. 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:25.120 She can sometimes do them in the same scene. You know. 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:27.960 It's there's so much going on in her face and 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:31.560 behind her eyes and her expression. She's just extraordinary. So 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:33.800 that was exciting, and we were thrilled to get Jack 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:38.040 Houston as Lasher because he really has the charisma necessary 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:41.560 to that character who's kind of a you know, a 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:48.639 ghostly spectral rock star essentially, which Jack is. Teresa is 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:52.080 just you know, someone who I saw audition on tape 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:56.280 and he was, you know, my mind just for months 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:58.360 as we were auditioning other parts and so on, kept 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:00.640 coming back to him and thinking, that guy really made 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:03.520 me know how to write the character better. He's really great, 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:06.240 so we were excited that he was interested in doing it. 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:10.480 All of these people help you believe this world, I mean, 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:12.959 and that's you know. I guess they're the best actors 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:14.600 to be able to do this, but they really do 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:17.040 exist in that world. I wanted to ask you, though, 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:20.399 what are your thoughts on witches themselves? Do you believe 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:22.920 the witches really exist in the in the real world. 0:18:24.640 --> 0:18:28.400 I you know, I grew up in Hawaii and there 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:31.480 is a feeling when I'm there that I have that 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:35.760 there is much more in the universe than is you know, 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:40.360 dreamt of in scientific philosophy and so on. And when 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:42.639 I'm in New Orleans, I feel that same feeling. I 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:45.200 don't feel it everywhere. I don't feel it in particular 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:48.600 in Los Angeles, but when there are certain places I 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:51.200 am in the world, I think like, yes, this is possible, 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:54.480 this is this kind of magic is possible. And maybe 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:57.439 it's just me, you know, my imagination or dreaming, but 0:18:57.880 --> 0:19:02.120 I go to that place in certain in certain places 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:02.960 in the world, what. 0:19:03.000 --> 0:19:05.280 Is something from behind the scenes, something that we won't say, 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:08.800