The true crime genre has experienced a really extraordinary revival following the arrival of the hugely-popular podcast Serial. However, two years later, the only question bigger than whether Adnan is guilty or not is whether or not Serial might actually eclipse the rest of podcasting as a medium when it comes to raw popularity.
Sarah originally started researching Adnan as a potential focus for an episode of This American Life #serial #bingefest
— The Iris | Film & TV (@TheIrisAU) December 18, 2016
We caught up with Serial co-creator Julia Snyder at her panel on “Binge-worthy Journalism”, at Sydney’s inaugural Bingefest. Here’s what we learned:
They weren’t impressed with Reddit
Another thing Julie didn’t shy away from during her talk was her concerns about the Reddit community that popped up around the series. She says that once Reddit got involved, she felt like they were losing control of the story.
Julie says they agreed to provide anonymity for sources and respect the seriousness of the crime. Internet had no boundaries #bingefest
— The Iris | Film & TV (@TheIrisAU) December 18, 2016
The team considered but ultimately ruled against speculation about abuse
During the Q&A part of the talk, one audience member asked Snyder about whether they took the possibility of an abusive relationship between Adnan and Hae seriously. Julie said that they did consider the idea but ultimately ruled against it due to their inadmissability in court.
Julie says that statistics around domestic violence wouldn’t be allowed in court and to use it in the show would have been too speculative
— The Iris | Film & TV (@TheIrisAU) December 18, 2016
She wasn’t impressed with Jay’s Post-S1 interview
One of the more controversial for the Serial community following the release of the first season was the interview The Intercept did with one of the series’ key witnesses after Serial failed to get him on record. Julie says she saw the interview and wished that the interviewer had pushed Jay in areas where he said things that clearly contradicted with the evidence presented in court.
Asked about Jay’s post-S1 interview, Julie says he was giving a whole new timeline without any evidence used in trial #bingefest
— The Iris | Film & TV (@TheIrisAU) December 18, 2016
The working relationship between Adnan and Sarah is a fascinating one
One of the most fascinating moments of the talk saw Julie guide the audience through the interactions that made up a short phone call between Sarah Koenig and Adnan. Julie said that while a lot of the things that the two talked about over 48 hours of phone calls wasn’t crime-related, even ordinary interactions carried with them a layer of subtext. “All intentional charm is calculated,” she said.
Sarah’s relationship with Adnan is riddled with “fissures of mistrust” #serial #bingefest
— The Iris | Film & TV (@TheIrisAU) December 18, 2016
Even she struggled with the structure of Season 2
If you struggled a little with the sprawling second season of Serial, you’re not alone. Even Julie admitted she had some trouble approaching it as an editor. While she was certain they didn’t want to do “another murder story”, she was aware of the pros and cons that came with using Bo Bergdahl’s experiences as a window into telling a larger story about the War in Afghanistan.
Julie says that S2 was about bringing nuance to the discourse around Bo’s case #serial #bingefest
— The Iris | Film & TV (@TheIrisAU) December 18, 2016
They weren’t ready for the series’ popularity
Julie confessed early on in the talk that their ambitions going into Serial were pretty humble. They expected, best case scenario, 300,000 listeners. She says the series has now racked up 250 million downloads and their team absolutely wasn’t prepared to handle the volume of comments and interactions on their social media.
Julie says they had a major commenting problem, attempts to amend the issue backfired #serial #bingefest
— The Iris | Film & TV (@TheIrisAU) December 18, 2016
Neither was their tech guy
At one point, the Serial team attempted to implement a filter that would cut out spam comments like “Adnan did it” or “Jay did it” on their posts. Julie says someone on the team ended up testing the block, discovering it didn’t work and accidentally posted “Adnan did it” to the official Serial Facebook page – a mistake that even made its way onto a few scattered news sites.
Testing of the filter resulted in the official FB account posting “Adnan did it” #serial #bingefest
— The Iris | Film & TV (@TheIrisAU) December 18, 2016
Adopting the language of TV was a deliberate choice
Julie says the incorporation of TV concepts like Cliffhangers and Seasons into the vocabulary around the season was always a deliberate choice. “People didn’t realize journalism could be packaged this way,” she said.
“TV was much more the model for Serial” #serial #bingefest
— The Iris | Film & TV (@TheIrisAU) December 18, 2016
Julie Snyder’s talk took place at this year’s BingeFest weekend in Sydney over the 17th & 18th of December.
You can also watch Julie’s talk for yourself on Red Bull TV on Wednesday 21st December.
Photography by Prudence Upton
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