Working

Interviews with creative people about their work.

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About the Show

Slate interviews Americans about their jobs.

Hosts

Eliot Laurence on His “Maximalist” TV Series Motherland: Fort Salem

“After commercials, we’re at 39 minutes, but we always pack in like an hour and a half’s worth of stuff.”

The Creators of The Other Two on Running a Comedy Writers’ Room

“It’s a combination of hosting a party and trying to put together a puzzle in your mind.”

How to Pitch Stories and Build Relationships With Editors

“Your pitch needs to convey to a very busy person what the piece is actually going to be like.”

How Foley Artist Joanna Fang Creates Sound Effects for Movies and TV

Her résumé includes In the Heights, Dickinson, and Clifford the Big Red Dog.

Writer Barbara Wilson on the Origins of Feminist Publisher Seal Press

“We had a very loyal readership who would read anything that we wrote.”

The Limits of the “500 Words Per Day” Writing Advice

“It’s a very pleasant privilege to be able to even consider doing this.”

How Music Supervisors for Film and TV Source the Perfect Songs

“I do enjoy the sleuthing aspect of when you find a rare recording…”

 How Normal Gossip Producer Alex Sujong Laughlin Helps Shape the Podcast

“Number-one goal is to have fun. Number-two goal is to not destroy anyone’s life.”

How to Create Structure for Unstructured Work

According to the “productivity industrial complex.”

How Rural Librarian Jessamyn West is Alleviating the Digital Divide

“In my dream world, library school would partly be help desk school.”

How Lez Zeppelin Guitarist Steph Paynes Channels Jimmy Page

“The soul of the band does not lie in the technical element. The essence of it is something else.”

How to Choose Between Multiple Creative Projects

“Which one do you find yourself thinking about in the shower?”

Voice Actor Erika Ishii on Video Game Roles and Motion Capture

Plus, an in-depth description of “barks” and “efforts.”

How a Theater Director and a Dramaturg Are “Exploding” the Classical Canon

“We’re thinking about plays by Black playwrights but also Black performance history.”

How to Know When It’s Time to Abandon a Creative Project

“It’s all about the spark.”

Writer Hannah Kirshner on Japanese Artisans and Immersive Reporting

 “It’s not very verbal. You’re meant to just watch the master.”

A Creative Director for Cartoon Shows Explains Her Biggest Animation Challenges

“Any time a character, like, wears a hat…it’s considered almost like a new character design.”

How to Get More Creative in the Classroom Without Wasting Students’ Time

“Spending two weeks of an AP Euro class on a mock trial of Richard III isn’t particularly useful.”

How Children’s Book Creators Natalia and Lauren O’Hara Balance Art and Family

“We work more like an author/illustrator than an author and an illustrator.”

How Art and Language Work Together in Lauren Redniss’ Visual Nonfiction

“Images convey other types of information and emotion that are appropriate and meaningful.”