Interviews with writers, journalists, filmmakers, and podcasters about how they do their work. Hosted by Aaron Lammer, Max Linsky, and Evan Ratliff.

Have you ever wondered how your favorite movie or book—or podcast, TV series, documentary, or article—got made? Origin Stories has you covered. Each week, veteran journalist Matthew Shaer talks to a different writer or director about the creation of a work close to their own hearts. Nothing is off the table: not the frustrations and the joys, not the setbacks and the successes. Intimate and incisive, instructive and eye-opening, Origin Stories is the ultimate podcast for anyone curious about the workings of the creative mind. Among the early guests are Noah Hawley, creator of the new Alien show on FX; Mimi Leder, director of The Morning Show; New Yorker writer Patrick Radden Keefe; and Evan Ratliff, of Longform and Atavist fame. Hosted by Matthew Shaer, co-founder of Campside Media.
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Longform

Introducing "Origin Stories" 

John Jeremiah Sullivan is a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine and has written for Harper's, The New Yorker, and GQ. He is the author of Pulphead and the forthcoming The Prime Minister of Paradise: The True Story of a Lost American History.
“I love making pieces of writing and trying to find the right language to say what I mean. It's such a wonderful way of being alive in the world. I mean, your material is all around you. ... I'm lucky that it has stayed interesting for me. It hasn't faded. The challenges of writing, they still glow.”
Show notes:

Sullivan on Longform

Sullivan’s GQ archive

Sullivan’s New York Times Magazine archive

10:00 “Uhtceare” (Paris Review • May 2021)

28:00 Pulphead (FSG Originals • 2011)

30:00 The Best American Essays 2014 (Mariner Books • 2014)

30:00 “The Ill-Defined Plot” (New Yorker • Oct 2014)

50:00 “Man Called Fran” (Harper’s • Sept 2023)

50:00 “The Final Comeback of Axl Rose” (GQ • Aug 2006)

50:00 “Upon This Rock” (GQ • Jan 2004)

50:00 “Peyton’s Place” (GQ • Oct 2011)

50:00 “Leaving Reality” (GQ • Oct 2011)

54:00 “Pulp Fever” (Daniel Riley • GQ • Nov 2011)

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Episode 585: John Jeremiah Sullivan

The hosts answer a few listener questions.
Evan’s picks for some podcasts to try:

Creative Nonfiction

Press Box

The Stacks Podcast:

Sunday Long Read

True Stories

Question Everything

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Bonus: Mailbag

Ta-Nehisi Coates is an author and journalist. His next book is The Message.
“I don’t think we have the luxury as journalists of avoiding things because people might say bad things about us. I don’t even think we have the luxury of avoiding things because we might get fired. I don’t think we have the luxury of avoiding them because somebody might cancel some sort of public speech that we have. I then have to ask you, what are you in it for? Like, why did you come here? Did you come here just to make a living? Because there are many other things where you could make more money.”
Show notes:

ta-nehisicoates.com

Coates on Longform

Longform Podcast #7: Ta-Nehisi Coates

Longform Podcast #97: Ta-Nehisi Coates

Longform Podcast #168: Ta-Nehisi Coates

Longform Podcast #225: Ta-Nehisi Coates

Longform Podcast #360: Ta-Nehisi Coates and Chris Jackson

Longform Podcast #408: Ta-Nehisi Coates

04:00 "Fear of a Black President" (The Atlantic • Sep 2012)

05:00 The Beautiful Struggle (One World • 2009)

12:00 "The Case for Reparations" (The Atlantic • Jun 2014)

13:00 Between the World and Me (One World • 2015)

36:00 "The Mask of Doom" (New Yorker • Sep 2009)

40:00 "How Tech Giants Cut Corners to Harvest Data for A.I." (Cade Metz, Cecilia Kang, Sheera Frenkel, Stuart A. Thompson and Nic Grant • New York Times • Apr 2024)

42:00 Shell Game (Evan Ratliff • 2024)

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Episode 584: Ta-Nehisi Coates 

Jay Caspian Kang is a staff writer for The New Yorker and a co-host of Time to Say Goodbye.
“At some point, you have to kick it out the door, and it’s never finished to the degree that you would finish a magazine piece. But it, in some ways, is more interesting because it is produced in a short amount of time, and it’s read as something that is not supposed to be complete. It’s just meant to provoke or to provide thought or whatever, to provide some sort of context on a certain issue or not. And I actually like that a lot better than the magazine writing. I respect the magazine writers—obviously, I was one—but for my disposition now, in my lifestyle, I actually enjoy having to produce this thing every week.”
Have a question for the mailbag? Email the show or leave a voicemail at (929) 333-2908.
Show notes:

@jaycaspiankang

Kang on Longform

Kang on Longform Podcast (Oct 2021)

Kang on Longform Podcast (Aug 2017)

Kang on Longform Podcast (Apr 2013)

Kang’s New Yorker archive

06:00 Coin Talk

08:00 Tyler Austin Harper’s Atlantic archive

10:00 Serial

12:00 The Daily

20:00 “The High Is Always the Pain and the Pain Is Always the High” (The Morning News • Oct 2010)

28:00 James (Percival Everett • Doubleday • 2024)

34:00 “American Son” (ESPN • July 2024)

35:00 Kang’s VICE archive

42:00 “Mike Francesa Still Believes in the Power of Radio” (New York Times • Aug 2018)

43:00 Kang’s Grantland archive

43:00 Kang’s New York Times archive

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Episode 583: Jay Caspian Kang

Joseph Cox is a cybersecurity journalist and co-founder of 404 Media. His new book is Dark Wire: The Incredible True Story of the Largest Sting Operation Ever.
“In the not too distant future, I will be a very old man, and maybe I won't be able to spend all day talking to drug traffickers. I will be mentally and physically exhausted. So I will doggedly pursue the story right now while I can.”
Show notes:

@josephfcox

Cox's 404 Media archive

Cox's Vice archive

Dark Wire: The Incredible True Story of the Largest Sting Operation Ever (PublicAffairs • 2024)

08:00 "FBI’s Encrypted Phone Platform Infiltrated Hundreds of Criminal Syndicates; Result is Massive Worldwide Takedown" (U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of California • Jun 2021)

10:00 Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World (Bradley Hope and Tom Wright • Hachette • 2018)

19:00 "Revealed: The Country that Secretly Wiretapped the World for the FBI" (404 Media • Sep 2023)

38:00 "Follow The Bitcoins: How We Got Busted Buying Drugs on Silk Road’s Black Market" (Andy Greenberg • Forbes • Sep 2013)

41:00 "Hundreds of Bounty Hunters Had Access to AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint Customer Location Data for Years" (Motherboard • Feb 2019)

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