41 - Mary Laws (Monsterland)

Showrunner Mary Laws joins host Jenny Curtis to discuss her
career, writing, and her new anthology series on Hulu,
MONSTERLAND. Throughout the conversation they discuss: 


0:37 - Finding her way to the arts as a young child. 


2:20 - Receiving some harsh but beneficial advice from a teacher
in undergrad. 


3:36 - Starting out as a playwright and the first play she wrote,
FINGAL’S CAVE. 


4:50 - Tina Howe’s observation of Mary


5:35 - Going to NY and working at Rattlestick Playwright’s
Theater


6:21 - Not giving up on getting into Yale


7:39 - Studying with Paula Vogel and taking lessons from her to
MONSTERLAND. 


8:51 - Going from playwriting to writing NEON DEMON with Nicolas
Winding Refn. 


11:55 - Writing with other people and creating now for a visual
medium in film & TV. 


15:36 - The experience of being a first-time showrunner. 


16:43 - Adapting from Nathan Ballingrud’s book NORTH AMERICAN
LAKE MONSTERS. 


19:34 - The choice in naming the episodes after the locations
they were set in. 


21:07 - Staffing the writers room and creating an open
environment. 


24:24 - The first day on MONSTERLAND and challenges with
wind. 


25:33 - Creating one world that the anthology series exists
in. 


26:20 - The monster Mary is the most proud of and using practical
effects. 


29:11 - Wrap day on MONSTERLAND and the challenges of doing an
anthology series


32:24 - The exciting opportunities of working in
television. 


34:55 - What storytelling has done for Mary on a personal
level. 


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Hosted and Produced by: Jenny Curtis


Co-Produced and Edited by: J Whiting


Executive Producer: Stuart Halperin


Theme Music by: Celleste and Eric Dick


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