I hope you’re having a great weekend! It’s a rainy one here so I’m trying to relax a bit, but have been a busy little bee working on the blog. Today I’m going to try something different. In the past I often reviewed films (most often dark films by directors such as Hitchcock), discussed tours I have taken or cases and crimes I was fascinated by. My passion for true crime is something that prompted me to go so far as to write a film-noir-type novel. I’ve watched every documentary or crime show I can get my hands on and am constantly on the hunt for new books, films, or shows about true crime. Recently, just like everyone else, I was introduced to the podcast Serial. If you don’t know what it is, I highly recommend it. It takes you on a week to week journey allowing you to make your own decision about whether the man involved is guilty or innocent. After I finished Serial and went through a slight depression that it was over, I started feverishly searching for a new podcast to keep my obsession going.
That’s when I found Sword and Scale. I tweeted about looking for a new podcast and someone recommended Sword and Scale. Once I downloaded it and listened to the first episode I was hooked. If you love true crime like I do, chances are you’ll be obsessed with Sword and Scale. Mike Boudet does an amazing job of sharing true crime with his listeners in a way that makes it feel like an actual “story.” It’s not boring interviewing or talk show hosts discussing the topic like some other podcasts out there. You feel like you’re basically listening to an episode of Dateline or something like it, only much, much better put together and entertaining. Now, don’t get me wrong, Sword and Scale is not for the faint of heart. There are even some episodes I couldn’t finish, which shows me that there is so much evil out there it’s hard to grasp at times. But, I honestly can’t wait for each and every new episode to come out. Which one is my favorite episode? Well, there are so many I found fascinating, but because of my knowledge and interest in Aileen Wuornos, I have listened to episode 3 over and over again. Episodes 11 and 12, based on the suicide (murder?) of Morgan Ingram prove to also be mystifying and produce much water-cooler discussion.
After discovering the podcast, I wanted to know everything I could about it, so I contacted the creator, Mike Boudet and he graciously agreed to an interview for my readers. Rather than try to condense everything down, I thought I’d share his exact responses with you. Here’s what I asked…
What made you want to start Sword and Scale and what goes into making each episode?
“For a while I had been wanting to start a podcast because I love talk radio and have a background in audio engineering, but for the longest time I really had nothing to say…
For as long as I can remember I’ve been a fan of true crime shows like The First 48, Dateline, Forensic Files, American Greed, and Cold Case Files. I watch them almost every night before going to bed and find them fascinating and weirdly relaxing. It occurred to me that there were very few true-crime podcasts out there, and the ones that did exist all basically had the same predictable talk radio interview format, with two or more people dryly going over the same cases and witness testimony that everyone else is covering. There was very little storytelling going on, which to me is the best part of true-crime. I realized that if I could create an immersive storytelling environment, and put the listener in the center of it, I would have something very special and very original.
The process of putting together a show has changed since I started the show in January of 2014. Early on I was pretty much fumbling around and trying to make things work. Everything was very inefficient, because I had to invent the process as I went along. This year, with Season 2, I’ve been able to streamline the process quite a bit. I do tasks in batches. I spend a few days looking for music and build a library that will last me at least a dozen shows. Then I’ll spend a day looking for interesting stories that have enough media available to make up a 60 minute episode and build a list of possible future shows. I may spend a day or two reading about and researching new true-crime books with authors that are interview-friendly, and I’ll also take time to read their books of course. Then there’s the actual recording, editing and mixing process, each of which are quite time consuming in their own right.
The difference between now and when I first started is that it’s much more of a one-man assembly line now, where I focus on one task at a time and build up enough content for several episodes at a time, rather than jump around doing 100 different things to complete one episode, and then have to start all over again. So a 40-hour process has been reduced to maybe 15 hours or so.”
What are some of the ideas/episodes you’re working on for this year and how often do you hope to publish?
“I do have a good twelve to fifteen topics/stories planned out for the next few months but as for what they are, I want to keep this to myself. Let me explain… First of all I hate movie trailers. I don’t think if you trust the director or the leading actor, and you like their work enough, you should go see the movie based on that. The less you know about it up front, the more enjoyable it will be, because you haven’t built up your own ideas and expectations about what it’s about yet.
I think part of the allure of Sword and Scale is that you can put on any episode and expect that it will be well-thought-out, engaging, and entertaining. That’s why I don’t title episodes with the killer or victim’s name or some cheesy line that looks like it belongs on a detective novel. If I could exclude descriptions from episodes I would, but then that would make referencing things later on a nightmare. Basically, I want listeners to let go of the wheel and let me drive, and I want them to trust that I’ll take them somewhere interesting. When you listen to Sword and Scale, do it with a decent set of headphones in a quiet room and let the story take you somewhere. It’s like a roller coaster ride: you may get scared, you may even get a little sick, but you’ll have a thrill and you’ll be perfectly safe.
I will say that I tweeted a hint at a possible Jodi Arias episode this year, but quite frankly I don’t think that’s going to happen. So far there’s really nothing new I would be able to add to this highly publicized case that has been covered and re-covered by almost everyone who reports on crimes of any kind. If I can’t add anything new or compelling then there’s no point in me covering a story. There are a few cases like this that got way too much media scrutiny for me to be able to contribute anything new. However, as high-profile cases age, they sometimes become good candidates again because there’s a whole generation of people that may have never heard about them. The Jon Benet Ramsey case is a good example.
As for the schedule of drops this year, I started out pretty strong with weekly episodes for the most part. That was fun for a while, but I’m going to be switching over to a bi-weekly format…”
You ask each guest whether they think humanity is inherently good or evil. I love this question. I even had my high school students write a journal response on it. I was surprised to hear that most of them thought we were inherently good and become evil based on circumstances. What do you think?
“You teach high school so you already know the correct answer…
As I said at the end of Episode 32, I think humanity is evil, and by “evil” I really mean “selfish.” I think the people that think that “the world is great and people are great and God loves you” are completely delusional. These are the same people that occasionally stumble across the show and then promptly send me emails complaining, because they heard an episode that crossed their comfort zone and are pissed that they couldn’t keep their heads safely buried in the sand like they wanted to, where they can’t see the reality happening all around them. Sword and Scale tries to shatter that illusion and show the true side of humanity when people are put in desperate situations.
If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll eventually come to the conclusion that we all do everything out of selfishness. Even when you’re being charitable or helpful, you’re doing it for a selfish reason. As Lobo from Project Archivist said in Episode 32, “There is no such thing as true altruism. It doesn’t exist.” I agree with him. The world simply does not work that way.”
On that note…if you’re even slightly interested, I highly recommend you tune in to try an episode or listen to them all. Not sure how to even get a podcast? Go to iTunes and search for Sword and Scale. You won’t be disappointed…but if you are keep it to yourself. Thank you to Mike Boudet for agreeing to this interview, keep up the great work Mike! And, just in time Episode 39 is now ready for you! For more information, check out Sword and Scale here, here, or here.
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