TALES DISPATCH: Jenn Wexler on “ORPHEUS”

Jordan Gass-Pooré, Rigo Garay, John Speredakos, Emily Bennett, Jenn Wexler, Jeremy Holm, Larry Fessenden, Gaby Leyner, Matt Rocker
BELOW:Abi Lieff

I came up with the concept for “Orpheus” this time last year. In the past I’ve helped to produce Tales (here’s looking at you Seasons 2 and 3!) but this would be my first as a Tales writer/director. I knew I wanted to write an episode that would allow for a variety of soundscapes and that would let me explore multiple horror sub-genres. I wanted to craft a story that could start intimate and expand into something epic – a chamber piece that spins its way into a blockbuster. The magic of the audio drama! One moment, an intimate phone conversation; the next, nuclear explosions and planes falling from the sky. It’s all possible in audio. Which ultimately led me to realize that this creative process could help me cope with the major anxieties I was having around the advent of AI – at that point, primarily the rise in popularity of ChatGPT.

As I started to develop the story, I knew immediately that I wanted Emily Bennett and Jeremy Holm to star as the couple at the center of it, both fantastic actors and my good friends. I pitched Emily on the idea while tucked into a corner of Jack Fessenden’s childhood bedroom during Glass Eye’s legendary Christmas party. She said yes, as did Jeremy soon after, and I got to work writing, with their voices top of mind.

We recorded “Orpheus” in February with Matt Rocker at Underground Audio NYC, the cast rounded out with Glass Eye regulars and newcomers alike, over the course of two days, and then I dove into the dialogue edit. While editing, I got a coffee with incredible singer/songwriter and my good friend Shayfer James, described the concept to him and that I was searching for a song to serve as the couple’s first wedding dance, as well as the theme for the episode. He sent me his song “Waiting,” which I instantly fell in love with. With that in place and the dialogue edit complete, Matt worked his sound design wizardry, and the episode started to come to life.

We set the Tale aside for a little bit while I worked on another project, and when we picked it back up in the fall, AI in the real world had grown exponentially (as I guess you would expect from it.) Writing “Orpheus” back in January, the Tale seemed very science fiction. Now with Sora, Claude, a few weeks ago Nano Banana, et al, AI has become a very real, inescapable part of our lives and our society. (The day before we released “Orpheus,” I read this article in the Independent – “If You Could Speak To Your Dead Grandmother Forever, Would You?”) The future is apparently here.

But at any rate, there was a Tale to release! In November, brilliant composer Antoni Maiovvi came aboard and crafted a score capturing all of the sub-genres I’d been excited to explore – domestic drama, psychosexual tech thriller, end-of-the-world apocalypse blockbuster. We mixed the Tale at Underground Audio with Matt working his magic. And on our final day of mixing, Larry and Glenn recorded The Host’s intro and outro, which was super fun to see come together.

Meanwhile, as we were finishing up the Tale, Brian Level was making my poster art dreams come true, with a modern spin on the classic gothic women-running-away-from-houses paperback novel covers.