From KCRW, I'm Kim Masters, and this is the business.

Elizabeth Holmes founded Theranos at 19 and was celebrated as the world's youngest female self-made billionaire.

But her company collapsed in scandal amid revelations that her much-hyped blood testing technology didn't work at all.

That stunning rise and fall has inspired

books, podcasts, and now the limited Hulu series, The Dropout. Showwinner Liz Meriwether is best

known for her long-running sitcom New Girl. She acknowledges she was hardly the most obvious choice

for a high-stakes business drama. I was a playwright before I was a screenwriter, and maybe they had some belief in my ability

to do something besides right sitcoms.

I really don't know why they came to me.

And in fact, when they called me, I was like, really?

Liz Merriweather talks about hitting the right tone for the dropout and casting a lead

actress who captures Holmes'

distinctive look and sound. But first we banter. Stick around. It's the business from KCRW.

I am joined by my colleague in banter, Matt Bellany. Hello, Matt. Hi there. So should we talk

about Tom Cruise? Yes, Tom Cruise.

He spices up any conversation.

You had a great piece in Hollard Reporter this week about some of the clashes on Mission

of Possible 7 and Mission Impossible 8, including my favorite line, which is that they decided, seemingly off the cuff, to incorporate a submarine into Mission of Possible Seven, which was probably not what Paramount

had in mind when they said, go off and figure out how to finish this movie.

Yeah, well, he's not finishing the movie.

I mean, this article traces the unbelievable challenges of making this movie, which went headlong

into COVID.

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