Their assignment was to take a book that chronicles one of history's more controversial characters

and turn it into a TV series. And by the way, they did it flawlessly. Howdy, I'm Jeff Goldsmith

and this is the Q&A. My agenda is simple. Each week I plan to bring you in-depth insights into the

creative process of storytelling. Folks, I'm extremely excited to have with me today, co-writer and co-creator of the series, Mark Rashard, to talk about his WGA-nominated TV show,

The Good Lord Bird. And wow, what a pleasure it was to watch The Good Lord Bird.

I mean, this is a very entertaining television show, but it is feeding you real history in a very digestible

fashion to the point that you just can't wait to see what happens next.

And sometimes you cannot believe your eyes in which some of these stranger parts of

history are the truer parts.

Of course, it goes without saying that some of the themes of racism

that are observed in the show, just as they plagued the nation way back then, still plagued

the nation now, which makes the good Lord Bird even more relevant as a great piece of television.

And John Brown is such an amazing character to Chronicle. Ethan Hawke did just a brilliant job with his depiction of John Brown, his writing of John

Brown in this adaptation.

And you know, look, I cannot say enough good things about this show.

And I want to say, even if you have not yet seen the good Lord Bird, you could still definitely listen to the

non-spoiler section and understand everything we're talking about. And you'll probably understand

most of the spoiler section as well. But look, if you could get it through Showtime and you

could watch the Good Lord Bird, I highly recommend it. It completely deserved its WGA nomination

for television. It's just got some

excellent writing in it. Without a doubt, Mark was an excellent guest who had a lot of interesting

things to say about his creative process and what it took to make this show. So I know you'll

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