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Working: Eliot Laurence on His “Maximalist” TV Series Motherland: Fort Salem

Slate Daily Feed

Slate

Business, News, Society & Culture

3.91.1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 July 2022

⏱️ 45 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, host June Thomas talks to Eliot Laurence, creator of the witchy supernatural series Motherland: Fort Salem. In the interview, Eliot discusses Motherland’s unique premise, its queer characters, and his decision to include tons of storylines and plot details.  After the interview, June and co-host Karen Han discuss supernatural premises, the “kill your gays” trope, and being an introverted boss.  In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, June asks Eliot about a specific piece of magic in Motherland.  Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com or give us a call at (304) 933-9675.  Podcast production by Cameron Drews. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Big Mood, Little Mood—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on Working. Sign up now at slate.com/workingplus. -- Thanks to our sponsor, Atlassian Work Check Thanks also to Avast.com! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:42.0

I don't know if it's because my parents took me to like Fellini movies when I was a little boy and I had no idea what was going on and probably shouldn't have been there.

1:00.0

But I actually lean into something when I can't put figure it out and to me that's the dance of participation with the viewer. So I like it when things are a little vague.

1:11.0

Welcome back to Working. I'm your host, Karen Han.

1:15.0

And I'm your other host, June Thomas.

1:18.0

Hi, June. I am so, so excited to hear more of the conversation. We just heard a little, little tease of. But before we get to that, how are you?

1:27.0

Karen has been so long. I know. I am very well. Thank you. I'm in Scotland this week and I'm not fully adjusted to British summertime.

1:36.0

So I'm slightly jet liked, but other than that, I'm totally swell, very happy to talk to you today.

1:42.0

Yeah, I was going to say, I know it's a little later for you right now. I'm recording at 11 a.m. my time. But for you, it's like night time.

1:48.0

Yes, 7 o'clock. When you and I talk, when we're in our different locations, we have that eight-hour time difference.

1:56.0

We get to, you know, spend the world of different meals that we're about to eat or have just eaten.

2:02.0

That's just the power of working. Exactly.

2:06.0

Okay, so who did you talk to for the podcast this week?

2:09.0

So I spoke with Elliott Lawrence, who is the creator of Clause, amazing show and the creator.

2:16.0

I told them it too. And he's also the creator and showrunner of Motherland Fort Salem, which is a show I absolutely love, and which we focused on this week in our conversation,

2:27.0

because it recently started airing its third and final season.

2:32.0

And I wanted to chat with him because Motherland Fort Salem, which is such a mouthful, but it's just kind of emphasizes what a weird show it is.

2:42.0

Of course, that's its name, Motherland Fort Salem. And it's like the craziest, most over-the-top show I've watched in a long time,

...

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