Businessweek Extra - Andrew Hinderaker

It just dropped on September four. But it's a series that centers on an International space crew as they head to Mars. It was inspired by an Esquire article back in seventeen about astronaut Scott Kelly's mission aboard the International Space Station. I've got space in my roots. My dad was very involved in the space program. This is so cool. Yeah,

I was so lucky in Seen. I was brought this beautiful article that you mentioned by Chris Jones and Jason Cadam's who had us know from Friday Night Lights and Parenthood. He had optioned the article along with Matt Reeves, just fabulous director of many of films, the upcoming Batman and um. They were interested in doing a series and mission to Mars. And I had worked for Jason previously and it brought me this article UH and asked if I was interested,

and it was pretty immediate. Yes, I feel about space exploration. Sounds amazing. But what I particularly responded to with this article is that Chris went into death in UM. The article itself is about Scott Kelly, the astronaut, Scott Kelly and the mission aboard the International Space Station UH, and Chris talks about the International Space Ship Station itself and this improbable alliance of the then crumbling Soviet Union in the United States UH, and that is an analog for

a mission to Mars. The idea that it would be an international mission of countries that might not normally get along, but would find a way to work together because that was what was required for something this difficult and this expensive. That was a really interesting and big idea to be

very hopeful UM. And then on a much more intimate level, the article explores the moment in which Scott is up in the space station and he finds out that his sister and a Gaby difference has been shot and he has to navigate what it is to be away from

his family when they need him the most. And my partner, Eileen and I've been in a long distance relationship for fifteen years and she lives with an illness that was diagnosed when I was away opening up play as a play, right, And so that moment really UM spoke to me very personally.

And so from that UM came the story of an international crew going to Mars and as they're about to launch UM something really catastrophic but falling Hillary's family and her being forced with to face the idea of being apart from them for three years at this impossible distance

when they need her the most. Well, and the answer what you managed to capture with this show, and I think you're alluding to, is this this notion of simultaneously exploring one of the biggest ideas there is, one of the most expansive ideas and notions that there is, and then one of the most intimate things. How do you balance that as a writer and as a storyteller. Well, there's to me, it's just nothing more thrilling than getting to play in those two fields, right, the epic and

the intimate. And I think that you mentioned those conversations that we were fortunate enough to have with all of the extraordinary folks at NASA and at JPL. And it's kind of the life of an astronaut, you know. I I The very first conversation I had I was working on this project UM was with the astronaut Don Pettit and his wife, Mickey Pettit UM and Don told me a story about being up on the space stations doing

a space walk. Uh, and they hit a part of the orbital sunrise where's gonna be dark for about forty five minutes, so there's nothing that he could really work on until the light came. So he traversed to the front of the space station and strapped himself to the very front. There's nothing between him and space and this magnificent list of Earth and watching the sunrise over the planet right and and there's what could be more epic

and more stunning than that? And then isn't that? I mean, it's just you know, watching how do you have an experience as a human? After that, UM, and then the very next conversation I had with Nicky, she described to me what it felt like watching her husband watch and knowing that in a few minutes he was either going to break through the atmosphere block into a million pieces.

And and so to me, this story of space exploration is the story of the epic and the intimate um and as Uh as a television screenwriter who loves cinematic expanse, but as somebody who I began my career as a playwright working in thirty store on theaters in Chicago that are the most intimate spaces you can imagine if there's nothing we can be more thrilling than than trafficking and

those in both the epoch and the intiment. So I do love that part of it, Uh, Andrew, that you do have this wonderful diverse you know, space team, and I feel like it's really something um moving and appropriate considering the backdrop of our times. Oh thank you, Yeah, it's It was incredibly hopeful to hear when I spoke to so many folks that uh at NASA at GPL that they believed it UM would be in their national

mission going. And I just feel like we are living in a moment um that is a great example of of why it's so important for the world to work together. And I believe in science, you know, this is that's especially important when you're living in a pandemic, and so living in a pandemic writing in a pandemic. Obviously, the writing part has always been solitary, Andrew, but the creation of a show that's a little bit different. Talk to us about, you know, how all this got put together?

Was it all sort of pre pandemic and it was locked and loaded? And how has the pandemic changed the rollout and all of these things. I mean, I guess Netflix is a is a very good home for you at this point because we're all a little bit more captive than we were. We are extremely lucky in that regard. And I should say at the top, right, even the writing was collaborative. We had an incredible staff, fantastic Showlen and Injustice Olberg, the writing staff that was as diverse

and international as ours our cast. Um. And then we were very lucky because we finished filming in February, and so we had finished filming, and then we did all of our post production remotely, and um, like you said, we have, we did not anticipate, um that our audience would be as captive or the show would be as

as strikingly relevant. And I would say, you know, I even I wouldn't have even wished for this kind of relevance, But we certainly feel fortunate that we were able to get the show film didn't and get it out there for folks and see. So I do wonder too, you know, what do you think the future looks like in terms of content production? Well, we are in a really interesting time UM for our industry, particularly because we're negotiating what

is what is UM television production look like? While we're living through COVID, we're as we're hopeful for a season two UM. We don't know for sure what will happen. We are very lucky in the writer's rooms can be remote, you know. We're like like many UM industries, adjusting to embracing a zoom platform and work remotely where we can. I know that there are a lot of UM there's there's folks who are looking at stories that are a little bit more intimate in nature and a little more

socially distanced in nature. But I think that what we're also understanding is that there's a real appeal UM to folks to be able to watch UM even cinematic experiences like away in the comfort of your own home. I mean, it's you know this is a this is like uh, colleague was saying, there's a lot of special effects. It's sort of cinematic and expanse um. But we're fortunate enough here that we've got our big screen TV here and

it looks pretty stunning. And I think that that is a direction we're headed in, and so Andrew, I do wonder from a creator's perspective as well. You know, we've had all these streaming services you know, come out. Netflix obviously remains sort of the big daddy, UM, but you know a lot of people in that their heels, Disney Plus especially, UM. It feels like a great time to be a creator on the one hand, because there are so many opportunities out there, and yet there's all this

content being produced as well. So how do you ensure as a creator that you know, you really can separate the signal from the noise, make the right choices, and also make sure that people actually see your work. It's a fantastic question, and if I'm completely candid, I don't think it's one that anybody has a perfect answer for

you because you named it. I mean, there's uh, the tremendous advantage of today's landscape is there are more opportunities for creators UM, and that also means UM more diverse work and oftentimes more interesting work because the target audience might not be if you back when there were four networks and you need twenty million viewers, UM that the work is. It's called broadcast for a reason, it might

need to be more broad UM. But here if if a success might be two million viewers, you can be incredibly specific with your content and tell UM a greater range of stories. So I think that's incredibly exciting. But then you named UM the exact challenge, which is how do you rise above the noise? For me, I was drawn to this project in part because I thought the story was As a storyteller, it was the kind of story you get once or twice in your career. It's

just such an extraordinary story. And if I feel that way as a storyteller, I think there's a a great opportunity that audiences are going to feel similarly if we execute that story. And thus far, it's been overwhelming that there has been such a global response to the show, and I think that's a testament to UH create a team the actors, but also just the story itself. That we were lucky enough to tell I love what you said about, you know, space exploration being the story of

the epic of the intimate. I have to say, I'm a space kid. My dad was very involved in UM, the early early space program. So I love to see that you guys created content around this. I think it's important. I think it got lost for a while on kind of the public space, and I'm glad to see more time and attention being put towards it. Andrew, thank you. We're thrilled to be a part of a part of a tremendous tradition of some of those those great iconic films.

So we can only aspire to be a part of that tradition of the right of apolit thir team grabbing the Marshan. That's that's great, great film. Ahead, Well, I was gonna go ahead, Jason, we get Andrew. We we want to just talk to you for now. Was there anything quirky that you heard from the astronauts though? And just got about a minute left, like I just can

imagine the stories. Well, I know that the first thing in the Kingdom I when you said quirky is UM when we were looking to speaking of Mike Massimino, who was a mast and I've worked on the Hubble telescope. Uh. He told Hillary Swank that he wore literally astronaut spaces and the show on the station. And so you'll see in the show she is wearing the same socks. And that is a little tribute to um Mike in a in a quirky detail that I love that little least, right,

that's great. That's Andrew Hinderocker. He's the writer and creator of the new Netflix series Oh Way, check it out. It is streaming as we speak. I love getting a new recommendation. I feel like all of us out there has been plowing through our cueues on all the streaming services. But this guy, as you said as we were prepping for this interview, he's the real deal. And so you want to pay attention to these very successful showrunners when

they put something else out. It's hard to break through these days with all the content that's out there, but this is a good one. You've been listening to Bloomberg Business Week Extra, be sure to tune into Bloomberg Business Week Radio Live Monday through Friday at two pm Wall Street Time on Bloomberg Radio. I'm Charle Masser and I'm Jason Kelly. This is Bloomberg