Curious Matter Aftershow - Star Hunter Part 3 (with special guests Shriswara and Selin Genc)
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Hey everyone, welcome to the Curious Matter After Show. I'm Alison Hayslip and my co-pilot here is Alyssa DeVries and we are going to be your hosts as we take a deeper dive into this season's episodes. We're going behind the scenes to learn a little bit more about these stories and their authors and of course,

geek out on our collective love of all things sci-fi and horror. Now, tonight's show is live on Twitch every other week. So all of you out there in podcast land, you can come on over and join us at twitch.tv slash effing funny. Ask questions, you get to interact with the team and you know, you maybe get to win a prize or two.

- Now tonight on the show, we have the Curious Matter creator, Jonathan Pezza. It's always wonderful to be joined by him. And two of the fabulous actors in "Star Hunter," Shree Zwara and Celine Gensch. Welcome, everyone. - Hi, everyone. - Hi.

sweet i think everyone was like i don't want to talk over anyone else uh thanks for joining us on such an exciting episode but what was also so cool was at the very start like right before the podcast actually started we learned that it's the 300th anniversary of sci-fi coming up so in celebration of that uh

I want to know what all your favorite sci-fi works are, whether it's a movie, TV show, podcast. Let's let's learn a little bit about what you all like. Jonathan, I love that you immediately were like, huh? Out of the seven gazillion things that I have read and worked on, what's my favorite? Do you have one?

Recently, I think I have to start with that because there's so many. I love the Expanse series. Oh my gosh, Jonathan. The book is amazing. The books are amazing. Well, I just watched the show recently, but I was thinking during this episode that the crew totally sounded like the, what were they called? The out, the...

the belter yeah the belters they totally sounded like the belters and the expanse and i loved it some of them yeah some of them got a little bit of that creole vibe which is it was like south african creole mix or something like that in the expanse show so i was like a couple people like that in because i love that show yeah that was great uh awesome how about uh do you have a favorite uh sci-fi work

Trying to think, but the only thing that comes to mind for me right now is when I was much, much younger. There's this young adult book about a cat that sneaks into a spaceship. And I don't know the name of it, but if anyone does...

that would make me so happy chat we'll put you on this chat google cat cat from outer space which if you haven't seen is a classic is that actually a movie the cat from outer space one of the disneyland hour like black and white movies from like oh wow yeah was it felicit the cat who touched the moon

I don't think so, but I really felt. That sounds delightful. It does sound cute. It just makes me so sad I don't remember. Well, I have faith in our chat in figuring this out by the end of the show. Come on, sci-fi fans. All right, Shreezwara, how about you? Do you have a favorite sci-fi work? Would Jurassic Park count? Sure. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. The first one. I've not seen the others. You only have to see the first one. It's okay. Okay.

Also, the first one still holds up. Those dinosaurs are amazing. And when you realize like it was all done with practical effects, I hate to think back then because it's like we were all alive. And so saying that makes it seem like it was so long ago. But Jurassic Park, I mean, Jonathan even mentioned that at the beginning.

yeah there's a great movies that made us episode about the making of jurassic park if you haven't seen that series um yeah jurassic park's amazing yeah that was definitely you know when we when i do these stories i definitely try to figure out reference points for movies that i can utilize as like

as kind of touchstones so that you can, so that you can easily find your way into the story by having things that feel that way. Like there's musical homages in, in this to a lot of different things that are meant to kind of help you like get the feeling or vibe of those experiences. So yeah, love Jurassic park. Nice. All right. Let's dive into this episode a bit. So Lynn, you, you started off this episode with,

you know, right off the bat, I was just like, whoo, hi, Milana Wass. What is going on here? I mean, like it's truly, I mean, not literally cause it's all audio, but it was like, you walked in and just commanded that room. So how do you bring that kind of confidence to your performance using only your voice while still sounding entirely organic? That's so nice. I, um,

I mean, it's mostly just body language. I'm just, I was recording it in my closet because that's where the best sound is. And so I was just, you know, trying to embody it fully, which involves a lot of, you know, moving around, but trying not to make noise and a lot of, a lot of hand movements and a lot of face that, you know, that's, you try. Yeah. Were you also like, was your, I would just feel like my posture would be like so perfect during that.

100%. Yeah. Core tight. Core. Hold it all in. So you have performed in sci-fi works before, but was working on Star Hunter any different? Oh, yeah. I mean, it was really different. I mean, voice acting specifically was very different. And it just felt like the world was so like...

so exploring and so just whenever i needed help i just asked when we were when we were recording and he always had an answer like a great answer to lead me in the right way ah great thank you thank you i love that performance is also like sorry you're that how you like worked on the accent because of like your like your family right and they helped you

Yeah, they did. I don't have that accent, but my parents have a bit of an accent, so they helped me work on it and fine-tune it to sound a bit more like what they're used to from Turkey. Oh, that's amazing. I love it. I feel like there's such great stories of actors using family members' accents. Like,

uh what is his name and barry i can't not not bill hater the guy was like barry no ho hey i don't know the no hey but yes but no ho hank apparently that accent that he does is his wife's accent oh yeah that's so funny when i heard that i was like that's amazing

So, Shree, you have mainly worked in Hindi films. So what was it like working on a sci-fi project for you? Ironically, it didn't feel much different. Great. I mean, it was just, it felt like I was dubbing for a film, but just I didn't have to have the headache of trying to match it with the visual.

Yes. And I love that. I mean, we've seen, seen, sorry, heard Yaktisi in previous episodes, but I feel like this is the episode where we really get to see who Yaktisi is. So was this episode, did this episode bring more to you as well? They all brought some...

or the other throughout. I can't say this one in particular, but I mean, they all have some, each scene has something or the other that's kind of intriguing.

Nice. And did either of you have an image in your head of what these characters look like? Or Jonathan, do you give them artwork reference as to how you picture them? I wish I could. I wish I could. No, we talk about the characters a little bit, mostly in terms of motivation and backstory and things like that. But...

No, the really it's just conversational. And then it's also we really kind of evolved the character organically when we work together. I think with both both of you guys, I think that happened because I really try to take as you know, you try to find someone who's who's got the sound that you want. But then you also have to, like, give them trust and kind of hand off the character to them and see what they bring to it, what is interesting to them and what

you know, what, what makes them excited about that character and then work from that to build it out and make it meld into everything else. So both, I mean, both of you guys were so amazingly great at one, you were technical in the sense that like when the lines, sometimes the lines get a little technical and you're trying to get this very specific inflection or this very specific idea only through dialogue. And, um,

And both of you guys were just like one small adjustment and then bam, the performances were just so tight and so on point all the time. You're very kind and patient. And plus your writing also is very potent. It has a lot of, they're alive. They're not just black and white on paper. Everything is alive that you write. Thank you. That's fascinating.

Jonathan, you should post snippets of the script so the listeners can see what the actors are working with. That would be so cool. Critter Nation 3000 is saying, "I also wish there was artwork of these characters and scenes." It would be so cool if some of you in chat did some fan art. That would be so cool. I think we'd all like to see that. We will share all fan art. There you go. For sure.

Well, okay. Well, now we got to say Sri and Celine, you guys got to put out there anything you request for your characters, like do fan art of Yaktisi, but she's got to have an eye patch or something like that. Yeah. I have no clue, honestly, in my head, she was just me, but in a world where I am way more badass. So, I mean, yeah, that's how, that's how I worked with it in my head, but

I have no clue what she was actually supposed to look like. I think they both became you guys for me after we started working. I don't think that there's a different person in my brain. I think actually for all of the characters, really, once you guys were cast, in my brain, you guys are the images of those characters. I mean, someone's got to do some fan art and then we've got to get cosplaying going, right? Yes, please.

So, Celine, you also worked in production for Open Doom Crescendo last year. So when you were performing, do you feel like you got to approach it, approach this from a production standpoint as well?

Oh, I think they were very generous with that credit, but I don't know. I feel like I try not to be too like controlling and, and like, cause when you're an actor, you really have to, you know, focus on what you're doing, but leave everything else to what, what everyone else is doing and have trust. Yeah.

you know, you try to kind of push down those like type A tendencies. But honestly, for this one, it was I just had a lot of trust, mostly because it was this was pretty foreign to me. Voice acting is fairly new for me. So it was exciting to see other people do what they do and do it so well. So, yeah. Well, now that you're dabbling more into voice acting, do you

have you found a different type of love from it than on-camera acting? Yeah, definitely. It's nice because you're not restricted by what people think of when they look at you. You can, you can, if you can make your voice do it, then you can be it. It's, it's really exciting and kind of freeing. Sri, how about you? Do you, do you have a preference between on-camera or voice acting, or do you have a different type of love for one or the other?

I think I prefer voice acting because you don't have the paraphernalia of someone poking you in the face and pulling at your clothes all steady. I know. You can focus. I always say my dream when I'm on camera, like my hair is up and I'm in some situation where I can be like either dirty or sweaty or something where I don't have to care what I look like because it's so frustrating how much that matters sometimes. Somebody make some fan art of Alison looking really dirty and sweaty. Yeah.

I have a friend who talks about, he says, you always need a little JLo on your shoulder because he's convinced that every time you watch Jennifer Lopez and anything, you can tell that she is aware of how good she looks, but like you're seeing that. And he's like, you want that, but only a little bit. Like you always need some sort of awareness. And so he's always talks about when he's acting, he has a little JLo on his shoulder.

You don't need that when you're doing voice acting, though. It's great. So, Jonathan, listen, I mean, we're now in part three of this series. When you read these short stories and these books, do you know instantly that you can turn them into a Curious Matter podcast or does it take a while or do you love one and then just figure out how to make it a podcast?

Some of them you do and some of them, no, this one was a for sure. No, like I had listened to it as an audio book first because I found it.

And then I read it again. And both times, I think I talk about it kind of in the intro. I really kind of circled this one and didn't think that this was going to be right for the show. But it kind of hung with me. And the twists really hung with me. And where it starts and where it ends is such a wonderful journey. And I was like, ooh, yeah.

This has a great five episode arc because I can flip it on its head every episode and and find a way to make it do these really amazing twists and turns. And, you know, I think with all great like sci fi, it has to be an essential story, meaning that like.

This is this story in this world is is central to its existence. It can't just be a tale where it's like some side character in this world doing something and it and it but and it doesn't affect the world as a as a large meaning in a large, meaningful way. Like this is this is the essential story for this world, which is.

means it's going to have a great big old ending. I can't wait. No pressure. Well, in this episode specifically, and this is for all three of you, do you have a favorite moment? I mean, I clearly already said my favorite line. First rule in hunting, don't assume you killed it the first time. But do the three of you have a favorite moment, a favorite line, a favorite action that happens?

I mean, I like when they're negotiating over the radio. I think it's really funny that they're both kind of coming at it with fundamentally different understandings of the situation. Yeah.

Yeah. I think my favorite line in this episode, and it was the one I was super worried about, and it took me forever to like, who is this going to work? Is the pirate spring forth mini monologue, like, which is like, it's meant to some of like the poem that he says when he first comes in, he's forced to say is the key word to get in is a Stevenson poem. It's an actual poem from, from the writer of treasure Island. Um,

But when I wanted to create another poem that seemed like it was the same style, but actually explained the world that they were in, like basically when when the rich take everything, people have to resort to being pirates to get what they need out of this world that they're in. And so that's ultimately what it's about. And the way that so and the way you performed it was so amazing. And I was like,

I, cause I was really worried that that wasn't going to play right. And it was just spot on.

And so you wrote that? That's a faked version of a Stevenson poem. But I mean, that's a Jonathan, that isn't from the short story or anything. That's a Jonathan Pezza original. I would say there's almost no dialogue from the original. Oh, interesting. I'd say in almost all of these, there's very little dialogue that comes from the original short story. That makes me even more want to go back to the source material and figure it out.

how you adapted this because that's very cool i can i'll post it to the to the audiobook to the free audiobook oh you definitely should oh people would love that sure although i feel like people are going to listen to it and be like it's only in i'll do it after part five i don't want to know why is there no background noise why is it not 360 around my head yeah

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Reporting live from under my blanket, I'm Susan Curtis with Duncan at Home. Breaking news, pumpkin spice iced and hot coffees are back. I'll pass it to Mr. Curtis with his blanket for the full story. That is so right, Susan. You know, it's never too early to get in a spicy mood. I'm talking cinnamony goodness that's so tasty, people don't want to leave their blankets either. Back to you. No, back to you. All you.

The home with Dunkin' Pumpkin Spice is where you want to be. Speaking of which, the crash at the end

I had to dial that back. The it's like the first time that I've had to be like, I think this might make people puke. Oh, the wind. So when the when the plane is falling, there's two wind sources and they're spinning around you at slightly different rates. And when I ran that by itself in the test mix, it literally made me like made the world spin.

I was like, wow, I found I figured out it's like the brown noise. It's like I figured out this thing that just makes you seasick. It's crazy. And I had to dial it back because I wanted you to feel like you were falling. But I, you know, never want anybody to be uncomfortable. God, isn't the human body so weird sometimes? Like, how does just the manipulation of sound actually affect us physiologically? Yeah.

source of our of our balance and equilibrium so yeah i know

One of the best things I ever learned when I went to space camp is if you get dizzy. Yes, I went to space camp, by the way. That's awesome. But if you get dizzy, like after you go on a spinning ride or something like that, the way to like settle your inner ear is to jump up and down because it's going like this. And so if you jump up and down, it stops the spinning feeling. I was like, what did you do, Alabama or Florida?

- I feel one. Huntsville, Alabama. - Yeah. - For four years. - I wanted to go so bad as a kid. - It was awesome. But you know, you go four years in a row and year four, 'cause they have like the same counselors. The counselors are like, why are you back? We've taught you everything. There's nothing more we can teach. No one comes for four years. But that's how much of a nerd I am. Shree, how about you? We haven't heard your favorite moment from this episode yet.

I can't be biased. I like the entire thing. It's the collectiveness that makes it wonderful. I can't say that one particular thing. That's no. Now you've been, you were in the first episode, right? We had Yakti season. Yes. Okay, great. Yeah. So because you've been, you've actually been recording these in parts as well. Did you know your character was going to be coming in to save the day by episode three or...

Did you know this arc for your character or were you pleasantly surprised when you kept going into recording sessions and finding out what you were doing? It was done in one session. So before that, I'd gotten given me all three of the scripts and read it beforehand. Oh, great. Man, so you had all the info.

- Nobody's seen script four yet. This is the secret that you guys are learning on this, is that we had the first five episodes of the season locked in and then got into production. And I also ended up on a full-time show for HBO. - Congrats. - Thank you. Yeah, it's just limited my ability to get everything. So we're gonna take a mini break to catch up of two extra weeks to get the last two parts out to everybody. This is where you guys get to hear it first.

Um, because you know, this is a, this is a passion project where it's, you know, I'm, I'm doing, I'm, I have a full-time job and I put in like 30 to 40 hours a week on this. So it's just, uh, we're going to get it when we can get it out, but it's going to be very. Okay. So we're taking a mid season hiatus at the moment. We also have an after the ultimate cliffhanger.

Yeah. But Jonathan, let's talk more about that. How can people who listen to this support you and support the show in any way since you are basically helming this almost single-handedly? Yeah. I mean, the biggest thing is like the Patreon is really big. We're trying to make it better and

and with more perks and more things. But it's the place where you can go and get access to the scripts so you can actually see how they're written and get the entire script. You can also you also get early access to the shows. So it's that's one place that's really helpful. You know, it's getting a little bit better each season. There's an assist. I have an assistant editor, Moise, who's awesome, who's been helping this season to get everything prepped. And he's started to move into dialogue editing, which has been really great.

I'm sure he'll be really happy to hear his name on this because he's been working really hard to get this stuff out. It's, you know, it's I'm not this is this is not being done by a big studio. It's being done in the basement in Reseda, California, with, as I like to say, in the first season, like a group of misfits just putting it together, you know, like talent. Everybody's so talented and we're just all coming together to try to make this like interesting, unique thing. So.

Well, let's talk a bit about how you find all the talent. I mean, I know we made a joke. I can't remember if it was on the show or not, but if you actually look in the credits, it's half Pezzas, like half your family helps out with this, which is amazing. You clearly come from a very supportive family, but how do you find, like, how do you find Flynn? How do you find Sri? Or maybe it's better, a better question for you ladies. How, how were you approached to come on board for this?

you guys can say this we were this is the first time i had actually gone um out of our own kind of casting circle and started reaching out using like like we used backstage for this um to find some of the great voices we found um rovald as well also came off of backstage um and these guys

and their submissions were amazing. Oh, that's wonderful. I didn't even realize that. That's great. I didn't even know backstage was still around. That's awesome. Backstage feels like, for those of you who have been out here as long as I have, it was like the thing when you first moved to LA, you mailed in actual physical headshots to the addresses of casting directors and backstage. So I'm glad to see that backstage has made it through the...

technology jumps since then. I was trying to explain to someone that when I first moved to LA, you had to fax your headshot and resume sometimes to people, which I don't, I mean, I barely knew how to use a fax machine back then, but it's like, I don't think people who moved to LA these days even know what a fax machine is. - If you showed up somewhere to drop off a headshot, like they'd call security nowadays. - Oh yeah. - You did.

Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah. We have a question in chat. Great. D man one one nine eight. He also asked this in previous weeks. How was it hearing these episodes like the finished product after recording? Did it sound different than you thought? Like, what were your thoughts upon hearing it? It was so cool.

I really, I just had a great time listening to it. Like I only heard my side of it. So to hear me, like my voice speaking with someone else and interacting, it was just, it was so cool. And actually getting an idea of the whole scene, right? Right. I mean, like, yeah, I'd read it, but actually listening to how other actors chose to

perform their lines, how it managed to work with the way that Jonathan directed me to perform my lines. It was, yeah, cool. Shree, how about you? I mean, I know you've been a random, like, other person, like, stock sound of somebody drinking in the middle of your line. It is amazing how we matched it. Like, we had recorded it separately. And yeah, when you put them together and then it sounds like a track off of a film, it's amazing.

Yeah. And your character, too. I mean, your character is introduced with a group of people and you're all I mean, it's not just a two person scene. There's like a group of you all interacting and going through this action together. So I have to imagine if you've only recorded your part, having no idea these three or four other voices around you, even what they're going to sound like, that's got to be a trip to finally hear. Yeah.

It is. It's interesting. All right. Well, Jonathan, what I know we're going to take a little bit of a hiatus, but what can we expect for part four?

Man part four is where the story really breaks open. We start getting some answers everybody I know you've been waiting three episodes for some questions and more questions and more questions Yeah, it's we're gonna start really learning what's actually going on and and why In this next one. It's a it's a pretty amazing episode. It's very different than we've seen It's been kind of a roller coaster ride

And finally, the next one's where it's really gonna sit down and be more about the characters. - Wonderful. I apologize for everyone watching this right now. My cat decided to make an appearance if you're wondering what happened. Awesome. Oh, he's coming back. We're almost done, we're almost done. There he is. He wants to say hi. Oh gosh, Alyssa, anything more in the chat before we wrap up? - Let me take a peek.

Well, Death Queen says, oh, kitty. D-Man says, cat tax must be paid. So everybody's excited about the cat. We've got a new apex predator, and it's your cat. I know. Are you a vicious beast? She just lies down. Oh, gosh. She just knocked everything off my table. All right. Well, I think that's about time, if anything.

I'd like to thank our guest, Jonathan Pezza, Shrizora, and Celine Gench for joining us tonight. Please make sure to like and subscribe wherever you are listening. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook under the handle at CM Anthology, or check us out online at www.curiousmatterpodcast.com.

Our technical director tonight is Death Queen Vex. The Curious Matter After Show is presented by F and Funny and the Knightsville Workshop and distributed by Realm Media. So until next time, I am Alison Haislip. This is Alyssa DeVries and we've been your hosts. Don't get held captive by any cartels. And thank you so much for listening. The Fable and Folly Network, where fiction producers flourish.

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