The last nine years of podcasting are filled with memorable experiences, including conducting interviews, meeting people, building relationships and much more. However, when I take a step back, there is actually one podcast that counts as its own amazing, fun and memorable experience:
The Peggy Carter Podcast. It only lasted for two seasons of Agent Carter, but I’m so pleased that we got them both. The Random Decision I came up with the idea to produce an Agent Carter show while producing the Assembly of Geeks podcast. Before this moment, I never thought about spin-off podcasts or doing a show exclusively focused on one television series. However, it was hard to ignore how excited we were to discuss any news surrounding Agent Carter on our current podcast. At one point, I thought we could dedicate a segment to our Agent Carter reactions, but I thought that would take away from the free-flowing variety of Assembly of Geeks. So, I decided to host and produce a standalone podcast. Then, I had to figure out how to piece it together. Picking the Co-hosts I knew I wanted to be a host on this show, and it only made sense to ask AoG co-hosts Tricia Barr and Jeff McGee if they would be interested in being part of it. However, time was an issue for them, and that meant I needed to expand my co-host search. Fortunately, I was already talking to Lauren Galloway and Amy Hypnarowski about getting involved with Assembly of Geeks, and it turned out they were both very interested Agent Carter. It all fell into place, and we had instant chemistry.
I knew the theme needed an old school secret agent vibe, and I found the perfect opening theme track on Pond5. Then, I started to think about the intro and bumpers. At first, I considered the sound of Peggy going into the office and pulling a file (which would contain the breakdown of the day's episode), but that would be tough to convey with audio sounds.
Then I started to think in old school and 1940s radio terms. At one point, Amy joked about us dressing up in 1940s clothes and turning it into a radio production of that time. That idea jump-started my concept - The opening theme would transition to the sound of a tuning radio. Then, an old-school radio announcer would set the stage through a dramatic read. I was lucky to find voiceover artistRon Chavis to be the newsman. His first words were always, "This is SSR radio." As I wrote his first script, I knew I wanted his last line to be something over-dramatic. So, he closed with a dire warning about Peggy's mission by saying, "If she fails, the consequences could be severe...both for her...and the world as we know it." When I was writing the intro for the second episode, I struggled to come up with a line that had an equally cool and cheese-tastic ring to it. Then it hit me - the "world as we know it line" should be the close for every episode's introduction. If it wasn't broken, why try to fix it? That closing line became very synonymous with the show. Audio: The Peggy Carter Podcast Season Premiere Episode Along with the fun introduction, each "break" in the podcast featured 1940s music (including tracks heard in the series) and 1940s radio commercials.
The Hayley Atwell Interview It wasn't long into the first season that we learned that some writers from Agent Carter were listening to the show. The download stats were solid as the podcast grew into something unexpectedly great. Yet, there wasn't a guarantee that Agent Carter would get renewed for a second season. When the renewal came, I started to think about starting our second season with a special guest. In May of 2015, I made plans to attend a comic convention in Houston. Hayley Atwell was a guest, and she was the main reason for my attendance. Having conducted several convention interviews, I wondered if it was possible to talk to Hayley while I was there. Thanks to Lauren's social media connections with people at Marvel, she was able to find out who I should contact about this idea. It was the Executive Director of Television Communications. When I reached out, I learned Marvel wasn't in control of Hayley's schedule at the convention. So, any interviews would have to be controlled by their staff. However, I was told that Marvel did not have any problems with her being on the show. I knew it was too late to organize something like that, and I asked if we could arrange something after the convention. He asked me to touch base with him when the new season went into production in the fall. 
At the convention, I paid for an autograph and photo op with Hayley. While she was signing my picture, I asked if she'd heard of our Peggy Carter show.
She looked up, thought for a second and said, "Yes! In fact, I've listened to it in my trailer." She said she loved the amount of enthusiasm we had for the show. That was an unforgettable moment. Before I reached out to Marvel about an interview with her, I wanted to establish some rapport and demonstrate my professional approach to interviews. So, I booked an interview with Clark Gregg for the Assembly of Geeks Podcast, and we had a fantastic discussion about a variety of topics.
As production of Agent Carter was close to wrapping, I reached out and booked the interview with Hayley. I learned that she would talk to me from her trailer during a break. I would have a 15-minute window.
That day, I couldn't think of anything else. I wasn't nervous about interviewing her, it just needed to go smoothly. After all, this interview took six months to book, and the call was coming from a trailer on set. It was a tight window, and rescheduling may not be possible if something went wrong. Finally, it was time to record the interview. Then, we got delayed. That wasn't surprising since she was on a production set, and it meant I was going to have to wait a little longer. A couple more delays came and went, and they told me would call when they're ready. This extra time allowed me to calm my nerves and wait for everything to fall into place. The phone rang, and it was time to make this happen.
I replied, but I was unable to clearly understand what she said next. I hated to disrupt our pleasantries, but I had to tell her about the audio issue.
I was already a bit worried about this.
Luckily, she was able to put on a headset. Once plugged in, she came through loud and clear. She was a wonderful guest. She was totally engaged in our conversation, and we had a great 15-minute talk about Season One, the extended story of her character and the themes of Season Two. Everything came together and worked out perfectly. Even though I wouldn't upload the interview for another month, I decided to promote it on Twitter. It ended up being the perfect time to share it. Hayley retweeted it, and later that day, she decided not return to Twitter. Our interview was the last thing she shared on her account before leaving social media. It was almost fitting since everything about this podcast experience was about good decisions and timing:
I also have that unforgettable interview with the star of the show.
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