Podcast soap creator Allison Raskin on getting into British soaps and why people love gossip
The creator of a new soap opera podcast wants to get into British soaps.
Allison Raskin has created and written Gossip, a new soap in the form of podcast.
It follows three best friends who meet up every week to, well, gossip about their friends and neighbours.
Allison says while it’s intended to be a ‘traditional’ soap, she likes to play with the tried and tested elements that make a good continuing drama.
She told Metro.co.uk: ‘I think Gossip is a mash up of a traditional soap and ½ hour comedy. It definitely plays and pulls from soap tropes but I tried to flip some of them on their head for comedic effect (most notably the serial killer storyline).’
The writer based the show on people she has come across in real life, basing some of the scandalous stories on real life events.
‘I think the characters are based more on “types” of people I know versus specific people. I needed the three main characters to really differ from each other so I sort of went with three more generic types of women we all know and then fleshed out the details,’ she added.
‘Some of the storylines are based on actual events I’ve heard or read about and then the rest are completely made up.’
So why do people love a good bit of juicy gossip?
‘I think we all inherently love a good story and that’s what great gossip is,’ Allison says.
‘I find people fascinating and I could listen to stories about people I’ve never even met and be riveted for hours. Some people would call that nosey. I would agree.’
When we asked her to spill the best bit of gossip she’s ever heard, she deftly avoided going into specifics.
More: TV
She said: ‘I’m always blown away when someone has a second life or a huge secret. So whenever it’s a case of “he was having an affair for three years!” ect…
‘I’m constantly shocked. I am pretty much unable to be anything other than an open book so some people’s capacity to lie continues to amaze me.’
Ooh, you tease!
Allison added that she is ‘very open to suggestions’ on which British soaps to get into, and called for fans to give her some recs on Twitter (she’s @allisonraskin btw).
Gossip is available to download on iTunes now.
MORE: New podcast soap Gossip is going to give you Desperate Housewives drama on the move
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