7Lamb Productions Jack Austin Talks Audio Dramas And Fire Watchers [New Blood Drops]
Storytelling is one of the oldest professions in history, ever since the first articulate being sat with their tribe around a fire and regaled them with the tale of “moving big rock from here to there.” Naturally, once the home radio began to integrate itself into people’s lives many millennia later, it only made sense to take that oral tradition and spin yarns over the airwaves. Thus, “audio dramas” were born, enticing audiences with tales of crime, suspense, and “liver pills.”
While not as prominent as they once were back in the starvin’ 30s and warrin’ 40s, the spirit of those old radio shows persists in the form of “story podcasts,” which are podcasts that focus entirely on storytelling.
The subject of this column is a company that’s made such storytelling their business: 7Lamb Productions, the home of such series as Paralyzed and Tower 4. I had the honor of talking to one of the founders and lead actors of the company — Jack Austin — about their humble beginnings, inspirations, and honey pepper water (I know you haven’t tried it, so don’t judge).
Before we get to the interview, two things. First, there are spoilers for Paralyzed and Tower 4, so reader beware. Second, this interview was nearly an hour long, so what you’re about to read is a condensed version. However, you can read the FULL TRANSCRIPT on my website right here! Trust me, there’s some good stuff in there, especially for you “lambs” roaming around.
With that said, let’s chat with Jack Austin from 7Lamb Productions!
Dread Central: For our readers who don’t know who you are and what you guys do, what is 7Lamb? What are you all about? How did it all start?
Jack Austin: It all started when I complained about hating my job on Facebook. [laughs] I always had a passion for voices, accents, and things like that. I complained about my job, and somebody said, “Well, what do you want to do?” And I said, “Voice acting would be my number one thing I’d probably want to do.” He connected me with Robert Lamb, and we just hit it off like wildfire. So we formed 7Lamb right there, and the rest is history, as they say.
But 7Lamb as a company, I would say, we specialize in audio dramas. Not your typical podcasts where, you know, interviewer, interviewee. These are narrative-driven stories that we tell, and we like to keep them suspenseful, entertaining.
DC: Let’s go ahead and move on to Paralyzed. Originally, the idea was dealing with sleep paralysis and, you know, paralysis demons, and all that kind of stuff. But there are a few extra surprises thrown into this mix. Was all that planned from the get-go? Or is it more like a “make-it-up-as-you-go-along” kind of thing?
JA: I would say it’s a chaotic mix of both, right? We have a beginning, and we have an end. I know Robert’s writing process pretty intimately at this point. When he goes and he’s writing something on the page, if it works, that’s the path it’s going to take. And adding those extra… “variables” to the story, right? The Doll Face Killer, the Deer Head Men… It made the world a little bit bigger, and a little bit more, you know, widespread.
DC: One would think this would be like a Nightmare on Elm Street story. But it turns out, it’s more along the lines of Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight, which also has a bunch of people in a place—in that case, it was a hotel—with a demon outside bringing other skinny demons out of the ground to go kill our main heroes. But not only that, I also get a lot of Evil Dead vibes from it.
What are the actual inspirations for Paralyzed? What horror — or any [genre] — inspirations came into making this story?
JA: So I actually had a chance to talk with Rob about this a little bit, to get what the influences are, and he sent me a list of horror movies that inspired him. And he listed The Shining, Rosemary’s Baby, The Thing—which is one of his favorite movies, I know that.
DC: Let’s go ahead and switch to Tower 4 now, which is the first show I listened to. I remember when we first sent emails to each other, you mentioned that you don’t consider Tower 4 a horror show. I was wondering why that is?
JA: When it comes to horror, for me personally, I think of what we just listed. The Thing is definitely up there. For me, Event Horizon was another crazy horror film that was the first movie to truly scare me out of the room. And typically, straight narrative horror to me always has that sense of dread, and that sense of the unknown being out there.
While Tower 4 deals with that a lot, I felt like it was more suspenseful. We definitely have horror elements, but it’s more Mike [Archer] and his perception, and him trying to figure out what’s going on in the Wyoming woods. I just didn’t see [prominent] horror elements.
DC: This came out during the influx of ‘fire watchtower media’ that happened a few years ago, which was all predated back in 2005 by It Waits. According to the recaps, none of that inspired the show. In that case, what inspired the show? Personally, I am getting some Until Dawn vibes, and even a little bit of The Lost World: Jurassic Park, with a giant monster moving through the trees.
JA: So, for that, actually—and we get linked to this a lot—the game Firewatch. It was pretty close, and Rob played that for a while. Dear Esther was another inspiration. The movie The Most Dangerous Game, too.
Read the full interview right here!
You can listen to their audio dramas on their website here (as well as anywhere else you can listen to podcasts), and support them on their Patreon here. Doing so will allow you to enjoy ad-free episodes, and exclusive shows only accessible to patrons!
Paralyzed and End of All Hope just started their new seasons, so be sure to check them out!
Categorized:Interviews
