1.) We’re super-fortunate and happy to welcome to our humble pages accomplished actress, songwriter, director and podcast Svengali Ms. Scarlett Burke; greetings and salutations, Scarlett! Before we kick the tin can too far down that dusty road, how has your New Year been treating you?
2022 came in hot with just having started production at the end of 2021 so it’s been a great year so far, getting to work with incredible talent.
2.) Congratulations are very much in order for the brand-spankin’ new podcast Make It Up As We Go which is set to debut its sophomore season on May 3! For those not in the know, how would you describe Make It Up As We Go?
Make it Up As We Go is an 8 episode scripted country music series based on the songwriter’s journey in the Nashville writing world. The series was written by David Hudgins and Brooks Hudgins. David comes from the world of television and was the writer and showrunner on Friday Night Lights so it’s like listening to a TV series as a podcast.
3.) What was the genesis of Make It Up As We Go? How did this handy-dandy podcast come into being?
It really came from a 6 song EP that I had recorded at Village Studios in LA with Jared Gutstadt which he produced. The songs were written in Nashville and LA and a few of them I had just written by myself for the heck of it, at that time I was doing some freelance for Jared’s previous business Jingle Punks. With his success in the world of sync, I knew we would find a home for them. Jared had just wrapped his podcast series, Bear and a Banjo and from that the saw possibility of a new platform for releasing music. He brought the idea up of making this a soundtrack for a podcast and my response was, “what’s a podcast” and here we are!
4.) With a second season set to premiere in a matter of days, do you feel any pressure to one-up the freshman season of Make It Up As We Goor is the standing order to not mess with a good thing?
Yes and no…. My main goal is to make sure we stick with our authenticity of what it means to be a songwriter, therefore there is some pressure there but I think you’re right in that we don’t want to mess with a good thing from the first season.
5.) How are you similar to the character of Charlotte Sayles whom you essay to nigh perfection in Make It Up As We Go? How are you different?
First off, I don’t drink beer and I have two siblings and a niece and nephews…I think Charlotte is much braver than I am, moving to a new city with a boyfriend and taking a bet on that love and Nashville.
6.) What fans can expect from this sophomore run of Make It Up As We Go? Is it terribly unfair to attempt to plie some spoilers out of you?
HA! So unfair, you have to tune in! I will say, season two brings a whole other set of challenges for Charlotte and her relationship with Marshall and the search for stability in life. The soundtrack is more of the songwriters soundtrack in that we have a handful of pop and pop country and then the Charlotte songs. As a songwriter, you write for yourself and you also write for other people or lean into an artist’s brand that you could hear on the song.
7.) What do you hope listeners of Make It Up As We Go get out of the podcast?
I hope listener’s get to know more about the world of songwriting and what takes place in this industry to get those songs on the radio, to an artist, or just from your heart out on to paper.
8.) As we pointed out in our introduction at the top, you’re a well-respected singer and songwriter. How has that talent made its way into the production of Make It Up As We Go?
Thank you! Coming from the world of writing in sync and knowing the storyline this go round I think has helped shape the soundtrack . Season one was just my own free style songwriting and this season it was more to picture and to the characters. So I think having that sync experience in my past helped a lot in the writing room.
9.) You work with some amazingly talented folks in Make It Up As We Go: Shooter Jennings, Garrett Hedlund, Nile Rodgers, Elle King, Liz Rose, Kat and Alex Breland, Abby Anderson and Chord Overstreet. What’s it like creating a lovely and peculiar sort of magic with these creative people?
It’s so rewarding and special to see their process and how they come to life when they are doing what they love and are so successful at. They bring the characters and the music to life in a way that not just anybody can. In podcasts, we obviously lose the visual medium, so it’s really important that our talent has the same vision that Jared and I do and knowledge of the music industry. I couldn’t ask for a better cast or songwriter’s on the soundtrack, we’re so lucky to have worked with this crew of talent.
10.) We’re tremendous fans of the old radio programs of the 1930s and 1940s such as Burns and Allen, Lights Out Theater and The Jack Benny Program. How influential has that era of radio been not only to Make It Up As We Gobut to podcasts in general?
I think it’s been controlling in sparking interest from talent in that old radio programs were the beginning of airing a scripted series and this is a way of bringing it back to that.
11.) Final – SILLY! – Question: Favorite movie about the making of movies – Living in Oblivion or The Player?
America’s Sweethearts! It’s a funny peek behind the curtain of making a film, the egos involved, and celebrities thinking the world revolves around them. I’m also just a sucker for a good ol’ rom com!