Sound Judgment

Elaine Appleton Grant

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Bone Valley: How to Create a True Crime Podcast That Makes a Difference

3/9/2023 • 52 min

Go behind the scenes with me as I talk with Bone Valley co-hosts Gilbert King and Kelsey Decker about the making of their award-winning audio documentary series. (2023 Ambie winners for Best Reporting and Best Documentary Podcast) The podcast has been called anything from "one of the best of 2022" to "the best true crime podcast ever" by outlets ranging from The New Yorker to Slate to The Atlantic. The New York Times continues to report on developments in the case Bone Valley explores — the wrongful conviction of Leo Schofield, who has been in prison for the murder of his wife, Michelle, for 35 years. So do other publications from around the world. To create a good work of narrative nonfiction, let alone a great one, requires phenomenal reporting, story structuring and writing skills. Gilbert King is a master. He’s written several books about wrongful convictions, including Devil in the Grove, which won a Pulitzer. But Bone Valley is King's first foray into audio journalism. It would take him on a wild ride into a new world of sound-designed, multi-voiced, intimate storytelling. He would grow a whole new set of skills, from writing for the ear, to voicing narration, to writing and producing collaboratively. So collaboratively, in fact, that over the course of the four-year investigation, Bone Valley would be heavily shaped by King’s researcher-turned-producer-turned-co-host, Kelsey Decker. She was only 23 when King hired her. She had no idea of the explosive nature of what she was about to get into. Nor of how their story would have the potential – maybe – to help an innocent man get out of a prison he should never have been in. Neither did King. There's a ton to learn here about how to have an intentional "sound vision" from the start, and how that vision translates into the use of language, tone of voice, sound design, and editorial choices about what to put in and what to leave out. There's also a lot to learn about character development and the role empathy played for Kelsey and Gilbert as they considered how to report on this story and how to shape the writing and the sound. The Podcast Academy has nominated Bone Valley for three Awards of Excellence in Audio (The Ambies): best documentary, best reporting, and best hosts. At the third annual Ambies, Gilbert King and Kelsey Decker and the Bone Valley team won for Best Reporting and Best Documentary Podcast. This episode includes discussions of murder and sexual assault, so listen with care.

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