In the Booth: Micah Rodriguez & Stephanie Resendes
In the Booth is a new blog series where we go behind the scenes and chat with the folks that make How it Ends. We asked our team a series of questions and let them choose which resonated most, so expect to see some variance in these features. Join us as the creators, cast, and crew members share their experience working on the show. Get ready to meet our talented team and maybe even hear a few secrets behind its gripping conclusion!
Please note that some answers may contain spoilers for How it Ends Season 3, so read at your own risk.
If you've listened to How it Ends, joined our Discord, or interacted with us on Twitter, hell, if you've read all of the features preceding this one, you likely know a bit about us. As Micah says in our intro, "You know who we are by now. So I'll spare you introductions. Here's what you need to know..."
How did it… begin?
Stephanie: Micah and I started How it Ends after a few months of listening to other audio dramas together. We are both writers and mystery fans and thought, "Can we do this? I think we can do this." We brainstormed a few ideas for podcasts, both fictional and informational, and the urban legend of The Grinning Man stuck.
It snowballed and evolved from there, but eventually, we came to the core idea of our story. Then we spent about a year just creating the characters and getting to know them as people. That was the most important piece of the puzzle for us. The better a writer understands their characters, the more authentic the story is. Your characters really do help you tell the story and inform their choices and actions.
Micah: Stephanie covered the basics, so I'll just add a personal anecdote. We met and became friends in March 2017. In May, I started a new job and was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in the same week. My entire world was knocked off its axis.
All the listening to stories together got me through a very difficult summer. I was, and will always be, grateful for Stephanie's friendship and how, in an incredibly dark time of my life, it led to making something beautiful that we are proud of and love.
What have you learned while making How it Ends?
Tell us your favorite part.
Stephanie Resendes
Co-Creator/Director and voice of Elia Cabral
Stephanie: I've learned just how much work it is to produce a high-quality show. It's not just about the right equipment but also understanding the volume levels to show distance and motion, using foley to convey the setting without being too expositional, and so much more. Our editors/sound engineers, Chris and Jacob, are amazingly talented and have taught us so much.
My favorite part of making How it Ends is hearing the final product. Even though I'm involved in every step from beginning to end, it's still so exciting to hear how everyone's efforts and talents come together to produce something that sounds so realistic. We are so lucky to have the cast and crew that we do; this story couldn't be told like this without each and every one of them.
Micah: Honestly, I learned a lot about myself, my friends, and the audio fiction community as a whole. I've always been interested in media, so I had a general sense of how much work it would take going in. But putting that into practice is a challenge in its own right. It's discipline and commitment. I wasn't sure if I had it.
If you want to make something, anything, it has to be more than talk. The time, the blood, sweat, and tears, the exhaustion, the missing out on other things, the hustle to keep learning... It's a lot. This is the part that is often overlooked when people engage with art and media, especially independent creators and artists. There are real people with jobs, families, illnesses, and struggles behind the shows you watch, the music, or the podcasts you listen to, and in my opinion, it is easy to tell when creator fucking loves what they do. It translates.
That's my favorite part of making this show. I love working with my friends. They're all talented, creative people who decided to go on this journey with us, and they show up.
As Co-AllTheThings™️, you've been around for every moment behind the scenes. Any favorite moments?
Micah: Our team is packed full of unofficial comedians, so every recording block is a blast. That makes narrowing down a moment difficult... but since I wrote these questions and backed myself into a corner, I'll do my best. Phil Johnston voices "The Announcer" in Season 3. He's the voice behind timestamps, the progressively tension-building "# days later" voiceovers in Episode 15 - There's No Song for the Choir, and a single time-related voiceover in our Season 3 finale.
Phil is dad to a tiny little ray of sunlight, so his time is pretty limited. His lines are typically recorded via a moment's notice drop-in. We thought we'd captured everything from him for the season, but last minute we added one more to the finale. He stopped by to record the line during our finale-recording-day packed house. He sat down, said the three-word line and the studio went silent.
Someone yelled, "That's a Season 3 wrap on Timestamp Guy!" and the room burst into laughter. We were all toast from a long day and feeling punchy, so it's probably one of those things that's better if you were there. But I happened to catch a short video of it. FYI: This is not high art. It’s shaky and quick, but I love it just the same.
Stephanie: It's not a particular moment, but this season our episodes have gotten a lot longer, and so recording days are generally longer. Everyone is super professional, but by the end of a long day, we all get a little punchy, and that's when the best bloopers/jokes happen.
We created the characters, but just how alike are we?
Micah: They tell you when you're starting out to "write what you know," so Stephanie and I leaned on that advice for our first foray into audio dramas. As many folks know, Stephanie and I set the show in both of our hometowns to make that aspect of storytelling easier. We can start there. Micah and I were born in the early 80s and grew up in Central Jersey (it exists, stfu), and eventually landed in Providence. Elia and Stephanie are both native to Rhode Island, are Portuguese, and have cooking backgrounds.
Micah, the character, is a lot more sullen than I am if I'm being truly honest. I inherited a hot temper and tend to flare up quickly and then burn out just as fast. I don't think we've really seen that from her, outside of maybe one interaction between her and Elia in Season 1. Also, the way she's responded to situations, choices she's made, etc., that's where more differences begin to pile up. All told I love that Micah, in her own way, is fearless. Sometimes that leads to tunnel vision, which has its own set of consequences, but once she's set on something, she stays the course. This season saw Micah take a step back from leading the group, but her brand of fire and fight stands solid... even in the face of real danger.
Generally, my day-to-day personality is a lot more like Elia's. I'm a clown who'll do almost anything to make my friends laugh, and I 100% fell into the mom-friend type role throughout my life. So much so that when we first started out, I truly thought Elia was who I'd voice. I have a reputation for being no-bullshit and secretly super sensitive. She's brassy, razzes folks, and has a one-line response for most situations... Elia is a real broad. And in the most genderfluid sense of the word, heh, so am I.
However, the more Elia developed, the more it seemed that Stephanie would be a better fit. She's embodied her in a way that really shines. Stephanie has the emotional experience of coming from a big family, the deep and true connection to her parents, siblings, and the "doing all the things for all the family all at the same time" vibe. Ultimately, I think we landed in the right place. Writing, directing, and producing is a lot of work in and of itself, so having a few similar personality traits and quirks, or turns of phrase, made it easier to juggle everything at once.
Is there anything you found challenging about performing your role?
Micah: Ha, yes. Micah's scenes are some of the most vulnerable and emotional in the show. Not to mention the fact that there is danger lurking around most, if not all, corners, making sure that the performance is authentic and her fear, pain, and grief translate is important to me. I put a lot into it. The funny thing about being a writer and a voice actor, at least for me, is that sometimes you only occupy one "brain" at a time. So when we wrote Episode 16 - There's No Hope for the Weary, I wasn't thinking about who voices Micah. It was when we sat down to record that it hit me all at once, and I thought... Well, hell. I straight up pulled from some of my own traumas. Welp. Here we go.
A quick aside: No one we spoke to for these features said if they could play another character, they'd choose Micah. Hell, I didn't even choose her at first. I wonder why. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Micah Rodriguez
Co-Creator/Director and voice of Micah Veléz Jones
Is it possible, as creators, to play favorites with your characters?
Yes.
Stephanie: Everyone says Devon, but... Devon. He's the voice of reason in the group, but he's so much more. He is just such a sensitive, caring, gentle soul, and Alozie brought him to life as no one else could. Also, his D&D NPC voices are immaculate.
Micah: Mulder.
What about specific lines, scenes, or episodes? We wrote it all. Can we choose favorites?
Still yes.
Stephanie: The first line that pops into mind is Aimee saying, "You have a whole fucking fish in that cooler?" in Season 2. I think it's the point where Aimee really starts to understand more about who Elia is as a person, plus Tori delivered it perfectly. My favorite scenes are always when the group is together and just living their lives, like when they're playing D&D. I think some listeners might see these scenes as filler, but they are so important to the story. They are opportunities to learn more about these characters as people rather than just devices to move the plot, and depending on how close you're paying attention, you'll notice there are hints and clues laid into every one of those conversations.
Micah: For dialogue, it's early in Season 1 and not a big spoiler, so I feel okay with dropping it here. It's "Elia, I thought you were from Pawtucket." I enjoyed writing that joke for Devon, probably because it's something I'd say if I were in the situation myself. And as for an episode, it's the entirety of the Season 3 finale. We've been building up to this for a long time. I can't wait for you all to hear it.
As a creator, what part of your work is most fun?
Stephanie: We do a lot of ad-libbing and improv during recording. The cast is free to experiment with a new way of wording or conveying something and seeing them make these on-the-spot decisions that help shape their character is incredibly fun to watch.
Once and for all: who gets the “Most Funny” How it Ends Superlative?
Stephanie: Everyone is hilarious and has made me laugh, but Brian (voice of Luke) and Jacob are real sleepers. They're the types who won't really say much for a while, then hit us with the most out-of-left-field joke or comment that knocks the rest of us into a fit of giggles.
Micah: Brian. We've said this before, but because he’s such a good listener, he takes in everything that's going on in the room and then drops a one-liner that has the rest of us laid out.
And there you have it.
In the Booth is an ongoing series and will be back in the future. Some content may be exclusive to Patreon supporters. If that sounds like your bag, head to our Patreon and sign up! Tiers start at $1 and come with perks for supporting the show.
