‘The Afterparty’ producers talk about creating the perfect whodunit
What you need to know
Chris Miller and Phil Lord are executive producers on The Afterparty.
The Afterparty premieres on Apple TV+ on Friday, January 28.
You can watch an interview with the pair or read a transcript of the whole thing.
Chris Miller and Phil Lord discuss the upcoming Apple TV+ show.
‘The Afterparty’ arrives on Apple TV+ on Friday, January 28 and the show’s executive producers have been talking about what it takes to create the perfect whodunit. In a new interview, we hear from both Chris Miller and Phil Lord ahead of the big premiere.
In an interview with Screen Times, Miller talks about what goes into creating a show that has multiple clues as to who is the person behind the crime while still keeping a cohesive story despite telling it from multiple points of view — we see the same night through different eyes throughout.
I also grew up on Agatha Christie. And Colombo and watching parlour mystery movies, like last of Sheila and even CLUE. So we’ve been a huge fan of the genre. You know, trying to figure out how to construct something in that world, because it always feels so like a magic trick when you reveal who ‘done it’, and it’s a surprise, but all of the information was there, if you just knew where to look and you feel like, “oh, I should have noticed that”. That’s the feeling that you want to have when you watch these things. So that was the goal – how do you manufacture a murder mystery in a new way?
[…]
So each character, each suspect could tell part of their version of the night. Each story could have a clue. And then altogether, those clues could point you to who ‘done it’ is a fun idea, but it’s really hard to execute in reality and have the narrative keep moving forward while you’re seeing the same scene over and over again. It feels different and you’re learning something new each time. So you stay engaged. It was a real puzzle and it took a while to figure out. But luckily we had a lot of help and a lot of smart people on.
The discussion continues and moves onto how the pair made sure there was a single timeline despite the story being told from multiple angles and much more. You can watch the interview in the video embedded above or you can read the transcript on the Screen Times website. I’d suggest the video, personally.
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