Mark Ramsey – Inside Star Wars

By starrymag | July 5, 2019

By: Sammi Turano

 

 

Q) Tell me a bit about how Inside series came about.

 

A) My incredible production partner, Jeff Schmidt, and I had long believed that people who made audio had forgotten just how powerful audio can be. And one of the most powerful features of audio is its ability to scare people. Turn off the sound on any scary movie and you’ll instantly know what I mean. So, I conceived the idea of going INSIDE the making of the horror classic Psycho with the intention of making an audio movie about the movie itself. It’s not a documentary, and it’s not a DVD-style director’s commentary. Instead, it’s more like a movie about a movie! And the project was successful beyond our wildest dreams.

 

Since that time, we moved on to other audio movies about movies: Inside The Exorcist, Inside JAWS and now Inside Star Wars. All have debuted in the top 10 of Apple Podcasts and all have downloads in the seven figures.

 

Q) What made you decide to close the series now?

 

A) Once you have done Star Wars, where else is there to go? I feel like this is one of the most popular franchises and movies of our time. It seemed to me like a fitting finale on the series.

 

Q) What do you hope fans enjoy about this final installment?

 

A) I hope what fans enjoy isn’t just the new information they pick up along the way – the trivia. I hope what they really enjoy is the drama – the ups and downs – of making a dream come true. How that dream affected George Lucas and the rest of the cast from then until now. I also hope people get the real lesson of this story: That you can overcome your own Death Star if you try hard enough. And when you do, you realize that the most important thing in your life isn’t a movie or a dream at all – it’s the people closest to you.

 

Finally, I want to deepen fan appreciation for the legacy of Carrie Fisher who is really the beating heart of this series. The final episode dramatizes her final days and illustrates her tremendous legacy. Carrie Fisher and Princess Leia live on in every gathering of people fighting for justice in the face of overwhelming odds. That’s her real legacy.

 

Q) What are some of your favorite memories from creating the Inside series?

 

A) One of my favorite memories is associated with the special season of Inside we did for Coke RED and the classic movie about the AIDS crisis – Philadelphia. In order to get that project greenlit we needed approval from the late Jonathan Demme’s wife, the screenwriter Ron Nyswaner and stars Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. All four listened to our project and gave it their blessing. That was one of my proudest moments from the series because getting A-listers to say “yes” to anything is almost impossible, but we did it. Or, I should say, the project did it.

 

Q) Why did you decide to end with a Star Wars episode?

 

A) It’s the original movie of one of the biggest franchises in movie history. That made it extraordinarily attractive. Also, many of the stories swirling around the film were cinematic and that cinematic nature is one of our primary pre-requisites to a great story. I wanted to remind people why they fell in love with Star Wars in the first place and that’s what we’ve done.

 

Q) What are some highlights from doing that installment?

 

A) For the bonus episode we talk to Brian Jay Jones who wrote the best biography of George Lucas (George Lucas: A Life). That conversation was enormous fun – like swapping stories of childhood with another Star Wars buff.

 

Also, being able to bring to life the grumpy theatrics of legendary thespian and “Obi-Wan” Kenobi Alec Guinness was enormous fun. In many ways, this series contains a lot more FUN than any of the previous series.

 

Finally, being able to tell the arc of Carrie Fisher’s story from its beginning to its untimely end is both an honor and a privilege.

 

Q) What do you want to tell your fans who followed Inside?

 

A) Series come and go, but the people who make them are still here. We have lots more fun stuff up our sleeves, so keep listening and follow me @markramseymedia.

 

Q) What is next for you?

 

A) We are putting the finishing touches now on a project called “The Undercovers” about undercover DEA agents. It’s hosted by Ed O’Neil (“Modern Family”). That debuts in October wherever you hear podcasts.

 

We’re also pitching (among other things) a fully scripted project called “Aftershock” written by Sarah Wayne Callies (“The Walking Dead”) from a story by Patrick Carman. It stars Sarah along with David Harbour (“Stranger Things”) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (“The Walking Dead”).

 

Finally, we have a project we’re hoping to sell in time for Halloween – a horror anthology called FEAR.

 

So stay tuned. Keep your earbuds on and the lights out. [smiles]