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Instead,Indefensible which premieres tonight on SundanceTV is a thoughtful new spin on the true-crime genre.
Thats not to say that Friedmans dark sense of humor doesnt come in handy especially her razor-sharp interviewing talents.
I was a little hesitant at first because my background is not in true crime.
You worked onThe Daily Showas a field producer.
I was there for Jons last three years, 2012 to 2015.
I really loved that show, and I personally felt that we were doing something impactful.
After 2016, an …inciting incidenthappened, so those shows are so much more challenging.
But at the same time, those shows are doing it, and theyre doing it really successfully.
For this show, how did you think about platforming people?I loveSoft Focus.
I think the demographic that Im sort of …trollingin that show is a little bit more playful.
WithIndefensible,there was a lot of thought about platforming: Who do you give voice to?
Who do you not?
I actively didnt want to talk to anyone who was convicted of murder for this show.
Its hard to make that light in any way.
How do you prepare for centerpiece interviews like these?
So youre talking to them, and youre almost kind of playing tennis against a wall!
Its really hard to break through, even if you make a point.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt.
AtTheDaily Show,we would have teams of writers writing jokes for the correspondents.
In 2016,you interviewed Ken Kratz, theprosecutor in the homicide case featured onMaking a Murderer.
Jake Salyers hes awesome edited that interview.
When we were cutting it, I was like, Why do I look less likable than Ken?
Im so aware of how I come across on camera and the level of likability that I have.
To many people, that could be seen as less sympathetic than the stuff that hes done.
You always have to be careful about that.
I dont know if its about gender or what, but its really a challenge sometimes.
Its not just about the crime, but what Im interested in is, how does this keep happening?
And its often hard to answer that, even impossible in many cases.
Also, we all, someday, may end up on a jury.
Thats where Im trying to push this show.
What do we need to be thinking about so that this kind of injustice doesnt happen again?
To wrap up, youve mentioned a few times that you have some features in the works?Yeah.
I have this project that Ive been trying to get off the ground forever.
Were really close, but I cant even say anything until it happens.
And I did write a feature in 2016 that was about a quarantine!
It was inspired by the Ebola outbreak.
I just thought,This is ridiculous.
So that inspired a script about a girl who had a one-night stand with some guy.
I have a friend whos an infectious-disease specialist; his name is Dr. Amesh Adalja.
Hes really thrived in the past year.
And he said, Well, you should do a coronavirus because theyre gonna be all the rage!
That was a script that I dont think is ever going to see the light of day.
