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In the 1990s, she began a 25-year run molding48 Hoursinto the true-crime storytelling machine it remains.
Susan Zirinsky: In streaming, things dont happen overnight.
So we do produce for linear.
If you turn on any of the SVODs and you start watching an entertainment series, what happens?
And why do you binge?
You binge because you become attached to the people within that entertainment show.
And that is something I have noticed in the production of docuseries.
Are budgets bigger for streaming versus what youve been used to in internet TV?
Well, it depends on the project.
Some things are more.
And were doing a feature project about Afghanistan that will come out in 2023.
Whats your take on the trend?
But we also do single docs.
We were approached by a British company to co-produce a project with them calledThe Secret Lives of Oligarch Wives.
There is no formula; there is no rule.
It has to editorially have value to be episodic and to be able to carry it.
There is nothing worse than getting to two episodes and you think, We should stop it here.
We have not had that problem.
We feel that everything we have made multi-episodic felt like the right amount.
I think its fair to say that the majority are interested in episodic.
True crime is something that you were doing on48 Hoursbefore it was cool.
Whats your assessment of the state of the genre now that its become so ubiquitous, especially in streaming?
Is there too much of it now, or is there no such thing?
I think true crime is rich, it is provocative, and it is not going away.
It is not waning.
I think that the genre is like mystery books.
You lose yourself in the story.
And it crosses every socioeconomic level, like with aTinder SwindlerorBad Vegan.
In the true-crime space, See It Now has already doneNever Seen Againwith Tyler Perry for Paramount+.
Anything else in the pipeline?
And its dynamically fascinating to see the process and hear the techniques.
Its just a part of humanity, depraved sometimes, thats fascinating.
Do you have to worry about competing for the same stories with your former colleagues at48 Hours?
So far, no one has come to us with a pitch that is in conflict.
And we will or wont, based on the editorial….
I have called her on some stories that I thought were worth looking into.
So48and See It Now Studios are a deeply collaborative group.
Besides, I would never hurt my baby.
Youdont mentionthe name of the shooter in the project at all.
We did not mention the name of the shooter and that was a conscious decision.
And the series also doesnt go deep into his motives or the still-unsolved mystery of his motive.
Well, we really wanted to do the survivors story, and what happens to people after its over.
Good cant trump evil, but this is a restorative piece about humanity.
Didnt care about race, politics, anything like that.
This was about people in that darkest time helping each other.
