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Behind the Scenes with Sara Fishko, producer of The Fishko Files
Interview conducted by Johanna Zorn
> Both of the stories we're featuring at thirdcoastfestival.org—The End and The House I Live In — offer surprising takes on songwriting and music. How
do you come up with your ideas?
I'm not sure, exactly, where my ideas come from, I have to admit. I have a
music background (I was a pianist years ago) and an editing background (I
edited films for years), and one of the things I think about a lot is editing
music, how music is affected by juxtaposition ... how one thing is changed by
being placed up against another. So many of the ideas I have are related to
that thought. The End started with the idea of editing together every great
ending ever written—and out of that grew the idea that nobody is writing them
anymore! And so a piece was born. The House I Live In was a case of having a
story that was wonderfully improbable, and a wealth of archive material to back
it up: a press copy of a Sinatra CD set arrived, containing the song and the
Oscar acceptance speech, which led me to the radio broadcast, which led me to
the old Earl Robinson recording of the song. One thing so often leads to
another.
> How do you define the scope of the topics you cover for The Fishko
Files?
It is a broad definition, if there is one at all; I am supposed to be doing
"cultural" pieces, so that's part of it; but even more, I feel I have to have
something to "contribute" to the story, some personal bit of knowledge or
insight. My two questions before starting a piece are: "What can I say about
this?" and "How do I make it 'radio'?" I also observe, as I look over the
pieces I've done, that I have a special interest in the cultural history of the
last hundred years or so, especially as it relates to political and social
movements. So a piece like The House I Live In was a natural for me, as were
pieces on Schoenberg, the Theremin, the Mexican revolutionary composer
Revueltas, Lotte Lenya ... etc. etc.
> I was unaware of your film background. How do your interests in radio
and film balance or even sustain one another?
They are incredibly related: all that I learned about story-telling and
structure, I learned by "finding" documentary films in the editing room which
is, after all, where they are "found" and structured. It is a wildly
non-linear, wonderfully free-associative process which, happily, translates to
radio. And what I was able to bring to film from radio (and music) was a sense
of economy, forward motion, rhythm.
> How important is it to you to bring humor and irony into your work?
I am always terrified to release a piece that has no irony: irony is where I
live. I am frustrated by earnestness, though I may display it at times myself.
Part of this comes from the realization that my own preoccupations are,
sometimes, a bit ... er ... odd. It seems only right to let people know that I
know this. Irony seems like the best way, as "confessional" radio is not my
thing, particularly. And irony adds another layer, and I love layers. I have to
say I am not always conscious that I am being ironic...it comes quite naturally
to me.
> How do you use your voice to deliver the irony?
I have always loved deadpan, and I think what I am doing is a kind of vocal
deadpan. I like to assume people in the audience are very smart—and they don't
need everything telegraphed. So I play it very narrow (as opposed to broad),
and it comes across as irony. Which I GUESS is what it is. All I can tell you
is this is not something I had to cultivate—it just happened. In fact, if
anything, I sometimes have to work against it when it sends the wrong message.
So I guess the answer is ... it just comes naturally out of the way I look at
things.
> What's your advice to people who may want to follow in your footsteps?
I came to this rather late, after a long time of doing other things which
prepared me beautifully for it. This, of course, is not necessarily the only
way to go about it—but it certainly works, which is not to say one should wait
as long as I did. But I would not discourage anyone from soaking up whatever
he/she can about the craft of just putting things together. ANY things—movies,
words, musical compositions, hats. Juxtaposition is all. Learn how to
juxtapose.
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