Behind The Scenes With Andrew Bernstein (Author of Red Meat Village)

Andrew Bernstein, the author of the novel "Red Meat Village" (which the podcast series is based on) discusses the process of adapting his novel into a dramatic audio fiction podcast with Voyage Media's Head of Podcasts Dan Benamor, including surprises from Malik Yoba and Catherine Bell, the pleasant surprise of the immediate success of the series, and Andrew's plans to publish a trilogy of novels set in the fiction universe of the show.

The novel this series is based on has been published and is available on Amazon, here: https://www.amazon.com/Red-Meat-Village-Crime-Thriller/dp/B0DYP2DRJ5/ref=sr_1_1?crid=XXR35BASP3U7&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Uj7dmdgVs7md8Qt3597vMQ.1KGFa38PJMCP5InjoiKJ0D9YJ086g80ajz6Sfh_fGyU&dib_tag=se&keywords=tris+power+red+meat+village&qid=1742329315&s=books&sprefix=tris+power+red+meat+village+%2Cstripbooks%2C83&sr=1-1

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
All right, so I am herewith a wonderful Andy Bernstein. Andy,
do you prefer Andy or Andrew?Well, I mean my friends called me
Andy, but since we're talking aboutsomething that I've written, you know my
professional name is Andrew Bernstein. Sowe have been working on Meat Village together
for what sure at least a yearat this point, right, Yes,
well I think it's more than ayes. And we started with your books,

(00:25):
which are excellent. We then said, all right, well we're going
to turn this into a scripted podcast. How are we going to do this?
And you know, a lot ofit was already there on the page
in your books. Ultimately, Ithink it's a relatively faithful adaptation. But
the only thing that we really changedwas gearing it towards the audio format.
Do you remember what kind of likeour discussions about that and how we ended

(00:46):
up tackling that. Yeah, Iknow, I know, it's a whole
it's a whole different genre in effect, at least, it's a different it's
a different venue. So I rememberwe went back and forth on that,
on that quite a bit, butwe finally we finally figured it out,
and I thought you did a reallygood job right in the script. I
appreciate it, man. Yeah,I think what was cool was that,
you know, you were so passionateabout the female lead of your story,

(01:10):
and you know, I fell inlove. I fell in love with her
and writing her character. Yeah,and I think that your passion inspired me.
And so we ended up coming upwith this device where it switches the
POV character. So one episode wherewith Tony and he's doing the first person
narration, and then one episode withLisa and she's doing the first person narration.

(01:32):
And it was really helpful because innoir classically right, and this is
contemporary noir, but it's still noir. In noir, the fatal character always
did secret right, but you don'treally get interiority to that character when you're
watching a noir film for example,or even I think a lot of noir
fiction, you're typically in the inthe detective's headspace. So getting to sort
of hear her thoughts was kind ofa useful way, I think to explore

(01:55):
the character a little more. Yeah, I think, you know, I
think that definitely helps. Lisa Floweris by far the most complex character in
the in the universe of Tony.Just there's so many good things about her,
which is why Tony you know,and and me why we're both so
deeply in love with her. Andyet you know, in that in that
volume one Red Meat Village that weturned into a dramatic audio podcast, you

(02:19):
know, she does some bad thingsand you know, and messes up her
relationship with the with the man wholoves her so yeah, and puts his
life in grave danger. So she'smixed in that in a certainly in in
Red Meat Village, but very verycomplex character. Yeah, it's um So,
I guess I thought it would beinteresting for the audience to just kind
of talk through like how we actuallydid this right. So it started with

(02:43):
your books which I read, andthen we discussed doing the adaptation and we
worked on the adaptation together. Thenwe went to casting and we were fortunate
to get Malik Yoba and Catherine Bellto do voices in the show and they
were excellent. Yeah, we werereally happy with their performances and both they're
both great, They're both really terrific. We had original music from our composer,
which I thought, I think reallyadds a lot to it. Malik

(03:04):
Yoba contributed sixteenth it's impromptu. Yes, he did um and then I guess
maybe if you could take the listenersback. You know. One thing that
I really loved is that when wefinished it, I think I sent you
a note and I said you shouldgo listen to this in a bar somewhere
in New York. Yeah, ifyou could just tell the listeners the when
you listen to them. We finallyhad a cut for you to listen to.

(03:27):
Where did you listen to it?Because it was something you and I
had talked about. Where where didI first listen listen to it? You
know, Dad, I don't evenremember. I think it was. I
think it was probably in my car, you know, when I was driving,
because you know, I teach philosophy. I think I was. I
was driving home from the from thecollege, and I was I was listening
in my car, But it Idon't remember for sure, but it makes

(03:51):
the What would be really good islike you mentioned a bar, you know,
sitting in a bos somewhere in Brooklyn, which is where which is Brooklyn,
New York, Which is where thestory takes place, you know,
and listen listen to it with witha bunch of with a bunch of your
drunks, you know, and theguy's drinking, drinking, and the ball
that would be that would be perfectfor this kind of you know scenes,

(04:12):
this kind of the wir story.Yeah, if you're somebody who lives in
New York, if you are walkinghome from the bar at like two am
and you put in the AirPods andlisten to this show, I think that
would be almost the ideal way tolisten to it. Yeah, absolutely,
because I grew up. I grewup in Brooklyn. You know, people
don't realize that. They hear metalk, they think I was up from
Louisiana, but I'm not. Andthat's a joke by way. Nobody thinks

(04:36):
up from Louisiana. You know,I grew up in Brooklyn, so I
know, I know the area.You know, I know the area well.
And there's a lot of there's alot of colorful uh you know Brooklyn
locations. And you know one thingabout the New York borough, Um,
you know Brooklyn, the Bronx Queens. Uh, they have a reputation for
being gritty, you know, andyou know, a tough minded and you

(05:00):
know, and that I think that'soften the case. You know, I
says as a different reputation than sayHollywood, which people often think people in
Hollywood, they think it's disingenuous,you know, it's dishonest. People.
People don't tell you the truth.You know. In the New York boroughs,
they tend to be more in yourface, you know, and they'll
tell you the truth, even ifit's not pretty and it's too much truth.

(05:21):
Yeah, yeah, it's sometimes it'stoo much truth, you know.
And so you know, it hasthat The Red Meat Village has that Brooklyn
ambiance. It has that you know, that feel, you know that that
feel too. It's tough. It'sgretty and tough minded, which is which
is perfect, you know, atmosphereof noirs that I really liked. It's
I'm originally from the East Coast,from Baltimore, and I've always well,

(05:44):
that's like the murder capital, oneof the murder capitals of the country.
Though, right, we used tojoke we're number one, We're number one.
Uh yeah. Baltimore has actually cleanedup quite a bit and gentrified in
the years since, but there wasa while yeah, where it was really
dad. Yeah, I think you'vebeen supplanted at number one in the Murderer.
I think Saint Louis is now.But I'm not. Yeah, I'm

(06:05):
not sure, but there is anEast Coast thing. There's sort of an
East Coast flavor that I think isvery present in your writing and in the
show as well. And I thinkyou know that that actually brings me to
another thing that I wanted to discusswith you. So, you know,
we put the show out, andyou always want the show to be successful,
you know. We we're really proudof the show. We think the
show is excellent, but you alwaysthere's always a fear of man, what

(06:26):
if what if we're wrong? Right? What if we don't think like the
audience that we think is there isn'tthere or whatever? And we were so
pleased to see that pretty quickly itshot up to number seventeen of all fiction
podcasts and Apple podcasts. Was thatI mean, was that a surprise to
you or was it sort of likea confirmation of your instincts as a writer
that people clearly were enjoying the showthat it kind of moved up the charts

(06:48):
like that. Well, it mademe very happy that you know that that's
doing well. I'm glad. I'mglad people like it. Uh. I
think it's a really good story,So you know, and that and that
people who like this genre will enjoyit. So I wasn't surprised, you
know, that it was doing well, but I was definitely pleased. I'm
really I'm really happy that you knowthat, uh, that that the listeners

(07:11):
enjoy it as much as as muchas I do. So yeah, I
was, I was real happy tosee that. Did you buy any chance
Andy listened to the behind the scenesinterviews with Malik and Catherine, Yeah,
I did. Was there anything thatyou heard that surprised you? Well,
Catherine Catherine Bell, I mean,she's I mean, she's she's a lovely
woman, you know, and she'sbeen playing the good She's famous for playing
a good witch, right, wasa Cassie Nightingale character, I think,

(07:33):
and you know, there's a sweetnessabout her. And she said, you
know, I preferred he's tough.I preferred these tough babes, you know,
these these you know, and thesela fem fata rather than the you
know, than the sugar and spiceeverything nice girl next door. So I
don't know if that surprised me,but I was. I was definitely pleased
to hear it, because you know, that's that's the kind of female characters

(07:54):
that I was always, always,always attracted to the you know, the
bad girls. Unfortunately, you know, then, since you're a fan of
Noa, sometimes those those bad girlsturn out to be murderous. You know.
I'm thinking of the Barbara's Standwick characterand Double and Double Indemnity, which
is like a classica Phil and Barbarastandard, very beautiful, very sexy,

(08:15):
very good actors. But yeah,she's a murderer. So no, no,
I don't want to go that far, you know, with the bad
girls, the naughty girls. Butsomebody was like, you know, it's
got a little it's got a naughtyside. It isn't just you a goody
goody. Those are the kind ofwomen I always liked. So so Katherine
Bill said that I was very pleased. Hear. Yeah. I have to
say I think that Catherine was reallythe great victory of this project from a
casting perspective, because, like yousaid, I mean really, if you

(08:37):
look at her recent work, she'sprobably better known for doing this kind of
soft, more hallmarky kind of stuff, and I just had an instinct that
she had that gear. I don'teven know why. I think I might
have read an interview with her atone point years ago or something like that.
But I just had an instinct thatshe had that gear, and when
we started recording together, it wasimmediately obvious that she had that gear.
Your instincts well one hundred percent right. She was rate. I mean,

(09:00):
she just nailed the character of Lisaflow, her voice, her voice inflections
and intonation. She was she wasoutstanding. I'm not surprised that Malik Yobo
I remember him as Yo Brenna,you know, from Cool Runnings and Tough
Cop was it, what was itNew York Undercover. I'm not surprised that
he would be perfect as Reggie hD. But Catherine Bell, I,

(09:22):
you know, she didn't surprised mebecause I know she's a talented actress.
But I loved it. I wasI was really pleased because I'm in love
with the character. I like Reggie, I like Tony, but I love
Lisa, and so that Catherine Bellwas so great as it was made me
very happy. Yeah. I meanit speaks to the writing process, right
when you when you write something,you have to be into it emotionally in
order for it to be good,you know. And so I think that

(09:43):
what you're saying, you know,connects to that. What's uh, I'm
curious as a fan of yours asa writer, what's the status of the
books? Are you now looking towardspublishing them? Yes, I'm almost done
with volume three of the Tonys,and I think your me Billas is the
first. I think The Night IsLong was volume two. The Captive Brain

(10:05):
volume three. I think they getbetter and better. I'm almost done with
it early next year, let's saysometime in February, I should haven't done,
so i'll have a successful podcast.I'll have three novels at a series,
not just one book, but three, and then I'm gonna start looking
for literary agents to market this tomainstream you know, New York publishers,
whether it's you know, Simon andSchuster, Random House, Connops, something

(10:26):
like that, because I think thishas your widespread commercial appeal. So yeah,
twenty twenty three, I'm going tobegin the marketing process. I'm going
to use the podcast. They lookthere's a market, but you know for
these stories and for these characters.Yeah, man, I think we've proven
it. Yeah, it's it's reallycool. So all right, awesome,
man, Well, um, isthere anything else that you want to share
with the listeners of Red Mead Village. Well, I mean, I'm just

(10:48):
I think, you know, Ithink the noir crime story genre was certainly
more popular in Hollywood back in theday than it is now. There was
some classic who was I mentioned DoubleIndemnity, which is a classic, and
every fan of the genres should knowthat, should know that story. I
hope, I hope it makes acomeback because I love, you know,

(11:09):
and Liam Neeson has made these kindof gritty, you know, crime stories
and you know, in recent years, and I hope it makes a comeback
because it's it's a great genre.It's very entertaining. You The stories typically
don't ramble because you know, somebody'sbeen murdered and the detectives got to track
down the murderer. You know,you know s something or something like us.

(11:31):
These stories have a plot, theyhave life and life and death stakes.
Good guys and dad guys love beautifulsexy la fem fatale you know,
very very often. So I hopethis makes a comeback, and I hope
Red Meat Village is bought of it. Both the both the dramatic audio podcasts
that you guys put together at Voyageand you know, the novels that I'm
gonna be marketing next year. AllRight, awesome, Thank you so much.

(11:54):
I really appreciate it, and thankyou for all your work on this
project. Absolutely is my pleasure,and I guess for listeners, yeah,
look out for those books whenever theycome out. We will definitely update the
show notes so that you know youcan find them. Great. Thanks Dan,
all right, thanks a lot.Thanks for listening to this behind the
scenes discussion with Andrew Bernstein, theauthor of Red Meat Village, and you

(12:15):
can find Redmeat Village on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you listen to podcasts.