Q: Valentine’s Day is coming up and romance is in the air… and congratulations on your audiobook KNOW YOUR NEWLYWED being named one of Audible’s best romance audio books of the year for 2024! What inspired you both to collaborate on this project? Was there a particular spark behind the concept of the dating game show and the fake marriage trope?

Hillary: Thank you! We were thrilled about the news, and we’re really excited about this project – it was a really fun one to work on, with a great team and an awesome cast. The idea of a rom-com set against the backdrop of a dating gameshow held a particular appeal for me, because I used to work for a production company known for gameshows and formats. I spent a lot of time in my early career developing gameshows with both entertainment value and emotional resonance, just like the show in KNOW YOUR NEWLYWED, and it was fun to revisit that.

Heather: As fake dating is a common trope in a lot of romance novels and movies, we thought we could give a new spin to a tried and true story – instead of fake dating to win a promotion or to win a bet, what about a fake marriage between two people for the love of their favorite childhood show?  Once we invented KNOW YOUR NEWLYWED as a gameshow, we needed to find the perfect couple to compete. Of course, we had to have the whole thing spin out of control, but at the story's core are two people who pretend to be in love to do the one thing they love the most – and then fall in love in the process! 

Q: How did your experience working together on previous narrative audio projects, like ANOMALY, influence the storytelling and structure of this audiobook?

Hillary: We’ve had a lot of experience developing and creating for audio, and we were able to bring that to this project. As a screenwriter, you’re so trained to think about things visually — how can I convey this complex idea with an image? — and in audio, you have to upend that instinct, thinking instead about how you can use sound to do that work of establishing mood, creating a sense of place, and orienting your listeners. 

Heather: While developing KNOW YOUR NEWLYWED, we discovered that its structure had to be different from some of our other audio projects. Our editor shared her insight on audiobook listeners’ expectations – such as staying longer in each character’s POV instead of intercutting between characters like you would in a narrative podcast or in film and TV. This allows the listener to sink deeper into the world of each of the protagonists before switching perspectives, which aligns with what you’d experience if reading a book with dual narration. It was an educational experience to take the lessons we learned working in other audio formats and adapt them to this specific audio medium. It was also fun to have longer scenes so we could not only add banter and sizzle, but spend more time with our wonderful cast of characters. 

Q: Cleo and Javi's relationship unfolds in a high-stakes reality TV setting. How did you balance humor and emotional depth while developing their dynamic?

Hillary and Heather: In every story, the characters come first. So our focus was always on Cleo and Javi and their emotional reality, and then we would build off that, figuring out how to layer in humor or  amp up tension with a gameshow challenge.

Q: The audiobook features a full cast with Tyler Posey and Mary Mouser. What was it like working with such a talented ensemble? Did their performances shape the final version of the story in any unexpected ways?

Hillary:  We were so lucky to have the opportunity to work with such a talented cast. Any time actors join a project, they find ways to add new nuance to a character, and this one was no exception — from the romantic leads to the supporting characters, everyone brought something extra. And Tyler and Mary’s chemistry is off the charts. We were surprised and delighted every time we listened to a cut.

Heather: Yes! And there were a few times when we were giving notes that I just got caught up in listening to Javi and Cleo – at one point I even squealed, wanting them to kiss! We’re the ones who wrote it, so of course I knew it was coming, but I got swept away. That’s just how good Tyler and Mary were together!

Q: You both have backgrounds in different aspects and mediums of storytelling. How did your distinct creative voices influence this collaboration?

Hillary and Heather: We both bring different perspectives and strengths to each project. We grew up in very different communities with different family dynamics, and write a range of characters with different perspectives on the world. That gives us a strong foundation. Then, before we write a word of dialogue, we spend a lot of time working out not only what will happen in the story, but how each character would react to it. Heather comes from the TV drama and feature space, so she’s good at seeing the larger structural story at play, and Hillary always pushes us to not only think through a character lens, but to examine what we’re saying as writers — and what we want our listeners to take away from the story.  Hillary then punches up the jokes and Heather puts on her music/ poetry hat and listens to the scripts like music, changing up dialogue to create a cadence that projects the right mood for each scene. 

Q: The story touches on personal ambition, vulnerability, and public personas. Were there any challenges in keeping the characters relatable while navigating these themes?

Hillary: If anything, they’re some of the most relatable themes. We may not all be “America’s Sweethearts,” but to some degree, we’re all balancing our public and private personas on a day-to-day basis, trying to figure out what we do and don’t put online about ourselves, and how that impacts everything from our romantic or personal relationships to our professional personas. So even though Cleo and Javi’s circumstances are unique, we’re asking ourselves similar questions every day, navigating the line between truth and fiction in what information we put online.

Heather: At the heart of any story are the choices the characters make. And it’s through those choices that we recognize the greater game at play – the ambition, the interplay between public and private personas, and what it takes to be vulnerable. I think the challenge always comes in developing the initial building blocks of the story – creating a world only our characters can live in and who, through their interactions, clash and come together in the right way to navigate these themes. Once you get that right, you can take your characters and the story anywhere!

Q: Heather, your work often explores complex family dynamics and mental health themes. Did those interests/experiences inform any aspects of Cleo and Javi’s personal growth throughout the story?

Heather: Definitely. In order to understand a character’s choices, you have to understand what they went through to get to where they are today. A lot of that is influenced by family and it can impact your mental health in a variety of ways. For instance, Cleo grew up with a single mom who had to worry a lot about money – in fact, money was the thing that broke up her parents’ marriage. That not only makes her want to rely more on herself and her work than on a relationship, but it complicates her feelings about potentially winning KNOW YOUR NEWLYWED and taking the prize money from someone who needs it more. Javi, on the other hand, never thought his own dreams were good enough – his parents always wanted him to have different ambitions and a major relationship in Javi’s life ended when his girlfriend didn’t think he was “enough.” By putting Cleo and Javi together in this story, it allows them to work through the impact their past has had on them. By working through this together, they can move forward, knowing more about themselves and maybe even healing a little.

Q: Hillary, having a background in unscripted TV development, did your experience with reality formats inspire how the game show scenes were written and structured?

Hillary: It did! It was really important to us to make the gameshow elements believable, and for KNOW YOUR NEWLYWED to feel like a show that you could actually watch. I was excited to dig in and dust off that development side of my brain, but the gameplay for KNOW YOUR NEWLYWED was surprisingly difficult to get right. We had to design a show that felt big enough for television, with flashy sets and visually compelling challenges, while bearing in mind that our audience would never actually be able to see any of it, and everything had to play just as clearly and dramatically on audio.

Q: What do you hope listeners take away from KNOW YOUR NEWLYWED—whether about relationships, self-discovery, or the reality TV experience itself?

Hillary: Mainly, we hope listeners are entertained! But we also hope people listen to Cleo and Javi’s story and remember that a little generosity goes a long way. I love the way Javi’s friends fully embrace Cleo and participate in her final gesture and the way Cleo’s mom jumps right in to support her daughter. I hope listeners are inspired to find ways to support the people they love. And of course, there’s also the gentle reminder that nothing on TV or social media ever really captures the full story.

Heather: Entertainment is always key! But I also hope that listeners realize that they need to surround themselves with people who support their ambitions and love them for who they are. Also, that communication is key in relationships and that you never know the full story until you ask. 

Q: Are there any exciting projects or collaborations you’re working on next that you can share with us?

Hillary: We’ve got some new audio projects in the early stages — pitching and development. Nothing we can share just yet, but we’re excited about them!

Heather: I also had the opportunity to write on a new TV show called REVIVAL for SYFY network which will be out in 2025. It's based on the Image Comics series by Tim Seeley and Mike Norton about the sudden resurrection of the recently deceased in a small Wisconsin town. While the town's residents grapple with the miraculous event, local police officer Dana Cypress investigates a murder mystery where everyone, both living and undead, are suspects.