Bone Valley: How to Create a True Crime Podcast That Makes a Difference
Go behind the scenes with me as I talk with Bone Valley co-hosts Gilbert King and Kelsey Decker about the making of their award-winning audio documentary series. (2023 Ambie winners for Best Reporting and Best Documentary Podcast) The podcast has been called anything from "one of the best of 2022" to "the best true crime podcast ever" by outlets ranging from The New Yorker to Slate to The Atlantic. The New York Times continues to report on developments in the case Bone Valley explores — the wrongful conviction of Leo Schofield, who has been in prison for the murder of his wife, Michelle, for 35 years. So do other publications from around the world. To create a good work of narrative nonfiction, let alone a great one, requires phenomenal reporting, story structuring and writing skills. Gilbert King is a master. He’s written several books about wrongful convictions, including Devil in the Grove, which won a Pulitzer. But Bone Valley is King's first foray into audio journalism. It would take him on a wild ride into a new world of sound-designed, multi-voiced, intimate storytelling. He would grow a whole new set of skills, from writing for the ear, to voicing narration, to writing and producing collaboratively. So collaboratively, in fact, that over the course of the four-year investigation, Bone Valley would be heavily shaped by King’s researcher-turned-producer-turned-co-host, Kelsey Decker. She was only 23 when King hired her. She had no idea of the explosive nature of what she was about to get into. Nor of how their story would have the potential – maybe – to help an innocent man get out of a prison he should never have been in. Neither did King. There's a ton to learn here about how to have an intentional "sound vision" from the start, and how that vision translates into the use of language, tone of voice, sound design, and editorial choices about what to put in and what to leave out. There's also a lot to learn about character development and the role empathy played for Kelsey and Gilbert as they considered how to report on this story and how to shape the writing and the sound. The Podcast Academy has nominated Bone Valley for three Awards of Excellence in Audio (The Ambies): best documentary, best reporting, and best hosts. At the third annual Ambies, Gilbert King and Kelsey Decker and the Bone Valley team won for Best Reporting and Best Documentary Podcast. This episode includes discussions of murder and sexual assault, so listen with care.
Sound Judgment · Gilbert King, Kelsey Decker, Andrew Parella, Tina Bassir, Elaine Appleton Grant
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Show Notes
If you like this episode, you’ll also like Episode 3:
Cinematic Storytelling with Crime Show’s Emma Courtland
and Episode 1: Emotional Bravery on Last Day with Stephanie Wittels Wachs.
Scroll down for takeaways you can use from today’s show.
About the creators
Gilbert King and Kelsey Decker are the team behind Bone Valley, a groundbreaking, 9-episode true crime podcast from Lava For Good. The series explores the case of Leo Schofield, a man convicted of murder in a gross miscarriage of justice. King, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Devil in the Grove, and Decker, a producer with a background in sociology and oral history, came together in a four-year quest to peel back the layers of Schofield’s case, uncovering startling new evidence and chilling confessions that are a call to action for long-awaited justice and redemption.
Takeaways from Gilbert King and Kelsey Decker
1. Does your idea need to be told in audio? Bone Valley did.
As storytellers, we have many formats to choose from. So how do you know when your idea is well-suited to audio, versus a book, a film, or a video? As an author, King’s first instinct was to write a longform article about Leo Schofield’s case. But as soon as he and Decker talked with Leo, they realized that the story begged for audio. “The power of their voices made us pivot,” King says. “I don't think they would have been the same in print. I love the way their voices break and crackle and emote.”
2. Start with a sound vision
Second, you may have noticed that King and Decker had a pretty clear “sound vision” for Bone Valley. I always remember producer John Barth saying, in episode 2, “You have to have a distinctive sound vision.” When he develops a new show, he imagines the kind of listener he wants to attract. That determines what the show needs to sound like. In Bone Valley, the two producers made sure to simply lay out fact after fact, so the listener couldn’t escape the conclusion or emotion. They used both sound design and language to create a work of narrative nonfiction and made sure not to sensationalize or cheapen the story. Furthermore, Decker could hear how the narration should sound in her head. She and other producers directed King to voice the narration to match that sound. And sound designer Britt Spangler attended story conferences – and helped shape the scripts from the start.
3. Podcasts are a team sport
Gilbert King won a Pulitzer for his book Devil in the Grove. So you might imagine he had nothing else to learn as a writer. But he’d never done a podcast before. His early drafts were written for the page, with too much narration, and quotes, which don’t work in audio. When he and Decker hooked up with the production company Lava for Good, he learned from their producers how to write for the ear.
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Connect with Gilbert King
Connect with Kelsey Decker
The episode discussed on today’s Sound Judgment:
Bone Valley, Episode 5: Bam Bam
A note about Sound Judgment: We believe that no podcast host does good work alone. All hosts rely on their producers, the hidden hands that enable a host to shine. We strive to give credit to every podcast producer whenever it’s possible to do so.
Bone Valley’s team is:
Executive Producer Kevin Wortis
Producers Kara Kornhaber and Britt Spangler
Sound designer Britt Spangler
Story editor Ruxandra Guidi
Bone Valley is produced by Lava for Good.
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Credits
Sound Judgment is a production of Podcast Allies, LLC.
Host: Elaine Appleton Grant
Project Manager: Tina Bassir
Sound Design and Audio Editing: Andrew Parrella
Illustrator: Sarah Edgell
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Credits
Sound Judgment is a production of Podcast Allies, LLC.
Host: Elaine Appleton Grant
Podcast Manager: Tina Bassir
Production Manager: Andrew Parrella
Audio Engineer: Kevin Kline
Production Assistant: Audrey Nelson