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- [00:00]
Deborah Roberts
This is Deborah Roberts here today with something I think you'll find intriguing. If you followed our coverage of the Murdaugh murders or found yourself drawn into the many twists of this real life tragedy, you know how deeply this true crime story has resonated across the world. Well now the story has been adapted for the small screen and a new drama series, Death in the Family, which is available to stream on Hulu now. It stars Jason Clark, Patricia Arquette and Jay Smith Cameron. And just like 2020, it comes with its own companion podcast called Death in the Family Official Podcast. The podcast will take you behind the scenes with the creators, cast and crew and investigative journalist Mandy Matney, whose reporting helped bring the Murdoch story to light. So today to mark the premiere, we're sharing the first episode of that podcast. If you like what you hear, you can follow the podcast by clicking the L in our show description or searching for Murdaugh Death in the Family Official Podcast. Wherever you're listening now. And don't miss new episodes of Murdaugh Death in the Family streaming Wednesdays on Hulu now.
- [01:15]
Mandy Matney
Here's the episode Learning through play starts with Lego Duplo. With Lego Duplo, toddlers can develop real life skills while having fun with colorful bricks made just for them. Large, easy to grip and safe to explore. When children express themselves with Lego Duplo they build patience, problem solving and empathy. See your child learn perseverance and self expression with everything they imagine and create. Visit lego.com preschool to learn more.
- [01:47]
Liz Farrell
This episode is brought to you by Greenlight. Get this, Adults with financial literacy skills have 82% more wealth than those who don't. From swimming lessons to piano classes, Us parents invest in so many things to enrich our kids lives. But are we investing? Investing in their future financial success? With Greenlight, you can teach your kids financial literacy skills like earning, saving and investing. And this investment costs less than that. After school treat start prioritizing their financial education and future today with a risk free trial@greenlight.com Spotify greenlight.com Spotify.
- [02:29]
Michael D. Fowler
This is.
- [02:29]
Alec Murdaugh
Alec Murdoch of 4147 Mosel Road.
- [02:32]
Michael D. Fowler
What is your emergency?
- [02:34]
Alec Murdaugh
I need police and an ambulance immediately. It's my wife and my child. I've been shot badly. Yes sir.
- [02:50]
Mandy Matney
Hello and welcome to the Murdoch Death in the Family Official Podcast. My name is Manny Matney and I am an executive producer on the Hulu original series Death in the Family. I'm also the creator of the Murdoch Murders podcast which is now known as True Sunlight. The Murdoch Murders Podcast made at my parents kitchen table in Hilton Head, South Carolina was instrumental in exposing the Murdaugh story and serves as inspiration to this series. And now, together with journalist Liz Farrell, I am delighted to be making this companion podcast to the Hulu Original series. You'll hear from Liz later in this episode and throughout this companion podcast over the next eight episodes. We're going behind the scenes with the creators of the show, the talented actors and hard working crew diving into how and why they brought this series to life. As a journalist who covered this case and investigated this family for more than six years and who also was an executive producer on the original series, I am immensely proud of every person who worked to turn a tragedy of crime and corruption in small town South Carolina into fascinating art that explores powerful themes like the importance of speaking truth to power and the dangers of generational privilege that are increasingly relevant now more than ever, I want the audience to understand the why and the how behind this series and meet the amazing humans who brought it all to life. I want you, the audience, to hear what the real 911 call sounded like from June 7, 2021. Here's the real Ellic Murdoch.
- [04:47]
Michael D. Fowler
I need the police to pass this immediately. My wife and child badly okay, you.
- [04:53]
Alec Murdaugh
Said 40 on 47 Mobile Road and Allison?
- [04:56]
Michael D. Fowler
Yes sir.
- [04:57]
Alec Murdaugh
4142 in Mosel Road. Stay on the line with me, okay?
- [05:01]
Michael D. Fowler
Yes sir. Stay on the line with me, okay.
- [05:04]
Mandy Matney
It's uncanny, isn't it? Full body chills. Initially, when I heard about the murders In June of 2021, I had a gut feeling that Ellic was involved in some way based on all of the shady dealings I had discovered about him while reporting on his son's boat crash that killed 19 year old Mallory Beach. But reporters can't write stories based on gut feelings. We need sources and evidence and facts to back up our hunches. Especially when your target is one of the most powerful men in the state. I spent the entire summer of 2021 studying Alec Murdoch. In answering every phone call I could about who this man was, how he treated people and what people thought of him. I just wanted to know, is this a man who is capable of killing his wife and son? Back in 2021, especially in the weeks after the murders, people got angry at me for even asking that question. Ellic was a man of duplicity and deception. To this day, he still has a decent number of people convinced he deserves a new trial, despite the mountain of evidence proving otherwise. He shook hands with and did favors for some While he cheated, lied and hurt others, he masked his messes and taught his family to look the other way until he could no longer keep up the charade. To kick off this podcast, I need y' all to meet the co creator and showrunner of Murdoch, Daniel Death in the Family, South Carolina native Michael D. Fowler. I had a million questions to ask Michael about the creative decisions of the show, like how the creators managed to condense this massive, complicated real life story into a compelling eight episode drama. How do they pick and choose what events, themes and characters to focus on? And where do you even start with a story this widely consumed and this wild? So I asked Michael why the 911 call as the debut scene to kick off the series?
- [07:13]
Michael D. Fowler
We knew when we cast, when we were fortunate enough to get Jason in the role, it's not an easy role to cast or play. And we knew we were fortunate enough to get him, that we were going to have someone who had a tremendous amount of talent to bring to the part. But then when we had our table read, which is what you do when the studio, network all come in and everybody's there and it sort of kicks off right before production and it's the first time you're hearing the actors say, you know, and it's not, we're not filming anything. It's not, you know, there's no cameras or anything, but it's, you know, we were doing the table read and it's the first dialogue is that 911 call. Because it's what opens the show. And Jason did that 911 call and everybody in the room, you could feel it over zoom, the people who were zooming in, the executives, you could feel it in the room. Everybody sat up and leaned in because there was such an electricity and, you know, a reality to what he was doing. And he clearly was embodying something kind of primal about this guy and this moment. And we always had intended to start the show that way, but then, you know, then hearing and seeing him and feeling that, and then, not to mention what he did, you know, when we were on the day when we were filming, it was just a completely surreal experience and just, you know, just. And very powerful that he. The space he was getting himself into to do that.
- [08:25]
Aaron Lee Carr
I've listened to that 911 call a thousand times.
- [08:29]
Michael D. Fowler
Probably at this point. You could recite it, right?
- [08:32]
Aaron Lee Carr
But it was so weird. He was doing the exact same thing. Like the. I think it's a. You had audio tracks of both of them. I would like to see, because Jason's voice goes up when Alex's voice goes up, you know, like, he was.
- [08:44]
Michael D. Fowler
Yeah, a science. Uncanny. And he was dogged in getting those moments because, again, so much of this has been documented and so much of this is available in that way. Was. Okay. When we have those things like the 911 call that are so known and, for lack of a better term, iconic in this story, like, he's like, let's nail those. I want to nail those. And he was. I mean, you know, he was just constantly. He'd be in hair and makeup, which was a process for him, but just listening to those calls, listening to the testimony, listening to questioning that there was recordings of, and he just, you know, he would listen to it over and over and over and over again. And obviously, like, the work paid off because it's really powerful all across the board, and especially in those moments like that, you know, and to open the series with that, to really grab you in that way, you know, so the.
- [09:33]
Aaron Lee Carr
Murdoch saga is often reduced to headlines. How did you and your team use episode one to really humor the people involved while still honoring the gravity of what happened?
- [09:44]
Michael D. Fowler
You know, I think it was about finding so many of those moments that are just the details that we would discover or that we would, you know, from either your reporting or interviews that we did, based on connections you had, that just finding that texture and those little things that made these people, you know, our versions of these people feel relatable, whether it was music that the characters are listening to, or the sense of humor that they have, or the small details of how do brothers interact with one another that is both competitive and affectionate, and how does that. That's something, I think so many people have siblings. We can relate to that. Or just family in general. How does a family interact with one another and start with that, really? And what are the pressures within a family, regardless of what the headlines they eventually lead to or. Yeah, it was really just as much as we can. Let's invest in who these people are in private, who they are in private to another. Like, for me, it's as simple as, like, what music do the characters listen to? You know, like, what is. What are the things that they. And some of that was based on research. Some of that was based on my own, you know, inferences or, like, you know, what I felt like or what people I know who remind me of these characters would listen to. But it's just those little things that I think can help humanize and really bring a complexity, a relatable complexity. To these people who then obviously go on to live incredibly harrowing experiences.
- [11:12]
Mandy Matney
I know we just started getting into the interview, but while we're talking about the endless complexities of the people involved in Murdoch, I have to introduce y' all to Liz Farrell, the only other journalist on the planet who knows just as much or probably more about the Murdaughs and their world as I do. Liz worked with me at the island packet newspaper in 2019 when we were both first reported reporting on the boat crash. And like me, she always saw this investigation as something so much bigger than a story that we were doing for work. It was a puzzle with a million pieces that required 24 hour dedication and thought. A puzzle. We both quickly became obsessed with solving a puzzle. I would have quit trying to figure out a long time ago if it wasn't for Liz and her curiosity to better understand every member of the Murdoch family in each of their connections to power.
- [12:13]
Liz Farrell
My name is Liz Farrell. Like Mandy, I've been reporting on The Murdoch since 2019. I was a co host of Murdoch Murders podcast, which is now known as True Sunlight. And I'm an executive producer of this official companion podcast for Murdoch Death in the Family. As a writer, I've been struck by how captivating every scene is. We're invited into a world that isn't ours, but it feels familiar. And that's because of those smaller moments that the writers included that not only show who these characters are to themselves and each other, but what resentments they may be harboring. When the Elek character walks into his law firm after appearing in court, you immediately sense who he is to that firm and its employees. And you can see how his personality fills every corner of any room he is in. He growls, get out of my way, friend. To someone in the hall, and it somehow comes off as friendly attention. He hands this briefcase to an assistant, but pranks her by pulling it back before giving it to her. So much is learned about him in those few seconds. When the Paul character pats his brother on the chest in front of his friends, says, ain't it wild that Buster Murdoch wrote Buster Murdoch on an application and got into USC law school, you immediately understand the importance of the Murdoch name and how Paul might feel about the unfettered privilege that comes with it. And when Alex surprises the Maggie character with jelly balls in her bathtub and she gets upset as he's bent over in fits of laughter, the nature of their marital relationship becomes clear. He's her ill behaved and uncontrolled third child. He's the model her sons have for what a Murdoch man is entitled to. It's scenes like these ones that make such a strong first impression about what the interior life of an influential family can look like, which is so important in understanding what comes later. Here's Michael on the decisions the show's creators had to make as they adapted this story for two very distinct audiences. The viewers who know every fact about the Murdoch case. And for those who might be learning about the case for the very first.
- [14:24]
Michael D. Fowler
Time, I really felt like, you know, and Aaron Lee Carr is my co creator on it and who we kind of helped tackle the process of adapting this story. And then I took that into the script phase, but it really felt like it was about. In general, with tv, but especially something like this, it's about setting the table, because some people are gonna come to the show and have never heard or vaguely aware of this or have never even heard of the name or the story itself. But then obviously, lots of people are very, very familiar with it. So it really was about how can we introduce who these people are, introduce this world that they live in, they inhabit, and that they wield tremendous power in. In a way that is before the unraveling began, you know, and so we really wanted to introduce and platform. Okay, this is what a morning is like. A typical morning is like at Moselle when Alec is on the way to court and when they're planning some big event. And, you know, the one thing we've. We made some creative narra decisions where the timeline isn't exactly what happened in truth truth, but the story truth of it. We open with Randolph receiving the Order of the Palmetto Award. Well, in reality, that happened about six months before the boat crash. But to us, it felt like, okay, here's the kind of pinnacle of this family's power and prestige, in a way, and is receiving the highest civilian honor in the state, which there's no better way to do that than a big ceremony and have a big party that shows their wealth and their.
- [15:56]
Mandy Matney
Their.
- [15:57]
Michael D. Fowler
And the fun they have, that's their connections and the connections to the governor to show the way that they wield these things and they use this social influence and that. It's not formal, but it's like introducing the governor to somebody who can help you get a permit for something you're trying to do at this party. And it's just that, you know, that good old boy backslapping thing, which you documented so wonderfully and with so much detail on the podcast, you know, it's like so let's meet these people before the first penny drops and before the first thing happens. That really set everything, the unraveling, into full motion. Now, in reality, the unraveling was kind of depending on what you believe in terms of fate or free will, but was in motion long before this. But yeah, that was that. So it was really about setting the table. Who are these people and who is our version of these people, because that's an important distinction is, you know, we are a fictionalized series. We're adapting this into a dramatic TV series. So we had to say, okay, this is who our Maggie is, this is who our Alec is, this is how who our Paul is and who our Gloria is as we, you know, introduce the world of the show and the setting and all of that.
- [16:59]
Mandy Matney
So a little spoiler alert. As a character on this show, this has been something that I have come to understand and happily accept. A series based on a true story or inspired by a true story will never fully mimic the factual events. The actors playing the characters based on real people will never fully replicate the real people. But the emotional truth of the story will be there. One of the major ways that the TV series differs from real life events is the timing of Gloria Satterfield's death. Gloria Satterfield, the Murdaugh's housekeeper, died one year before the boat crash. But in this series, her character is alive after the boat crash. Her character helps reveal the more intimate family moments and how they might have looked on a day to day basis. The Gloria character is also important to showing all sides of Paul's character and even gives us insight into what his childhood might have looked like and how her death could have affected him. I don't know what those moments between real life Gloria and real life Paul looked like in terms of words exchanged. But from my years of talking to sources, I know that Gloria and Paul's characters have tapped into the emotional truth of that relationship. I kept hearing the word emotional truth when talking to the writers about their process of making this show. So I had to ask Michael more about that as his answer always has served as a guide for me for understanding this show.
- [18:35]
Michael D. Fowler
So emotional truth, story truth, those two are pretty interchangeable for us. And basically I've stolen it from an author named Tim o', Brien, who I'm sure got it from somewhere else. Werner Herzog is a direct writer, director, documentarian who talks, talks about emotional truth as well. But it's essentially like, okay, truth. Truth is the facts by the letter. This is exactly what happened. Basically the objective Court case, so to speak, of the story. Emotional truth is okay, but what can we get at where one, we have to streamline certain things because we only have so many episodes to tell this story, this very sprawling, very complicated story. So there's some decisions we have to make that have to have an emotional component where we have to find efficiencies. And then what's the emotional heart of that? What's the thing that's really at the connection between those people or what's the thing that's driving that person in the moment? That may not be exactly what they did in the moment, but that we feel like we can dramatize in such a way where it speaks to something where if we were doing just the facts, ma' am or sir, that would not be as compelling dramatically and also not be really getting to the human emotional story truth of it all.
- [19:42]
Aaron Lee Carr
And it would probably drag out for like 100 episodes.
- [19:45]
Michael D. Fowler
Like the podcast you could do. Yes, as you know, because you've done over 100 episodes of this story, you could do five, six seasons of this saga easily. I mean, that was the biggest challenge creatively, was that the story is so big that there's so many pieces to it. There's so many. You could do an entire season just on going back to Murdoch's of yore and their machinations and all of that, and there's scandals and all of that. So, yeah, I mean, it's a big story and you have to find those efficiencies where you can, but also hopefully always maintaining what's the emotional truth of that. So, like an example is we chose to keep Gloria. We made the creative decision. Gloria, in reality, passed away about a year before the events of the show. We decided that in order to show her relationship with the family, with Paul in particular, and what that meant, and then feel her loss once she had been there. It made emotional truth, story truth sense to have her be alive and then see how that plays out in the current timeline of our show instead of having to reset and go back. So that's just an example of how we. A creative decision we made that had emotional truth at its core, emotional truth.
- [21:02]
Aaron Lee Carr
And also I think that that goes to being victim focused and not just glossing over Gloria's story like you actually see her and how she interacted with the Murdaughs. And I loved the relationship between her and Paul. I remember during my reporting and finding that out that they were really, really close. Paul called her go go of her as a mother. That really brought out I was like, oh, wow. He has a different, like this is a totally different side that I didn't know. And I think that, that their relationship really shines in the show and shows who they were.
- [21:36]
Michael D. Fowler
Yes. And we were fortunate enough to have blessed enough to have two incredible actors in those roles, Kathleen Wilhoyt and Johnny Burchtold. And you know, and I think that to that end, that's a perfect example of it is allowing Gloria to be a living, breathing person on screen, our version of Gloria, and have her exist in space with them and not just be someone where something's discovered and oh, she's part of the fabric of. She's just part of their story, but she's living her own life. We get to see her relationship with her sons outside of the, outside of Moselle and the family. But then we also see in that way that relationship she has with Paul that I think, you know, in your reporting was so, was so illuminating in terms of that ability to humanize him, to show something about her, about the family. And then also I think to really feel where the story goes with her fate, what happens to her, and then how Alec uses that to his own benefits and just to really feel that, the tragedy and the betrayal of that, I think we really needed to see and feel her on screen and not just as something in retrospect that was discovered.
- [22:45]
Mandy Matney
Back in 2021 when the Murdoch Murders podcast was first exploding, David and I had met with dozens of Hollywood type who were interested in adapting the podcast into a documentary or a TV show or a series or a movie. I'm not gonna lie, it all felt icky, like I was selling my soul and like I was doing something a small town journalist just shouldn't be doing. Then as interest in the case grew and more and more vultures started swarming in, I realized that people were going to tell this story in many different ways. And we needed to be smart about picking the right people to work with who shared the same values and goals for the project. Aaron Lee Carr and Michael D. Fuller immediately felt different from the dozens of other creators, directors and producers who we met with back in 2021. They saw the bigger picture of the story about power and corruption in a way that no one else did. They asked questions about the victims and their families and they were worried about their well being. I didn't know the first thing about Hollywood when I met Michael and Aaron, but as a journalist, I was always pretty good at sussing people out and determining whether or not they actually cared about the victims involved in a case. Michael and Aaron always cared about honoring the victims in this story, and that is evident throughout this series. And it's especially evident in their decision to change Gloria's timeline on screen so that people could get a better understanding of not only Gloria, but Paul, too. We'll talk more about this after a quick commercial break, and we'll be right back.
- [24:34]
Alec Murdaugh
Hello Finney.
- [24:35]
Mandy Matney
Did you think our story was over?
- [24:39]
Liz Farrell
Mr. Grammar?
- [24:40]
Mandy Matney
This Friday you're dead.
- [24:42]
Michael D. Fowler
Danopy is just a word critics are.
- [24:45]
Mandy Matney
Saying Ethan Hawke is pure nightmare fuel. Discover the secret behind the mask.
- [24:52]
Alec Murdaugh
What do you think happens when you die? It's time to find out.
- [24:57]
Mandy Matney
Black Phone 2 only in theaters Friday. Rated R under 17. Not admitted without parent.
- [25:04]
Alec Murdaugh
Upgrade your laundry.
- [25:06]
Michael D. Fowler
Routine with a durable and reliable Maytag laundry pair at Lowe's, like the new Maytag washer and dryer with performance enhanced stain fighting power designed to cut through serious dirt and grime. And what's great is this laundry pair is in stock and ready for delivery when you need it the most. Don't miss out. Shop Maytag in store or online today at Lowe's.
- [25:35]
Mandy Matney
In episode three of this series, you will hear more about Paul's complex character as a victim and a perpetrator and how Johnny Birchtold walked that line when I talked to Johnny. Johnny also felt like Paul's relationship with Gloria was essential to show in the series. And don't worry, you will hear from that treasure of a human being, AKA Kathleen Wilhoyt, who plays the real life treasure of a human being who was Gloria Satterfield in episode four. Longtime listeners of the Murdoch Murders podcast in True Sunlight know how much we emphasize a victims first approach in our reporting. Victims first can mean a lot of things. It can be as simple as asking a victim of violent crime how they want to be referred to in our podcast, or making sure that victims know what we have found in our reporting before we publish an episode so they are not hearing about it for the first time along with the rest of the world, Victims first reporting is unfortunately not a priority for most media who default to the old style of both sidesism, which sometimes further hurts the victim and also tends to normalize violence against them. The first time I saw Mallory Beach's character appear in the show, it was incredibly emotional. She was immediately recognizable because of the expertise of costume designer Joseph lacour and because she was doing something that seemed absolutely true to what the real life Mallory would be doing. She was kneeling down to give one of the Murdaugh dogs lots of Pets and attention. Hi, baby. Hi. Hi. Oh, you're so perfect. Oh, you're so sweet.
- [27:24]
Alec Murdaugh
You saying hey to Mallory?
- [27:27]
Michael D. Fowler
Here, look. Oh, thank you.
- [27:29]
Alec Murdaugh
There you go.
- [27:30]
Michael D. Fowler
Want some?
- [27:31]
Mandy Matney
Mm.
- [27:32]
Alec Murdaugh
She's about to be mama.
- [27:33]
Michael D. Fowler
Really? Wait, when's she due? In the next month. Oh, it's gonna hurt real bad, but.
- [27:37]
Mandy Matney
It'Ll be over so fast.
- [27:39]
Alec Murdaugh
You can have one of her puppies.
- [27:41]
Mandy Matney
Really? Please.
- [27:41]
Deborah Roberts
Yes.
- [27:42]
Alec Murdaugh
You're gonna be popping him out.
- [27:44]
Deborah Roberts
You gotta go somewhere.
- [27:45]
Michael D. Fowler
Hey, he hitting on you?
- [27:46]
Alec Murdaugh
You coming?
- [27:47]
Michael D. Fowler
Well, if he is, you can have him.
- [27:50]
Alec Murdaugh
Oh, sorry, say it again.
- [27:51]
Michael D. Fowler
Oh, she can have me just like that.
- [27:54]
Mandy Matney
One of the first things that I learned about Mallory is that she loved animals. She didn't just find them cute to play with or pet. She truly cared about their well being. After Mallory's death, the beach family, their attorney Mark Tinsley and Mallory's friends created Mal's Pals, a non profit that is currently raising money for an animal shelter to house rescues in Hampton County, South Carolina. The dog petting scene was such a beautiful way to honor Mallory Beach's memory. And I am so happy to say that it is not the last time that you will see her love of animals represented in the show. I talked to Michael about the writers decisions to include those details.
- [28:35]
Aaron Lee Carr
Okay, so in that scene with Malorie that I really loved, where she is petting one of Paul's dogs. And what does Paul say to Malorie?
- [28:44]
Michael D. Fowler
The dog in the show is pregnant and Mallory learns. Our character Mallory version of Mallory learns that and says, you know, when Paul says she'll be delivering soon, he says, oh, sweet girl, it'll hurt so bad but it'll be over so soon. Or something to that effect. And one, it just, it was a, it was. One of our writers pitched it on the script and his name's David Gabriel and he's incredibly talented. And it felt like there was an emotional truth in that that was also. There's obviously the foreshadowing of what's tragically to come for Malorie and you know, very much humanizing her because it shows the empathy she's having for this, this pregnant dog, you know, and this story is obviously just overrun with tragedy and hers being chief among them. And it felt like something that captured something about the tragedy of what befell her. In a way it got at something, you know, emotionally true and got it something really special about who she was, that she would have that without obviously knowing, you know, her own fate to come. And I think, you know, you had shared so much of that those details and that information. So we have that to go on. And that is obviously an incredibly relatable and an incredibly endearing trait. And it felt like knowing that about her, like what's a way to introduce this character that can immediately endear the audience? We had an incredible actress in Madeline Popovich who plays her and she just seeing someone interact with a dog, it's hard to not be immediately endeared to him. But it's not just us being, you know, using it as shorthand. It's true to who, what we know of who Real Malorie was and the way she lived and to what our understanding of it is. And so it really was, you know, a way for us to access her and bring her into the story, you know, and try to do so again with, you know, emotional sensitivity to her family and to her as a human being.
- [30:48]
Mandy Matney
From the start, when all eyes were on the Lowcountry because of the Murdoch murder, I felt protective of the case. There was an important story to tell that didn't just go beyond the easy headlines of the who, what, when, where, why and how to tell the story right. It required a unique understanding of South Carolina and how power is created and how it gets wielded. The story needed to be told by someone who understood the ways of the state. In many ways, it hasn't changed, changed at all in 150 years. And now in 2019, a single family in their name could still direct a local economy, determine social hierarchies and dictate how the law gets enforced. Luckily, that storyteller existed on top of Michael and Aaron being victim focused. I like that they immediately understood the larger context of the story and the highest stakes involved. Aaron Lee Carr, who you'll hear more from in episode five of this podcast, has an impressive background as a documentarian covering complicated true crime cases in a brilliant way. And Michael, well, honestly from day one I felt like Michael was born for this because of his background.
- [32:07]
Michael D. Fowler
So I was, I'm, I'm, I'm born and raised South Carolina native and grew up in Lexington, South Carolina, which is about an hour, hour and a half outside of Hampton. Grew up driving through Hampton, knew the Murdoch name. As you know, these names in South Carolina, these family names didn't have any personal connections to it. But so when the story started unfolding, I was very aware of it and felt just a human interest, a back home interest, seeing something that felt very tied to where I'm from and people I knew and just the life that I had Grown up living and my own family. And then obviously, as things developed, as you yourself and your fellow reporters were reporting on these insane developments as they were happening, it became more and more clear that this was a real story, as you knew from the get go. And then one that just continued to spiral in this really tragic way. And I felt almost doing what I do, I've been a TV writer for 15 years now, knowing that we live in this era of true crime stories and limited series about true crime, feeling like somebody is going to tell this story and feeling an obligation in a way to where I'm from and to the place and to the people to, you know, want to be someone who understands the way that the culture is there, the way that societally things operate and how it could create the dynamics at play that erupted in the way that they did with the Murdoch family. And so, yeah, I just really, truly felt like it was almost like an obligation, a calling to sound a little bit high and mighty about it. But yeah, it just felt like something that, like, it felt like something that I needed to do if somebody were gonna do it. I felt like it should be me.
- [33:51]
Aaron Lee Carr
Given my ties and done in a certain way. And yeah, I felt the same way when we met.
- [33:59]
Mandy Matney
I just remember thinking, like, somebody else.
- [34:02]
Aaron Lee Carr
Is going to do this and we might as well work with the best people and make it the best that we possibly can and actually make it respectful to victims and victim focused. And I was so glad that we found you guys.
- [34:15]
Michael D. Fowler
Well, and I have to say the thing as for, I think so many that have followed this story over the years, the thing that was my first touchstone for it was your reporting, your podcast. And I think the way that you did focus things on victims first and you did provide a perspective on things that went beyond just, here's the crime, here's the criminal, here's the victim, and just through that prism, but actually gave us context for the way the legal system works. The way that, you know, finding the crazy details that you would find that, you know, nothing else was, you know, just kind of doing the drive by reporting, as it were. And yours was so in depth and had led with such heart and emotion that it felt like, you know, when I was just drawn to the story, then when the opportunity arose to like actually be working with you on, it was just, it felt like the best possible circumstances to be able to do.
- [35:06]
Aaron Lee Carr
This and like it was necessary too, like somebody needed to do it so absolutely well.
- [35:12]
Michael D. Fowler
And, you know, your reporting being like, you know, and the podcast Itself being so such a testament to that of like, somebody needs to do this because otherwise, you know, it's either not going to get done or it's going to get done by the same people who've always done it and you're going to end up with the same results.
- [35:26]
Mandy Matney
And while Michael was born for writing a compelling scripted narrative based in South Carolina, or at least I believe he was born for that, Aaron Lee Carr was born for telling twisted and captivating true crime stories that dig into complicated emotions of the human experience, like family dynamics and addiction. Together, Michael and Aaron made the perfect team.
- [35:52]
Michael D. Fowler
I think I had the benefit of a great co creator in Aaron Lee Carr, who's a really accomplished documentary filmmaker and who has kind of a north star of always finding the truth with the sensitivity to the subjects of her documentaries. I think for me, creatively, it was always wanting to approach this as first and foremost as a family drama because all of the other elements, the crime, the violence, all of the other. The tragedy that is all inherent in this saga. So it's always wanting to put it first and foremost through the prism of this family. And then how this family touched on other families, how it touched on other people. And looking at what are versions of that that I've seen not really in a true crime space, but in just a dramatic space, whether it's film or television, that feel like it's the. Because the parts of this story that are gonna happen are gonna happen. We know certain developments that are gonna happen and tragic turns that are to come for people who do know the story and for those who don't, hopefully they'll be along for what's a very tragic ride. But it's, you know, I think it's really just about like, what's the family human drama at the heart of this, Both the Murdochs as the family, but then also on a character, human level for everyone else involved, for Mandy's character, as I say to you, Mandy, as she's exploring this story and what are the obstacle she's encountering as she tries to cover it and get traction with stories where there's not necessarily an appetite from the powers that be to really explore these things with the attention they deserve. And then how does she break through and find her own way to tell the story the way that it needs to be told and report on it the way it needs to be reported on. But really that's it. It's just always lead with character and emotion and knowing again that we're dealing with a story that's true and with real people who live through these things.
- [37:45]
Liz Farrell
During the early days of reporting on Alec Murdoch and his family, we were focused on the facts, of course, but we were also intent on learning who they were. We wanted to know their values, what motivated them, what their history was, and even what their daily lives looked like. So we talked to as many people who knew them as we could and. And received a lot of emails that said things like, be careful. This family is very powerful. But we kept going because, well, somebody needed to do it. By the time of the murders, we had enough background on Elec and his family, and it wasn't a stretch to think that he could kill his wife and son. Not for us, anyway. But not everyone had that deep understanding of how Elec ticked. The depictions of Elec and his family here are remarkable, and that is because of the care put into the development of the characters. The Elliott character is all things at once. He is a loving husband who has no respect for his wife beyond how she meets his needs. He's a loving father who cares about his sons, but also sees them as extensions of himself in the worst possible way. The Maggie character is a devoted wife who adores her husband, but she's also a woman who sees that her husband is no princess. We often want to imagine people as being strictly one way. Bad people are bad. Good people are good. Men who love their wives can only love their wives and vice versa. This show does an amazing job of allowing the characters to reveal themselves in the most human of ways by putting all their contradictions on display. The first scene showing Paul Murdock does just that.
- [39:25]
Michael D. Fowler
In the first episode. We have very early on when we introduce our version of Paul, we introduce his character. He's rolling up to Moselle and he's got half a tree branch sticking out of his truck and he's bumping some hardy as he's driving up to the house. And we knew from research the real Paul had several accidents and that were kind of, for the most part, just sort of property damage, sorts of accidents, obviously before the boat crash occurred. And for us, it felt like a way to platform this guy, introduce this guy with a sense of kind of relatable country swagger, a little bit. Bit, you know, and, and. And I also think that, you know, like being a teenager and it doesn't absolve you of stupidity, but, you know, it felt certainly to me as somebody who's from South Carolina and from a place very similar to Hampton, about just, I crashed my car on a tree stump. I Got it stuck on a tree stump one night at a party and it wouldn't come off. And that was like a whole ordeal. And, you know, and. And there's. There were incidents with water balloons getting thrown out of cars after my senior year. So it's like I could. It felt relatable in a way to where you could see this character that wasn't just, again, a victim, wasn't just a perpetrator, wasn't just someone who was responsible for something terrible or the victim of something terrible. And then our actor Johnny Burchtold, who plays Paul, is terrific. And he and Patricia, who plays Maggie had this exchange where she says, I'm glad you're okay. After she sort of has seen the damage he's done and knows that he's had some previous run ins with the law over his drinking and driving. And he kind of gives her this look of like, you know, this sort of endearing, sweet look. Are you sure? But there's like a playfulness to it. And that's a choice Johnny made as an actor. But it's that kind of interaction that I think, you know, really kind of humanizes people. And then seeing him walk over and like, try to ask his dad, you know, are we gonna go test out this new rifle? And just, you know, just sort of basic familial interactions and then you. Human interactions. I think that in some way, shape or form we can all relate to or at least understand or have someone who's done something similar before. The events of this story go beyond, you know, normal comprehension.
- [41:38]
Aaron Lee Carr
I think that scene also shows how the Murdochs just were not taking Paul's problem seriously either. And it's in one way it's understandable. Like, everybody has a problematic teenager and everybody has a teenager that's drinking too much and. But at the same time, like they mentioned, there's been several accidents. And it's like a storm is kind of building. But how serious should we take this?
- [42:05]
Mandy Matney
And.
- [42:05]
Michael D. Fowler
Yeah, well, it's like the signs. The signs were there, you know, the warning signs were there and how seriously they were taken by the people who should have been taking them seriously. And that does, to a certain extent, you know, in real life, includes all of them. But it's like, what's the support system that, you know, in reality, that was. Was there. And then within our story, what are we saying when we speak to, hopefully subtly, but that there's been these other accidents that he's had and that there's this past drinking ticket and there's these incidents. And what are these things that are sort of just being brushed aside and not regarded with the gravity that they should for what they could mean and what could happen, which then obviously, as we know, did ultimately rupture in a way that was horrible for everyone. And then was the inciting incident in so many ways for while we're here talking.
- [43:04]
Mandy Matney
Oh, no.
- [43:06]
Alec Murdaugh
Oh, I mean, what, you playing chicken with trees now? Just ran off the road a little last night.
- [43:13]
Michael D. Fowler
Were you drinking?
- [43:14]
Liz Farrell
Is the sky blue?
- [43:15]
Michael D. Fowler
You know this boy's gone through more vehicles at 19 than I have.
- [43:19]
Alec Murdaugh
My, oh my.
- [43:20]
Michael D. Fowler
You keep messing around like that, you're.
- [43:22]
Mandy Matney
Gonna win yourself another drinking ticket.
- [43:24]
Michael D. Fowler
I'm gonna get some hydrogen peroxide for that.
- [43:27]
Alec Murdaugh
Thanks. Go, go. Jesus Christ, dude. Oh, my God.
- [43:30]
Mandy Matney
Hey.
- [43:30]
Liz Farrell
Hey.
- [43:31]
Mandy Matney
Hey, you. I'm glad you're okay. We will talk more about the complexities of Paul's character in episode three of this podcast. But Johnny's interpretation of Paul. Paul actually changed the way I saw the person who I had harshly reported on for more than two years before and after his death. The facts of my reporting still stand, of course, but my perspective has shifted a lot. For instance, to me, Paul's messiness seems unique to his upbringing because of his last name. So it was easy to see his history of troublemaking, which often had a price tag associated with with it, as a function of his personality. I didn't understand some of Paul's less consequential high jinks as relatable as a rite of passage almost until talking to Michael. At the heart of Paul's story and of the boat crash story is something that most humans can relate to young people being stupid and doing stupid things. Paul's recklessness was, of course, much worse than most teenagers. But I was reminded while talking with Michael that most of us can look back on our teenage years at things that we did and just be glad that our mistakes did not define us. The beginning of the end for Alec Murdaugh and his family's deep rooted Legacy was in February 2019, on the night a drunk Paul Murdaugh crashed his dad's boat into a Bridge, killing 19 year old Mallory beach and severely injuring three friends of theirs. The boat crash captured the attention of the entire state of South Carolina and even beyond. Not only because of who the Murdaughs were, because that the crash involved teenagers in a situation that many people could relate to. Going to a party, hanging out with friends, and one of them making the bad choice of getting behind the wheel after drinking a split second. Then everything changes. And if you're lucky, you can learn from that mistake like Michael learned from the mailbox incident. I also was once a dumb teenager who did dumb things while drinking. Like that one time I was 19 in the backseat of my drunken friend's pickup truck when it caught fire and we were just a few seconds away from all going up in flames, all because we were dumb and put a lit cream grill on accident in the truck bed. Stupid dumb teenagers. I always thought of those young and dumb times in my life when I investigated the boat crash case, which was why I always reported on the case with a level of empathy for Mallory and all the passengers on the boat. It could have been me when I was young. You know who else related to Mallory and immediately empathized with her? Her decision to ride in a boat with drunken Paul Murdoch driving on her last night alive. Brittany Snow, who plays me. Well, she plays the Manny character in this series. You'll hear more from Britt in episode two of this podcast. But like so many of you, Brittany was an obsessive fan of the Murdoch murders podcast who was drawn in by the boat crash case.
- [46:53]
Liz Farrell
Something both Mandy and I really love about the series is that the writers didn't shy away from showing that Alec Murdoch wasn't just a power player. He was surrounded by other power players whose mere presence in his atmosphere served as tacit approval for the way he operated. The writers accomplished this early on by crafting a reimagining of what happened earlier in the day when Paul Murdoch crashed his father's boat in February 2019. This collection of scenes covers a lot of ground and reveals the emotional truth of what Alec Murdoch's world looked like around that time. The Order of the Palmetto Party, for instance. The Governor of South Carolina awarded Randolph Murdoch with this honor, the highest award in the state in 2018, about a year before the crash. By merging these two timelines, the writers were able to accomplish so many things that were once you see the Maggie character putting her heart and soul into creating the perfect party for Randolph for Alec's benefit. You see Maggie dancing with Randolph and advocating for Ellic, later reporting back to him about what Randolph said. Only she tells Elek what she thinks he wants to hear. You see Elec never staying in one spot. He goes between his family and the powerful public officials in attendance, all in the name of getting his jelly ball induction through that red tape. Now, for 86 years, a Randolph Murdoch was the chief law enforcement officer in five counties of South Carolina's Lowcountry. Alec's father, grandfather and great grandfather all served as solicitor, which is the term South Carolina uses for its district attorney. The Murdaughs had a long history of deciding who would be held to the letter of the law and who would get a pass. And when Randolph III, Alex foster father, stepped down in 2006 after 20 years, people assumed that Ellick would be appointed to take over his father's office until the next election, when voters would continue that legacy by electing him to office. But that's not how it played out, as we now know. Ellick followed the money and remained at the law firm started by his great grandfather, which meant that the Murdaughs needed a friend in the solicitor seat.
- [49:02]
Michael D. Fowler
And.
- [49:02]
Liz Farrell
And that's why Randolph Murdoch lobbied for one of the prosecutors in his office to take his place. That person was Duffy Stone, and he remains in that seat to this day. To capture this dynamic of Ellick surrounding himself with power players in government and in law enforcement, whose very presence at events like this one were seen as problematic and even corrupt. The writers show Alec talking about Duffy as one of them and. And playing beanbags with him. They show Ell feeding grilled jellyfish to Duffy and to the new DNR officer who had just shut down Ell's operation. They show Ellik introducing that new DNR officer to the governor of South Carolina, mentioning that he'd make a good director over the entire office.
- [49:50]
Alec Murdaugh
Listen, Mr. Murdoch, I'd like.
- [49:51]
Michael D. Fowler
No, no, no.
- [49:52]
Alec Murdaugh
Don't you do that. You call me Alec. Okay, Alec.
- [49:55]
Mandy Matney
Okay.
- [49:55]
Alec Murdaugh
Listen, Doug, I'm gonna come to the point. I got a couple hundred thousand invested in this already. I got product that can't move. That's money out of my pocket until you give me your blessing. So what's it gonna take? These things take a lot of consideration. I mean, there's environmental impact and there's things that I need to just. Henry. Governor. Come on. Get your ass over here. Come on. What's shaking, Big Red?
- [50:16]
Michael D. Fowler
Eddie?
- [50:17]
Alec Murdaugh
No, sir. Put a lip on this.
- [50:21]
Mandy Matney
Come on.
- [50:22]
Alec Murdaugh
What the hell is it? Jellyfish. Well, it looks weird as hell, but. But now, that is some texture, isn't it? That's just what Doug here said. You omit. No, no. Governor, this is Doug Brailsford out of Greenville dnr. He just took over from Braden as county director. Congratulations. Real pleasure meeting you. No, please, call me Henry. Yes, sir.
- [50:47]
Michael D. Fowler
Yes, sir.
- [50:47]
Alec Murdaugh
Alec, come on. Okay. Business calls. I get to love you and leave you. He's future state director written all over. All right, I'll leave you all to get acquainted. All right, y', all, one second.
- [51:02]
Liz Farrell
Again, this all strikes at the emotional truth of Ella Murdoch's world, and it conveys to the audience what a good old boy system looks like. Because later in the episode, it's these core relationships that Elek has in his back pocket, along with a solicitor's office badge and some blue lights for his truck. When the worst happens and he gets that call about the boat crash. Here's Michael on the challenge of writing scenes that convey this corruption on screen in a way that helps the audience connect those dots.
- [51:33]
Michael D. Fowler
One of the trickier things to, you know, in terms of the exposition of the story and really showing people and. And how the world works and how they work within it, but is that they worked as both attorneys and also worked as prosecutors. And that's a really tricky thing because it's a very unique thing, too, that is unique to the south in general. But so really we wanted to show in organic ways, but that he has these blue lights that he carries around, this badge, that he tries to wield this to his advantage. And then through the show, hopefully organically, of the boat crash and the fallout of it, there's no better opportunity to show those attempts to wield that power and to wield those connections and to wield that. But also that charm in the moment, that ability to get things out of people. Whereas if someone might not necessarily know who you are, you can connect with them and then make them bend to your will or to do a favor for you in some way, shape or form. So it's really through action that we tried to show those things where it's like, okay, he's. He's not a cop, but he's turning on those blue lights to go out and deal with some business scheme he's got going and speeding out there and introducing himself with his badge to people, which are all things we know that real Alec did. And I think it's. So it's really through action. We tried to show it as much as we can. And again, drawing on the real details of what we know of the story.
- [53:05]
Mandy Matney
There are many large themes to focus on when it comes to the Murdaughs. But Erin and Michael always honed in on what was important to us, like telling the victims stories in a respectful way and exposing the corruption that we are still fighting in South Carolina to this day. It's always important to know why people do what they do. So for my final question, I asked Michael D. Foler what he hopes people take away from this series.
- [53:36]
Michael D. Fowler
I think as a whole one, I think there but for the grace of whatever higher power in a lot of ways. And I think that if you have, we're always gonna have moments of there's always gonna be tragedy. There's always gonna be moments beyond our control. There's always gonna be things that happen to our family or to us as people. It's how you respond to those things and the decisions you make and the way you approach those things and how you use what's at your disposal that are gonna really define what those moments mean. And, you know, and I think what I would really love is just that, you know, ultimately, as it relates to this story and that these are human beings and that these are people and they're complex and they're complicated and you know, again, our version of them, obviously, but hopefully that there's some truth illuminated about how they interacted with each other, one another within the family itself, within generations of power, within generations of privilege, and how that, if unchecked, can really become something that can unravel in a way, if you're not diligent, if you're not keeping in touch with yourself, if you're not being true to yourself, if you're not being true to what's going on, that things can really, really take a turn. And it's that human drama that's at the heart of it that I think is what I would really love for people to take away. It's just that these are complex human beings at the end of the day.
- [55:04]
Mandy Matney
Part of my job as a journalist is to dig deeper, to discover more beneath the surface. And that's what we will be doing on this podcast series for each episode of Hulu's captivating look @ this story that I have lived and breathed for almost seven years now. Watch the interview from this podcast on Hulu and Hulu on Disney. New episodes Wednesdays. We hope that you you're enjoying the original series Death in the Family. And don't forget to like share, subscribe and leave a comment or five star rating to give our creators, cast and crew the praise they deserve. And don't miss Murdoch Death in the Family now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney. The Murdoch Death in the Family official podcast is a Luna Shark and USG Audio production. Executive producers include Mandy Matney, Liz Farrell, David Moses for Luna Shark and Josh Block for USG Audio. Sound design and audio engineering by Jamie Hobby Hoffman, Mike Bader and Grace Hills. Production support for USG Audio by Josh Lalongi Special thanks to Kate Thomas Ruby Hart, Beth Braden, Ginny Adams, and Sam Berlin. To learn more about this story and others, visit lunasharkmedia. Com.