San Diegan tells story behind ‘Psycho’ in new podcast
Using one of the most well-known movies of all time as his subject, San Diegan Mark Ramsey is close to unearthing podcast gold.
His new series “Inside Psycho,” an audio drama that gives listeners the story behind the story of the hit Alfred Hitchcock movie, "Psycho," has seemingly cracked the increasingly complex code of standing out from a crowd of hundreds of thousands of podcast series.
Since debuting last week, the series, which will unfold over six episodes, has climbed as high as the No. 8 position on the iTunes Top Charts for podcasts, though it has since slipped down the list to the 41st spot at the time of publication.
So what started as a passion project — Ramsey is a movie buff and on the board of the Broadcast Film Critics Associations — is now a business. Wondery, the Los Angeles-based podcast network that owns the show and sells ads against it, has already ordered a second season, this one to dissect another iconic movie.
Produced from Ramsey’s Rancho Bernardo office, Inside Psycho arrives amidst a boom in the podcasting realm as consumers’ demand for these on-demand, spoken-word series continues to climb. Apple, the largest podcast platform with about two-thirds share of the market, recently announced a milestone: more than 10 billion global podcast episode downloads and streams in a single calendar year.
Of course, Ramsey wisely incorporated a few magic ingredients in making the audio show, the most obvious being the classic movie that is his muse.
“It’s got a great story to tell,” said Ramsey, who’s day job is as a digital strategist for media brands, including radio broadcasters and even Apple. “There’s stuff here nobody knows.”
He describes the series as an “audio-graphic novel” where story snippets are illustrated through old recordings, dream sequences and dramatic readings.
In episode one, Ramsey tells the twisted story of serial murderer and body snatcher Ed Gein, the real-life character who inspired the original novel. He then moves on to center in on Psycho’s author, Robert Bloch, and the story’s eventual film director, Hitchcock. In yet-to-be-released episodes, Ramsey will discuss the making of the movie, its release and its legacy.
Beyond telling a gripping and dark story, Ramsey ultimately hopes to showcase the power of audio.
“My goal is to prove a point,” he said. “The idea that you create pictures in your mind that are powerful is meaningful.
You listen to this and you visualize the story, and you’re going to feel like you’re in the middle of it.”
jennifer.vangrove@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1840 Twitter: @jbruin
