Have you ever wondered exactly how your favorite movie or book –– or podcast, TV series, documentary film, or magazine article –– got made? Origin Stories has you covered. Each week, veteran journalist Matthew Shaer talks to a different writer or director about the creation of a work close to their own hearts (and to ours). Nothing is off the table: not the frustrations and the joys, not the setbacks and the successes. Intimate and incisive, instructive and eye-opening, Origin Stories is the ultimate podcast for anyone curious about the workings of the creative mind. New episodes every Wednesday! To connect with the team and gain access to behind the scenes content, join our community at joinoriginstories.com . You can also find us on Instagram , <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@originstoriespod" targ
Required Pod Score for this podcast. PitchCentric checks your profile against host openness, topical fit, and audience signals before you generate a pitch.
Contact path
Verified email
Booking probability
28%
Guest openness
Selective
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Signup to Generate a PitchHave you ever wondered exactly how your favorite movie or book, or podcast, TV series, documentary film, or magazine article, got made? Origin Stories has you covered. Each week, veteran journalist Matthew Shaer talks to a different writer or director about the creation of a work close to their own hearts (and to ours).
Recent episodes include "Origin Stories is moving!" (20 August 2026, 1 minute), "Nev Shulman on Catfish" (10 June 2026, 31 minutes), and "David Owen on Where the Water Goes" (3 June 2026, 27 minutes).
Origin Stories publishes roughly weekly, with episodes averaging 30 minutes across 10 episodes.
Booking probability for Origin Stories is 28%, and the host is rated Selective on guests. Origin Stories requires a Pod Score of 80 or higher. Origin Stories's contact route on record: verified email.
The strongest fits for Origin Stories are Film & Video and News, Magazine & Book Publishing. Origin Stories has an arts audience.
Origin Stories is an arts podcast with 10 episodes published.
Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.
Episode #46
Over the past year, I’ve had the chance to talk with some of the most interesting creative minds working in film, television, podcasting, and journalism—and to discuss their inspirations, influences, and obsessions...
Episode #45
Nev Schulman is a filmmaker, photographer, producer, and the creator and host of Catfish. What began as a deeply personal documentary about an online relationship gone wrong grew into a cultural phenomenon, helping...
Episode #44
David Owen is a longtime staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of numerous books about technology, infrastructure, and the hidden systems that shape everyday life. In Where the Water Goes , he follows the...
Episode #43
Josh Dean is a journalist and the author of The Impossible Factory, a sweeping history of Kelly Johnson, Lockheed’s legendary Skunk Works division, and the engineers who reshaped aviation during the Cold War. Before The...
Episode #42
Ben Bradford is a journalist and the creator of Are We Doomed?, a narrative podcast that explores existential threats through the lens of systems, history, science, and human decision-making. Before launching Are We...
Episode #42
We’re excited to share a preview of a new podcast we think you’d enjoy: No Such Thing No Such Thing is a show where three best friends and journalists settle their dumb arguments — and yours — by actually doing the...
Episode #41
Helena de Groot is a writer, audio producer, and the host of Creation Myth, a deeply personal podcast about love, uncertainty, and the terrifying difficulty of knowing what kind of life you actually want. Before...
Episode #40
Jordan Ritter Conn is a journalist, a senior staff writer at The Ringer, and the author of American Men, a reported book that follows four men over the course of several years as they grapple, in different ways, with...
Episode #39
Christian Jacobs and Scott Schultz are the creators of Yo Gabba Gabba , the cult-favorite children’s show that first premiered in 2007 and went on to redefine what kids television could look and sound like. Blending...
Episode #38
Sam Fragoso is the host of Talk Easy , the long-running interview podcast known for its intimate, deeply reported conversations with artists, activists, and public figures. Since launching the show in 2016, Fragoso has...
Episode #37
Joshua Hunt is a correspondent for GQ and a freelance writer whose work has appeared in publications including The New York Times Magazine and Vanity Fair. He previously worked as a foreign correspondent for Reuters...
Episode #36
Julie Cohn is a journalist, screenwriter, and Tony Award–winning theater producer whose work spans film, stage, and audio. Her reporting has appeared in outlets like The New York Times and The Daily, and on Broadway she...
Episode #35
Delaney Hall is a veteran producer and editor who got her start in audio journalism at Chicago Public Radio’s Third Coast International Audio Festival. She later worked on State of the Re:Union , the NPR documentary...
Episode #34
Adam Rapp is a novelist, playwright, and screenwriter whose work spans theater, film, and fiction. His plays include The Sound Inside and Red Light Winter , and his novels include The Year of Endless Sorrows . He also...
Episode #33
Shaun Raviv is an Atlanta-based journalist and a fellow at Harvard’s Nieman Foundation. In 2024, he reported and hosted “ Noble ,” which was named the best podcast of the year by the New Yorker. But in this episode of...
Episode #32
Dr. Sohaira Siddiqui and Salman Ahad Khan are behind More Muslim , a narrative podcast that explores the diversity of Muslim life through personal stories, history, and culture. The project grew out of a relationship...
Episode #31
Gus Van Sant is an Academy Award–nominated filmmaker whose work spans four decades of American cinema, from independent classics like Drugstore Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho to mainstream hits like Good Will Hunting...
Episode #30
Caleb Gayle is a historian and journalist whose work bridges narrative nonfiction and the academy. A professor at Northeastern and a longtime magazine writer, he has built a reputation for excavating overlooked Black...
Episode #29
PJ Vogt and Sruthi Pinnamaneni helped make Reply All , the rare show that made the internet feel legible. Created and hosted by PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman, and produced by Sruthi Pinnamaneni, the podcast took strange...
Episode #28
Mo Amer is a stand-up comedian, actor, and writer whose work blends raucous humor with serious conversations about borders, identity, and belonging. Born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents and raised in Houston, Amer...
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