iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 18/09/2026

new lizzy mcalpine, orville peck, AND carly rae?

Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 18/08/2026

I honestly don’t use Bluesky that much anymore but I couldn’t not share how amazing phantom pulse recording went, I mean LOOK at how perfect these folks are

A photo of Jordan Doww, Briggon Snow, Erin Caesar, Julianna Guttiérrez Arango, and Erika Ishii

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 12/06/2026

if you'd like to know what to expect, it's basically this:

a tweet from user @cornonthegoblin that reads: me: i let my cat drink the bathtub water while i was in it
priest: once again kind of weird but not a sin

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 21/05/2026

live reaction image of me listening to this episode and texting @gabrielurbina.com

a string of texts from Lauren to Gabriel that read: "If this episode is going where I think it's going I'm gonna
LOSE IT
(a previous text) Amy should have TWO husbands
(replying to the previous text)THERE IS STILL TIME FOR ME TO GET WHAT I WANT
GABRIEL URBINA WHEN I FIND YOU!!!!!!!!!
I have never been angrier with you

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 15/05/2026

live reaction of Briggon deciding he never wants to speak to me again

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 30/04/2026

lol @ this comment on TTAL why are some men so afraid of female-led art

a Spotify comment on TWO THOUSAND AND LATE that reads "I like this intensely but I can just feel the testosterone in me fizzling out lol"

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 26/04/2026

I like to think of myself as a good creative collaborator - it's something I've worked on for over a decade, and I cherish the creative partnerships I have I do, however, have one fatal flaw

a screenshot from an email Lauren sent that says "This email is already unforgivably long"

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 15/04/2026

um. right. so. do I need to stop writing fiction or do I need to start getting *very specific* in my fiction and move into political thrillers. bc this is the second thing in as many weeks that has jumped from my projects to headlines

a headline about Anthropic's new AI cybersecurity project "Glasswing"

a pitch for a show called "Glasswing" by Lauren Shippen. It says: "A mystery-thriller, GLASSWING will explore themes of identity, found family, technological anxiety, and trust. As our main characters work on solving a series of puzzles they believe is part of their favorite game, their long-standing teamwork is transformed into a tangled web of paranoia. What happens when your online footprint - the things you play, buy, watch, and talk about - are used to fence you into a trap?"

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 13/04/2026

The next missive for New Year’s Day goes live tomorrow for patrons and Wednesday for the public! Are you caught up on this ultra slow burn about two rival magicians who accidentally become immortal?   Are you ready for what comes next? newyearsdaypodcast.com

January 10th, 1946

One year. It’s been one year.

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 10/04/2026

um. right. so when I wrote TWO THOUSAND AND LATE, I wasn't writing instructions. please mr arson investigator I'm innocent I make fiction

a daily beast bluesky post about someone threatening to burn down Open AI's HQ

a post from Chad Loder about the employee who burned down their workplace warehouse in CA

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 01/04/2026

I've always hated april fool's day (april 1st is like the thunderdome for kids who were being bullied in school lol) but in recent years it has been a delight for two reasons: the atypipals conduct psychological warfare by mishapocalypsing me and tumblr always does something goofy

a screenshot of the atypipals discord where everyone has changed their server names to look like Lauren

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 16/03/2026

they're saying its the slowest a slow burn has ever slow burned

a screenshot of a bunch of tumblr tags going bonkers over the 1945 missive of New Year’s Day

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 09/03/2026

I've started a new thing on the @atypicalartists.co patreon where I'm sharing a bit of writing that I haven't shared anywhere else (mostly)! these range from unproduced pilots to what is essentially fic for my own stuff. this month: my queer enemies-to-lovers outlaws www.patreon.com/posts/149707...

SFX: The floor creaks menacingly as Sawyer takes one
determined step forward. They’re really in each other’s faces
now.
SAWYER WATSON
Tex, if I had wanted to kill you,
you’d be dead.
TEX BULLOCK
It sure looked like you were aimin’
for my heart.
SAWYER WATSON
That supposes you got one to begin
with and I ain’t seen no evidence
of that.
Tex would rather get shot through the actual heart than show
that that hurts his metaphorical one but, despite all his
bravado, he’s not a very good actor.
SFX: A creak as Tex steps back on his heels.
TEX BULLOCK
(a mumble, bitter)
No, you never did see that, did
you?

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 20/02/2026

I thought we lived in rfk's protein-centric america. why is google trying to take beef from me

a screenshot of gmail's terrible new "make concise" feature, where it is suggesting using "enhanced" instead of "beefed up"

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 09/02/2026

I genuinely adore that audio drama creators are their own little galaxy surrounded by some of the most fun groups. this is a good club

a screenshot of the bluesky map - audio drama creators are in the center, surrounded by the Tolkein and fantasy fandom community, puerto rican community network, k-pop roleplay community, spanish-speaking latin american progressives, retro gaming & podcast community, and create & gaming community

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 07/02/2026

I see discourse has taken place

the "don't make me tap the sign" simpsons meme where the sign says "Authoritarianism hates art. This basic truth is why AI “art” is the preferred aesthetic of fascism. Tyranny cannot abide human creativity. With human creativity comes free and open discourse, diverse thought, and, most threatening of all, empathy for our fellow man. Both authoritarianism and AI demand and breed conformity, and I can’t think of a more hostile environment for true art. "

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 05/02/2026

a final FYC for TWO THOUSAND AND LATE! thanks as always to @ariellethisandthat.bsky.social champion of podcasts! podcastplunge.substack.com/p/fyc-ambies...

Category: Best Fiction
Logline
Venom meets Fleabag in this dark comedy about a woman who tries to unionize her workplace with the help of the demon possessing her
Why should your show win?
TWO THOUSAND AND LATE is a reflection of our current moment--both the good and the bad. It is scrappy, bold, and defiant with a diverse cast that represent what makes audio fiction so great: that everyone belongs. But the story is set in 2025 and grappling with the problems we're all struggling with--corporate greed, a broken healthcare system, increased government overreach, and union busting.
Also, demons.
Category-mate shoutout
Stanland is so fresh and funny and weird - exactly what I want in my fiction podcasts, and with a truly stellar cast to boot!

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 05/02/2026

I'm cracking up at this. tuna melts are one of my absolute favorite sandwiches (so much so that my partner, who does NOT like them, made homemade bread and tuna salad just so I could have them) and describing them as rizzless and for dorks is...so accurate. thats my guy gothamist.com/food/in-prai...

The tuna melt has no rizz and little aura. It is a vaguely stateless, certainly status-less sandwich. Long overlooked in the diner canon, the tuna melt is a luncheonette curiosity — and yet, what wonders can lie between those two slices of rye.

The central cause of the tuna melt’s lowly status is likely that it is a salad sandwich, which, like the egg salad sandwich or the chicken salad sandwich, situates it in the dork realm. Meat salads have long been the consignment store of scraps. Then there’s the hot tuna, the only thing more unappetizing than hot mayo, which there also is.

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 15/01/2026

I'm so glad that other people are normal about New Year’s Day in the way that I'm normal about it* *none of us are normal at all about it listen now and be normal too! pod.link/1721750997

a bunch of spotify comments: i love me a disgustingly slow slowburn and victorian repression ill just say that
Nah nah...NAAHHHH SCREW YOU these two idiots in bloody love better be swinging against each other next year
I'm emotionally scared for next year episode
You people are insane and i love it
MOMMMMM, THEYRE FLIRTING AGAINNNNNNNN
Well, this will be my Roman Empire for a year
THEY MAKE ME CRAZY!!!!!!
if these two idiots don't confess this year, i'm going to lose my mind.

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 30/12/2025

sorry for the screenshot of an Instagram caption lol, but a VERY incomplete roundup of stuff I loved this year

laurenshippen I usually like doing a big roundup of everything | loved throughout the year but this year l know I'm going to forget so much that I'm almost scared to even try. This year was full of beautiful wonderful original art but it also kicked my ass, these last few months especially, and I feel like my brain is total mush.
So. To start. A collection I started early in the year of screencaps from the year that captured the vibe. It's no surprise that four of the true standout shows this year nailed it: the pitt, Andor, squid game, and pluribus.
But I didn't just watch tv! I also confirmed that, yes, astrobot is as perfect as a video game ever gets and then I lost so much of my mind playing blue prince that I haven't played much of anything else this year.
I fell totally in love with Red Valley, dove into the Metropolis and Soul Operator (and had the pleasure of hanging with those Seattle creators!) and reopened my Audible subscription just so I could listen to Hit Singles and the new season of Unlicensed. I sat around the Camlann and Hearthbound fires and made the final climb of The Tower
The Long Walk is the Only Movie to me right now.
I wish I read more. Idk man, Suzanne Collins has still got the juice, that's the best I've got.
It was actually a banner year for theater for me and even though some of the shows I saw were limited runs or closed fully, I'm still excited by where Broadway is at right now.
Garbage Day and Ryan Broderick's Panic World podcast continue to be my tether to sanity.
grandson released an album in September and | listened to it enough that he became my top artist and album for the year.

So I'll just leave you with these images and their accompanying reminders:
After witnessing horrors, make sure to take a sensory break
It's okay to remove yourself to another room for a bit when in a high stress situation
Trans women are our fierce protectors and we must protect them in turn. Also they're hot when covered in blood
Sometimes you have to root through garbage to get what you want.

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 19/12/2025

just finished recording the next episode of new year's day and any time I get to watch @briggon.bsky.social and @andrewnowak29.bsky.social read my words, I just think of this

a screenshot of Sam Reich in Game Changer saying "If I could spend my life doing nothing but this."

a screenshot of Sam Reich in Game Changer saying "I have found my heaven and it's here with you three"

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 19/12/2025

here we go again bsky.app/profile/laur...

a screencap of Vince Gilligan's Pluribus where my beloved failwife Carol Sturka is falling into a dumpster. You can only see her legs flailing as she falls headfirst

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 17/12/2025

absolutely DELIGHTED by this summation of TWO THOUSAND AND LATE in a list of the "The Most 2025 episodes of 2025" “2025 made me feel like I was that meme dog in the fire saying ‘this is fine.’ This episode walked in and yelled FUCK THAT LET’S PUNCH SOMETHING" can't wait to wreak more havoc in 2026

“2025 made me feel like I was that meme dog in the fire saying ‘this is fine.’ This episode walked in and yelled FUCK THAT LET’S PUNCH SOMETHING. Lauren Shippen’s new fiction show is like ‘Fleabag’ meets ‘Venom.’ It does not shy away from the cathartic urge to create some havoc. And while I regularly have days where I feel like an angry loser, it is so rare to have stories where women get to be that! So if you like chaotic women as much as I do, this is for you. I love this episode, and it made me feel less crazy in 2025.”

– Eleanor Hyde, CEO and producer, Audacious Machine Creative

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 05/12/2025

I am just absolutely overwhelmed with joy! thank you SO much to all the fans, all the friends & family, all the other audio drama creators who made this happen. now I'm going to fall into a brief coma. but late pledges are up until Jan 1! you can still hop aboard the bandwagon! phantompulse.com

Phantom Pulse zine cover that says "thank you" and "just funded"

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 01/12/2025

I'm livestreaming on the @atypicalartists.co YouTube and Twitch today, tomorrow, and wednesday at 2pm PT and then on Thursday, we're streaming all day from 10am PT to 4pm PT! And boy oh boy, do we have a line-up for you! www.kickstarter.com/projects/aty...

PHANTOM PULSE
LiVESTREAM
thursday, Dec 4th
all times in PT
10AM - Ella Watts & Jonny Sims
11AM - Nicholas Podany & Briggon Snow
12PM - Lauren plays Guitar Hero
1PM - Juliana Gutiérrez Arango
2PM - Evan Cunningham
3PM - Demo reveal!
follow atypicalartists on
YouTube + Twitch

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 01/12/2025

please contact your doctor if your podcast lasts over 6 hours

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 25/11/2025

firstly, I used photos of Briggon + Andrew I had and slapped their heads on stock figures. and then I cut everything out of construction paper and layered it all and then messed around with it in procreate! and you know what? it was FUN! there's just no reason to use AI for show art.

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 25/11/2025

both Breaker Whiskey and New Year’s Day are shows that I do entirely on my own (in NYD's case with the wonderful help of @briggon.bsky.social and @andrewnowak29.bsky.social acting for the love of the game) and I made the show art for both. I am NOT a visual artist. the farthest thing from it.

show art for Breaker Whiskey - a woman sitting on top of a car, silhouetted against a desert

the show art for New Year’s Day - two men in arm chairs in front of a large window

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 25/11/2025

for real!! in a perfect world we'd all have Georgia do our show art and - oh, what's that, we live in a perfect world + you can look at this gorgeous show square for Phantom Pulse? but seriously, I don't always have art budget! this post is a great reminder that I need to make this year's NYD art

a messy, punky show square with a spectral guitar and the title Phantom Pulse

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 25/11/2025

sorry, I just can't stop looking at the Phantom Pulse art that @noahdeaart.bsky.social made. look at how beautiful they all are!!! I'll never be over it www.kickstarter.com/projects/aty...

Official art of the characters from Phantom Pulse

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 21/11/2025

*banging a metal pot with a wooden spoon very loudly* people want to LISTEN to podcasts!!!!!!!!!!!! *hitting you on the forehead with the spoon* STOP PIVOTING TO VIDEO www.westwoodone.com/blog/2025/11...

Audio Remains The Primary Mode Of Podcast Consumption, Despite Growing Video Use; 92% Say They “Listen” To Podcasts, According To Cumulus Media And Signal Hill Insights’ Podcast Download – Fall 2025 Report

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 06/11/2025

we only have $1,500 to go before hitting our next goal!!!! and oh my gossshhhhhhh I want to hit this one. everyone who backs in the first 2 days (even if we exceed our goal in that timeframe) will get a temporary tattoo of our KICKASS ghost guitar

an anaglyph red-blue guitar with purple flames coming out of it

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 03/11/2025

genuinely want to cry at @bobbys-snacks.bsky.social's write-up of The Bright Sessions epilogue - he's been such a huge advocate for the medium from day 1, that the idea of being even a small part of them diving fully into AD is extremely meaningful. everyone should listen to his own amazing shows!

The Bright Sessions

It would be frankly impossible for me to return to covering audio fiction without acknowledging yesterday’s surprise Epilogue to celebrate this show’s tenth anniversary. While Welcome to Night Vale is the show that brought me to this medium, and Limetown, Archive 81, and ars PARADOXICA that kept me here in those early years, it was Lauren Shippen’s voice that truly showed me that this world was something I needed to play an active part in. It was so punk rock, the way in which she took her friends from acting class and together willed their careers into existence by simply making stories that they believed in. We were take to such wonderful heights across 7 brilliant seasons, and I would have been completely okay never visiting these characters again. And yet the way in which it’s delivered? As Dr. Bright delivers updates about this strange and wonderful found family at the graveside of Agent Green, with a brief appearance from Shippen’s own Sam, who was visiting her parents’ plots nearby. It doesn’t feel conspiratorial. It doesn’t feel like we need to be ripped back in because the intrigue never stopped happening. In fact, it feels like we know all we need to know: that these characters we loved are all doing okay. That they love each other. That they’re growing and changing and just doing their best to be the people we loved all along. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 31/10/2025

I'm doing a thing I don't think I've ever done before + streaming episodes live! on this mega Atypical stream, we'll be listening to the TWO THOUSAND AND LATE finale, which you won't want to miss and then...oh, huh, did I say episodes? plural? let's see, TTAL is wrapped so what else could that be...

a graphic for the Atypical Artists Hallowstream, on October 31st, 5pm-9pm PT on YouTube.com/@atypicalartists 5pm - Jeffrey Nils Gardner

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 31/10/2025

every day I wake up to some new fresh horror (everyone should subscribe to @404media.co for great reporting and also jump scares)

a subject line from 404 media that reads "MPREG Schoolhouse Rock"

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 30/10/2025

so much about this review is funny to me. it took them 5 whole eps to realize this was a lefty podcast. assaulting a street harasser, criticizing work conditions, queerness, that's all cool, but talking about losing healthcare? TOO FAR! god bless humanity. there's really every kind of person

an Apple Podcasts review: First 5 episodes are great!
Fantastic show thru 5 episodes, then they hit you with the sanctimonious preaching about how terrible life is because lefties aren't in control. Really easy unsubscribe.

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 29/10/2025

let women be losers!!! I talked to @sgn.org about how important it is to me that dudes aren't the only characters who get to suck. harper, the protag in TWO THOUSAND AND LATE, is a total girlfailure. and havoc, the demon inside her, is a total demonfailure. I love them both very much

“What I wanted to explore was the idea of a woman getting to be messy and violent and kind of a loser in the way that Eddie and Venom are losers,” she said. “They’re just total failures. Oftentimes, on screen, we have a strong female lead. We increasingly have wonderfully complex women, but we don’t get to see women on TV and in films or in books who suck. Like, they’re just losers. Harper, the lead character in this, is very much a loser, and that was important to me.”

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 20/10/2025

don’t worry, @gabrielurbina.com likes to torture the group chat as much as he tortures his listeners. I get so excited anytime he says something is gonna make me mad bc that’s how you know it’s gonna be GOOD

A text from Gabriel Urbina that says “Episode 4 does a thing that will make you furious”

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 15/10/2025

it is even more beautiful in reality than I could have ever imagined!! I can’t WAIT to read this brilliant comic by @megfitz89.bsky.social, a writer and person who so deeply understands the power and importance of fandom

A copy of Meghan Fitzmartin’s Mary Sue comic - the cover is made to look like the old twilight poster and it’s gorgeous

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 13/10/2025

there are a lot of things in TWO THOUSAND AND LATE that are directly inspired by my life. this episode probably has the biggest one: Awesome Chicken jk, it's this huge rant that Harper gives about how we've learned all the wrong lessons from the last 5 years + it's totally screwed up our priorities

A screenshot from a script to Two Thousand and Late:
HARPER: I blame a lot of different people for a lot of ways that things have been totally and irretrievably fucked up these last few years, but I don't blame anyone for that. If anything...I don't know, Mac, it feels like that's the last time that human beings were collectively giving a shit. We were all so scared and more separate than we'd ever been but we knew- we knew that everyone was trying their best to help those who were sick, to figure out a vaccine, all of it. (then) And we were scared together. We mourned together. We celebrated the people who were putting their lives on the line to try and help people like Chuck, even when they knew it was hopeless. Hell, even our fucking government coughed up some of that money they've been spending on bombs and corporate bail-outs and fucking trillion dollar jets and they actually gave it to people who were struggling and then- then-
MAC: It all went to shit.
HARPER: It all went to shit! Everyone lost their goddamn minds and decided that actually, it wasn't really that bad in the first place and we all over-reacted and that the real problem was too little AI clogging up our life and too much civil liberty for people who have never bothered anybody!

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 26/09/2025

book editing is going well, why do you ask

A screenshot from Scrivener that reads: CHAPTER 6 - rewrite literally all of this but good this time

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 09/09/2025

I loved talking to @laurenpassell.bsky.social about TWO THOUSAND AND LATE but this is my favorite bit: my tiny inner alligator demon and getting to brag about Jeffrey's top tier sound design. podcastthenewsletter.substack.com/p/grandma-ho...

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 01/09/2025

if you've listened to my work, you know that I try to inject as much optimism, hope, and feelings-y feelings into my stories as I can. my new show is...uh...different. it's a direct response to our current moment and all the messy emotions I have about it + you can subscribe now! harperandhavoc.com

Show art for Two Thousand and Late - an illustrated dumpster fire, where a smirking demon is growing out of the flames

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 19/08/2025

these were the five shows that I chose when I voted - five shows that I love but also specifically five shows that really shaped how I think about storytelling in audio

A graphic with Lauren Shippen five picks for the most formative podcasts - Welcome to Night Vale, Wolf 359, Wooden Overcoats, Limetown, and Steal the Stars

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Lauren Shippen @laurenshippen.com · 11/08/2025

my partner caught a glimpse of my scene tracker for my new show and asked me if I'd gone insane, so now I'm curious how other people track their shit! because yes, I realize now this looks bonkers, but I have yet to find a better way to make sure I'm getting everything I need

a spreadsheet titled Two Thousand and Late Script breakdown. The columns are characters, the rows are scenes, and each cell has a dropdown menu with the following options: N, S, R, E, P. N is for when a character is not in a scene, S is for the scene being scheduled but not recorded, R is for recorded not edited, E is for edited and P is for needs a pick up

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