Above: Video trailer for “I Still Think About You.” Watch the trailer for Episode 1 on YouTube
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Mini Q&A with “I Still Think About You” Podcast
Creator, Brian Hutchison
On Wednesday, November 17, “The Boys in the Band” actor Brian Hutchison launched “I Still Think About You,” a noir audio drama based on a harrowing true story centered around a past romantic relationship. The seven-episode podcast premiered at the 2021 Hear Now Festival, where it won the Gold Selection “Mystery” award.
“I Still Think About You” tells the story of Adam McClure, successful New York actor, who revisits a haunting incident from his past. When coincidence brings an old friend, Dylan, back into his life, Adam fears for his new relationship with Tom, his sanity, and his life. Unsettling and ominous, with twists and turns until the very end, “I Still Think About You” is part memoir, part psychological thriller, and part love letter to Broadway.
The “I Still Think About You” is available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcast. Episodes 1-3 were released on November 17, with episodes 4, 5, 6, and 7 to be released on the Wednesday of each week through December 15.
Links to listen, meet the cast and more at www.istillthinkaboutyou.com
Below, “I Still Think About You” creator, writer, director and producer Brian Hutchison answers six quick questions.
Above: The “I Still Think About You” cover, Brian Huchison (photo courtesy of Brian Hutchison)
What inspired you to create a podcast drama?
The inspiration came from walking my dog every day at the bay nearby where I live. Last winter was an isolating time and during some of those solo walks I’d think about the fear in the news, fear of the pandemic, that unsettling feeling of this thing we have no control over. On those walks I’d let my mind wander and imagine someone/something out there behind a tree or watching from across the water and I realized it was this person, the Dylan character I kept envisioning. I realized I hadn’t told this story much since it happened years ago, and so I started writing and recording simultaneously at first to see if it would work. I have a studio at home where I record and produce a lot of audiobooks, so the recording part was not new to me. It seemed logical as the medium where I could really tell the story in a way that was interesting to me, and hopefully others. So, I started calling friends and asking them to record dialogue for me, and then it was really happening.
The story is auto biographical. How much of “I Still Think About You” is a true story?
Most of it is true yes. Adam is a version of me, just as the Tom and Dylan characters are versions of who those guys were. Much of the story happened as I wrote it, and listeners will understand the nature of memory plays a large part in telling this story. Do we remember things accurately or is it a memory of a memory? So, the bones of the story and much of the action is exactly how I remember it. I should say too—it is intentional that I based it in this truth. Rather than setting out to write a thriller or mystery that was embellished or complete fiction, I felt the truth of these events, the psychological shift, the ominous feelings, would be accessible and relatable for listeners. The slow burn of that unraveling and trying to make sense of this.
The story takes place in the mid1990s and mid-aughts. It is now over 15 years later. What has stayed with you about the experience and what have you learned about life, yourself?
I think it’s been my bogeyman in some ways. Not something I’m terrified of or have major anxiety about, but when I think back to that time I’m left with a sense of wonder, of how it could happen and why, what drove the Dylan character, and how I managed to wade through it all and sort of put it on the back burner as the rest of my life was happening. Like most things, anything significant comes back sometimes when you least expect it. It wasn’t like I was putting off telling the story, it’s almost like I needed the clarity of being in a much more settled place in my life where I can look back and say “ God, that was strange, what the hell was that about?”
How has your experience in theater and of Broadway influenced the creation of the podcast?
Well, being an actor is what brought me to audiobook narration, one of the production companies saw me in a Broadway play and asked me to audition, and honestly, it’s one of the best things I ever did. It’s been steady work for years and you create these characters and bring life into a story. So, I think the storytelling in front of a mic was where experience came into it, and knowing how to produce that myself, also having access to the ten wonderful Broadway journeyman actors who went above and beyond with what I’d imagined. That shorthand of knowing someone could deliver these characters I was creating and easily taking my direction was amazing.
The story is a drama, but also clearly a love letter to Broadway and New York City. What is it you love about the City and what does being a New Yorker mean to you?
I do love New York. And that is part of what I hoped to get across. It’s a love letter to an artistic life, to the City. And like I mention in the end credits, it is so inspired and informed by the wonderful people I’ve met along the way. I’m constantly moved by good acting I see in New York, but moreso by the people who love doing it, the people who move from across the country to a new life with a desire to fulfill this need to perform or design or create or become more of who they are, we are ae. I know, personally, how much it takes–belief in yourself when no one else does, paying your dues, the sacrifices along the way. For me, it’s been incredibly rewarding, and so yes, it’s very much a shout out to the people who make up this community including those who moved on to a different life after a while, and those who are no longer with us.
Any advice to young actors with an eye on Broadway?
Keep creating, believe in yourself. Don’t let your twenties and thirties pass you by. Always be working on something, make films with friends, just keep creating and collaborating. Most importantly, instead of waiting for the phone to ring get out and live life, find some hobbies, some passions, they don’t have to cost a lot of money, but the more time you are doing things you love that are outside the box of acting the better. Learn a language, play an instrument. Experience the world beyond doing plays because the most interesting actors are people with experiences and passion for other things in life. •
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