Interview with Citeog Podcasts
Over the last few years, Ireland has been producing some incredible shows. From the offbeat, twisting terror of Petrified, to the dark fantasy realm of Last Dance, if there’s a itch you need to scratch, then there’ll be an Irish podcast company doing a brilliant job. Back in April 2024 I reviewed a show called This House Will Devour You. This was a masterclass in how to produce an audiodrama with extremely limited resources. After reaching season three of THWDY, last year the production company Citeog Podcasts hit us with the curveball of Ten Apocalypses. This showed them to be capable writers who weren’t afraid to head off into a new styles. This year sees the release of their most ambitious project to date. The epic, full cast post apocalyptic adventure of Witchpunk (a show I was lucky enough to get a sneak peak at to write a release day review for).
Seeing as Citeog Podcasts are proving themselves to be capable of punching well above their weight in podcastland, I was delighted when the and husband and wife team of Sean Mulligan and Madeleine Slatford agreed to answer some questions about their approach to producing podcasts and lots of other things I thought you might all like to know about.
Hello to both of you. First off, something I’ve been dying to know the answer to… What does Citeog mean? It sounds Gaelic, and I don’t trust Google translate enough to find out that way!
Madeleine: Ten percent of global population is citeog. We are both in that number. Interestingly one of our stars in Witchpunk (Niall Fleming, who plays Franklin) was initially intrigued by our production for the citeog reason, being one himself. Citeogs balance science and creativity and have a good perception of risk, so they say – although the word citeog literally translates as ‘awkward’. Think sinister, southpaw, cack-handed. Still guessing?
Sean: Yup, we’re both left-handed! We’ve realised though that outside of Ireland, nobody knows how to pronounce it (Kit-Ogue, as in KITten and rOGUE).
All your series so far have really focussed on quality writing and storytelling. Were you writers before you started producing audio drama? It seems that a lot of shows now seem to value style over substance, and it’s great to have a show that is the opposite.
Madeleine: We’d both always wanted to be writers. I won a library prize in the under nines for my first story submission. There is a newspaper photo of me talking to the Mayor. After that, life got in the way – but I have been collecting material!
Sean: I always had aspirations but even more excuses, so it’s only in the last few years when we’ve had more time to devote to it that we’ve really got going. I actually wrote an unpublished novel but found the experience rather isolating; hence the pivot into audio drama where it’s much more of a collaborative effort.
What are your personal opinions on using AI in the creative field, especially in producing podcasts?
Madeleine: The new ‘old adage’ – AI would be better used to do the housework and the dishes, to free up our time for art – not the other way round!
Sean: Our tag line is ‘Made by humans with humans for humans’. Generative AI? Absolutely no way. The fun is in making things yourself, and even if you could get past the unethical underpinnings (theft/unpaid use of creatives’ work for training), it will limit you to the average and preclude the possibility of the unexpected. As an example, when I write a character I have their ‘voice’ in my head but ultimately the actor we cast might bring something completely different to the role, something I hadn’t thought of. With AI you’re going to get what you prompt.
If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your past selves when you were starting out?
Madeleine: Start sooner!
Sean: That, and loudness standards are not as intimidating as they might seem.
The style of This House Will Devour You was a refreshing change in the haunted house podcast niche. Was it a conscious effort to write it like that to be different (or to hark back to stories like Dracula), or was it a case of having to produce a series like that due to the circumstances of being new to the game?
Sean: It was a mix of things. We didn’t know the first thing about making a podcast (I didn’t even know what DAW stood for) or know anyone who did – or in media in general. A smaller project meant we were more likely to finish it and it allowed for learning on the job. We also started during the later stages of lockdown, which meant we were inward focussed. An epistolary format suited the cast being mostly just the two of us. Mainly though, it just seemed like the natural way to tell the story and we just went with it!
Madeleine: This House Will Devour You was Sean’s original idea, but I like to think I brought the plot to life by introducing some memorable characters and scene-settings that resonated with the era and my experiences of how it has been portrayed.
As you write more shows, the cast seems to grow. Is this a natural progression, or is it a path you are intentionally taking? Using A + B to get to C kind of thing?
Sean: It’s a natural progression and a gaining in confidence and experience. For the first two shows we were focussed on what we could do with the resources immediately available to us. The scripts were written with the available actors (friends and family we’d roped in) in mind, but we also went from pure monologue to a mix of monologues and dialogue.
For Witchpunk, we felt we were ready to do something bigger and bolder. I made the conscious decision that there would be no narration as I wanted to challenge myself as a writer (action sequences without narration are notoriously difficult to do well in audio drama), and also that the story would have as many characters as it needed and we’d worry about actors later. This how we ended up with thirty five actors doing forty three roles! This had knock on effects in that I then needed up my game in directing and post-production. This was also the first time we did a formal casting call, which it turns out is a whole project in itself. We had a brilliant response to it, and have got to know some great actors as result.
Another Irish indie series Petrified, has been bagging some big names for the recent series. Have you got any plans to get international celebrities to appear on the show?
Madeleine: We were delighted and humbled by the range and scope and enthusiasm of homegrown talent in our early shows. It’s nice to encourage and nurture that. That said, we do have professional actors in Witchpunk and we feel privileged that they have decided to work with us.
Sean: We don’t have the budget for a start! We’ve worked with a fantastic bunch of actors on Witchpunk and I’m looking forward to doing so again on season two.
In the blurb about Witchpunk, you mentioned that it will run for 18 episodes over 3 series. Will you be lining anything else up at the same time or does creating such an ambitious show take all your time?
Sean: The first order of business is taking a break for the summer as it really is just the two of us doing nearly everything production-wise (we were very lucky to get the music and art done for us this time). The season two script is in a near final draft so I’m hoping that it goes into production in the autumn, releasing by the end of the year. The final season ideally would release in 2027 but we’ll have to see how that pans out as it’s a very ambitious schedule for an indie show. For stuff that isn’t Witchpunk, it’s going to be writing and research on the sidelines until then.
If you do have something up your sleeves, could you drop a hint? I’m really interested in what you’re doing next!
Madeleine: We’re still kicking around the idea of a third and final season of This House Will Devour You and have some early drafts for that…
Sean: We have so many ideas! Finding the time to do them all is the problem! As you’ll have gathered from our first three shows, we make what interests us rather than focussing on a particular genre or style. I suspect our next ventures (in no particular order) will be a historical WWI drama, season three of THWDY, a retelling of one of the great Irish myths and an interpretation of Browning’s “Childe Roland…’
And finally, why should people check your shows out?
Sean: There’s something for everyone, slow burn folk horror, apocalyptic mystery science fiction, gritty cyberpunk… We have evocative soundscapes, strong characterisation, intricate plots, intelligent world building (The Irish Independent call Witchpunk “…a slick, full-cast sci-fi saga…mixing action and politics with existential questions”).
So, there we have it. I am immensely grateful to Sean and Madeleine for taking the time out from Witchpunk to answer these questions. If you haven’t already, I heartily recommend you subscribe to all the Citeog Podcasts productions. There will certainly be something in there for you to enjoy.
You can find Citeog Podcasts here:
https://www.citeogpodcasts.com
Until next time folks. Stay Geeky