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Side Quest - Gamereactor Interview with the Executive Producers
Side Quest is now available to watch on Apple TV+ and here we have a brief chat with creators Katie McElhenney, Ashly Burch, and John Howell Harris discussing side stories, Ubisoft, and generative AI.
Audio transcription
"Hi, Gamereactor friends.
If you're seeing this, it means that both Mythic Quest, the Season 4 finale, and complete spin-off, anthology Side Quest, are available to watch on Apple TV+."
"And we are also lucky to have the executive producers, Katie, John, and Ashly, with us today.
So thank you so much for joining us, guys.
Thanks for having us."
"Thank you.
So I've watched the four episodes.
And I have to say, it's very interesting that they are not strictly directly related to the game and the main series."
"A couple of them are more related to the employees and the game itself.
And the other two are very interesting takes on other roles and the pop culture surrounding gaming."
"So how did you guys choose the topics?
And specifically for Pull List and Fugue, which are these ones that are less related, how did you work on these specific topics?
How did you choose them?
Perhaps Katie can answer this one."
"Sure.
I think for exactly the reasons that you just said, that these are spaces that we don't see a lot of interaction with.
So what better way to do it than through this anthology series?
We wanted to have, for every episode, Mythic Quest as a presence."
"You don't have to have seen Mythic Quest to understand them, but it does have an influence on what is going on in the episode.
But the themes are universal.
So for something like Fugue, everyone can relate to the fact that it's your dream job, but now reality has set in, and what does that mean?
So we could have explored a lot of different ways to do that, but we wanted one that was both auditory and visual and kind of visceral for a lot of that episode."
"So we think that kind of having, again, that space where it's a touring orchestra for a video game, which can sell out the Hollywood Bowl, can sell out major symphony orchestras, and a lot of people don't know about it, but the people that know, know."
"And I think the same is true for Pull List, that not everybody is connected to comic books, but if you are, you really are.
And especially a black nerd space, which is what that is exploring, and what does it mean to be a black nerd?
What does it mean to be a nerd?
What does it mean to be a comic book nerd?
Or what type of nerd are you?
So even within this kind of niche community, there are then smaller facets of that."
"So it was just really interesting storytelling and putting a spotlight on places that doesn't always have the spotlight, but are just as interesting and viable."
"Okay, perhaps this one for John.
We've seen with Mythic Quest that there are a lot of puns to this big evil publisher, which could be Ubisoft, right?
And also Side Quest."
"No comment.
Also Side Quest deals with workaholism and anxiety and being too dependent on work.
So I wanted to ask you how it is like to work with Ubisoft in such a product when you're being ironic with so many things, and it's interesting to me, and sending puns to the very same publisher, right?
Well, Ubisoft has been great."
"They've been a great resource so we get the details right.
We can go to them with any question we have about sort of the nuts and bolts of making games, and distributing games, and what goes on inside that world."
"I mean, one of our producers who was at Ubisoft, but he's since left, he went to Netflix.
He basically gave us the entire idea for Phil going to Japan and having to demonstrate this game."
"Oh, wow.
Not to give any more spoilers than that, but basically that was an exact scenario that he found himself in.
Going to a foreign country, all of a sudden having to like physically demonstrate in front of cultural attaches how a game works."
"So that was like, we're like, as soon as he told us that story, we're like, we're doing that.
Yeah, we're like stealing it.
So they've been a great resource because it's not only the technical side of it."
"They have these stories where you're like, okay, I've never heard of that happening anywhere else.
It's going to work within our story in a way that everybody's going to understand, but it's also, I mean, I've never seen that before."
"And they do know their dancing games.
They do know.
Ashly, this one for you.
We love you as Rachel, as much as we love you as Aloy, of course."
"Talking about irony, and satire, and puns as we've been talking about Ubisoft, right?
Mythic Quest Season 4 started with AI, with AI characters and Pop and Ian being AI characters, right?
You recently shared this video with your concerns regarding AI and actors and your work."
"So what can you tell me about this irony, about this product, you know, raising awareness and concerns, such products such as this series, about this topic?
Sometimes you sort of foresee what's coming, right?
With user-generated content or indie games, or some other topics."
"So how do you feel about that irony and how useful these products are for people to realise?
Mythic Quest has been interesting in that I feel like it's been strangely prophetic in different instances."
"I remember in Season 1, we have a whole storyline where someone hacks a non-player character and starts using them.
And I think a story like that came out after we started working on the show."
"We were like, what the heck?
Yeah, I mean, Mythic Quest is interesting in that it is, you know, it is a workplace comedy, but it's about games."
"So we get to touch on these, some of these like hot button issues that are happening in games and do it in a funny way.
And I think that episode is sort of a great representation, I think, of how a lot of people think about AI, which is like, it'll just solve all our problems."
"We'll be fine.
We'll just have AI do it and it'll be fixed and it'll be fine.
And it does in a comedic way through our characters show the limitations of AI."
"So yeah, Mythic Quest has always been great for that in that it uses gaming as a backdrop to tell character stories, but also to generate comedy.
Which has been great."
"And so, yeah, it's a great benefit in that way.
But it is an interesting, I mean, AI is a thing that is affecting, you know, the previous strikes for writers and on-camera actors were in large part about AI."
"The current SAG-AFTRA strike against video games is about AI.
So it is a thing that's, I think, top of mind for a lot of people.
I have friends that are in education that their bosses are like, let's start using AI."
"So it's everywhere.
Actually, a writer's assistant for Mythic Quest posted on Instagram recently, Randall, that he was going through the Taco Bell drive-thru and there was like a QR code that was like, we're gonna use your voice to train AI."
"So it's everywhere.
Even Taco Bell?
Even Taco Bell.
That's the highlight.
So, you know, it is definitely something that I think is on a lot of people's minds."
"So I'm happy that we were able to talk about it a little bit in Mythic Quest.
Okay, no time for more.
So I only have to say thank you for both the show and for being here and for your time."
"And good luck with the show.
I think it's very interesting and very fresh.
So congratulations.
Thank you so much."
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