Episodes

with John Yorke

John Yorke ran BBC Drama, oversaw EastEnders, and wrote Into the Woods — arguably the most important book on story structure published this century. In this opening episode, James and John explore why every narrative, from a three-act screenplay to a founder's pitch deck, follows the same hidden architecture. If story is a technology, Yorke is the engineer who reverse-engineered the blueprint.

with Wez Saunders

Wez Saunders is the CEO of Defected Records, the label that turned house music from an underground movement into a global cultural brand. This isn't a conversation about beats per minute — it's about how Defected built a narrative around belonging, authenticity, and the dancefloor as a democratic space. A masterclass in brand storytelling that never once felt like branding.

with Ros Atkins

Ros Atkins is the BBC journalist who became famous for making complex issues comprehensible in minutes. His "explainers" have been watched hundreds of millions of times. James talks to Ros about the discipline of clarity — why it's not about dumbing down, but about finding the narrative spine of any subject and refusing to let go of it.

with Netflix

A conversation with a senior figure at Netflix about what happens when storytelling meets algorithm, when local narratives go global overnight, and whether the economics of attention are reshaping the kinds of stories we tell. The platform that changed how the world watches — examined through the lens of narrative strategy.

with Anthropic

What happens when the machines that can make almost anything start to understand story? A conversation with Anthropic about AI, language, and the question at the heart of StoryCo's thesis — if narrative is our oldest technology, what does it mean that we're now building systems that can wield it too?

with Michael Stevens

Michael Stevens built VSauce into one of the most-watched science channels on the planet — not by explaining things, but by making you desperate to know the answer to questions you didn't know you had. James talks to Michael about curiosity as a storytelling device, the structure of a great question, and why the internet's attention economy still rewards depth.