Inside the Tent with Campside Media

This is an episode of Inside the Tent, a podcast going behind the scenes of Campside’s award winning shows.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

On the surface, the modeling industry in the 80s was about parties and pretty clothes, but underneath the flash, there were drugs, sex, and violence. And Paul Fisher, a former straight-A student from the San Fernando Valley, rose to prominence amidst the turmoil.

After a chance encounter with an alleged mobster, Paul suddenly found himself with a million dollars in funding and the chance to start a modeling agency in New York City. The city was then embroiled in a “model war” between industry titans Eileen Ford and John Casablancas, and Paul tried to make his mark.

But even as Paul thrived in the party-heavy culture of the time, burning cash like a furnace, he came face to face with the darkest forces in the industry.

Vanessa and Anthony start by giving credit to film producer Rachel Winter (Dallas Buyers Club) who brought Paul Fisher to Campside to tell his unbelievable story.

Paul took the unusual step of truly opening up, telling wild stories about the modeling industry that make him look unsympathetic, to put it mildly.

And they tackle this confounding question: how do you end up rooting for someone you definitely shouldn’t root for? It starts with the surprising number of people willing to participate in the show, who give a sense of all the sides of Fisher, for better or worse.

And Vanessa discusses the goal of entertaining listeners without exploiting the characters in the story, many of whom were women preyed upon.

They finish up by wondering who is the Paul Fisher of today, in the world of influencers.

Listen to Inside the Tent on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

Email us with questions or comments: [email protected].

We hope to see you inside the tent again soon. Subscribe now for updates on all of Campside’s hit shows.

This is an episode of Inside the Tent, a podcast going behind the scenes of Campside’s award winning shows.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

On December 7, 2003, thirteen year old Daniel Morcombe disappeared in broad daylight while waiting for a bus on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. His case sparked one of the largest investigations in Australian history and captured the attention of the nation.

Daniel became known nationwide as “The Boy in the Red Shirt.” Police investigators kept coming up short, and for years the trail remained cold.

Thanks to the determination of Daniel’s parents, Denise and Bruce, the Australian police ultimately staged an elaborate sting operation to bring the perpetrator to justice after more than a decade.

Matt begins by explaining how his fascination with the case began seven years ago. Somehow, Where is Daniel Morcombe? became a story of both heartbreak and inspiration.

There were so many questions for Matt and the production team to answer when making the show:

How do you ask parents who lost their child to revisit what happened?

How do you avoid salaciousness and tell the story with respect?

How did Denise and Bruce have the strength to channel their pain and help teach a nation how to keep its children safe?

Matt and Josh discuss whether Daniel’s parents could be described as vigilantes as they pursued leads even when police insisted they back off.

Finally, the conversation turns to how Denise and Bruce are doing now, as they continue to support the annual Day for Daniel.

Listen to Inside the Tent on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

Email us with questions or comments: [email protected].

We hope to see you inside the tent again soon. Subscribe now for updates on all of Campside’s hit shows.

This is an episode of Inside the Tent, a podcast going behind the scenes of Campside’s award winning shows.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

On New Year’s Eve 1969, Jock Yablonski was mysteriously gunned down in his bed. Jock’s son is convinced the head of the United Mine Worker’s Union is behind it.

But why, and can he prove it? Decades later, for the second season of Shadow Kingdom, lawyer Nicolo Majnoni embarks on a journey to find out who killed Jock and uncovers a conspiracy at the heart of the union.

Nic and Anthony start by discussing what captured Nic’s attention in the first place: it turns out this is the unbelievable story of a family friend.

Then they turn to just a few of the characters who populate Coal Survivor: the teenagers who took over the union, including 17-year-old Bob, who became treasurer; the prosecutor who was also involved in the investigation of JFK’s assassination; and the infamous union leader Tony Boyle.

Nic describes what had to be left out in order to tell an epic story in just eight episodes. And Anthony highlights how the production team managed to work in moments of humor amidst such a terrible sequence of events.

Finally, they remember previous adaptations of the story featuring none other than Charles Bronson and Wilford Brimley.

Listen to Inside the Tent on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

Email us with questions or comments: [email protected].

We hope to see you inside the tent again soon. Subscribe now for updates on all of Campside’s hit shows.

This is an episode of Inside the Tent, a podcast going behind the scenes of Campside’s award winning shows.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

When comedian Barry Rothbart was growing up in Queens in the 90s, there were two things he knew for sure: his father, Allan, was his best friend, and Allan was Jon Bon Jovi’s manager. But everything changed in 1997, when Barry’s dad got arrested and admitted that he actually worked for the Italian mafia, running the largest bookmaking operation in the United States.

High school Barry jumped in to work alongside him, making more money than most teenagers had ever seen. It all seemed like a perfect buddy comedy…. until it wasn’t.

Years after Allan’s death from cancer in 2007, Barry discovered cassette tapes that his dad had recorded on his deathbed. These tapes contained confessions that, again, shattered everything Barry thought he knew about his father.

Barry and Josh discuss why it’s so easy to make hours and hours of recordings, but so hard to edit those recordings down to make a show… especially when it’s about your family, your father and yourself.

Barry opens about going to therapy and how Searching for Allan Rothbart made a positive impact on his relationship with his mom.

And Barry asks Josh about the ethics of reporting in general and podcasting in particular.

Their discussion gives a funny and honest window into a show that is equal parts true-crime, family memoir and late-in-life coming-of-age tale.

Listen to Inside the Tent on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

Email us with questions or comments: [email protected].

We hope to see you inside the tent again soon. Subscribe now for updates on all of Campside’s hit shows.

This is an episode of Inside the Tent, a podcast going behind the scenes of Campside’s award winning shows.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

Many argue that the massive sugar industry has somehow managed to avoid the scrutiny that oil and tobacco have faced for decades.

Campside has partnered with Weekday Fun Productions and Imagine Audio to present the re-release of Big Sugar, a series that takes you deep inside the secretive, multi-billion dollar sugar industry. Listeners will hear the dramatic story of the court battle that exposed how the addictive substance is grown, cultivated and sold.

Josh and Celeste discuss why this series was a such a perfect fit for her as a journalist, author and host. But, Celeste didn’t come to the series knowing the backstory, the impact of the millions of tons of sugar we eat every year.

It all started with a Vanity Fair article by Marie Brenner. That inspired Big Sugar, a surprising true crime story that touches on our health, the environment, government subsidies and workers’ rights. Celeste specifically describes to Josh the conditions cane cutters faced everyday in the hot, Florida sun.

And she recounts trying to track down the Fanjul brothers, whose wealth and power seemed to insulate them from having to answer questions about the industry that made them fabulously wealthy.

Finally Celeste tells Josh what it was like standing in an elementary school parking lot as the sugar fields nearby were burned in preparation for harvesting.

Listen to all episodes of "Big Sugar" wherever you get your podcasts.

And you can find Inside the Tent on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and more. We hope to see you inside the tent again soon.

Email us with questions or comments: [email protected].

And subscribe now for updates on all of Campside’s hit shows.

This is an episode of Inside the Tent, a podcast going behind the scenes of Campside’s award winning shows.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

Just as Ashley Fantz was leaving CNN, a headline caught her attention, and she was determined to follow up. A conversation with Matt turned into a pitch, which turned into the second season of the hit franchise Suspect.

Jonelle Matthews was abducted in December, 1984. She was one of the first kids featured on milk cartons, drawing national attention to the missing girl. Suspect Steven Pankey was finally indicted for murder and kidnapping in 2020.

Ashley tells Matt what it’s like to report on a case that is still being adjudicated - both the challenges and opportunities. On the one hand, the trial helped to clearly establish the facts of the crime. But only certain people were willing and able to talk to Ashley.

Was she able to speak with the victim’s sister and parents? What about the detectives who investigated the case in the 1980’s? And the suspect’s ex-wife?

Ashley describes the reporter rules she follows - what’s on the record and how to treat sources delicately.

Finally, listen to find out Pankey’s response to Ashley’s letter five years ago and what she’d ask him now if given the chance.

Listen to Inside the Tent on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

Email us with questions or comments: [email protected].

We hope to see you inside the tent again soon. Subscribe now for updates on all of Campside’s hit shows.

This is an episode of Inside the Tent, a podcast going behind the scenes of Campside’s award winning shows.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

Shootings are not unusual in Belize. But the shooting at the center of White Devil is not just unusual, it turned out to be that country's biggest news story in years.

Josh investigated the shooting of Henry Jemmott, a senior Belizean Police Officer, by a Canadian property developer named Jasmine Hartin — and then continued with the story for two years after. What started as tabloid fodder turned out to be a complicated story of colonialism, corruption, and the mysterious billionaire at the story's center.

Josh and Adam start at the beginning, a conversation with filmmaker Will Gluck (Anyone But You) about finding a project to work on together. The goal was to find something fairly straightforward, and White Devil turned out to be anything but.

Josh couldn’t travel to Belize initially - pandemic times - so got in contact with a local journalist who helped him learn the essentials of this surprisingly small-feeling country where everyone seems to know one another. Eventually, he connected directly with the accused shooter, Jasmine Hartin, who had two children with the son of legendary British businessman Michael Ashcroft.

Josh opens up about the drawbacks of ‘parachute journalism,’ some valid criticism of the show that he is still unsure how to address, and what's happened lately with the show's protagonist, Jasmine.

Listen to Inside the Tent on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

Email us with questions or comments: [email protected].

We hope to see you inside the tent again soon. Subscribe now for updates on all of Campside’s hit shows.

This is an episode of Inside the Tent, a podcast going behind the scenes of Campside’s award winning shows.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

Origin Stories is a podcast by creatives - and for anyone curious about the workings of the creative mind. Hosted by Campside’s own Matthew Shaer, a veteran journalist and podcast host, every episode of the show takes you behind the scenes of your favorite book, TV show, magazine article or podcast.

Matt and his guests cover the initial spark of curiosity to the long sessions in front of a white board. Nothing is off the table: not the frustrations and the joys, not the setbacks and the successes.

Geoff starts by introducing Matt, just as Matt does for his guests at the top of each episode of Origin Stories. That gives Matt a false sense of security before jumping into the hard-hitting interview!

Matt describes how the team selects, or tries to pursue, guests from across media - from Alien showrunner Noah Hawley to Pulitzer Prize winning podcaster Connie Walker.

They discuss how writing has changed for impatient audiences and what that meant for the first-ever episode of Only Murders in the Building.

And Matt admits who he was scared to interview and why Timothy Olyphant is a dream guest on every show he makes.

Finally, Geoff pushes Matt to consider whether he’d invite a sculptor on the show. Do you think a sculptor has an Origin Story to tell about her work? You can join the Origin Stories community to discuss this and more.

Listen to Inside the Tent on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

Email us with questions or comments: [email protected].

We hope to see you inside the tent again soon. Subscribe now for updates on all of Campside’s hit shows.

This is an episode of Inside the Tent, a podcast going behind the scenes of Campside’s award winning shows.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

This story started with very little on the public record. But what appeared to be a small-time scam turned out to include fake companies, cryptocurrency, multiple countries and families torn apart.

Host Natalie Robehmed notes her own similarities to the main character of Catch Me If You Ken. They both hailed from countries associated with wealth, developed hard-to-place accents and made their way to the United States.

And Campside Senior Producer Abukar Adan discusses reporting on Ken’s early life and marvels at how effectively Ken covered his digital tracks.

And what little detail about the story stuck with Natalie? Ken’s interest in a sport that’s played alone, requires intense focus and involves spinning your way to a strike.

Stepping back, Natalie and Abukar touch on language barriers, legal jurisdictions and the difficulties of following a story from Singapore to Spain and Germany to the U.S.

Finally, there’s the pain Ken allegedly caused to friends and family… and the unexpected clue to his last known location.

Listen to Inside the Tent on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

Email us with questions or comments: [email protected].

We hope to see you inside the tent again soon. Subscribe now for updates on all of Campside’s hit shows.

This is an episode of Inside the Tent, a podcast going behind the scenes of Campside’s award winning shows.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is the story of Campside Media's first ever podcast, Chameleon: Hollywood Con Queen. Over seven years, hundreds of Hollywood workers were fooled into flying to Indonesia for a movie that didn’t exist. Someone was impersonating female, Hollywood executives - it was one of the weirdest scams in history.

Vanessa and Josh discuss what it means to want something so badly that you only see what you want to see - and how the truth can shatter your confidence.

They reflect on their time spent chasing a story with an elusive ending. And how to find someone once you have photos and a list of aliases.

Then, Josh even hints at new Con Queen information to be revealed in the new Chameleon weekly series, coming soon.

Listen to Inside the Tent on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

Email us with questions or comments: [email protected].

We hope to see you inside the tent again soon. Subscribe now for updates on all of Campside’s hit shows.