Lauren Shippen Explained

Lauren Shippen
Alma Mater:College of William & Mary
Language:English

Lauren Shippen is a fiction writer, director, and actor. She created the podcast The Bright Sessions and its spin-off series, The AM Archives and The College Tapes. Shippen won an Audio Verse award for her portrayal of Sam in The Bright Sessions (the character also appeared in The AM Archives). She has also written three novels set in The Bright Sessions universe. Shippen was named in the 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30.[1]

Early life and education

Shippen was born in New York City. She is the daughter of President and COO of Edelman PR, Matthew Harrington. [2] She studied at the College of William & Mary where she majored in music.[3]

Career

After college, Shippen moved to Los Angeles to work as an actor, mixing auditions with working at a restaurant. Around this time she began developing ideas for a podcast, drawing on her experience of music and sound editing and partly inspired by Welcome to Nightvale. Her initial idea was to center the story on a girl who time travels, who would be played by Shippen, and to have her talk to a therapist to set up a dialogue between characters rather than having a single character monologuing. This became The Bright Sessions which ran for four seasons released between 2015 and 2018, with Shippen writing the show and voicing one of the main characters, Sam Barnes.

The Bright Sessions follows people with special abilities, "atypicals", and their interactions with a therapist, Dr. Bright. Around the therapy sessions covered by each episode, a larger meta-story emerges. It has been recognised for its representation of LGBTQ+ people.[1] Shippen won several Audio Verse Awards for the show: the 2016 Award for Best Writing of an Original, Short Form, Ongoing Production, the 2016 Award for Best Performance of an Actress in an Original Ensemble Role for a Short Form Production for her role as Sam.[4] and the 2017 Award for Best Writing for an Ongoing, Dramatic Production.[5] She also acts as one of the leads in the web series Natural 20 from The Escapist.[6] [7]

By 2018, The Bright Sessions had reached 8 million downloads. Shippen wrote a series of books about characters from the show, with the first book (The Infinite Noise) published in 2019. In 2019, she co-founded a production company, Atypical Artists, with Jordan Cope and Briggon Snow. The company was set-up to publish new podcasts, especially in the universe of The Bright Sessions. Amongst the new podcasts were The AM Archives and The College Tapes, both part of the 'Bright Universe' and created and written by Shippen.[8] [9]

The Bright Sessions led to opportunities to work on other shows, and John Scott Dryden contacted Shippen about working on a new fiction podcast, Passenger List. She joined the project as a co-writer and co-director along with Dryden and Mark Henry Phillips.[10] The show, part of the Radiotopia podcast network, explores the disappearance of a trans-Atlantic flight.[11] Passenger List was released in 2019 and its first season won the 2020 BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Podcast or Online Audio Drama;[12] [13] the second season won the 2022 award in the same category.[14]

In 2019, Marvel and Stitcher Premium commissioned a podcast adaptation of the graphic novel MARVELS. Shippen wrote the adaption, which was directed by Paul Bae, and with sound design by Mischa Stanton.[15] [16]

In 2020, Lauren served as Executive Producer and voiced the role of "Gerda" in the iHeart Radio Podcast Award-nominated musical series, In Strange Woods.[17] [18] [19]

In 2021, she collaborated with Aaron Mahnke to co-write Bridgewater, a fiction podcast about folklore and the Bridgewater Triangle.[20] It won the iHeartRadio Podcast Award for Best Fiction Podcast.[21] Shippen also wrote and directed Rebel Robin, a prequel podcast for the Netflix series Stranger Things with the character Robin Buckley (played by Maya Hawke) as the protagonist.[22] In 2022, Atypical Artists released Maxine Miles, a podcast created and written by Shippen. It is an interactive mystery written for a young adult audience.[23]

In July 2023, Shippen began releasing Breaker Whiskey, a fiction podcast following a woman after an apocalyptic event in the 1960s.[24]

Publications

Bright Sessions novels

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryWorkResult
2016Audio Verse AwardsBest Writing of an Original, Short Form, Ongoing ProductionThe Bright Sessions
2016Best Performance of an Actress in an Original Ensemble Role for a Short Form Production
2017Best Writing for an Ongoing Dramatic Production

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Lauren Shippen, 26. Forbes. en. March 25, 2022. March 25, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220325133522/https://www.forbes.com/pictures/59f747e4a7ea436b47b489c0/lauren-shippen-26/. live.
  2. Web site: Harrington . Matthew . Matthew Harrington Tweet . Twitter . https://web.archive.org/web/20230108214237/https://twitter.com/mj_harrington/status/930495980864196608 . 8 January 2023. January 8, 2023 .
  3. News: Audio brought to life: Lauren Shippen '13 talks hit podcast's bright future . Naomi . Gruber . The Flat Hat . April 9, 2018 . March 25, 2022 . November 8, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211108064225/https://flathatnews.com/2018/04/09/audio-brought-to-life-lauren-shippen-13-talks-hit-podcasts-bright-future/ . live .
  4. Web site: 2016 Winners – The Audio Verse Awards . Audio Verse Awards . March 25, 2022 . October 6, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211006191350/https://audioverseawards.net/2016-winners/ . live .
  5. Web site: 2017 Winners – The Audio Verse Awards . Audio Verse Awards . March 25, 2022 . October 6, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211006220605/https://audioverseawards.net/2017-winners/ . live .
  6. Web site: D&D Web Show Natural 20 Ventures Forth Thursday . John . Keefer . The Escapist . January 6, 2016 . March 25, 2022 . June 24, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220624201124/https://www.escapistmagazine.com/dd-web-show-natural-20-ventures-forth-thursday/ . live .
  7. Web site: Lauren Shippen performs for Digital Pride . Gay Star News . April 28, 2017 . March 25, 2022 . September 24, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210924155004/https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/watch-lauren-shippen-performs-digital-pride/ . live .
  8. Web site: July 16, 2019. Meet Lauren Shippen, Briggon Snow and Jordan Cope of Atypical Artists in West Hollywood. live. Voyage LA Magazine. en-US. March 25, 2022. March 25, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220325133522/http://voyagela.com/interview/meet-lauren-shippen-atypical-artists/.
  9. Web site: July 19, 2021 . 'The Bright Sessions' Creator Lauren Shippen Is Expanding the Story . Alexandra . Cortez . Study Breaks . en-us . March 25, 2022 . October 28, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211028175403/https://studybreaks.com/culture/music/the-bright-sessions-creator-lauren-shippen-is-expanding-the-story/ . live .
  10. Web site: What Happened To Flight 702? The Mystery of 'Passenger List' . Mariel . Cariker . PRX Official . September 16, 2019 . March 25, 2022 . March 25, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220325133522/https://medium.com/prxofficial/what-happened-to-flight-702-the-mystery-of-passenger-list-85cd36dee2f5 . live .
  11. Web site: 'Passenger List' Fiction Podcast: More Than a Missing Plane . Vulture.com . Nicholas . Quah . October 15, 2019 . March 25, 2022 . April 18, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210418095615/https://www.vulture.com/article/passenger-list-podcast-review.html . live .
  12. Web site: BBC Radio 4 – BBC Audio Drama Awards – The List of 2020 Winners and Commendations. BBC. en-GB. March 25, 2022. March 25, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220325133521/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5MYdfhplDjgrRK6Dt9xnHrx/the-list-of-2020-winners-and-commendations. live.
  13. Web site: February 5, 2020. 'Passenger List' Wins Best Fiction Podcast at BBC Audio Drama Awards. Nerds & Beyond. en-US. March 25, 2022. March 25, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220325133522/https://www.nerdsandbeyond.com/2020/02/05/passenger-list-wins-best-fiction-podcast-at-bbc-audio-drama-awards/. live.
  14. Web site: Audio Drama Awards 2022 – The Winners . BBC . March 25, 2022 . April 4, 2022 . April 5, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220405114450/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1LwL1lk0ngVrMvJkhvRFs9y/audio-drama-awards-2022-the-winners . live .
  15. Web site: Meet the Fantastic Minds Behind MARVELS . Bob . Raymonda . Bello Collective . March 3, 2020 . March 25, 2022 . June 24, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220624201109/https://bellocollective.com/meet-the-fantastic-minds-behind-marvels-9ea3440af230?gi=5dc024e0204 . live .
  16. Web site: Raymonda. Bob. August 25, 2020. Marvel Assembled a Supergroup of Indie Podcasters for MARVELS. Bello Collective . March 25, 2022.
  17. Web site: iHeartRadio Podcast Awards: 'SmartLess' Leads Nominations (Exclusive). The Hollywood Reporter. J. Clara. Chan. October 13, 2021. March 2, 2022. October 13, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211013131617/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/iheartradio-podcast-awards-nominations-list-2022-1235030228/.
  18. Web site: Podcast Studio Atypical Artists Teams With Musical Theatre Writers On 'Serial'-Meets-'Glee'-Style Audio Series. Deadline. Peter. White. November 6, 2019. March 4, 2022. November 6, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191106220103/https://deadline.com/2019/11/podcast-studio-atypical-artists-teams-with-musical-theatre-writers-on-true-crime-meets-broadway-scripted-podcast-1202778899/.
  19. Is the musical theater podcast the new concept album?. Entertainment Weekly. Maureen Lee. Lenker. January 15, 2020. March 4, 2022. January 16, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200116064046/https://ew.com/theater/2020/01/15/musical-theater-podcasts/.
  20. Web site: Bridgewater: The star-studded new podcast that is seriously spooky . Stuff . George . Fenwick . September 5, 2021 . March 25, 2022 . March 25, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220325133522/https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/300389810/bridgewater-the-starstudded-new-podcast-that-is-seriously-spooky . live .
  21. Web site: iHeartRadio Podcast Awards: the 2022 winners . James . Cridland . podnews.net . February 4, 2022 . April 1, 2022 . February 4, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220204114945/https://podnews.net/article/iheartradio-podcast-awards-winners-2022 . live .
  22. Web site: Stranger Things' Robin Gets a Prequel Podcast . CBR . June 10, 2021 . Keegan . Prosser . March 25, 2022 . March 25, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220325133522/https://www.cbr.com/stranger-things-robin-podcast/ . live .
  23. Web site: Lauren Shippen Launches Unique New Interactive Fiction Podcast 'Maxine Miles' . Mal . nerdsandbeyond.com . February 17, 2022 . March 25, 2022.
  24. Web site: 2023-07-24 . Breaker Whiskey on Apple Podcasts . 2023-08-03 . Apple Podcasts . en-US.

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