Death On A Movie Set - Rachel Mason on Last Take, her documentary about the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust
Release Date: 07/09/2025
Are Therapists Crazy? Andrew Hartz's quest for sanity in clinical psychology
The Unspeakable Podcast
Dr. Andrew Hartz is a practicing clinical psychologist and the founder of the Open Therapy Institute, an organization dedicated to overcoming sociopolitical bias in the mental health field. He was last here in 2023 and returns now to talk about what’s changed—and what hasn’t—in the mental-health landscape since then. We discuss the rise of “everyday dissociation,” how screens and Zoom relationships dull presence and feeling, and why talk therapy can miss the mark when the problem is disconnection from the body. Andrew also explains how anxiety became a form of social currency (from...
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All The World’s A Hype House: What Leigh Stein's TikTok novel reveals about the way we live now
The Unspeakable Podcast
Novelist, essayist, and publishing coach Leigh Stein returns to the show to discuss her new gothic-inspired novel, If You’re Seeing This, It’s Meant for You. Set in a Los Angeles “hype house,” the book follows a 39-year-old woman managing a mansion full of TikTok influencers—and confronting the realities of aging out of digital media. Leigh talks about the inspirations behind the novel, from a Frank Lloyd Wright house to parasocial relationships to the controversies around Joan Didion’s private papers. We also explore bigger questions: the future of Substack, fandom as a...
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How Are Those Luxury Beliefs Working Out? Rob Henderson and the coinage that keeps on giving (FULL INTERVIEW)
The Unspeakable Podcast
This week, I welcome back Rob Henderson, the social psychologist, author, and commentator who coined the concept of luxury beliefs: ideas that confer status on the upper class while inflicting real costs on lower-income communities. Rob was last here in early 2024 discussing his memoir, Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class, which chronicles his journey through California’s foster system to the Air Force, and onward to Yale and Cambridge. In this conversation, we explore what he’s been thinking about since the book’s release—particularly the so-called “mating...
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Is The Racial Reckoning Over? John McWhorter on language, art, and defunding the grammar police
The Unspeakable Podcast
This is the full version of the Aug 4 episode, now available to all subscribers. Author, New York Times columnist, and superstar linguist John McWhorter returns to the pod to catch us up on what’s been on his mind now that the Woke Emergency is over . . . or is it over? We talk about how figures like Robin D’Angelo and Ibram X. Kendi have receded from the spotlight and then move on to more pressing questions topics, such as whether New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s “I vs me” confusion is disqualifying (I say yes), whether a smart person would say “stupider”...
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Is Everything Terrible? Tablet editor Alana Newhouse on the problem with burning it all down.
The Unspeakable Podcast
This week I’m joined by Alana Newhouse, journalist, cultural critic, and founder/editor-in-chief of Tablet Magazine. Since launching Tablet in 2009, Alana has carved out a space for nuanced and surprising reporting on Jewish identity and the larger cultural questions shaping those issues, as well as the broader issues of our time. We discuss her 2021 essay, Everything Is Broken, in which she diagnoses systemic failures in medicine, media, education, and culture. Alana traces these breakdowns to a pervasive cultural force she calls flatness — the drive toward frictionless...
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Extreme Religious Conversion - Kelsey Osgood on women, religious transformations, and what anorexia has to do with it. (FULL INTERVIEW)
The Unspeakable Podcast
This week, I’m joined by author Kelsey Osgood to discuss her recent book “Godstruck: Seven Women’s Unexpected Journeys To Religious Conversion.” The book, which profiles women who traded secular lives for religious communities such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, evangelical Christianity, Quakerism, Orthodox Judaism, Saudi-based Islam, and even the Amish faith, is fascinating in its own right. But we also discuss Kelsey’s previous book about her struggle with and recovery from anorexia, which overlaps with her religious transformation in some surprising ways. In...
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How To Survive a Mania - Lionel Shriver hates groupthink. And so should everyone else.
The Unspeakable Podcast
September 3 in NYC at 6 pm, I’ll be in conversation with Lionel live at The Village Underground. Tix available . Use promo code CATASTROPHE18 at checkout for a discount. Bestselling novelist and beloved (and occasionally be-hated) columnist Lionel Shriver returns to the podcast to talk about several topics, including her most recent novel, Mania. In that novel, she imagines a society under the grip of “mental parity,” a concept arguing that all individuals possess equal intelligence and no one should be given greater credence or responsibility because of the perception...
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Extreme Religious Conversion - Kelsey Osgood on women, religious transformations, and what anorexia has to do with it (PREVIEW)
The Unspeakable Podcast
This week, I’m joined by author Kelsey Osgood to discuss her recent book “Godstruck: Seven Women’s Unexpected Journeys To Religious Conversion.” The book, which profiles women who traded secular lives for religious communities such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, evangelical Christianity, Quakerism, Orthodox Judaism, Saudi-based Islam, and even the Amish faith, is fascinating in its own right. But we also discuss Kelsey’s previous book about her struggle with and recovery from anorexia, which overlaps with her religious transformation in some surprising ways. In...
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70 Million Songs: The Catastrophe Hour Book Club Week 7
The Unspeakable Podcast
The next meeting of The Catastrophe Hour Book Club is scheduled for Wednesday, July 23, at 3:00 p.m. ET. We will discuss the fifth essay of the collection, Playlist of Tears. The book club meets for 14 consecutive Wednesdays at 3:00 p.m. ET. The book club is for yearly paid Substack subscribers only, so if you want to join, please upgrade your subscription at . About The Catastrophe Hour "One of our most important essayists . . . The Catastrophe Hour is proof that writers and readers can choose to engage with their lives in a manner that...
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Do Women Owe Men An Apology? with Dr. Carole Hooven
The Unspeakable Podcast
This episode starts with a Very Special introduction in which I explain what’s been going on with the podcast over the last six months (lots of different offerings, which possibly caused some confusion) and talk about the ongoing challenges of the subscriber model. (Short version, please stick around!) I then have the great pleasure of interviewing evolutionary biologist Dr. Carole Hooven, who’s been a speaker at several Unspeakeasy events but never actually a guest on the podcast. As we approach the four-year anniversary of the publication of her book, , Carole recounts how a media...
info_outlineIn this episode, I speak with filmmaker Rachel Mason about her documentary Last Take*: Rust and the Story of Halyna*, which explores the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust. On October 21, 20221, Alec Badwin, who starred in the film, pulled the trigger on a gun he thought was not loaded, killing Halyna and injuring director Joel Souza. Through the lens of grief, media spectacle, and justice. Rachel, a close friend of Halyna’s, offers an intimate perspective on the aftermath of the incident and how it was experienced by those who knew Halyna beyond the headlines.
We also talk about Rachel’s recent docuseries, An Update on Our Family, which investigates the world of family vlogging on YouTube—particularly the story of Myka and James Stauffer, whose decision to rehome their adopted son sparked public outrage and raised ethical questions about online parenting content. Toward the end of our conversation, Rachel talks about her next project, a collaborative effort to unravel a legendary unsolved murder case in Los Angeles. It's a wide-ranging and thought-provoking conversation that touches on art, ethics, personal loss, and the complexities of telling true stories in a digital age. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
GUEST BIO
Rachel Mason is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker. She received an Emmy Nomination for her Netflix Original Documentary Circus of Books, based on her biographical telling of growing up the child of owners of an adult bookstore that was a fixture of the gay community during the height of the AIDS era. In 2025 a series Mason directed called “An Update on Our Family” was released on HBO MAX and has been cited in legal arguments proposing legislation changes regarding children on the internet. Following that, Hulu released the authorized documentary about her friend Halyna Hutchins death on the Alec Baldwin film Rust. She is currently completing a documentary about the murder of a young gay man in 1990 named Billy London, which was until 2022 a cold case. The film is being made independently and has been a volunteer effort from the community, who helped to solve the crime.
Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna- Hulu
An Update on Our Family- HBO Max
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HOUSEKEEPING
📖 Order my new book, The Catastrophe Hour: Selected Essays, on Amazon or directly from the publisher here.
📘 The Catastrophe Hour book club for yearly paying subscribers starts June 11 and will run for 14 consecutive Wednesdays, 3-4 pm ET. We will meet on Zoom.
📹 The Unspeakeasy Live livestream takes place every Thursday at 3:00 p.m. ET. Look for a notification on your Substack app when we’re live.
Stuff to read and listen to:
New York Times, Jan 31, 2025: The L.A. Fires Taught Me To Accept Help
Recent(ish) solo episodes:
- January 9: The First 24 Hours
- January 16: The Immaterial World
- January 27: Housing Wars
- February 5: Remembrance Of Things Past
- February 13: What Is A "Catastrophe?"
- March 2: A Mental Infection
- March 31: Dignity Is Out Of Style
📺 Visit The Unspeakable on YouTube.
✈️ The Unspeakeasy’s 2025 retreat season is underway. It includes a just-announced COED retreat with more attendees and multiple speakers. October 11-12 in New York City. Programming and ticketing info here.