It Burns host Marc Fennell goes nuts
The journalist, documentary maker and podcast host’s new investigative podcast, Nut Jobs, is about almond thefts in California.
Why do you keep making documentaries about food?
There was this brief moment of going, “Do you want to be the food investigative guy?” And then I was like, you know what, an interesting story is an interesting story. But I’ve long maintained that food is a doorway into bigger worlds, and [Nut Jobs] proved to be a doorway into much bigger worlds than [my earlier podcast] It Burns, because it opened up conversations about race, about crime, about how food is delivered to us as a culture.
You got your start in media as a film critic. Does that background influence the way you see stories?
It does, yeah. Having an understanding of how people consume, and knowing that when people consume something that sounds like a horror movie, or that sounds like a heist, there are certain expectations that start to rise up in people’s minds. I like the opportunities that gives you to tell a story, if you can use a language that people are familiar with through something like Ocean’s Eleven. You can play with that, you can use that to guide an audience through something.
Your major documentaries have taken you to Hong Kong, Japan and America. Is there a reason you feel drawn to international stories for your larger projects?
It’s funny you say that because I … don’t know! I am the product of an Indian-Singaporean mum and an Irish dad, I was raised in Australia but I’ve always had a sense the world is quite big. And also, I don’t look like anything in particular, I don’t sound like anything in particular. It’s meant that when I land in a country like Hong Kong or America, and I don’t carry a lot of baggage, people don’t make big assumptions about me.
You are constantly juggling so many projects across television and podcasts. Do you ever sit back and wish that you just had one full-time job to focus on?
It comes up occasionally, and the answer is sort of no! When I come across projects and stories I want to tell, I like the freedom to fit them in the right hole, if that makes sense. I tend to pick jobs where, when I agree to do them, I don’t actually know if it can be done, or whether I can do it. I know other people can do it, but can I? And I think that provides an energy unto itself. One of the weird things about me is I feel really bad because both my parents were the first of their generation to get university degrees. And I sort of stumbled into journalism in a really weird backwards way, and I try to work really hard to justify the luck, basically.
How does podcasting stack up when it comes to diversity and representation?
I will say that in general, having paid a lot more attention to podcasting in the US and the UK markets, it is notable that there is a lot better diversity in those markets, I find, than what we’re hearing here in Australia. To me, it’s not an ideological argument, it’s actually a commercial one. I am first-generation Australian, I am a suburban dad, I have two kids … and I just look at what’s on my TV, and I listen to my radio, and I flick through the most popular podcasts, and I’m like: why aren’t there more people that look and sound like my neighbours? That just strikes me as a missed opportunity.
Nut Jobs is available now, only on Audible at www.audible.com.au/nutjobs
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