This is a special betweenisode (and yes, I borrowed that term from Joanna Penn) to let you know that I want to hear YOUR thoughts, your reflections, and, ideally, in your voice, for inclusion in episode 500 of the Stark Reflections Podcast.

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Thanks, in advance for your reflections, and thanks for listening.

In this episode Mark interviews actor and Bram Stoker Award–winning writer Jamie Flanagan about their work on the 2026 Carrie television series, various other scriptwriting and acting projects, their short stories, novels, and editing.

Prior to the interview Mark shares a personal update and a word about this episodes sponsors.

This episode is sponsored in part by The 2026 Novel Writing Storybundle.

Learn more about this limited-time offer (which ends at the end of November 2026) at https://storybundle.com/writing

In their conversation, Mark and Jamie talk about:

Talk about:

• How Jamie got into theatre because they had a crush on someone, and how that led to falling in love with communal storytelling
• Becoming a cardiac ultra-sound technologist and doing that for a few years
• Jamie's brother Mike Flanagan beginning to gain some traction in the film production he'd been doing and inviting Jamie to be a part of it (Absentia, Oculus, Hell House, Bly, which Mike did in order to be able to make Midnight Mass)
• The various roles that Jamie has played in different films and TV shows over the years
• Writing screenplays between patients
• Loving a novel (Veniss Underground by Jeff Vandermere) so much that they adapted it into a feature film script adaptation for it
• Getting pulled into the writer's room for Bly Manor
• Losing count of the number of scripts written based on existing IP projects
• Not having the rights to scripts that you write for projects that don't get picked up
• How the "green lights" happening when a script gets picked up, it's rare
• How most screenwriters usually have backup jobs
• The way the writing room works for a television series
• The special flower-shaped craft that a former partner of Jamie had made for them out of one of their children's picture books
• Adaptation being the sincerest form of flattery
• A short story ("Moira") Jamie had published in an anthology (Shadows in the Stacks) and it's fascinating history, including a very special audio production of it that includes a brilliant score
• How one of the few conversations you can have in entertainment is via theatre
• The live show that absolutely floored Jamie and how it hit them at the right time in the right way
• The recent series adaptation of Carrie where Jamie is one of the script writers on this Mike Flanagan project
• The way Mike pitched the idea to King, and how a similar thing happened when he pitched the Doctor Sleep adaptation
• A novel that Jamie has coming out in 2027
• The Views from the Overlook Stephen King-authorized The Shining anthology that Jamie is editing (and that Mark sold a story "The Scraps of Lives" to
• Jamie's children's book reprint that's being released in a new edition in 2027
• The short stories Jamie has coming out in several anthologies in the next couple of years
• And more . . .

After the interview Mark reflects on three of the things they discussed and it includes a few additional personal insights and updates, including the story behind Mark's first in person meeting with Jamie and how it was a powerful, life-altering experience.