Premium: How Shell Game gets made: the calls

Setting and harvesting the crab traps.

Last week, our producer and editor Sophie Bridges took paid subscribers behind the curtain to reveal how she takes Shell Game from a raw script to a sonic wonderland. This week, I thought I’d give you a peek into the process that happens before that: how I tune and release an agent, and then collect and sort the calls it makes and receives. 

Before I do, two new Shell Game extras to watch out for, coming next week: 

• For paid subscribers, you’ll be able to call my AI voice agent and talk to it, if you wish… if you dare! 

• For all subscribers, we’re going to open up the chat feature here to talk about all things Shell Game, voice agents, and whatever else strikes your fancy. 

We’ve also got some fun stories coming in different outlets about Shell Game, including a couple big ones that I’m extremely excited about. (So far, you might have caught me—and sometimes my AI clone—interviewed on KQED Forum, Marketplace Tech, and Range Widely, among other outlets.) 

Ok, let’s continue behind the curtain…