When Ezra Edelman was pitched to do a TV series about the OJ Simpson trial, he was skeptical. "The only interesting thing for me about this story was exploring the context," he told us after a screening of his documentary series, O.J.: Made in America, at the Columbia Journalism School in 2016.

"I realized that I could approach telling the story by not focusing on a murder and a trial—I could talk about the history of Los Angeles, the history of OJ Simpson, who he really was, to help explain why everyone lost their minds."Listen to our conversation with Ezra Edelman below. 

Ezra Edelman won a 2017 duPont-Columbia Award for the documentary O.J.: Made in America. See the full list of 2017 winners here. 

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