‘Seeking Mavis Beacon’ Creators Search for Precursor to Siri and Alexa

Young director Jazmin Jones and her co-star Olivia McKayla Ross don detective hats – probably with tinfoil lining – in their new award-winning film Looking for Mavis Beacon.

The “Mavis” they were looking for had once been a beacon of hope for people wanting to learn to type. The Mavis Beacon software—a kind of CD-ROM, first released in the late 1980s—came in a box adorned with the striking face of a professional black woman, a model hired to represent a fictional “helper” in her typing. Jones and Ross learned that the model’s name was Renée L’Espérance, from Haiti, and apparently long since disappeared. They wanted to know what had happened to her.

The film detectives join the latest edition of the Deadline Doc Talk podcast to share why they were so intrigued by L’Espérance and the larger truths they believe Mavis Beacon’s story reveals. They see her as one of the first “obedient fembots”—a precursor to Siri and Alexa—and they dismantle the cultural tropes embedded in the software’s marketing with incredible finesse.

Jones jokingly suggests that she had to find a balance in the film between veering into conspiracy theory territory (hence the tinfoil hat reference above) and sticking to a journalistic/investigative approach. Much of the pleasure of the film is engaging with a charming and insightful duo who exude wit and sharp intelligence. That’s on full display in the new episode of Doc Talk, hosted by Oscar winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave, Shirley) and Deadline documentary editor Matt Carey.

The conversation takes place during the distribution of Neon Looking for Mavis Beacon to cinemas (the premiere in Los Angeles took place on September 6).

Doc Talk, a 2024 Webby Award winner, is a Deadline and Ridley’s Nō Studios production. Listen to the new episode above or on major podcast platforms including Spotify, iHeart, and Apple.