Taylor Saracen Give You the Key to Exeter Hill College’s Most Secret Society!
We had the opportunity to chat with writer Taylor Saracen about ASGmax’s new animated series Exeter Hill College. The dark, twisted series that pulls back the curtain on an elite university’s secret societies. Mysterious, seductive, and charged with tension, the series explores how ambition, loyalty, and power collide behind closed doors. Saracen dove into the inspirations behind the series, the moral complexity of its world, and what it takes to write secrets that feel dangerously real.
What first inspired you to write Exeter Hill College?
It began with curiosity about how institutions of power often mask the most personal, private hungers. I wanted to write about privilege and secrecy, but through the lens of human desire – the need to be seen, wanted, chosen. Universities like Exeter Hill are perfect metaphors for that tension: they look pristine on the surface, but underneath there’s a current of competition and craving that can consume people.
Why tell this story through animation rather than live action?
Animation lets us visualize interior states in ways live action can’t. The campus in Exeter Hill isn’t just a setting; it’s a living organism that reacts to the characters’ choices. Through animation, we could exaggerate architectural shadows, distort perspective, and make the environment part of the psychological storytelling. It’s realism laced with nightmare, and I love what we were able to achieve.
What defines Exeter Hill College as a dark academic drama?
It’s about the seduction of intellect — and the dangerous belief that knowledge or exclusivity makes someone untouchable. The academic world can be intoxicating because it rewards obsession. Exeter Hill College takes that idea and shows how it can twist into something corrupt, manipulative, and deeply personal. It’s psychological more than supernatural, but the effect is haunting all the same.
How did you develop the characters, especially within a secret-society framework?
Every character represents a different facet of desire — intellectual, emotional, physical, or social. I started with archetypes you might expect in an elite environment, then stripped away their defenses. Each one performs control, but that control is fragile. Within the secret society, the lines between mentorship, manipulation, and intimacy blur. That’s where the story lives.
The series is provocative and unapologetically adult. How did you approach writing those elements?
I’m interested in the psychology of intimacy, how vulnerability can become currency, how attraction can be empowering and destructive. The series explores sex as a form of communication and power exchange. It’s super sexy, and I know the subscribers are going to enjoy what we came up with.
What role does secrecy play in the narrative?
Secrecy drives everything. It’s what holds the society together and what tears the characters apart. Secrets can be intoxicating. They make people feel special, chosen but they’re also corrosive.
How would you describe Exeter Hill College in one line?
A fever dream of power, privilege, and promiscuity.
Catch the first episode of Exeter Hill College “Goodbyes” November 14th, 2025. Only on asgmax.com!
