What's Ahead For Bingeworthy in 2023?
It's time to queue up some pretty exciting listening...and more
Alright folks, the sticker shock of 2023 is wearing off and it’s time to look ahead and put some some real planning into the works. The good news is that February is an excellent month to tune into some deep and difficult podcasts….either it’s low-light walks chasing a small window of sunlight; looking for some inspo to take with you to the gym with you after hours, or for my Southern Hemisphere friends, out frolicking and road tripping in your summer months.
This week I’ve got a couple of different series simmering in the background, in my eyes and in my inbox. Nothing is quite ready to go yet, so I’m sharing my shortlist of what I’ve been listening to lately:
Some Great Listens:
We Were Three. Produced by Serial productions. Hosted and reported by Nancy Updike and Jenelle Pifer. At first glance, it’s a story about Covid. Are you ready to talk about that yet? But then it’s so much more, very quickly after that.
Bone Valley. Produced by Lava for Good and reported by Gilbert King. It’s a wrongful conviction story about a 30-year-old murder in Florida. It’s also a brain-numbing story about how wrong the law can get it. Like, really really wrong.
Corinna and the King. Produced by Project Brazen. Woah, if you thought that Harry and Meghan had a lot going on, this rip-roaring tabloid-making story about Juan Carlos I, the former king of Spain, it’s a tell-all from his former girlfriend who has both nothing, and also everything, to lose by telling her story.
Mandela: The Lost Tapes. (Only available on Audible). The backstory to the writing of Mandela’s famous biography, Long Walk To Freedom, told by his ghostwriter Richard Stengel, who is also a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. He dug up some old recordings from back in the day, and shares some new insights…it’s like a time machine you didn’t know existed.
What I’m looking forward to a couple more in my queue…
City Of Rails. Narrated by the journalist Danelle Morton, produced by iHeart and Omny. A daughter goes missing in the land of train-hopping and hobos…no, not in 1930, but in this decade. What promises to be a heart-wrenching mother-daughter story, I’m heading into this with a box of Kleenex, whilst I clutch photos of my two teenage daughters.
All There Is. It’s a story about grief, loss and what’s left over after someone dies. It’s also Anderson Cooper’s story, following the loss of his famous mother Gloria Vanderbilt. In truth, I wouldn’t have reached for this one, but after I heard Rob Rosenthal’s review on Sound School Podcast, I thought it was worth a listen. And hey, if anyone here can help put me in touch with Anderson Cooper to answer a quick Q+A, pop me a note ; )
But I’ve got other plans too…
This year I’m looking forward to sharing lots of great narrative audio with you…as always written from a producer’s point of view, so that you can engage more deeply with what you’re listening to.
I want this newsletter to be insightful for those who work in the industry, or those trying to figure out their way into this industry. I also want it to contribute to the growing body of critical work surrounding narrative podcasts, so that we can help grow the industry from all sides.
So this year look out for some pieces that dive into the following topics:
The Craft of making narrative podcasts…from the makers themselves. I’ll take on different subjects here, one at a time. Things like Interviewing, Writing Narration, File Organization, When to Follow-up, and more!
The Awards Industry: What’s going on inside the festivals and awards that are starting to recognize narrative podcasting…and draw a line between indie and studio creators.
New Directions in Format. When I find someone who I think is doing it a bit differently, I’m going to dive into lots of questions here to try to get to the bottom of this.
Teaching Narrative Podcasting. Who is doing this, and where? And then how do you teach this storytelling format that’s still evolving.
I mentioned this last week in the header…thank you to those who did reach out!!
Tribeca Festival is once again growing its audio component this year.
Tribaca is THE FIRST A-List festival to take audio seriously and make sure it gets showcased alongside all the other great work it accepts.
Festival Submission Deadline is still ahead! February 22, 2023, for audio storytelling. Lots of categories.
And if you are an INDIE creator, ie someone who works on your own or in a small team, and the submission price is daunting, reach out to me and I’ll send you a discount code. They are actually serious about finding ways to make this industry more equitable.
This week I finally sat down to have a chat with an Australian podcaster and Antarctic history enthusiast named Matthew McArthur. We’ve been lazily emailing back and forth for years, planning and then forgetting to sit down and chat about what went into the making of my narrative podcast series This Is Our Time, which is an audio adventure that goes all the way to Antarctica. Once by imagination, and once for real.
We finally connected last week! This week he posted the show, just before he began a contract sampling in the harbour near him in the shark fishery.
Here’s the link to his show Ice Coffee, which explores the history and habitation of Antarctica.
Thanks for reading this newsletter. Do share with your podcast-addicted friends.