Audio Drama

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November's episodes of Audiovisual Cultures podcast have been all about audio drama. In 78 we heard from producer, director, writer and actor Jack Bowman about his varied career in audio drama since the emergence of the medium then known as digital downloads and now popularly considered to be podcasts. In 79 we hear even more about working in this medium from Brendon Connelly who talks in detail about the Scooby-Doo/Buffy-inspired spooky series Circles made in lockdown earlier this year, created and co-written by Brendon and directed by Jack.


It's been a time of reflection for me about the podcast. It's been a long hustle to make it, promote it and keep gathering a following. Progress feels glacial, but it is progress. I've made tremendous improvements and developed many skills in editing, recording, presenting, interviewing and marketing, and am always making tweaks as I learn new things. 

In these two episodes, we talk quite a lot about the logistics and challenges in not just making podcasts, whether episodic or serial, but in making them really well. As Jack says, we're still very much in the wild west with as yet no funding structure or a regulated, supportive distribution system. Websites like Acast seem like a YouTube or Netflix equivalent platform for podcasts, but are exclusive and things are often paywalled for makers and listeners. It's extremely difficult to find a footing as an independent maker caught in a catch-22 of needing visibility on a platform to get more listeners while needing a certain minimum of listeners to be granted visibility. 

Acast have recently struck up a partnership with Patreon, on which I share and get support for Audiovisual Cultures. I have tried to activate the integration, but encountered snags that prevent everything from working. Perhaps it's early-days teething troubles. There is no help for what's happening on either site. It's frustrating to have the promise of essentially free basic hosting dangled in front of you only for it to catch on one file and the whole business loop in stasis. There are things I have and could try to see if that snaps it into life, but the administrative hassle seems a lot right now. Life is hard enough every day and I am anxious to work towards gainful employment. Ah, but what if this will be the key that unlocks all of that? And so the cycle goes. Audio drama, indeed.

With the help of my few Patreon members and a discount from SoundCloud, I might just about manage to pay for hosting for a year. I tried this before and I definitely had more consistent and regular listens that way. But for that year I didn't manage to drum up any extra support. Times are so hard for so many and I know it is a big ask. I put so much of my work out in the world for free because I feel that exchanges of information and ideas ought to be free. But the things I make take time and resources, and in a capitalist society, time and resources cost money - money I have struggled to replenish no matter how hard I work. But no one should have to pay. But if I don't get paid, I can't keep going. And so this other cycle goes in tandem with the other. Oh for a universal basic income.

Anyway, a super-duper big helpful way you can support without paying anything is please listen to or watch, share and subscribe to the podcast. I've had such lovely guests this past year from a wide range of backgrounds and practices, and recording over Zoom, Instagram Live, StreamYard and Skype has vastly helped improve recording quality while joining matchmaker.fm has extended my reach to more diverse guests. I'd love it if you too would join us in the pod.

 

If you enjoyed this post, please support my work at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/peablair

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