“Miracle on 34th Street,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and several versions of “A Christmas Carol” are some of the most popular Christmas films. For its Christmas audio offering based on a classic film, Sole Twin Audios chooses to take a different track (trains are important here) by adapting a less familiar film, “Holiday Affair” (1949). This choice (based on a 1950 audio performance for radio) renders this Christmas-themed production both familiar yet also fresh. There are the traditional Christmas themes of second chances, but presented in a new way, and the show is as relevant to our own time as it was when the movie was released in 1949…
It looks like Hollywood has come up with an interesting idea. Why don’t we have Podcast Movies? The New York Times is struggling to have a name for it. Can anyone come up with something?
Reggie Ugwu writes:
What do you call a podcast that presents a single, fictional story in 90 minutes? It might feel like a movie but clearly isn’t one. It recalls midcentury radio drama but involves no radio.
“You could say ‘feature-length podcasts’ but that just seems boring,” said Chris Corcoran, the co-founder and chief content officer of Cadence13, a podcast production company. “You want to exemplify the experience in a way that feels forward-looking but is still legible to the consumer.”
Corcoran’s preferred term of art, “podcast movie,” mashes two distinct categories together, reflecting the exuberance — and confusion — of this moment of media upheaval. (Movies themselves were once self-consciously called “photoplays.”)
Whatever the new form’s ultimate name, the content has arrived. This fall, Cadence13 released its first two “podcast movies”: “Treat,” a Halloween teen horror story starring Kiernan Shipka, and “Ghostwriter,” a psychological thriller led by Kate Mara and Adam Scott. A third is in progress, and others are circling similar territory. In April, Two-Up, a Brooklyn-based entertainment company (“Limetown,” “36 Questions”) released a “feature-length audio movie” titled “Shipworm,” and the children’s podcast studio Gen-Z Media published the “movie-length audio epic” “Iowa Chapman and the Last Dog” in August.
“Why does the format have to be confined to this notion of serialized stories?” said Ben Davis, a partner at the Hollywood talent agency William Morris Endeavor, which is collaborating with Cadence13 on its features projects and represents Two-Up. “The maturation of podcasting can unlock new forms of creativity and new outlets for creators.”
It’s the night after Christmas and all through the house, the incredible Adventures of Mrs. Claus captivated Jack and David from Last Act Radio Theatre! Mrs. Claus, Lyric, and Kuma find themselves trapped in a prison cell after trying to save Princess Nyra, and who’s behind it? The Scarlet Jade herself, a nasty no-good-nik bent on draining planets of their lifeforce…but to what end?! Can Mrs. Claus and the gang stop the Scarlet Jade in time and save the Princess? Should they trust the handsome blue alien they meet along the way? And will Santa get to borrow the sled for Christmas Eve? Only one way to find out…
Are you ready for Christmas? Jack and David are preparing as they take a trip into “Tinsel Town” with episodes one and two. After making a wish on the Christmas Star, Holly finds herself popping in and out of Tinsel Town, a magical place where it’s Christmas every day.
Our holidays in December are just beginning as this week Jack and David present Benjamin Peel’s “Wicked Cinderella” and Mercury Theatre Podcast’s “War for December” from John S. Badger!
It’s nearly Christmas and what would that be without a look back at Sassquatch Radio‘s incredble “Deck the Halls” series. This time it’s last year’s Quarantine Special: The Midnight Society. Emma and Jackie are bored with Netflix (or rather, Stu’s version of Red Box), so the gang embarks upon a round of “Lie Detector”. After which we have a series from Christmasful called “Millennial Santa“! KELF, the North Pole’s radio station has been hacked by a human child! Join Sunny the Elf and Santa Claus as they give kids an exclusive look at what the North Pole is really like and continue their mission to spread Christmas cheer throughout the year! Daily episodes released November 15th through Christmas Day! It’s Audio Drama Time!
In our final week of November sometimes after 17 years you’d think “It’s All Been Done Radio Hour” but we’ve never played them before! It’s All is a live comedy show in the style of old radio serials Performed once a month, This week we present their first shows- Universe Journey: The Conundrum With C’mons and The Topnotch Tanger: Signs of the Sexist. It’s Audio Drama time!
Today in the Sonic Society we feature Rusty Quill Productions– Stellar Firma is a weekly Science Fiction, Comedy podcast following the misadventures of Stellar Firma Ltd.’s highest born but lowest-achieving planetary designer Trexel Geistman and his bewildered clone assistant David 7. Join them each episode as they attempt to take listener submissions and craft them into the galaxy’s most luxurious, most expensive and most questionably designed bespoke planets. This week we bring you episodes 1- Troughs and Goo and 2- Studs and Blood. It’s Audio Drama time!
From the Twittersphere Jade Madison Scott @JadeMScott took the time to pass off some wisdom about a service that could be really valuable for those struggling with transcripts.
Descript has an “Automatic and human-powered transcription with industry-leading accuracy and powerful collaboration tools.” So, if you want to try something that won’t cost a lot. Give them a try. We may just get the Sonic Speaks interviews out in text form that way!
Caroline Mincks provides a reasoned argument as to why it’s important to provide more opportunity and engagement in your audio podcast by providing transcripts in this article in Sounds Profitable.
Consider this bit of wisdom from the article:
“….the numbers were still staggering: out of 372 responses to the poll, 74.5% said that yes, they had avoided a show because of a lack of accommodations. That is 277 people – an overwhelming majority. 277 potential audience members. 277 people who could consume, rate, and review your podcast. 277 people who could share it with friends, family, and colleagues and grow your base (and, by extension, your earnings) exponentially.“
Take some time, and take note of some great ways to provide more opportunity to your listeners!