Welcome to the Podcast Academy blog, where we'll be narrating the journey of our six projects. Podcast Academy, brought to you by Wix and the NYU Production Lab, was conceived as a workshop (or incubator as we'll be referring to it here) for podcasts, both fiction and non-fiction. The NYU Production Lab has an exciting history of financing and supporting storytellers and Podcasts have become the next big storytelling medium, so it was natural for the Production Lab to expand and support audio projects from NYU students, both past and present.
Each week, our seven participants will engage with industry professionals, Production Lab mentors, and one another to produce their own narrative, episodic podcasts. The ultimate goal of these workshops is a trailer and first episode presented during Wix & Podcast Academy’s Live Pitch Event (September 26th), where our participants will pitch their podcasts to a live audience and industry professionals in hopes of getting picked up for further development.
Learning From a Podcast Jedi
Katie Shepherd started off the session with an overview of what the Production Lab and Podcast Academy are and outlined the expectations for the incubator. We began by discussing three different audio samples. The first was from The Habitat, a podcast produced by Gimlet Media about a NASA project attempting to simulate what living on Mars would feel like. Following The Habitat were an audio diary in which a comedian reenacts some of his voicemail and the first episode of the infamous Welcome to Night Vale podcast.
Major Takeaways from the Exercise:
I) Ambient sounds construct and introduce the listener to your world.
II) Audio is a medium unlike others. While film and print leave room for inference, audio must be explicit in most, if not all things, lest these details be lost to the listener.
III) You might not know what truly draws an audience to your story, so play around with themes, genre, and structure to help your narrative stand out.
Our First Go at Pitching
Katie then facilitated a “Cold Pitch” activity, which introduced everyone to the process of pitching within a time limit and to one another’s projects. Katie, Ro Reddick, and John Tintori provided feedback for each mini-pitch, offering each participant something to consider for their projects going forward.
Major Takeaways from the Exercise:
I) The best way to craft a narrative or story arc for a non-fiction project is to first gather tape and let this tape reveal insights and themes.
II) Think about centering each episode on a central theme when considering structure.
III) Sometimes you cannot really make a project entirely fact-based; therefore should lean more into the “inspo” mindset and take creative liberties when creating auto-fiction.
And that’s all for Podcast Academy’s first session! We met the participants, introduced the expectations and goals for the incubator, and started our journey into the world of podcasting. Please continue to follow our blog for a look into the exciting activities and trips we have in store and a glimpse into how to produce your own independent podcast. Also, be on the lookout for more information about our Live Pitch Event on September 26th! We’d love to have you in the audience, and there may be a special prize given out during the Event for those of you who followed our journey and lessons! Until then, keep up with us here at NYU’s Podcast Academy!