Just like Madison, I am local to Los Angeles, so I was excited when Podcast Movement, Evolutions, announced their convention was going to be hosted here in March 2022. I fell in with an amazing rag-tag group of Audio Drama creators and had a fabulous time. But what I want to talk about here is how very much Audio Dramas are still not embraced by the podcast community.
This was my first convention, and my new cohorts assured me it wasn’t as large as some they’d attended. Which I think lead to the lack of panels and programming geared to Audio Drama creators. Certainly there were good suggestions to be gleaned from each speaker (provided it was truly a speaker and not the few 30 minute commercials we all got from a company under the guise of a panel… ugh) But in general, our unique needs and struggles were simply not addressed. Aside from the actual members of our rag-tag group who hosted their own panels. One gave an amazing presentation, even as the companies tore down their booths around her and other podcasters rushed their packed luggage from the hotel, like the posh people making their way to the life boats on the Titanic as us poor people were left to drown.
So why is this, exactly? I don’t wish to imply that podcasters who do “talky-talk” style podcasts don’t put in blood, sweat and tears, but until you have a ratio of one hour of editing/post to one MINUTE of podcast, we simply don’t exist in the same world. I work in television, and it is the same ratio. For an eight hour day, we’ve shot (hopefully) eight minutes of screen time. This doesn’t even take into account the time for writing, casting, and recording. Which is the point, isn’t it? Talky-talk podcasts are the “reality shows” of podcasting. They are cheap to make, quick to throw together, can have weekly releases and are great for being “background noise” for all of those people asking: “I have a long drive, please give podcast recommendations!” It’s junk food to feed into your ears.
But Audio Drama is STORY. It is CHARACTERS. It is all the things that make fiction a joy to create and consume. And it’s a real shame that all of these big organizations leading the world of podcasting can’t (or won’t) recognize that. I had one company trying to tell me how they can digitally automate a trailer for me. The program can find the best moments from your podcast! CAN it, though? How does your algorithm know what truly conveys the heart of a story? There were marketing suggestions for people who are experts on topics, but nothing for narrative. So many went on and on about how podcasters can utilize this platform or that thingy… but none of it was relevant to Audio Drama. Even to the extent that when I would tell people “My podcast is an Audio Drama,” I’d see their faces drop. They are clueless of my world and can only pitch to me ideas they’ve rehearsed that pertain to the talky-talks.
So was I disappointed? No. I was already aware that Audio Dramas are a tiny percentage of the vast sea of podcasts in existence. And meeting the group I did made it all worthwhile. I may not have gotten a ton out of the panels available, but now when I do have questions, I have experienced and supportive people to reach out to. But that does shine a light on a few things. Yes, there are a ton of audience out there who haven’t even tried listening to podcasts yet. But that potential audience is lost to us because the sub-genre of Audio Drama is completely hidden to them. So we need to have discussions about the unique challenges Audio Drama creators face, how we can help each other, and how we can reach the virgin ears out there who might very well like what we offer, but have zero idea how to find us.
