Series 2 of The Arc of Joan takes a non-fiction detour. I am
"playing" a dry witted narrator for an audio tour guide into creating
podcast fiction in this 10 part series. This series gives independent
producers a step by step guide and a few important hacks to help develop
and create their own audio drama series. Episode 5 covers the casting and people wrangling for an Audio Drama.
Below you will find
the transcript to this podcast. There will be a test afterward. Jay Kay.
This tour is a basic overview of the steps involved with creating an
Audio Drama Series, whether it be a comedy or drama or horror show.
It is not an opus or the be all and end all of how to create an Audio
Drama. But, hopefully it will help give someone a general idea of what
they are
getting into before they start creating and producing.
This podcast was created on Audacity software, using the helpful resources from freesound.org and freemusicarchive.org and John Bartmann did the music from JohnBartmann.com
Hey y'all, welcome back to: Joan and the savvy podcaster. Episode 5: Casting and People Wrangling. My name is Saylor Billings and I created the Audio Sitcom, The Arc of Joan. But this next 10-part series is dedicated to creating and producing Audio Drama Podcasts without breaking the bank. The blog associated with this podcast is located at: https://thearcofjoan.blogspot.com/
Depending on how you intend to record the podcast plays a huge role in your casting. Do you intend on going old school and recording in a theatre or a studio with all the actors standing around playing their parts? Cool. I actually would love to that like with a studio audience someday. I think recording that way is more along the lines of casting a live action play, but that’s not what I’m covering here.
At the time of writing this in the midst of yet another Covid wave raging through the world a lot of us might be remotely recording for a while. Which is cool too because you can actually get people from around the world together and record over a computer meeting, the most known one I think is probably Zoom. But look around and see what meets your needs and works best with your budget. Doing it over a Zoom type call can preserve some of the extra Je ne sais quoi you get when actors react to one another in person. The other way and probably the easiest as far as scheduling is just to have actors recording remotely from their closet. Excuse me, I mean home studio. But I would do at least one read through together either live or on a zoom type call. This can also help with answer any questions the actors have on the outset of the production.
I could start off my giving you the same ideas about casting your podcast that are in all the other websites about how to podcast; like asking the local amateur theatrical groups, family, friends, etc. which of course are all great ideas. Every time I start a new podcast everyone scatters like I’ve asked them to do the dishes after dinner or something. Or… Here’s a thought. If you are someone who wants to break into voice acting, you might want to introduce yourself to some audio fiction podcasters. Do you have the 3 R’s that podcasters look for? Reliable, reasonable, and remote. (as in you can record remotely?) It really doesn’t always matter that you can do a Glasgow, American Southeastern, and a Boston accent. Find some audio fiction podcasts you like and listen to regularly and open a dialogue with the producer. Don’t send an mp3 file without introducing yourself first though. Just send an email saying you like their other podcast and can you send them a mp3 file so they can hear your voice. But then put together an audio mp3 file: “Hi Saylor. My name is Beth and I’m a fan of your show Betty’s Day Out. I live in Ottawa, and I have this type of recording equipment, which I am recording on now so I can record remotely. I work an office 9-5 job but have plenty of time in the evenings and weekends to record. If you have any spots open in future episodes or shows I’d love to be a part of it. Here is my contact information if you have any auditions coming open. Blah Blah blah”
Tell the producer in exchange for your work you’d like some clips or your sides to help make a voice over audition tape.
And producers! This goes for you too. “Hi Beth, this is Saylor from Betty’s Day Out and Arc of Joan. I just heard you in the show “Yada, yada.” I really liked what you did and I have a part in preproduction right now that I’d like to offer you. It’s a small but essential role. We are recording the show remotely so it would be essential you have your own microphone and computer. As compensation I have some beans and a 10-dollar amazon card. But I can help you put together a voice over file for yourself and pull out and give you your sides from the finished show. If you’re at all interested please contact me next week sometime and I’ll send over the script, here’s my contact info…”
A COUPLE OF DO NOT DO THIS'S:
If you are reaching out to an actor for a show, unless this is for a paid role, do-not-ask-them-to-audition. You either want them or not. You just need to know if they can record remotely. And it doesn’t leave the actor thinking “oh boy I just got an audition!” Mostly they walk away thinking, “Hang on, you reached out to me, to do this recording audition work for a possible chance to work on a show I have no idea about for some dried beans and an amazon card? No thank you.
I put reasonable in the 3 r’s because when you’re sending files back and forth with 5 different actors, and the actors are sending files back and forth remotely it is possible that somewhere you or the actor is going to miss something. It is completely reasonable that it could happen. Or for whatever reason “Kelly” in scene 3 file got corrupted. Ug now you have to email or text Kelly, I hope she’s not annoyed…Stupid stuff happens on occasion, roll with it.
And the thing about working with people and asking people to contribute is that the minute you “invite” or “ask” for help with something you immediately are on someone else’s schedule. When you set deadlines for getting their recordings to you by Wednesday, a great collaborator will send it to your in-box the prior Friday morning, a good collaborator will send it on Wednesday sometime, and then there are the others who will say “oh, you meant THIS Wednesday?” Or ghost you until Friday night after the Wednesday deadline and say “Sorry, this is late, I’m an awful person. Don’t hate me! Wink wink.” And that last one is exactly one of the reasons why you need to work a month ahead if you’re working remotely. When you record remotely communication between you and the actors is so essential. Try to make it a good habit when you get an email from an actor, even if you can’t answer it right away, just to acknowledge you got the email and as soon as you get back to your desk, you’ll answer them.
LEARNING MOMENT:
I work regularly with someone who didn’t get her recordings in on time, which was weird because she’s a great collaborator, and when I reached out to her with texting and emails I didn’t hear back and my first thought was, Uh oh, something is definitely wrong. And unfortunately I was right, she had had a sudden death in the family. It was awful for her, and I wasn’t sure it would be appropriate for her to go on, but we finally talked for a bit and I asked her what I could do for her and then what she wanted to do about going forward in the show because maybe she wanted to drop out, which would have been understandable and fine. But she didn’t want to leave the show so I worked around her as long as I could hold out as we were now publishing the episodes weekly. And in the very end she got her sides in before the episodes publishing date and I ended up working some late night editing but we got it done. Honestly, I wouldn’t have blamed her for dropping out and she’s such a great collaborator who really enjoys acting in the show, so I didn’t want to like punish someone further who is just going through an awful time. So you just figure out a way to compromise. You know that race game when you were kids where you tie your legs together and one of you ends up dragging the other across the finish line? That’s a good metaphor for collaborations. “Eventually one of us is going to get dragged across the finish line.”
Some actors what to chat about every episode, they’ve got questions, or ideas and as the creator and producer you need to make time for them. The more comfortable your actors are with you and your reactions to their acting the better their acting is going to come across. And when you get entangled with a “Oh you meant this Wednesday” people. Just do that smile and nod your head while backing away slowly thing. There is nothing you can do and you are not going to change them. Just find a good place to stop using that character, say thank you for your work, and end the collaboration. The fact that they continue to ignore the deadline or if they constantly record in the middle of a tiled bathroom even though you ask them to find a quieter place is them telling you they absolutely don’t care your stupid podcast. Don’t fight or frustrate yourself or talk about them to the other cast about what a pain they are. Do. Not. Do. That. Just end it in the friendliest way possible and keep moving forward. Change the character’s name, write a replacement character, or just simply replace them. Juggling people is hard no matter what, this is your show that is populated by people, so you need to find ways to juggle and still serve the story.
COMPENSATING THE CONTRIBUTORS:
If, in the near or distant future, you end up covering your costs of the show you wrote, produced, and edited by yourself and it makes 5 dollars or 5000 dollars you must share this with everyone who worked on your show. The actors and or musician’s especially. I’m not an entertainment or a copyright lawyer or a union rep or anything of that nature so if you need to seek that type of advice, please do.
All I can say is two things: One, pay yourself last. And second, you must be open and honest with everyone who is working on the show. What you are asking of them, who has royalty rights to the show and what you can offer in return for their labors. If you literally cleared 5 dollars in royalties and you’ve had 7 actors in the 12 episodes 3 people were in all 12 episodes and 2 people were in 4 episodes and 2 people where in 1 episode than you have a math word problem to figure out. Do you need to draw up legally binding contracts or release statements, probably not. But I would make sure everyone gets the same information regarding the compensation and intentions of the show, like in an email to everyone. Just make sure everyone is on the same page as you. An email that even just says thank you to everyone who contributes to Betty’s Day Out, none of us are getting paid and your time is precious to me. I’m going to make the show available for free downloads to as many podcatchers as I can and I will try to sell ads for it so if we get more than 100,000 downloads I will be compensating everyone through shares of the show.
If you are easy to work with and by that I mean show your appreciation by saying thank you, treat them with respect and be reliable and reasonable then that is really well over half the battle. Give them good feedback on their acting and/or actionable feedback. “Hey Actor, this one is great and on the next part can you move back a little from your mic so you sound like your standing behind everyone?” If you are 3000 miles away from them you could still send them a funny meme of a you laughing at your computer about one of their lines they delivered on point. Because the Arc of Joan is a comedy at the end of the shows I started tagging on their outtakes and bloopers after the end of the show. And it became a fun “thing.” Kind of an inside joke I had with the actors and something people who listened finally cottoned on to and loved it.
In the publishing phase the cast is still with you. Whether through their social media and they post themselves in their recording area or sending you their bio for the show notes. You’ll be on the hook to send them their files back with their sides so most definitely hold up your end of the bargain there. So as far as casting your show for remote recording you can absolutely take the route of family and friends, or you can reach out to people whose work you’ve enjoyed however far away, you can even hire your whole crew if you’ve got the funds. But in the end whoever you get onboard need to serve the story. And you’re roll as captain is to keep them moving through the pre-production casting and read through’s, the recording, and the publishing.
That’s it for now. Next weeks episode will go through all the technical aspects of putting together the podcast including hardware, software, and all the sound effects elements.
And if you haven’t been told yet, I hope you have a great rest of your day!
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