This week, I am going to look at the planning that goes intonarrative podcast creation: the steps you need to take before writing a singleword of the script or recording a second of audio. Creating a plan prior tositting down to write helps to keepthe podcast project focused, as well as gives you a realisticexpectation with regards to the timeframe you can expect production to entail. Italso helps identify the people you need to have involved once you are ready towrite and record.
Production planning
The first piece of planning is to determine exactly what typeof narrative podcast you want to create. Will your podcast be fiction ornonfiction? The decision of howyou want to tell your story can have an impact on your timeline, asdifferent types of podcasts can dictate different time commitments. Below aresome of the most common typesof fiction and non-fiction podcasts, as well as examples ofprofessional podcasts that use each narrative structure:
Fiction
Fireside storytelling:Straight forward, linear narrative storytelling. The kind of story you couldimagine someone telling around a campfire (example: Lore).
Self-aware storytelling:Use of the medium as a part of the story. The podcast itself acts as acharacter in the story. These podcasts are very up-front about being a podcastand speak directly to the audience (examples: Welcome to Night Vale, Limetown, The Message).
Non-linear storyline:Use of timeline editing that makes the listener piece together the overallnarrative. Not as straight forward in their storytelling style. Like a QuentinTarrantino-style storytelling format (examples: Homecoming, Alice Isn’t Dead).
Non-fiction
Documentary style:Follows a linear timeline like a feature-film documentary. Often have highproduction values (example: Crimetown).
Non-linear/documentaryhybrid: The most popular type of podcast. Similar to documentary style, however,these use timeline reorganization to push the story progression. Often usehosts/producers as characters (examples: Serial,S-Town, In the Dark).
Tent-pole thematic:Rather than having a single story throughout an entire podcast, uses multiple, stand-alonestories within a single episode. These stories reinforce or investigate acentral theme (examples: Radiolab, ThisAmerican Life).
Selecting the style of podcast you wish to create beforebeginning the script writing process is important because it helps you get abetter idea of the planning and assets required to create the podcast. Forexample, a single story spanning many episodes tends to take longer to writethan a series of stand-alone topics, and likely involves a larger number of characters.This information can help you to plan for the number of actors you will need,as well as to estimate your scripting timeline.
Skillsets needed
With your story style selected, you will have a betterpicture of the skillsets you need to create your podcast. From a productionstandpoint, all you really need is a basic understanding of your equipment and editingsoftware. The ability to do things such as remove background noises andcrossfade audio tracks within your editing software are good techniques tounderstand. The same can be said for adjusting volume levels of individualfiles and fading in and out of audio clips. If you are not familiar with basicediting techniques, I would suggest taking some time to learn your editingsoftware prior to writing a script.
The other skillsets you need to be aware of are those ofyour voice actors. Narrative podcasting is different than recording voice-oversfor a traditional eLearning module. The people you get to read your parts needto be able to approach their lines from the standpoint of an actor, not just anarrator. They need to be able to deliverlines, not just read them. Remember, voice acting IS acting, and not everyonehas the innate skill. I recommend casting roles using an audition process, soyou can make sure that the people playing your characters are able to delivertheir lines with a degree of emotion and pizzazz.
Timelines
Exact timeframes needed to create a narrative podcast willvary by person and project, depending on your level of experience and the typeof story. It’s helpful though to have a general idea of how long creating apodcast takes, so you are able to have a baseline off which to budget yourtime. The following timelines are what I tend to follow when making a narrativepodcast. For the purpose of this exercise, we will assume each podcast episodehas a runtime of 20 minutes:
Script Writing: Thisis where the heavy lifting of your podcast creation takes place, and where youshould spend the most time. Including research and writing, I budget 40 hoursfor each episode script.
Audio recording: Thiscan vary depending on the number of characters your story contains, and theavailability of your actors, but on average I budget 15 hours for the recordingof voice talent.
Audio editing: Inorder to edit individual audio tracks, download or create music and soundclips, and combine tracks into a cohesive story, I tend to budget 20 hours perepisode.
Obviously, these numbers are estimates, and canbe longer or shorter depending on the style of podcast you want to create. Onthe whole, I tend to timeline out 80 hours (or two weeks) to write, record, andedit each podcast episode. The more you get involved with narrative podcasting,and the more experience you gain, the better you will be able to understand howlong it takes you personally to create each episode. However, these podcastproduction planning timeframes can serve as a general outline as you plan outyour initial development timelines.
