OTT & Transmedia

Thanks for sharing @James!

Hi Arthur Charpentier. First, absolutely love the story idea. I hope we'll hear more of it soon.

Back in 2019 we decided to form our production company to attach our scripts to it, and to start creating something. The podcast, Bravo for the B-side, was an easy thing to come up with. We love b-movies (horror in particular), and indie films. We wanted to watch movies then talk about what beginning writers, directors, actors, etc..., could learn from a particular film. Lighting. Story. Direction. Angles. Anything. So, did a little research on how to launch and maintain a podcast. Then, invested in some top gear. We started to cover movies, beat by beat, then talk about lessons. I learned to engineer the audio along the way. From our first episode to our last before taking a break you can hear a definite difference in sound quality.

Along the way I would reach out to the people involved with the films we watched. We interviewed a number of directors, actors, writers, and a novelist along the way. We made a lot of close connections and friendships doing that. One group featured our logo prominently in their latest film. A writer/director named his horror villain after the nickname I gave him during our review of the film (the killer did not have a name in the first film.) It expanded our horizons, made us some excellent friends, and got us in touch with some incredible people. We were asked by Alex Cox to have him on the show. He asked us, that blew our minds. Our podcast is comparatively small in terms of listeners, yet he came to us. Same with Barney Burman (Wild Boar), he reached out. Barney is an Oscar winner for SFX makeup for Star Trek Beyond.

Setting up the podcast was not hard, nor was recording it. Production as a whole though, that's where it became time consuming. Starting with Sunday: Sunday night we would record, about 2 hours. Monday, in the morning I would launch the previous weeks recording to over a dozen platforms, then at night I would start to edit and mix the recording done on Sunday evening. Tuesday night we watch the next film and take notes. Wednesday night more mixing, sending out emails to folks in the film from the recording. Thursday night the final mix and bounce it to the final recording (most of the time). Friday night, relax, answer any emails. Saturday, that was our day (usually DnD). Sunday wrap up the previous episode with description and links and whatever, create any graphics for the episode. Then we start over Sunday night with recording the film we watched Tuesday night.

We both work full-time jobs and have a daughter, so time was limited. A lot of hours were spent making the podcast as good as it could be, promoting it, experimenting with new mixing methods or tools to engineer a better quality sound. Does everyone need to do this? No. And most don't.

There are a lot of podcasts out there that are clearly recorded on a phone with little to no editing. Which, honestly, is just fine. Just like a film, you make what you want to make and the end product is what you want it to be. Mostly. Some want a high-level studio sound but do not have the money for it, so they have to settle for what they can create given their budget. Beyond those folks, most people just want to produce a podcast and share whatever it is they want to share. Some just do them live, no recording.

So, if you add it up, 2 hours for a movie, 2 hours recording. Then add 8-10 hours mixing. About 2-3 hours reaching out to folks, answering emails, checking stats and platforms (to make sure everything is working on XXXX podcast channel) and finally another 1-2 hours researching the next movie, creating any graphics, and other little scut work.

That's how we did it, and how we will be doing it once more. Though I can knock off about 3 hours of post production now with all I have learned. If we added a scripted show to the mix, well, that's another pile of hours if we do it all ourselves.

You probably did not expect this to get as long as it did. Sorry for that. I am more than happy to share more with you, talk equipment, hosting services, all of that jazz. Send me a message if you like, we'll dive into it. If folks here are interested in the granular stuff, speak up and I'll keep the flow out here in the forum.

Cheers,

Jim

Hey Maurice Vaughan I returned the favor from all 3 of our accounts.

Thanks, James Hoey. I don't post on my channel much. Sometimes I'll post pitch material for my scripts. I basically use my channel to watch short films and videos, but I appreciate you subscribing.

James Hoey, Thank you for the detailed story about the creation of the podcast. You put an incredible amount of work into what you love. It commands respect.

Thanks to you, I realized that there is a lot of work to do to create my podcast. However, in this I can find motivation for the implementation of some project.

Arthur Charpentier I hope you will share your progress. Always here to help or listen.

I was a kid living on the upper west side of Manhattan, 14 blocks north of the Dakota, and my parents were at a party right near where it happened. The Dolphins were playing the Jets on Monday Night Football. We heard sirens going crazy around the neighborhood and Howard Cosell took a beat and let the audience know that John Lennon had just been shot. The Beatles were big in our home and we were all floored. I was worried sick until my folks walked in the door. A year later, I had the honor of attending the collective silence at the newly named Strawberry Field in Central Park. The whole experience has stayed with me always. Thank you for sharing, Geoff Hall!

I was 11 when it happened. It was late that night before I learned about it, as outside playing as kids do. When I was told I was just numb. A lot of terrible things were happening in the world, but I could not for the life of me as a kid figure out why someone would actively search out and kill a former Beatle. Makes no more sense today than it did then. I will be diving into this show to see what they have.

Sam Sokolow thanks for sharing your story, Sam. It’s one of those “where were you when…” events. Like the Kennedy assassinations, or VE Day. They are imprinted on our psyche, on our hearts. It may even be a theme for a screenplay?!

James Hoey Hi James, I was 23 at the time and thought the world had gone mad (again). So, we are killing poets and musicians now, are we? It seemed a pointless end to a wonderful life.

Hey Geoff Hall. Right? All these years later I wonder if we've ever stepped out of the madness long enough to say we've gone mad again.

It's physical media for me too Geoff Hall. My collection is a little bigger. I have 742 DVD's of single movies, 200 TV Series DVD's, and 278 animation DVD's. Streamers remove shows.

Martin Reese ooh, Martin, you’ve even classified and categorised them! That’s some kind of dedication. I couldn’t fit 742 DVDs into my home! Although I must admit to cataloguing them on an Excel Spreadsheet!

Oh yeah Geoff Hall. My collection is definitely catalogued in Excel. My DVD's are on book shelves/DVD shelves in my basement/man cave and my upstairs office.

Martin Reese I long for the day when the storage problem for my (mini) collection is solved and I can expand it further. Here's to progress in 2024. I have over 300 live-action films and anime, plus over 50 TV shows, the favourite being the X-Files box-set with both films. Thank you Chris Carter.

The rise of niche streamers will continue. Some will make it. Some won't. But I think we're going to see many attempts for years to come. The Lorber family has been in film distribution for a long time and I'm a crazy cinephile so I'm excited to review the full extent of their offering.

This is really cool and an excellent point, Debbie Croysdale - thank you for sharing!

Still life exhibits sound like they'd be great promo for projects, @Debbie Croysdale. Movies, shows, novels, comics, etc. With so many projects out there, creatives should try unique things to make theirs stand out.

love it, Debbie Croysdale

Hey, November Write club members. How have you got on with your targets, this month?

Thanks for asking, Geoff Hall. My November Write Club goal was to outline a micro-budget feature script, write the first draft, and finish two rewrite drafts.

I had some setbacks:

#1) I got a late start at the beginning of November because of a cold.

#2) I ran into story problems with my first outline and after trying to figure out the problems, I switched to a different script idea and outlined that.

#3) I got another cold last week, which I thought was gonna be a quick cold, but I still have it. Hopefully it'll be gone this weekend.

#4) Other things came up that kept me from working on my goal.

Despite the setbacks, I made progress on my NWC goal! I outlined two feature scripts (the original idea I had and the new idea I switched to because of setback #2), and I wrote 13 pages in my script (13 rewritten pages).

I also worked on a pitch deck job, networked in between my November Write Club goal, and I did a deep rewrite on a feature script yesterday/today.

Maurice Vaughan well done, Maurice, that’s great to hear that you’ve made progress with your targets. Not so much then like a downhill skiing event where the fastest wins, but more of a slalom where you have to navigate numerous gates to stay on track. Huzzah, Maurice!

Thanks, Geoff Hall. I really appreciate it. I'm thinking about switching to a different script for December (than my NWC script). Either way, I'm gonna get some writing done!

Maurice Vaughan nice one!

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David Fincher's new movie THE KILLER is based on a graphic novel. You're gonna get it done, Elaine Haygood. Believe in yourself and your work. It's really cool and I'm excited to see where you take this.

what software are you working in? I'm just using photoshop and paper + 2b and b pencils. I'm doing comics as well. I'm pencilling both of them. trying to get an inker/colourist to do my first strip collection at 28pgs, but I'm a slow penciller. And my other one I'm faster with mecha so it's all mecha a webcomic series free via insta. details on my https://plyflynt.com/portfolio-3/

Sam Sokolow Didn't know The Killer was based on a graphic novel. Honestly, I was pretty disappointed by the movie in terms of plot. Does the plot of the movie stick to the graphic novel closely, or does it deviate significantly?

Elaine Haygood how’s it going, Elaine?

That's interesting.

Virgin Mobile, right, Geoff Hall?

Maurice Vaughan Virgin Media, Maurice, but yes they also have a Mobile phone network, which piggybacks onto another network. I tried using Virgin Mobile once, Maurice, but the coverage was awful, despite having a mast about 400 metres away from our house. They suggest it was the trees in the park that were blocking the signal…

I watch netflix for free and I'm not ashamed.)

Yes Maurice Vaughan but it's exclusively the best documentaries - there are various options, browser, apple channel, TVNZ+, or straight from their website I think it's like NZ$7/month which isn't bad, but they're a small provider so they have to price it, just to survive - they've got things like Generation Startup, King of Kong, The Work, The Console Wars, World of Darkness, Stage Changers, the marriage project - those are some of the best currently available. Or you can save money and get a year's worth for under NZ$70, which is what I did.

I'm also on Mubi as well, but it's not as much value for money as iwonder, only reason I signed up is that it has so many great and classic arthouse movies.