i3 - September/October 2020 - 32

Business

By Gary Arlen

C S PAC E

any scripted and
non-fiction programs
started life as podcasts, affirming the cultural
impact of this digital platform
that is barely 15 years old.
Stars including Julia Roberts, Alec
Baldwin and Will Farrell have appeared
in videos based on podcasts. And new
celebrities are emerging like Phoebe
Robinson and Jessica Williams, whose
talk show 2 Dope Queens escalated from
a podcast to an HBO series attracting
A-list guests. Similarly, Desus and Mero
has gone from the Bodega Boys podcasts
to a late-night talk show on Viceland
and a Showtime series.
This cross- and trans-media migration from podcast to video production is
taking multiple turns in the creative
interchanges. About two dozen shows
and series on Amazon Prime, Netflix,
Apple+ TV, HBO, Showtime, Bravo, FX
and USA are based on podcasts - combining the compelling storytelling of
podcasts and the creative flexibility of
video producers.
For example, Welcome to Night Vale, a
twice-monthly podcast since 2012, has
generated an estimated 180 million
downloads. Web stars such as Felicia
32

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020

i3_0920_32_Business_CSpace.indd 32

Day and Wil Wheaton
have appeared on the
audio series of a fictional
radio program in a small
town. Sony Pictures
Television is working to
create a series for FX network based on the podcast.

Streaming Platforms
Option Podcasts

new direct-to-video program, The
Shrink Next Door, is an eight-episode
series based on a 2019 podcast. The
dark comedy is based on a relationship
between a "psychiatrist-to-the-stars"
(Paul Rudd) and his long-time patient
(Will Farrell).
Among the standouts of the podcastto-video migration was Serial, which
became a four-part HBO documentary
The Case Against Adnan Syed about the
1999 murder of a Baltimore high school
student, which questioned whether Syed
was guilty of the crime.
It was the first podcast to
reach five million downAbout two
loads in iTunes history.
dozen shows
HBO debuted the story
and series on
on the anniversary of
Amazon
Syed's imprisonment,
Prime,
revealing new evidence
Netflix,
about the case.
Ultimately, Maryland
Apple+ TV,
courts reversed the verHBO,
dict, but a subsequent
Showtime,
U.S. Supreme Court
Bravo, FX and
decision has kept the
USA are
case in limbo.

based on
podcasts.

Homecoming, a 12-part
scripted psychological
thriller starring Julia
Roberts in her first small-screen role, is
running on Amazon Prime Video. The
2016 series began as a podcast with
Catherine Keener, Oscar Isaac, David
Schwimmer and Amy Sedaris. Positioned
as an "enigmatic collage of telephone calls,
therapy sessions and overheard conversations" it creates "an innovative, immersive
audio experience."
Dr. Death, starring Jamie Dornan,
Alec Baldwin, Christian Slater and
Grace Gummer, tells the tale of a Dallas
neurosurgeon who turns out to be a
sociopath who kills patients. Although
the video series is still looking for a
home, it has a production pedigree from
Wondery, which calls itself the world's
largest independent podcast publisher
focusing on "immersive" content. Its

Telling and Selling
the Stories

Some skeptics fret that
the value of the podcast
- like radio - is that it encourages listeners to imagine what the characters
and scenery look like. Hence, video productions are a detriment to imagination,
critics contend. Others say the transmedia migration is overhauling the storytelling experience. The limited "seasons" of
podcasts works well in the on-demand
world of streaming media. It also lends
itself to shorter viewer attention spans.
There's also the issue of advertising in
podcasts and a tantalizing opportunity
in the streaming sector. Work is still in
progress on how to expand video advertising without making it look like plain
old TV. With about 115,000 podcasts on
the internet, there is plenty of fodder
for more audio programs to become
video sensations.

Spaxiax/Getty Images

Where Do Ideas
Come From?
Increasingly:
Podcasts

I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

9/1/20 10:35 AM

https://wondery.com/shows/shrink-next-door/ https://wondery.com/shows/shrink-next-door/ https://serialpodcast.org/ https://www.hbo.com/the-case-against-adnan-syed https://www.amazon.com/Homecoming-Season-1/dp/B07FNZ35DV https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dopequeens https://www.sho.com/desus-and-mero https://wondery.com/shows/dr-death/ http://www.welcometonightvale.com/

i3 - September/October 2020

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