5 Podcasts for Aspiring TV & Film Makers
Dārta Smaine
The "Making Of" process has always been super interesting and intriguing to me and has always inspired me. I admire everything about it. Either it is a stage production, a TV show or a movie. I have always said this and I always will - "Behind the scenes footages are the best part of any film or TV show. It is simply magic what these people are doing. I've seen and been a part of productions of theater and film, but TV shows are something I've always wanted to experience and learn from.
Podcasts are very popular nowadays. There are so many podcasts on so many different topics, but if you are a movie-making and TV show fan like me or a young filmmaker, there are podcasts that talk about everything starting from casting to editing. Here are some of them:
The Good Place: The Podcast
The host Mark Evan Jackson (Shawn) with guests like the casting director, writers of the show, directors, actors, producers and many other wonderful people who worked on this show, talk about the casting process, the roles of the crew members: what are set designers, set decorators, AP, AD, 1ST AD, Assistant writer, casting director, VE, etc., and what do they do; how the visual effects are made, where the ideas come from, how does the writer's room work and so much more. This is my TOP podcast for anyone who wants to do TV or is just genuinely interested in how a TV show production works.
P.s. They have a new episode out: "Bonus episode: A Parks and Recreation Special Roundtable."
Office Ladies
Every week these two wonderful women from "The Office" and real-life friends Angela Kinsey (Angela) and Jenna Fisher (Pam) watch an episode of "The Office" and break it down. It's an "Office" watch party with commentary you never knew you needed! On this podcast you can hear about behind the scenes stories, personal stories and emotions, castings, reasons behind props (f.e. what is the story behind the famous Teapot and the letter) the work between the actors and the writers, the improvised scenes, outtakes, deleted scenes and more! If there is an "Office" fan who has yet not found this - there you go! It also gives a great look at another way of how a TV show production works and the minds behind it.
Showmance and Showmance: Glee Recap
"Showmance" is a podcast hosted by Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina) and Kevin McHale (Artie) - another set of real friends and former stars on "Glee". This podcast has two sides. One side talks about showmances with guests of different TV shows, including their own fun showmance.
The Second side is a Glee recap where they each week rewatch an episode and with a guest or guests talks about behind the scenes, the production of the episode, personal stories, and memories from the filming.
It's still interesting to listen to what goes on behind the scenes, even if it's not focusing deep into the writer's room, creator’s mind, etc. It gives you more scope, a bigger perspective, and a bigger picture on filmmaking and tv show making.
Decorating Pages
"Decorating Pages" is hosted by an Emmy winning Set Decorator Kimberly Wannop. Kim has worked on sets of "The Good Place", "VEEP", "Fanboys", "Parks and Recreation", "Bones" and more. This podcast is fully dedicated to set designs. With guests such as Directors, Producers, Set Decorators, Production Designers, and actors each week she talks about sets of famous TV Shows and movies, how the idea came, how they made it happen, what was easy and what was harder, and so on. This is a very interesting Podcast. When you watch an episode of your favourite TV Show or a movie, you sometimes don't even see the set behind the character, but after listening to this it makes you pay more attention to the details and the set design. There is a lot of thought, ideas and work put into that. Kim also talks about how working on a TV (TV shows and game shows) set is different from a movie set and which one she prefers to work on more.
Scriptnotes
This is a podcast dedicated to screenwriting. The hosts, screenwriters John August ("Charlie's Angels", "Big Fish", "Charlie and The Chocolate Factory") and Craig Mazin ("Chernobyl", "Hangover" parts 2 and 3, "Senseless") talk about topics that are interesting to screenwriters and those who want to have a career in screenwriting discussing screenwriting and related topics in film and tv, from how a writer gets an idea, how it's started to the script appearing is on the screen. This Podcast, of all the ones I've written about, is the oldest. It began to air in 2011.
There are many more podcasts on filmmaking and TV productions, but these are my top Podcasts. And if you are a fan of “The Office” or “The Good Place”, these podcasts are a huge bonus to get back in the Scranton, McKinley High School or The Good Place and see your favourite show in a completely different light. Thanks to these podcasts I get to know so much more and I am now paying more attention to production details than I did before.