BBC Sounds Commissioning Editor for Podcasts Jason Phipps on today’s intoxicating podcast drama scene – and his call for a new ‘blockbuster’ drama podcast to rival the Avengers…
It’s a truism to say that we’re living in a new golden era of drama on the small screen. Whether we’re gulping down Line of Duty or Killing Eve on BBC iPlayer, binging the dizzying array of shows from Netflix and Amazon, or anticipating how Apple and Disney are going to change TV, there’s never been a better time for a drama junkie. And it’s no different in the world of podcasts.
Podcast drama today is an intoxicating mix of brilliant upstarts and big-screen hitters. Hugely imaginative DIY creators are spinning magic on shoestring budgets with shows such as the British sci-fi We Fix Space Junk, or Archive 81 from the ridiculously talented Dead Signals team in the US. Meanwhile, just as A-listers have left cinema for the creative opportunities of the small screen, Hollywood names are going straight from the Oscar podium to podcasting. Hot on the heels of the second season of Marvel’s Wolverine podcast starring Richard Armitage, last month Oscar-winner Rami Malek released the dystopic thriller podcast drama Blackout in which he stars and exec produces.
So how does the BBC – with its fantastic record of creating top-notch UK audio drama – fit into this scene? Recent podcast drama releases from the BBC have included the timely and powerful eco-thriller Forest 404 starring Pearl Mackie, with its companion factual episodes wrapped around a dramatic story. We also can’t wait to hear a new podcast we’ve commissioned from the brilliant BBC drama team in Cardiff. It’ll be a collection of weird, wonderful and mind-altering tales written by some of the most exciting voices from across the indie podcast community. We don’t want to leave it to the US to make drama podcasts with the most mass appeal. We want to make sure creative drama podcasts reflect audiences in the UK so we can create the next generation of audio fans here.
This week the BBC Sounds central commissioning team is laying down a challenge to podcasters. We are launching a call for a new podcast drama ‘blockbuster’ that will delight the existing, sophisticated podcast drama audience and also intrigue people new to the genre.
Central to this ambition is a theme that came up repeatedly when I attended the second Audio Drama Festival at Goldsmiths, University of London recently where they run a great Radio MA course (full disclosure: I’m slightly biased as I went there!). Amongst the excitement around audio drama’s rapid growth in recent years, many of the guests were talking about the need to reinvent genre fiction, and specifically to move away from grim, dark, dystopic and, crucially, hopeless visions.
Such debate fits exactly with our ambition. What we want to commission is a big, popular podcast drama which has all the hallmarks of the storytelling trend called “hopepunk”: that means detailed, diverse characters who are unafraid to be fighting for something, choosing hope even when things are bleak. You can argue stories have done this since the birth of narrative. But look at some of the most successful recent stories for younger audiences – TV titles such as Netflix’s Sense8 and The Umbrella Academy, or the films Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse and Black Panther – and you can see its undeniable appeal. It addresses the reality of younger people in the modern world, whose lives are precariously close to dystopic visions but who need to tell and hear stories of triumph in adversity, not defeat by cruelty.
Writers, producers, musicians and audio drama creatives around the world, from Hollywood to Cardiff, are forging great stories that huge audiences will consume as podcasts. We want BBC Sounds to be the place where they meet.
You can find out more about our new call for podcast drama ideas here and if you’re curious about the big podcast dramas you shouldn’t miss, then I can highly recommend you read a report we commissioned last year from audio consultant and all-round audio drama expert, Ella Watts.
Find out more about BBC Sounds commissioning team, their priorities and current commissioning rounds including for a Blockbuster Podcast Drama
To submit a proposal, you must work with or be a registered supplier to BBC Radio, and submit your proposal through Proteus, the BBC Radio Business system.
Find out how a production company can become a registered supplier and get access to Proteus
More information about submitting a proposal to the BBC Sounds Commissioning team
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