LB’S NOTE: TVWriter™ ‘s illustrious audio fiction/podcast fiction expert Bob Tinsley, brings up an interesting point. I’d label this as “Yet another thing to think about at 3 a.m., but, yeah it definitely needs some sorting out. Thanks, dood!
by Bob Tinsley
Bottom Line Up Front: I think it’s high time the words “audio fiction” and “podcast” got a divorce.
I have it on good authority that most Hollywood pros have: a) only a vague notion of what a podcast is, and b) in light of “a,” want nothing to do with them.
This attitude is not universal, by any means. Look at Netflix, Dick Wolf, and Amblin Entertainment. And then there were 12 Hollywood pros, good and true, who thought enough of my humble podcasts to place them in the winners’ circle of the 2019 People’s Pilot competition.
But the prevailing attitude seems to be, “Podcasts! Argh! Run away, run away!” The same attitude runs rampant through the general public.
As writers we should know better than most that words affect our attitudes and emotions. So when a word is keeping us from achieving our goal, we need to change the word. I think that’s called marketing.
The word to change is podcast. My vote goes to the word, “show.” Think about it. Show is ubiquitous in the entertainment world. TV show. Broadway show. Stage show. Radio show. Audio show.
Note the phrasing: audio show. Not audio fiction show. I think the words “drama” and “fiction” are part of the problem. They just add clutter and confusion. A TV show can be either Orphan Black or Planet Earth. Nobody gets confused.
Why can’t that work for audio? I think it can.
From this point on I vow to use the word, “show,” whenever other people might use the p-word. I urge you to do the same.