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Chapter 6: Scripting, Opens, Bumpers, Endings
Learning Objectives
Show Planning
Deconstructing Podcasts to understand podcast producing
Writing scripts for podcasts
Show opens with creativity {audio examples}
Bumpers for podcasts {audio examples}
Show ends with a call-to-action {audio examples}
Chapter 6: Scripting, Opens, Bumpers, Endings
Live-On-Tape
Normally, podcasts are edited programs. Interviews sound live because they’re recorded “live-on-tape” and edited for time and clarity. Taping the interview can be comforting to guests and new hosts. It also means you can get rid of egregious stumbles and drawn-out stories. But don’t worry if you make a few minor flubs; the audience also appreciates spontaneity.
Podcast show planning involves three overlapping stages that call for creative storytelling and are covered in this chapter.
Show Planning Stages
Pre-Production is the show planning stage where you decide the podcast title, description, cover artwork, show type or format, and show length.
Production is script writing – whether it is entirely scripted, or sketched out as bullet points. It is also the recording and editing of interviews as well as finding any other appropriate sound that will enhance the podcast. The sound could be a person-on-the-street interview, a clip from a news report or a street protest. Radio reporters excel at getting sound from the scene and while the subject is doing something — collecting oysters during a harvest or planting a sustainable garden. Interviewers can ask the subject to describe what they are doing and conduct all or part of the interview while on location.
Post-Production involves additional editing and sound mixing, as well as deciding on further story transitions, use of music, publication, and show promotion.
Be A Fan & Listen To Other Podcasts
You’re probably creating your own podcast because you’ve been a fan of listening to podcasts.
But when it comes to planning your own show, the best thing you can do is to listen to other podcasts. See Ch. 1 for unique ways on how to find podcasts beyond just listening apps. This kind of listening isn’t just for enjoyment, however, you need to listen to carefully deconstruct how shows are put together. This will help you decide your own style, budget, and production capabilities.
Deconstructing Podcasts
If you want to create a podcast, then listen to shows in the same category (fiction or nonfiction); the same genre (news, true crime, pop culture, religion) etc., and the same format (interview, monologue, co-host, roundtable, storytelling/investigative) to see how others have put together their shows.
It’s helpful if you can find a transcript for the podcast but you can also use technology to quickly transcribe a show, as outlined in Ch. 9.
Basic Criteria In Podcast Deconstruction
Listen carefully & take notes to decipher how podcasts are put together: