A comedy drama about ageing with joy and dignity, in the form of short conversations

I'm an Australian-born, UK based actor, singer-songwriter, performance poet and playwright. The podcast is a comedy-drama released in short, weekly episodes, in which the central character (an elderly woman living in London, UK), is trying to come to terms with the ageing process. She engages in conversations with her immediate family, neighbours, old friends, people she encounters in the street. I suspected there might be an audience of older women like myself who would enjoy Helen's ascerbic tongue and her attempts to stay healthily independent while dealing with her anxious daughter and the demands of her part time job. I play most of the characters myself, with occasional guest appearances from acting colleagues in Australia, UK and USA.
 

It began as a one-off, 10 minute radio play for a competition run by a community theatre venue (in February 2021). It took me a couple of hours to write and record it, and I had so much fun creating the characters and recording all the voices myself that I wrote another one, and then another one, sharing them with friends via social media and my website. The response was encouraging so, as an avid podcast listener myself, I decided to broadcast it as a podcast. Those first two episodes went live on Buzzsprout in early March.
 

Episodes are written, recorded and released on a weekly basis. As well as thinking time throughout the week, it takes about an hour overall to write, review, edit and re-write a 10 minute episode. Then about half a day to record all the voices and edit them together with music and sound effects. If I'm working with a guest actor, we meet up on Zoom, run through the script twice and have a lovely chat, so maybe an hour in total. Then I take the Zoom audio and edit it together with my live recordings.

Lockdown provided the time. My part time job teaching voice at a local acting academy went out the window, so now I teach a few private clients online, with the occasional acting gig (a day here and there).

By May, the response was so encouraging that I decided to make it a Thunder's Mouth Theatre production. I started this production company in 2010, and making this a formal company production forces me to treat it professionally, with a professional profit-share budget.

My total outlay for the podcast, including Buzzsprout subscription, website hosting and maintenance, MyPodcastReviews subscription, headphones and a mic stand, is around £300, funded by me. So far I've received £50 in donations (Buy me a Coffee, Patreon). As soon as my costs have been covered, the balance will be shared equally with my guest artists.
 

I would be interested in a sponsorship if I could ever think of an organisation I would like to promote, whose ethos suited the programme. So far, I can't think of one. Also, I'm not going to stress myself out trying to get the numbers up purely for the sake of getting sponsorship. I would rather devote my energies to creating a good programme.

The benefit, for me, is keeping my creative juices flowing, discovering that I am actually capable of this kind of a writing project, and giving some actor friends the opportunity to try out a role they might not 'normally' be considered for. Plus actually getting to play with them myself!
 

I work on a MacBook Pro, with an AT2020 usb mic, and edit with Audacity.

I've been acting for over 50 years, in Australia, UK and USA. When I want to work with a particular guest artist, I write a character for them and send them the script for approval. We record on Zoom, whether the character is supposed to be speaking via Zoom, Skype, phone, or in the same physical space as the central character.
 

I promote the show via Facebook (my pages and various groups), Twitter and LinkedIn. I assume some of my contacts are spreading the word, because I now have listeners on 4 continents. There are more in the USA than the UK, and most of the former are listening via Pandora. Still not enough to get a decent breakdown from either Apple Podcast or Spotify. Pandora's "Audience Demographic" page doesn't seem to be working.
 

First and foremost: have fun. If you are not enjoying yourself, it's not worth the effort. Check your download numbers and MOVE ON! It's about you, expressing yourself, sharing your ideas, and the ideas of the people you are working with. Share them generously, with whoever wants to hear them.

Check out the Facebook podcasting communities. They are mostly full of newbies, but they will also have experienced podcasters who can answer your questions, or steer you towards a website which can.

For editing advice, YouTube has loads. Take your time to find a video that addresses the particular challenge you have. And then take your time to figure out how to address it yourself. Be patient with yourself.

Warm up your voice when you get up in the morning, and again before you begin to record. Sigh gently, hum up and down your pitch range without strain for about 5 minutes. Believe me, you will sound better, you will feel better, and your listeners will appreciate that you took the effort. (ps. I am actually a voice coach...)
 

https://am-I-old-yet.com
https://am-i-old-yet.com/the-podcast-blog/
https://flloydkennedy.com
https://thundersmouththeatre.com
https://www.facebook.com/amIoldyetpodcast
https://www.linkedin.com/in/flloydkennedy/
https://patreon.com/amIoldyet
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/AmIOldYet
https://twitter.com/flloydwith2ells
flloyd@thundersmouththeatre.com