Authenticity is over. Be genuine.
Karen, Richard, and Matt are professional relations: business partners who are also family members. This issue, Karen edits her husband Richard’s interview with their son Matt about the upcoming Audio Drama Hubfest.
“The number one thing I want is to spend a day with lots of cool people who make things I like and admire”
Richard
This time, we're talking about the Audio Drama Hubfest. What is it and why are you going to be there?
Matt
I suppose the word for Hubfest is "conference", but that sounds a bit formal. It's a one-day event, organised by Sarah Golding and Karim Kronfli from the Audio Drama Hub, for people who make audio drama and audio fiction. There's a keynote speaker, and panels, and workshops, and live performances in the evening. It's somewhere you can go and actually chat and socialise in person with all the other people you usually only see as a username and a little pic on Discord or Bluesky.
Richard
So, the Hubfest is for people in the industry? For podcasters, voice artists, producers and the other people involved in creating audio drama rather than for the audience for this type of podcast? Or perhaps they are one and the same?
Matt
There's a ton of overlap between fans and creators of audio drama, and a definite pipeline from fan to creator. But yes, if we were to make that fan/creator distinction, Hubfest has more to offer creators or budding creators.
The Hubfest panels are about sharing experiences and knowledge so the audience can improve their craft. I've heard that this year's programme is going to be geared towards voice acting.
Richard
Thanks for the useful information about the Hubfest. The fact that you are taking time out of your busy schedule to attend suggests that you think it is worthwhile.
Are you going merely as an audience member or do you have more of a role?
And secondly, what do you, particularly, want to get out of attending?
Matt
As an audience member, but it's possible that'll change by the time we finish the interview – I'm pitching an ‘I Need A Miracle’ live show...
The number one thing I always want out of a thing like this is to spend a day with lots of cool people who make things I like and admire – it refills my batteries, and there's only a few dates in the calendar every year where you can do it with people who make cool audio drama specifically.
I've got some business stuff in the back of my mind to look out for, like talking to writers about guest writing episodes of I Need A Miracle season 2 and getting tips from anyone who's run a crowdfunding campaign for an audio drama series.
But that stuff can't be topmost in mind. No one likes to have a long conversation with someone who seems like he's evaluating your worth to him. I think it's good to think about what I want to bring to the event as well as what I want out of it!
“They’re vulnerable things to say. You’re going to show a bit of yourself.”
Richard
That resonates with something I was reading earlier - that the best connections are those made face to face. It's a word that's a bit over-used at the moment, but you need to be authentic. What do you think?
Matt
Yes, or genuine.
"I like your work" or "Do you want to make something together?" are a bit like "Do you want to be my friend?" They're vulnerable things to say. You're going to show a bit of yourself.
Richard
Perhaps genuine is a better word to use. I hope attending the event helps to refill your batteries!
When do you find out if your pitch was successful? And do you have a script ready and a voice actor in mind for a live episode of I Need a Miracle?
Matt
Not sure when I find out! [Update: we should find out on 6 October whether or not Hubfest accepted the pitch!]
I've got two different scripts ready, both written for two parts, which for anyone who's listened to I Need A Miracle, is a little bit different... Once I know whether I've got a slot and how long it is, I can cast it, get a reading organised.
Richard
Matt, that's great. Thank you for sharing this information and we look forward to a report about the Hubfest after the event!
There’s more to this interview. Buy us a cuppa on Ko-fi to support our work, and you can read the unabridged versions of this and every Professional Relations interview.
🇺🇸 25-28 September, New Jersey: New Jersey Web Fest is happening right now! I Need A Miracle is being screened at the festival today (Friday 26 September), and is up for two awards: Outstanding Fantasy Scripted Audio Fiction, and Best Leading Performance in a Scripted Audio Fiction for Saffron Coomber.
👕 30 September, Elsworth at the Mill: Richard’s launching Doing business on a sick planet with a talk at the Skipton Business Social called A tale of two tee shirts – and why it’s important for your business. Tickets £14.
🎧 1 November, Riverside Club: Matt will be attending the fourth annual Audio Drama Hubfest. You can get tickets for the whole day or just the evening’s live performances, which may or may not include I Need A Miracle (stay subscribed and find out!)
🖋 Want to write an episode of I Need A Miracle? Or know someone who’d write a great one? Express interest at the show’s homepage.
🪙 For everyone who buys our ebook What do we mean by climate breakdown? in September, we’re donating 50p to Action on Climate Emergency. Buy by Tuesday to support a good cause!
🔬 Matt published No respite, chapter 7 of Camera Obscura. Constant scrutiny makes everything harder, but you find workarounds…
⛲️ The curtain falls on Tipping Point, Merely Roleplayers’ latest Studio production, set in a post-climate breakdown world informed by Richard and Karen’s expertise.
🛐 The next Merely Roleplayers production will use The Silt Verses RPG and feature some special guest players. It might end up being called something like It Feeds On Fire. We’re recording on 4 October, so there’ll be a few weeks’ break after Tipping Point, but episodes should start releasing in October, in time for the spookiest time of the year.
🕯 Vigil, Merely Roleplayers’ Main House production, will return with a bang – in time. Backstage, we’re working out the logistics of how the heck to record an epic finale to the series featuring all 14 main cast members. It’ll probably take a few separate recording sessions, so it’s likely to be a little while before we return to Sherrydown publicly on the feed. Stay subscribed for updates.
🇮🇹 Does anyone know who won the Fiction Podcasts (Narrative Fiction) category at Apulia Web Fest the other weekend? Reply and let us know so Matt can congratulate them!
Matt highlights Avery Alder:
Avery Alder is a roleplaying game designer, known for Monsterhearts (one of those Powered by the Apocalypse games building on Apocalypse World) and Dream Askew, the origin of a roleplaying game system known as Belonging Outside Belonging or No Dice, No Masters. Alder’s Simple World, which is both a game and the closest thing that exists to a manual for designing new Powered by the Apocalypse games, was the basis for the first 10 Merely Roleplayers productions.