Podcast 101

As part of our Step Up strand, we're offering training to help individuals coming back into the industry after a break, moving into a new role or responsibility level, or improving skills in unscripted TV. 

Podcasting is one of the fastest-growing markets in the UK with £83 million advertising spend last year, and it’s expected to grow by 23% in 2024. With 504 million podcast listeners worldwide and a global market worth $2.84 billion. 

This course is Podcast 101 of how some of the most successful series have a distinct multiplatform approach. From small beginnings to national and worldwide success, podcasts offer a full 360 social media, visual and audio offering full reach to a specific captivate audience. We’ll cover, what makes a podcast successful. The importance of vision and audio? How do Podcasts become TV and vice versa? This new course offers an overview of the podcasting industry and allows a variety of people to see their transferrable skills can see them being used in an audio and visual environment. 

Who it's for

This course is aimed at anyone who works in unscripted TV and would like to know more about how Podcasts can be created and help to offer a multiplatform approach for TV ideas in development and established TV series.  

What it covers

• Different podcasts and genres – Fresh Slate, Narrative, True Crime to Current Affairs

• On-screen talent and Podcasts – fanbases bring their audiences.

• Target audiences – why does this matter? Find your audience, capture them, and keep them. Listening habits.

• Creating a Podcast – what are the audience looking for? Find your ‘niche’.

• Creating content – visual podcasts and the benefits.

• Podcast structure rules

• A case study of successful podcasts – TV to Podcast and Podcast to TV

Trainer:

Dan Twist is a TV Development Producer and academic for the BA in Broadcast Production: TV & Radio at the University of the West of Scotland. He teaches Podcasting and Multiplatform Development modules at the university. 

Dan has worked for over twenty years in the TV industry, both in multiplatform development and production for BBC, ITV, STV and independent production companies in Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds and London. Dan has had his TV series ideas commissioned from Formats to Documentary and has produced BAFTA Scotland and RTS Scotland award-winning series.  

The majority of the Unscripted Skills Fund (USF) online short course offering is for those at early career stage and above. As a result, we generally require applicants to have at least three credits (unless working in a traditionally uncredited role). If you strongly feel you would still benefit from the training, please email USF@screenskills.com so we can assess if an exception should be made.

We are committed to ensuring all our courses are accessible to everyone. This course is designed to be as interactive as possible.

Please email the above address if you have any access requirements and we will be delighted to help, be that clarifying the form such interaction is likely to take or discussing reasonable adjustments.

How to apply

This session will take place online via Zoom. Click ‘apply now’ at the top of the page and follow the instructions to apply for your place: you must login or register before you are able to complete your application.

If you need additional support to complete your application or require the application form in an alternative format please contact USF@screenskills.com

Places on these free online courses are limited and applications are often highly competitive. To stand the best chance of securing a place, please be sure to consider the following:

• When asked to list your three most recent credits, please include the programme title and your job role.
• When asked what you hope to gain from the course, please be concise but ensure you cover the specific elements of the topic you would like to gain knowledge of and what gaps in your skillset you believe the course may address. A rewording of the course title or a general comment on career progression does not tell us much about how this course would benefit you.

If you are no longer able to attend, we ask you to please use the 'decline ticket' function on the right hand side of the page so that we can release your place. Our sessions are often oversubscribed, so we’d like to give other freelancers the opportunity to fill available spots. Thank you for your consideration.

This session is supported by the ScreenSkills Unscripted TV Skills Fund which invests in training for the unscripted workforce thanks to contributions from broadcasters, SVoDs and production companies.

This course would normally cost participants to attend, but thanks to this support, we are able to offer it to you for free. If you fail to attend, we reserve the right to request reimbursement of costs, unless your place can be taken by someone else.