Podiobook to be made into movie

From Chris Miller's blog:

Scott Sigler’s book, Infested, previously released at the podiobook Infection, is going to be made into a movie by RH Films…

The deal was arranged by RH Films president Peter Gethers and the co-presidents of Rogue, Andrew Karpen and Andrew Rona. Random House Films will also get filmmaking rights to the unpublished second novel in Sigler’s series, which Crown has already signed. Infested, which Crown senior v-p and publisher >Steve Ross said is expected to be one of the imprint’s biggest books for next spring, follows a CIA specialist and Centers for Disease Control scientist >trying to contain a bioterror threat in the form of a fast-spreading parasite that turns its victims into serial killers.

Well holy CRAP! Congrats to Scott, for this great news, and for bringing new hope to authors podcasting their books everywhere!

26th Annual Audio Theatre Workshop

There is still time to register for the 2007 Audio Theatre workshop, hosted by National Audio Theatre Festivals. The week-long workshop is from June 23-30 in Missouri. Some of the special programs during the week include:

1. A Narrator's Track hosted by Grammy and Audie-winning audiobook producer/director Paul Ruben. William Dufris, known to many as the voice of Bob the Builder, will be on hand to work with narrators on demo reels. Limited to 20 participants.
2. Improv and character development workshops.
3. Sound Design and Sound Effects sessions.
4. Production of a new audio play from the NATF Script Competition.
5. Field Recording and Audio Art. Award winning audio producer Dwight Frizzell will create "Sonic Force" for the NATF workshop audience - a composition for voice and machine which uses the sounds of A-10 Warthog fighter engines to tell the human stories of the pilots and their jets. Some additional field recording will be done at the conference for this play.


More details available, including scholarship information and registration forms, at the link.

Thanks, LBTE!

Script Competition Winners Announced

Inaugural Future Classics radio script competition

A Victorian and a South Australian have triumphed in the inaugural "Future Classics" radio script competition.

From January to March, Adelaide-based radio theatre company, Insight Presents, sought new half-hour radio play scripts for their inaugural radio script competition.

Forty-seven scripts were entered, narrowed to seven finalists and,
eventually, two winners whose work will be performed and recorded before a live audience at the Reynella Memorial Hall in Adelaide, South Australia on 15 July.

Julie Thomson from Naracoorte in regional South Australia scored with her rural comedy, “Down the Road”, set in the 1950s in the lead up to a disastrous church fete. Typically Australian, with loveable characters and familiar situations, the play provides a gentle stream of chuckles and captures the essence of country Australian life.

From Ascot Vale, a suburb of Melbourne, John Papadatos also found success with his outlandish, futuristic farce called “Time’s Justice”, about a mobile court of the future that accidentally mistakes dull Mr Smith from Earth for a notorious galactic gangster.

And now a message from the RIAA

Via Christopher Penn via Steve at Wicked Good: An LA Times article today discussed the Recording Industry ASSociation of America's new way to squeeze every single penny possible out of those who love to bring music to listeners. The RIAA is now seeking royalties from broadcast radio stations. From the Times article (requires free registration):

"For years, stations have paid royalties to composers and publishers when they played their songs. But they enjoy a federal exemption when paying the performers and record labels because, they argue, the airplay sells music.

Now, the Recording Industry Assn. of America and several artists' groups are getting ready to push Congress to repeal the exemption, a move that could generate hundreds of millions of dollars annually in new royalties.

Mary Wilson, who with Diana Ross and Florence Ballard formed the original Supremes, said the exemption was unfair and forced older musicians to continue touring to pay their bills.

"After so many years of not being compensated, it would be nice now at this late date to at least start," the 63-year-old Las Vegas resident said in Milwaukee, where she was performing at the Potawatomi Bingo Casino. "They've gotten 50-some years of free play. Now maybe it's time to pay up." "

Um... they still have to work to pay their bills.... okay....

Excuse me, Ms. Wilson? If I could have a moment to speak with you, and Lars, and other starving musicians like you? Thanks.

Come closer. OK, are you paying attention, cause I'm going to say this once, and in language I know you will understand.

You're dumb.

OK, go off to your concert now, I know you will most likely have to raise ticket prices if this falls through. After all, you've got bills to pay, right? And I know it completely sucks to have to keep working in order to pay those bills, caught in your dead end job doing something you can't stand.

Oh wait- why is it you are artists again?

Like Chris Penn put in his blog post- go ahead. It can only help podcasting and podsafe musicians.

Who knew the Onion spoke truth?

Red Panda Season Two Almost Over!

Have you been listening to Decoder Ring Theatre's "The Red Panda"? If not- well, DO IT.

There are only a couple episodes left of the season. But the beauty of podcasting is, you can listen and catch up at any time! Here's the second-to-last episode synopsis:

"When you put on a mask and fight for what's right, secrets are your
stock and trade. They protect you, and those around you, from those
that would seek to end your quest for justice. But when those secrets
are compromised, the shield can become a sword in the hands of a
vengeful enemy. What will happen when that moment comes for our
heroes? When the mask slips, just a little? And what fury will come
crashing through... The Hidden Door?"


Go. Now. Subscribe. Gregg has a baby to feed. (How this weighs on his baby eating, I don't know. Just do it and don't ask questions.)

PodCamp Mania!

They have only been around less than a year, but they have spread like a virus- the PodCamp "Un"Conference. It all began last September in Boston, and since then have been popping up all over the United States, as well as the world! The idea is to bring a free networking day to podcasters in a particular region. This also helps those who might not be able to afford the travel to the bigger events such as Podcasters Across Borders or the Podcast and New Media Expo.

The Camps, naturally, are not exclusive to the regions either. People flew in from all over, including Canada (I know- makes it sound so far away eh?), to attend PodCamp NYC at the beginning of April. The more the merrier is definitely a motto for podcasters, and the PodCamp.

PodCamps can also be an online event as well. The end of July marks the first online-only PodCamp, hosted by Podcaster Who's Who. Obviously it can't be as face-to-face as the other camps, but it can certainly connect you with a wider range of podcasters, still at the same reasonable price. You even save on gas money!

So you can certainly understand my excitement when I discovered that there is a PodCampAZ coming our way at the beginning of November! Sometimes you get so involved in the wider range of podcasting and podcasters, you forget that you might actually have a few people sharing your passion right in your own region/state. I'm very excited about this, and look forward to helping where I am able to make this camp a success- which means FUN!

Though, how can it not be? Evo, Mike, and Summer bring joy where ever they go...

So check the main PodCamp wiki page, and get involved in your podcasting community NOW!

PodCamps I'm planning on attending*:
*PodCamp Who's Who: http://podcamp.pbwiki.com/Podcamp+Whos+Who
*PodCamp SoCal (since I will be at the Expo): http://podcamp.pbwiki.com/PodcampSoCal
*PodCamp AZ: http://podcamp.pbwiki.com/Podcamp-AZ

PodCamp Main Page:
PodCamp: http://podcamp.pbwiki.com/


(*You can also register for any PodCamp at their wiki pages)

Canadian radio thriving- quite well, actually

Shamelessly swiped from Tod Maffin's Blog at the CBC:

Canada’s commercial radio stations revenue increased by 5.7% in the last year, going from $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion. Profit margins went up too by 2.7% to 20%.

• Commercial AM radio experienced stronger growth in revenues between 2005 and 2006 than at any other time in the last five years.
• Revenues for commercial FM radio stations in Canada have been steadily increasing over the last five years.
• The Canadian private-radio industry employed 9,763 people in 2006 and paid a total of $577.8 million in salaries.
  

Wow. Maybe I should rethink this whole "moving to Canada for political reasons" thing? At least I know I would have a good chance of finding a job in radio. ;-)

Capitol Steps giving us the lighter side of politics

It has been awhile since I've listened to the awesome songs by these
Senate staffers, but I just spent a good 15 minutes catching up and laughing hysterically! They are a live troop in DC who perform and sing covers of all sorts of tunes. With their own current political spin, of course. ;-)

A few of my faves: A Leader Like Barack (tune of Leader of the Pack), Good Morning, Starbucks (tune of Good Morning Starshine), and Bomb Iran (tune of Barbara Ann- minus John McCain's spin).

Been to the Stargate Cafe lately?

Season two of the award winning sit-com is well underway, and it's off to a great start! Crashes are stopped, core overloads are averted, and dates are denied.

If you've never heard anything from Wesley and the gang before- well head on over to Planet Retcon's site and see all the great things there! In-between the Stargate Cafe episodes, they have a new show, Log of the Crimson Lien, which I haven't heard yet but will have to go back and catch up. But my fave is definitely Stargate. It's Cheers in space!

SFF Audio Twitter Links

So many awesome things are posted over there, I thought it would be time-efficient to give you all the twitter links so you can pick and choose what you want to check out!

Of course, I totally expect you to check them ALL out....

* Imagination X Podcast has new horror story: http://tinyurl.com/22bhk8
* Online Audio: Devolutionist: http://tinyurl.com/yovmpl
* Sounds Like Canada interviews Robert J Sawyer: http://tinyurl.com/yv4uus
* Darker Projects completes David Moody's Autumn: http://tinyurl.com/ywfn8d
* Sci-Fi Read Along Adventures: http://tinyurl.com/27q5b9 (this one is SO COOL!)
* Jim Butcher on Cover to Cover: http://tinyurl.com/yqcr3n

Want more? Naturally you can head to the SFF Audio site... but if you Twitter and want updates, then add SFF as a friend!

Robotz Ends Third Season With A Bang!

Really... I mean it. Dream Realm's smash-hit flagship comedy Robotz of the Company ended it's third season last week.

Mayham, madness, and an enemy they had no idea existed! Except in the mind of the fearless Brisco, of course. I just could not stop giggling at the Star Wars references- they were intertwined in the plot very well!

Make sure you listen past the credits, because as with any season ending, there is a cliffhanger...

Podcast feed here, or you can head to the blog page and listen directly!

http://feeds.feedburner.com/RobotzOfTheCompany

Trust me, this beats Spiderman 3 any day of the week!

Summer Fan Audio on Sonic Society

The Radio Memories feed (they have been generously hosting the Sonic Society for over a year now) alerted me to Sonic Society beginning their Summer Fan Audio series with Broken Sea Audio's Planet of the Apes.

The Society is podcasting the first two chapters, but if you want more, you can catch the rest of Part One of the series right here:

http://www.brokensea.com/pota/pota.htm

This is a special summer series that will be podcast-only. Something tells me they won't lose many listeners over the summer, by Podcast Pickle top 100 stats. Thanks to JC Hutchin's 7 Son Podcast Novel moving into the Hall of Fame, everyone in the top 100 has moved up a notch. The Society has finally achieved the Numero Uno status Jack and Shannon have wanted, and most certainly deserve!

A Baby Panda is Born!

I know the postings have been scarce here the last week, as I've had a houseful of guests and have not had much blogging (nor breathing) time- but I had to jump in and give a HUGE congratulations to our foreign correspondent Gregg Taylor and his wife Clarissa of Decoder Ring Theatre on the birth of their first child, Maxwell!

He's adorable- and I am sure he will be fitted with his red mask soon. :-)


So.... CONGRATULATIONS!