You know, when I first got the idea to do this podcast, I didn’t really think about everything that would be involved. I just thought it would be fun to grab a couple of guys, talk about movies, try to be informative and relevant, maybe occasionally entertaining, and see if we could get some folks to listen.
That was much earlier this year, early Spring, as I recall, and the concept got bandied around for quite a bit before we recorded our first episode and released it into the wild in late August.
We’ve reached episode 13 (15 if you count the bonus and “between” episode: 16 if you count the lone video episode we put on the YouTube channel.) and here’s what I’ve learned.
I had no eff-ing idea how to do this when we started. Some people might say that I still have no idea how to do this, and they might be right.
No, scratch that: they are right. With every single episode that rolls around, I learn something, whether it’s about steering the discussion between the three of us (which sometimes taxes my organizational skills), or how to edit the thing better since I have to work around the fact that we all record from different locations, which takes time. A lot more time than I had anticipated in the beginning.
This isn’t a “fire and forget” kind of project. It takes effort. And sometimes the product is better than other times, whether due to the subject matter, or technology, or whatever.
And it isn’t cheap, either. Domains, software, etc… those things add up. And, since VSMP is most certainly not a revenue-generating venture (yet–fingers crossed), that’s all on me.
But I’m okay with that.
This was my idea. I wanted to do it, and I’m enjoying doing it. I have found something — finally — that is really interesting and engaging for me to do, which has been a challenge since I retired from the military almost seven years ago and lost that day-to-day rush of mission-critical problem-solving.
I hope those of you that listen to VSMP are getting something out of it, because I think the three of us are getting more comfortable doing it, getting better at it, and having more fun at the same time. (Even Ryan, who normally does his review work for our local CBS affiliate by himself, seems to be starting to enjoy the back and forth of this format (I’ve even heard him laugh more since we started doing this…).
But where do I see/hope to see the Visually Stunning Movie Podcast in the future? That’s kind of a trick question. I don’t have a specific number of downloads/subscriptions I’d like to reach. I’d like it to be big enough to where I don’t feel I have to check the statistics to see how we’re doing. I’d like to see more listener engagement on twitter (@VSMoviePodcast) or Facebook (VSMoviePodcast) about the episodes.
I’d like more people than not to recognize the name of the podcast, lol. That would be awesome.
Maybe we can get big enough to acquire a sponsor or two, however small.
Maybe, just maybe, somewhere down the road, we can be invited to a convention: maybe here in Salt Lake City for Comic Con or FanX, or maybe the CVX event. Maybe an event outside the area in a perfect world: Denver or Phoenix, maybe some event like Stan Lee’s LA Comic Con.
But right now, that’s pie-in-the-sky thinking. Right now, we are where we are, and while we appreciate those of you that listen — more than you can possibly know — we need your help to grow, to reach the point where all that other stuff can happen.
Share us with your friends. Let them know if there’s a particular episode that they might find informative. Share an episode where you know we disagree with one of your friends. Maybe they’ll see something they didn’t after listening to it. Maybe they’ll tell us what we missed. That’s half the fun of doing this.
Until then, we will continue to turn out what we hope are informative and entertaining reviews, and we hope you continue to listen.
Because the Visually Stunning Movie Podcast isn’t going away anytime soon.
See you at the box office.
Oh, and if you haven’t listened to any of our episodes yet, let me recommend (as a start) Episode 4 if you’re a DC/Marvel fan, and everything from Episode 9 on up, as we’ve really started to hit on all cylinders of late.
Leave a Reply