The Magic of the First Mix
Every story has an arc, chapters, a beginning, middle, and end. I wanted to write something about the middle bit of something I’m working on right now, and why I think it’s important to slow down when making stories about important work.
I’ve written recently about how I like to start the storytelling process: asking a bunch of questions about what needs to change, who needs to hear about that change, and what we’d like them to think, feel, or do after experiencing what we make together. I started that process with a client (to call them a client feels weird, as we’ve built such a lovely creative relationship) at the start of the year. The summer was spent writing ideas for episodes, putting together lists of the kinds of people we’d like to interview, and then doing the interviews, which is always one of my favourite parts of the process.
Post interview ‘table edit’
The Messy Middle
Then comes what I have decided to call ‘the messy middle’. I’ve told people before that this phase often feels like chucking a load of different jigsaw puzzles on the floor and trying to make a picture. It’s not quite like that. We are working from story outlines, carefully planned interviews, and the core pillars of the series that came out of the initial storytelling workshop. But, I’d be lying if I said what we have on paper ends up as an exact programme. For a start, the interview process is planned but always has room for new avenues to head down. Ideas that seem amazing on paper don’t always work out once you’ve recorded someone talking about them. This is why this bit of the process takes time; I always need room to sit with a first draft of a programme.
I’m always reminded of something I heard Jon Ronson say: never share something you’ve written on the same day you’ve written it.
In previous work, this has been hit and miss, sometimes timelines dictate a quick turnaround. I always try to avoid getting into this situation.
From table edit to first mix
So right now, I’m coming out of a ‘head-down’ period, of being in that messy middle of a five-part series about anti-racism that’s launching in the new year. I liken the moment the programme goes from a paper, written version to the audio mix-with music, atmosphere, sound effects, and narration - to something I experienced in my late teens. It was a magical moment when a postman delivered a test pressing of the first ever record I made (with my twin brother). Hearing something we’d made come to life on this physical thing was magical, and it feels a bit like that when I go for a walk and listen to the first mix of a new podcast episode I’ve produced. It is a time to fall back in love with the story after a draining messy middle, with all the hopes right there that this thing might do what we intended it to do when we started making it: change something important.
