Podcast Book Club

Participants are allowed to enter the jam as an individual, and handle all aspects of creating the pilot on their own, but we do heavily encourage folks to collaborate with a team! If you don’t already have teammates going into the event, we’ve set up the ⁠help-wanted channel, where participants can pitch their projects and find collaborators throughout the sign-up period. Teams are responsible for facilitating their own means of communication through the event, i.e. by creating a group DM with your teammates, though if you have trouble contacting someone who has already agreed to work on your project, please feel free to open a ticket in the server or send a message through the website contact form.

If you’ve formed your own team, either prior to joining or via the help-wanted channels, please have one member of your team fill out and submit the Jam Team Submissions Form by March 30th. For participants who want to participate in a team but haven’t found a team/submitted the form, you will be randomly matched with a group. As soon as you establish your team, you’re welcome to start discussing project details and delegating the work, though we ask that nothing concrete – i.e., scriptwriting, voice acting and sound designing – begin until Team Announcements are officially posted on April 5th.

After teams are announced, projects can begin working on their pilot! Planning the episode, writing the script, creating cover art, and everything except recording/editing! As this event is adapted from game jams, we wanted to introduce an element of challenge colloquial of those events. All planning and writing for the pilot will take place during the former half of the “Jam Month” while recording and editing for the pilot will take place during the latter half. The Jam Month is from April 7th to May 5th, with episode submissions due at the end of the day on May 5th. At the end of the month, everyone’s pilots will be posted to the Jam feed, with a closing ceremony event & listening party marathon the following weekend.

• Pilots created as part of the event must be new, not previously published work on any podcasting site.
• Any writing, recording or editing for your pilot must be completed between April 7th and May 5th, during the Jam period.
• Scripts can be any length, but we recommend no longer than 10-15 minutes due to the time constraints.
• Any and all themes are allowed, within reason (there is a difference between a racist podcast and a podcast that tackles racism, for example)
• Participants are restricted to creating one pilot for this event. Additionally, participants may only join as a member of one team, though they may participate in as many roles on that project as desired.

• If utilizing the help-wanted channels to create a team, please ensure your DMs are open so potential collaborators can get in touch with you. (If you wish to only turn on DMs from members for this server: Right-click the PBC icon in the left sidebar > Select “Privacy Settings” > Toggle on the “Direct Messages” feature in the pop-up box)
• Be in regular contact with your teammates throughout the duration of the jam. This is a team-focused event, & it’s important to be collaborative and meet the expectations set for your part in the project.
• You may participate in as many roles as you’d like on a team, but please keep your own limits in mind & avoid overcommitting!
• If you commit to collaborating on a project, you must deliver unless your teammates also agree to drop your project before the April 20th deadline. Failure to finish your pilot by the episode submission deadline, without prior notice given to the jam moderators via the withdraw form, will result in being reviewed for future PBC events.
• When withdrawing during the Jam Month, ensure that your team has all necessary information and resources to complete the project without you. For any questions, feel free to reach out and open a ticket. Withdrawing from PodJam before the withdraw deadline will have no consequences.
• All members of a team must be signed up to the jam as a participant prior to the March 23rd deadline. While teams are more than welcome to put out public casting calls on social media, deadlines need to be prior to the 23rd so accepted cast/crew can be approved to join the event. (This includes minor one-off voice lines/background roles, etc. We recommend utilizing your existing team as much as possible, and if your show requires a variety of extras, potentially having one VA responsible for most/every minor role.)
• If you plan to source voice actors via the help-wanted channels, we ask that you allow for any voice type when pitching your request.

A podcast jam is an event in which participants are tasked with creating a pilot episode of an audio drama, with the added challenge of the episode done over the course of one month. If you’re familiar with game jams, this concept was modeled after that!

Sign-ups are done via the Participant form, which you can find here.

We can help with that! The ⁠help-wanted channel in the Discord was created specifically for this purpose; feel free to pitch a project, or find one already there that catches your interest. Once you’ve found a team, or if you already have an offsite group you wish to work with, have one member fill out the Team Submission form.

None! We are open to all skill levels. If you’re new to podcasting, this event is a great way to test out the audio drama waters

Any length, but keep in mind it has to be completely written, recorded and edited during the duration of the Jam Month. (We recommend a runtime no longer than 15 minutes.)

That’s okay! Audacity, a recording/editing software, is free, and has a resource manual you can access here.

Fill out the Withdraw form before April 20th to drop from the event. Failure to submit a pilot at the end of the jam without prior notice via this form will result in being blacklisted from future PBC events.

No. Participants are restricted to working on one project for the jam. If you would like to participate in multiple roles, they all must be within one project.

You’re welcome to post it in a Jam channel on the Discord and ping the mod-team, open a ticket, or email directly for assistance.

• Sign-ups: February 5th – March 23rd
• Team Submission Form Deadline: March 30th
• Team Announcements: April 6th
• Final Project Withdraw Date: April 20th
• Jam Weekend: May 3rd – May 6th
• Episode Submission: May 6th
• Public Episode Release: May 25th
• Jam Closing Ceremony: June 1st