From idea to podcast a new science fiction anthology series
I had the opportunity to speak with Scott Zakarin the Creator and Producer regarding Digital Sky Podcast an anthology series that has been kicking around in his mind for a while that he and his co-producers Robert ‘Bert’ Benton & Robert Ell launched earlier this year on iTunes. We chatted for an hour and shared pop culture milestones from his love of Star Trek vs my Star Wars fandom. That Alien is still an incredible terrifying film. How technology allows him to work anywhere with his team even during the Covid19 pandemic recommendation of ‘STAY HOME’ to flatten the curve.
Scott has always been someone who likes to do things ‘first’. Myspace was the gateway for so many people with a new way of connecting, communicating and creating ‘online’ content before we even had a word for it. Scott made the first MySpace series ‘Roommates’ and continued his passion for creation with ‘The Spot’ in 1995. Being on the forefront meant he won the first Webby & Streamy so the creative tech bug bit him hard and he’s continued being creative with his latest project Digital Sky Podcast. It’s fascinating chatting with someone with his viewpoint of taking an idea and implementing it.
I listened to the first couple of podcasts on YouTube and it tickled my fancy since they reminded me of classic Twilight Zone with a modern tech twist. Scott recommended getting the fully immersive enjoyment of the podcast to listen to the next episode ‘Dog Pods’ on headphones so I could lose myself in the voices and story. Being a complete dog nerd looks like I have a ‘podcast date’ since he had me at dog <guffaw>! The first season of Digital Sky has been recorded and the team is editing and uploading on various platforms with Skype being one way of keeping connected with his team. All of them contribute to the process with Scott coming up with the ideas and writing the scripts, Bert doing the reading and grammar checks, Anna Brisbin being the voice of the series, and his wife Deborah Zakarin encouraging and supporting his dreams (I chatted with both of them and they are on my ‘Couple Goals’ list).Â
If you haven’t heard Digital Sky I don’t want to give away any secrets of the anthology series that all seem to be stand-alone podcasts unless you listen closely and then you’ll hear a sliver that binds them all together. Part of the fun of this dramatic, funny, geeky original podcast is that you never know what you’ll get as far as the story goes. Scott grew and still enjoys great content from loving Breaking Bad to appreciating the Joker. He has a curious mind that observes and percolates what he sees and condenses it into something new and unexpected. One podcast is an unexpected cellphone message that leads to a secret. Another tells of two couples getting superpowers from a game app and deciding if being a hero is for them. The other is rideshare app cautionary tale about who’s really driving the car. On the surface what do they have in common? Well, you’ll have to listen to find that out (see links below).
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