From Pitch to Finish: “Local Stories, Global Audiences” with Wondery at the Hot Docs Podcast Festival Showcase

Returning to Toronto for my first post-pandemic visit to Hot Docs for this year’s 30th anniversary celebration (April 27-May 7) was well worth both the (red-eye) trek and (three-hour) time zone change. Besides getting my spring sneak peek at some of the best documentaries likely to land at a US fest/theater/streamer this fall, I was able to experience the added bonus of an inaugural festival within the fest: the Hot Docs Podcast Festival Showcase. In addition to five live events at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema — including buzzy evenings with the Radiolab guys, the Scamfluencers ladies, and the ubiquitous Kara Swisher — the Hot Docs Podcast Festival Showcase dedicated May 3-4 to six podcast-centric panels and masterclasses at the gorgeous TIFF Bell Lightbox (a cinema treasure built on donated land long-owned by hometown hero Ivan Reitman and family). Experts from Jazmín Aguilera, Head of Audio for the LA Times, to Renan Borelli, Deputy Audience Director for Audio at the NY Times, to Arif Noorani, Director of CBC Podcasts, took the stage over two jam-packed days to provide both insight and guidance into navigating a too-often opaque, still-evolving podcasting world. And one of these hour-long discussions, “‘Local Stories, Global Audiences’ with Wondery,” featured a trio of international panelists who certainly knew a thing or two about locating the universal in the niche. Wondery is the (currently) Amazon Music-owned audio storytelling entity behind such true crime juggernauts as Dr. Death, Over My Dead Body, The Shrink Next Door, Scamfluencers, and many more. (No word on whether a podcast about the company’s original founder, former head of Fox International Channels Hernan López — convicted back in March of participating in a FIFA-involved bribery scheme to secure exclusive World Cup broadcasting rights for 21st Century Fox — is in the works.)

To read all about it visit Documentary magazine.