The new documentary, which will premiere Sunday, June 29, during the Oak Cliff Film Festival, charts the evolution of podcasting over roughly two decades. Colón has spent the last seven years working on the project. During that time, while navigating the standard challenges that independent documentarians face (i.e., funding and access), he and his collaborators have had to overcome an additional hurdle, as the very industry the film profiles has undergone massive changes.
“While we started filming in 2019, Gimlet was purchased by Spotify, and podcasting was having this…big explosive moment in regards to the amount of money coming in and big companies hopping in,” says Colón.
Today’s industry, however, is “plateauing,” as he puts it — money is still being funneled into podcasting, but it has tapered off. While Colón didn’t expect this shift when he began, the boom and its aftermath offered a new perspective for the film, making it all the more relevant than if production had wrapped while corporate investment in podcasting was still at its peak.
While the story of podcasting as a medium has fascinating peaks, valleys and big personalities, Colón wanted Age of Audio to have a human core that viewers could latch onto.
“I think that whether or not you care about podcasting, you can definitely either recognize yourself or somebody that you know, someone who has an artistic dream, that they’re going after and hustling for it,” says Colón.
Behind the Mic
The film’s central figure is Ronald Young, Jr., a passionate podcaster who has received legitimate recognition for his work on shows like Leaving the Theater and Weight For It. The film finds him trying to figure out ways to translate critical success into a sustainable career.“There’s many, many people like Ronald who have thrown their heart and time and energy into making things, and Ronald is maybe exceptional in that he seems to have really connected with an audience,” says Ellen Horne, an NYU professor who serves as a writer, story editor and producer on the film. “But he’s still having the difficult problem of cutting through and getting a large enough audience to make a living, frankly.”
The film manages to balance the human element of Young’s journey while aligning the story with a retrospective of the first 20 years of podcasting. It charts the medium’s early days — even telling the story of where the word “podcast” came from — covers the “gold rush” of the late 2010s and examines in-between space podcasting is in now: massively popular, growing globally, but without a lot of clear guidelines for how to achieve and define success.
Colón says he and Horne wanted the movie to have a familiar three-act structure for audiences to follow. Young narrates the history of podcasting, from its early days to now, with talking-head interviews featuring podcast luminaries like Ira Glass (host of This American Life, whom Colón met at a punk show just before deciding to make this film) and Marc Maron (host of WTF with Marc Maron). Through the narration, viewers also follow Young on his personal journey.
Storytelling with Smith
Podcasting is a storyteller’s medium colored with anecdotes, something Colón recognizes as parallel to filmmaking.For instance, Colón got filmmaker-turned-podcaster Kevin Smith (Chasing Amy, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) involved with Age of Audio by first attending a live show for one of Smith’s podcasts. As a longtime fan, Colón knew this offered a rare chance to ask Smith directly to take part in the film. He took a Blu-ray copy of his first film, A Fat Wreck, with a post-it note asking Smith to get in touch, but his plan was foiled when Smith traded the Q&A portion of the show for interviewing the crew involved with Avengers: Endgame.
Colón’s Blu-ray remained on stage untouched when the show was over. He grabbed the copy and tried to catch Smith outside the venue, but the owner of the venue waved him off. He circled back again to see if he could get through, but by then, Smith and his party had seemingly left. It was a valiant attempt, but one that Colón thought had reached the end of the road.
“And as I’m…sitting there defeated, this black SUV kind of pulls beside me,” he recalls. “And the window rolls down, and [Smith] goes, ‘Hey, is that Blu-ray supposed to be for me?’”
It was the kind of thing that only happens in movies, but it gave him the chance to formally pitch Smith on Age of Audio.
Not so Silent Bob — filmmaker Kevin Smith hosts a slate of comedy podcasts.
Courtesy of Shaun Michael Colón
Joel Herrera, cinematographer for Age of Audio, was with Colón that night. The two met more than 20 years ago and have since worked together on A Fat Wreck and played in a band together. Herrera says he doesn’t listen to podcasts religiously, but that working on Age of Audio helped expand his understanding of the medium.
“Podcasting is, you know, more than just two people sitting there having a laugh, talking about random stuff in the basement or a garage or something,” says Herrera.
As his understanding of the personal nature of podcasting grew, so did Herrera’s approach to filmmaking.
“[Colón] wanted everything to be really right and really close,” Herrera recalls. “Because podcasting is personal. It’s in your ear.”
While Herrera was unsure about that approach, led by a concern that tight shots wouldn’t translate to a big screen in the way they do on a smartphone, the team moved forward with the cinematography style.
“You know what? The final product actually works in the way [Colón] was saying,” says Herrera. So I didn’t see [the vision], but he did.”
Ultimately, the team behind Age of Audio made a meritorious effort to capture a notable time in the culturally omnipresent phenomenon.
“In terms of the medium, I think it’s not going anywhere,” says Horne. “There’s just more people listening, and we haven’t even scratched the surface of what’s possible in terms of form and the kinds of stories that we’re hearing.”
Tickets for the premiere of Age of Audio are available now.
