Press Kit

Overview

Podcast Love’s Narrative Podcasting Immersive is a radically new way to learn narrative podcasting: a fully remote, 8-week, immersive bootcamp that can be taken from anywhere in the world. Our mission is to help our students blossom into podcast powerhouses – however they define it – and to support their growth and development through their bootcamp journey and beyond. The cohort is capped at eight students, and we will provide up to two full scholarships.

Guests

Exclusive Q+A’s with heavy hitters in the podcast industry include: Chris Bannon (Global Head of Podcasts, Conde Nast), Jennifer Ferro (President, KCRW), Sean Rameswaram, (Host, Today, Explained), and Theo Balcomb (Co-Founder/Executive Producer, The Daily). More guests will be announced shortly.

About

We’ve designed our program to include:

  • World-Class Podcast Education: Our cutting-edge curriculum has been refined over thousands of hours of experience. Our team of top podcasters have years of teaching, mentoring, and podcasting at the highest levels of the industry.

  • Personalized Learning Tracks: Our mission is to help you further your career. So in addition to our small class sizes, we work hand-in-hand with you to design a personalized learning track, combining our core lessons with individualized coaching, support, and feedback.

  • Experiential Learning: You’ll dive headfirst into production, creating two narrative audio pieces that will not only reinforce our lessons, but also be used as the centerpieces of a professional portfolio to help you secure work.

  • Collaboration and Community: We modeled our program after real-world podcast companies, where collaboration and community are key to success. We foster a culture of connection, conversation, and thoughtful, transparent feedback.

  • Insider Access: You’ll get access to exclusive Q+A’s with heavy-hitters from across the podcast industry. We’ll also provide insider-level knowledge, and support you in securing gigs and jobs — now and in the future.

  • Learn from Anywhere: We’re fully remote. As long as you’re available from 9 am - 12 pm PST, you can participate from anywhere in the world. Our dynamic curriculum is specifically designed for remote learning.

Team

Alex Kapelman (he/him) is our founder and lead instructor. The shows he’s produced and executive produced have garnered critical acclaim, award nominations, and millions of listen. In his decade plus of experience in the podcast industry, he’s worked for Conde Nast, WNYC, and Audible; consulted for Red Bull, the ACLU, and Walmart; and has received rave reviews from Rolling Stone, Vulture, and NPR. Pitch, the independent show which he co-founded and co-hosted, launched to critical acclaim, racked up a million downloads, and was eventually exclusively licensed by Audible. Previously, Alex led podcast development, production, and post-production at Conde Nast Entertainment, where he developed and executive produced podcasts from Vogue, Pitchfork, WIRED, and more.

Alex began teaching and designing narrative podcasting in 2016, as an adjunct professor at New York University’s graduate journalism program. His students have gone on to work and/or freelance for NPR, Audible, Vox, WNYC, Conde Nast, VICE, Lemonada, Campside, and more. He’s currently adjunct professor at New York University's American Journalism Online program, where he designed and teaches Introduction to Narrative Podcasting and Advanced Podcasting. He’s working with standout students to help them develop narrative serialized podcast series, with the first launching in late 2023.

Maura Walz (she/her) is our editorial coach. She’s edited podcasts for VOGUE, iHeartMedia, Gimlet, Wondery, CBS, Crooked Media, and many more. Previously, she spent a decade reporting and editing news coverage of American public schools for outlets including Chalkbeat, KPCC/LAist, and Georgia Public Broadcasting.

Ben Montoya (they/them) is our sound coach. They’ve produced, mixed, scored, and sound designed shows for WIRED, Pitchfork, Audible, Vox, and Sonos. They’re currently developing a project with a major podcast company. Their previous podcast, The Fear and Now, used multidisciplinary studies to analyze the aesthetics of horror in audio fiction.

Betty Ming Liu (she/her) is our life coach. She specializes in helping people work through their stuck points to become better storytellers and communicators. She’s a credentialed life coach (PCC) since and has decades of experience as a journalist (The New York Daily News, Crains, Newsday) and professor (NYU, The New School, and more).

Curriculum

By the end of this program, our students will have two fully mixed and mastered narrative podcast pieces for their portfolio (which we’ll help them build.) To get there, we’ve divided our program into six core units:

  1. Voice: To understand your own style, you have to embrace your voice. Including: theory of voice, development of personal voice, storytelling genres/styles, scripting for the ear, vocal performance, how to use your voice.

  2. Story: We dig deep into the inner workings of story. Including: Elements of story, narratological theory, generating ideas, turning ideas into stories, pitching stories, research, outlining, giving and receiving editorial feedback.

  3. Tape: The tape you procure is the heart of your story. Including: Using recording gear, fair and accurate reporting, booking interviewees, interview prep, conducting interviews, scene-building and procuring nat sound, selecting best tape, integrating tape, writing around tape.

  4. Drafts: Stories only become good through rigorous drafting and editing. Including: Honing your voice, collaborating, solving story problems, script formatting, hitting deadlines, killing darlings, fact-checking.

  5. Sound: We teach you how to make your stories sound professional. Including: Training your ears, core tape-editing skills, using music, sound design, mixing and mastering to professional standards. 

  6. Business: Learn all the tools you need to be a working podcaster. Including: Developing IP, monetization, sales, PR, networking, invoicing, fair pay, contracts, fair use/licensing music, production timelines, budgeting, using Slack, job hunting, portfolios, staying current.

Dates, Cost, and Application

Workshop Dates

Our inaugural intensive will run from Monday, October 2, 2023 - Friday, November 17, 2023. Class sessions and workshops will be held from 9 am - 12 pm PST every weekday. 1:1 meetings and deliverables will be worked on outside of class hours.

Cost

The cost of the workshop is $9,000 USD (early deadline) or $9,500 USD (final deadline). The cost includes nearly $1,000 worth of equipment and software for you to keep forever.

Scholarships

We will provide up to two scholarships. Details to come.

How to Apply

To apply, fill out the form provided at http://podcast.love. There are no prerequisites to apply, and no application fee. You may apply from anywhere in the world. Our application is a creative exercise that’s designed for us to learn about you through your telling us about something you love.

To receive a $500 discount on your application, you must apply by our early decision deadline of July 15. The final deadline is August 1. Acceptance will happen on a rolling basis. All students will be informed of whether they’ve been accepted to the workshop by August 15.