From Pearl Tan’s comic take on diversity tokenism, to Rick Rubin’s deep dive with actor Joaquin Phoenix and See-Saw’s production chat about Slow Horses, these three podcasts will give you fresh insights into the creative process with a focus on screen.
Diversity Work
Anyone who’s observed tokenistic efforts to increase diversity in the Australian screen industry will laugh and groan at Pearl Tan’s award-winning mockumentary podcast Diversity Work.
Short and sharp (five episodes of around 30 minutes each), Diversity Work is a fictional podcast that invites you into a television writers’ room embroiled in a social media storm. After a TV network is accused of racism, a diverse group of writers is brought together and tasked with coming up with an idea that ‘ticks all the diversity boxes’ at once. They soon realise they’re being used for their identities and are forced to deal with the personal and professional consequences.
From the satirically botched Acknowledgement of Country, to the send up of the types of organisations that might focus on photographing diverse writers rather than genuinely resourcing or engaging with their ideas, Diversity Work is funny, tragic and instructive.
Pearl Tan is an Australian screen creative and academic and founder of Pearly Productions – a boutique agency focusing on diverse stories – so she knows intimately the world she’s satirising. The series has just won three awards at the 3rd annual Signal Awards and is also nominated for ‘Rising Star’ at the upcoming Australian Podcast Awards, to be announced 21st November.
Listen to Diversity Work
Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin
Not strictly a screen podcast but more a deep dive into creativity of all kinds, Tetragrammaton is billed as ‘in-depth interviews that may blow your mind’ – and it lives up to the hype.
Rick Rubin is a legendary music producer and the author of the bestselling book The Creative Act. As someone with his own fame and success across fields, he’s able to converse deeply and intimately with his often very famous guests.
The recent episode that had me hooked was the fascinating and candid two-hour chat with the intense and versatile Joaquin Phoenix. This conversation ranges from Phoenix’s unconventional childhood and complex family life, to his performance process and experiences working with directors like Ridley Scott, Todd Phillips and Paul Thomas Anderson.
We hear about portraying Johnny Cash, winning the Oscar, and self-sabotaging his own career with the faux documentary art project I’m Still Here. It’s a magic exchange of ideas about the terror and adventure of creative work.
Listen to Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin
ScreenHub: Heartstopper, Netflix review: just lovely
The Sandbox: a See-Saw podcast on creativity
See-Saw Films is the British-Australian film and television production company founded by Iain Canning and Emile Sherman, with productions including The King’s Speech, Lion, The Power of the Dog, Slow Horses and Heartstopper.
The Sandbox is the company’s podcast, hosted by Sherman and focusing on the key creatives from its productions, including most recently episodes on Heartstopper and Slow Horses. It’s very much an industry insider chat and will be of interest to those wondering how shows get made – from adapting a series of hit novels into a show that honours its source material in the case of Slow Horses, or representing diverse teen voices and supporting a first time screenwriter in the case of Heartstopper.
