Happy Audio Drama Sunday! Award winners, Audio UK's advocacy, writing workshops on YT, casting calls, grants, and more.

Issue 321 of The Fiction Podcast Weekly is brought to you by On His Majesty’s Secret and Superb Spy Services.

On His Majesty's Secret and Superb Spy Services is a chaotic British sitcom that follows a washed-up spy, a reluctant gig worker, and the delusional Duchess of Clapham, who join forces to create London's most bargain-bin intelligence agency. The not-so-crack-team attempt, half-heartedly, to finish at least one mission without causing yet another international incident. If you love British comedy and have half an hour to spare, this could be the audio sitcom for you. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

News, Roundups, and Announcements

• New Jersey Web Festival Announces 2025 Audio Fiction Award Winners. Congratulations to the Scripted Audio Fiction winners: Howl for Outstanding Fantasy, Fawx & Stallion for Outstanding Comedy, and Gather By the Ghost Light (The Other Me) for Outstanding Drama. Rachel Music won the Best Director award for Leylines, while Best Editing was awarded to Allison Cossitt for Howl. Well done!

• Congratulations to the winners of the Independent Podcast Awards for 2025: Shelly and the Can-Do Kids, Up in Smoke, Cold Tapes, and The Magnus Protocol. Well done!

• AudioUK shares that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport “has committed to commissioning a research study to measure key data across the podcast and audio industry. The results of this research are expected to be published in 2026. This is a key first step in securing the recognition and support that podcasting and audio deserve as a major economic and cultural driver.”

• Why Netflix is Getting in Bed with Spotify. This Vulture article is paywalled, but I’ll give you the main points. Josef Adalian of The Ringer says, “Netflix pretty clearly is eager to get people into the habit of looking to it for the sort of non-prime-time content they used to get from cable and broadcast daytime TV, and more recently have been finding on YouTube….The goal really seems to get people into the habit of essentially turning on Netflix multiple times a day — and not just at night when they’re in the mood to binge a new series or watch a movie.” Nick Quah says, “the deal prevents Spotify from posting those shows on YouTube in their entirety; it’ll probably be limited to clips and segments. The Times also noted that Netflix won’t be running ad breaks on these video podcasts, though Spotify’s own ads will remain; this should further emphasize the experimental nature of this arrangement.”

• Don’t think this will mean indie fiction podcasts can be on Netflix anytime soon: per Podnews, Netflix will carry “a curated selection of Spotify’s top video podcasts.”

• If you enjoyed Re: Dracula, you’ll be happy to know that Re: Frankenstein has passed its original funding goal, and you can get in there now to help them reach the even more exciting stretch goals.

• Thank you for your patience as The Fiction Podcast Weekly works through some changes. This means the newsletter may be published on a day other than Friday, but if you remember when I used to publish it in the wee hours of Thursday, you’ll know: plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

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Creator Resources

• All Hear for October, 2025 is ready for you. Buy Talia Augustidis a coffee while you browse those opportunities, why don’t you?

• Editing Dialogue in an Audio Drama and Sound-scapes in Audio Drama by Chrisi for Madison on the Air

• WORKSHOP: Writing for Audio with Chris Gregory and Emily Inkpen The crew from Alternative Stories take over Spotlight Indie's Big Weekend with a special workshop that explores what it takes to create original audio drama. Watch Chris Gregory and Emily Inkpen discuss the basics that every indie audio dramatist needs to know.

• Write In Your Ear: How To Sharpen Your Audio Fiction Podcast Movement released an archived version of Drew Frohman’s talk in their most recent conference.

• Asa Merritt and Sarah Rhea Werner share a Space Horror Writing Workshop and Spec Fic Story Club: “The Crowd” by Ray Bradbury for us spooky bitches who can’t get enough of that stuff.

• Got screen fatigue? I know I do. Fortunately, you can get the highlights of The Fiction Podcast Weekly in audio form. Check out The Fiction Podcast Weekly wherever you get your podcasts.

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Opportunities

• Casting Call: 'The North American Pantheon', a horror podcast that follows the exploits of a mental health counselor as she interviews inmates at a black-site prison for gods, monsters, and other supernatural entities. Listing expires November 15.

• Casting call: Neurobridge. Accents needed: Chinese, Irish, Russian, Italian, other European, American. Other accents welcome as well. “Join us in our exploration of love, loss, and complex ethical dilemmas through the lens of biotechnology, drama, and occasional comedy.” Listing expires November 1.

• Casting Call: Who the F*ck Killed My Sister, Season 2. Amateur murder investigator Quinn Reynolds is once again deep in the entrails of a murder that she must solve. With the police, FBI, and English mobsters all closing in on her, will she figure out who dunnit before it's too late? Listing expires November 11.

• Comedy Pilot Presents The United State of News - an unpaid call-out for pitches for The United State of News, a satirical news show that reflects what is going on in the U.S. and the rest of the world. They are looking for “short, punchy, gag-driven monologues and a few catchy headlines.” Pitches can represent any political opinion, as long as they are factually correct, funny and not mean-spirited. Rolling deadline. (How in the name of Saint Lenny of Bruce can comedy be kind-spirited in 2025?)

• RØDE Creator of the Year Awards free-to-enter international awards for podcasters and creators who have used RØDE products to make their work. You can enter a total of one time in a single category. Categories include Comedy, and that seems to be it for fictional work, but “Creator of the Year wins (with a $25,000 cash prize plus equipment) and Emerging Creator of the Year ($10,000 plus equipment, for people whose channel was launched in 2024 or 2025). If you are shortlisted for the category awards there is a two week period of public voting, and the winners receive $5000. “ Deadline: 30th of October, 11:59 GMT.

• Foundation for Contemporary Art Emergency Grants - grants for U.S. based artists working in a variety of contemporary and experimental disciplines, including music/sound. Rolling deadline.

• Grants for Blocked Creatives is a grant for U.K. based artists who are feeling creatively blocked. Grants range from £250 - £500, with no strings attached. Priority will be given to women and FLINTA (female, lesbian, intersex, non-binary, trans and agender) individuals. To apply, leave a comment or send a DM to the Instagram account [at] artsh [dot] world. Grantees will be chosen at random. The extended deadline is October 24th at midnight GMT.

Milestones & Debuts

• Allison Cossitt writes, “My production company, Ylem Media, took home 5 awards at the New Jersey WebFest. We got Outstanding Horror/Thriller for Partial Veil and Best Editing, Best Chemistry, Outstanding Fantasy, and Best of the Best (top prize) for Howl.” Congratulations!

• Realm Media writes, “Wolf Entertainment—the production powerhouse behind Law & Order and One Chicago—is partnering with Realm’s kids and family division, Pinna, to launch its first children's property, Patrick Picklebottom Everyday Mysteries, premiering October 14.”

• Ms. Shipton's Travelling Tea Shop is the first audio drama release from Local Files Club, which publishes short-form and experimental audio fiction for one-time purchase.

• King William. A sudden phone call changes everything. "Your Majesty," comes the voice that William has never heard addressed to him before. In that instant, the Prince of Wales becomes King William the Fifth, thrust into the most demanding role on earth while still processing the devastating news that his father has died.

• Season Three of The Dex Legacy comes to an end.

• Babalu's season one premieres October 22nd with new episodes dropping weekly. Think mystery meets intimate family drama with exceptional sound design.

• ICYMI: The Harbingers. Adam and Amy met as graduate students in anthropology, both of whom were obsessed with studying the same dead language and long-lost culture. Their relationship was always... complicated. Then, they became the first two people in thousands of years capable of doing magic.

Keep sharing good stories.

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