Sarah Golding - Tumblr Posts
oh god, mrs westenra actually dying on audio and then lucy starting to cry and almost unable to get words out "The time did not seem long, but very, very awful" nope this is terrible, i knew hearing it here would be even worse than reading it and yet i was unprepared for how much worse
oh no, and then the slow fading in and out of the audio at the very end as lucy is fading in and out then into nothing but the song of the nightingale. excellent sound design but also how dare you
hey writers, did you know,
when you get other people involved and start properly taking your audio drama from page to airwaves,
that you get to talk to those other people about your world and your characters and your ideas all the time?
that all the cool people you got involved because you think their work is brilliant will ask you to tell them about those things?
and that you don't have to worry "am I being tedious/dominating the conversation by talking about my writing", because all these cool people whose work you admire literally need you to talk about your writing so they can do their jobs?
The cast and crew reveals have begun!!
(they're all listed on the website already if you want to fill your boots, or you can follow @inyourbenevolence and get them with details and commentary, or both!)
I Need A Miracle is produced and edited by Sarah Golding
Sarah is an award winning versatile voice actor, director, writer, producer, podfest organiser. Also pod host of the writing how-to pod ADWIT, (with Lindsay Harris Friel) and sole host of Audio Fiction interview pod INDIE AF.
@merelymatt says, you've probably heard Sarah's voice in The Silt Verses among other productions, but did you know she makes audio drama happen as well as being in it?? Sarah's a huge fan of monologues, which I did kind of know when I pitched I Need A Miracle to Wireless, but I definitely didn't know to what extent. She's produced the mum-themed Mummylogues and now the dad-themed Daddylogues to get more monologues out there for your ears, and that made her the number 1 correct person to make I Need A Miracle everything it can possibly be!
Questions about I Need A Miracle that temporarily stumped me
When you, a writer, bring in a production company to produce an audio drama you wrote, members of that company will ask you questions about that audio drama.
Some of those questions will stump you.
That's the first step of the piece becoming a collaboration instead of a solo work. Because those questions will make you see your writing through someone else's eyes. And coming up with answers changes the finished thing into something you couldn't have made alone.
When @wirelesstheatre agreed to work on I Need A Miracle, I was ready to take my hands off the wheel. Didn't want to be the overly precious writer dictating how other people interpret the scripts! But mostly I just really enjoy learning other people's takes on stuff I've written. I thought I'd sit back and enjoy watching them all cook.
A thing I've learned: when you're the one funding the project, the people involved want to know your opinion and that you're happy with the direction things are going 😅
So I found myself in meetings being consulted on things I hadn't prepared myself to have opinions about. Questions like...
Who'd be your dream cast?
My first response to this one was just to give them names of people I know (the usual @merelyroleplayers suspects – once a theatre luvvie...)
When Sarah and Fiona pushed, I started naming audio drama podcast luminaries, your @woodenovercoats people, your @thesiltverses people.
And then someone in the meeting threw out a name as a possibility, which made me realise we were operating on different definitions of "dream casting". I'd made assumptions about what our budget could comfortably accommodate and unusually, those assumptions were overly modest.
This is one arena where, after offering some names because Fiona asked so nicely, I did end up just stepping back and letting Fiona do her thing. And look at the incredible cast we put together thanks to her!
What's the vibe?
This one came from composer Katie. There was a point where I was seriously considering not using music in I Need A Miracle at all (past Matt, what were you thinking?), so I hadn't given it a lot of thought.
We talked melody versus ambience/vibes. We talked moods. We talked instruments and influences. It was a lens I hadn't seen the story through before and it was so damn much fun.
And motifs! Each character in I Need A Miracle is one and done, so they don't get themes, but that led Katie to ask what does recur between different episodes. Are there realisations or turning points that multiple characters experience? What moments echo through the series and how can the score make those moments resonate?
It wasn't until Katie asked the question that I consciously thought, wait, yes, there are parallels and correspondences and themes running through the series (and like, of course there are, but you don't plan that stuff out when writing). And that got me excited to hear the music lifting those moments!
What's the tech level?
Final one, from sound designer Sarah Buchynski (Polarity Audio Works).
There's a specific bit of scene-setting in the series finale that I'd kind of thrown in there for funsies but which raised some (it turns out) interesting questions about technology in a miracle-powered world.
Miracles are magic, so are we talking fantasy? Or sci-fantasy, with sufficiently advanced technology indistinguishable from magic? Steampunk, electropunk, or some other -punk?
My job is the characters, and the bits of worldbuilding that inform them, their wants and needs. Everything else is fill-in-the-blanks. But then Sarah asked the question, and I had a fun old time coming up with basically just enough of an answer to make her job more fun.
Make it up as you go along
Did you think I was going to end this by advising audio drama writers to have answers ready to questions like these? No! Experience the thrill of discovery as I did! Answer whatever questions you need to answer to write the thing, then make up the rest as and when people ask you. That way you never waste imagination juice answering a question no one ever asks. It's foolproof!
Me 📸 Sarah Golding
They let me in the booth lol
Hear the results in 1 week
I Need A Miracle,
episode 1, A dream come true, is out Thurs 29 August
Saffron Coomber: so good, we simply had to cast her twice.
If ten minutes at a time of Saffron's performance isn't enough, she's also the star of the latest feature length audio drama from @wirelesstheatreco :
https://www.wirelesstheatrecompany.co.uk/podcast/geezer-bird
In your benevolence,
hear the Trophy's plea for disappointment at the dig.
Episode 6 of I Need A Miracle is out now. Search for I Need A Miracle in podcast apps or head to foggyoutline.com/ineedamiracle for more ways to listen.
Saffron Coomber returns to I Need A Miracle as Orsa, the Trophy (after appearing as the Collector in episode 3)
Written by @merelymatt
Directed by Robert Valentine
Recorded at Jukebox Studios
With broadcast assistance from Teresa Milewski
Sound design by Sarah Buchynski
Music by Katharine Seaton
Produced by Sarah Golding for @wirelesstheatreco
Cover art by Dionysis Livanis