WRITING: the Sequel -"Adventures in Podcasting" (Finding a Voice Part the Second!)

"Across the great divide alone (wondering, open, afraid and...) Arrive in a life unknown..." - Semisonic

A good while ago now, I posted about a podcast habit I'd picked up, following on from an uncontrollable collecting pattern I'd grown into following one of my favourite movie franchises for most of my life... I'm talking of course (again!) about all things Indiana Jones... So far, on the airwaves of the podcast I've been lucky enough to be part of, I've actually been officially talking about the man with the whip and the hat for 4 years (but thinking about the franchise for so much longer!) But recently, this winter, I got the chance via a work newsletter to be asked to write about my hobby and talk a little more about this, let's face it, obsession of mine(!) And here's what I got the chance to write about it all...

The video editing work I've done in the day job has increasingly led me to an interest in audio editing and for the past four years, outside of work, I’ve ventured into the world of podcasting, writing and recording a monthly segment for an international podcast called The IndyCast. From its name you can possibly guess the subject matter – as a bit of a geeky film fan, I had listened to this global Indiana Jones podcast since 2008 when it first began.  What I had noted was, that although there was a variety of global voices on there from American to Australian, waxing lyrical about the man with the whip and the hat, there weren’t any British fans represented – and Britain was where the first three Indiana Jones movies were filmed (Elstree Studios to be precise, where ITV shoot The Chase and the BBC make Strictly).

I approached the podcast editor (actually called Ed!) who puts the whole show together from his home in Geelong, Australia, in late 2015. After sending in a demo based around the British side of the Indy franchise, I got the gig and in April 2016, my very first ‘IJ in the UK’ segment debuted “on air”. During that first year or so of learning to podcast, within my department at ITV, I undertook some valuable in-house voiceover training and got advice from colleagues who had done voice work for news and continuity in the past. This really helped improve on the early segments I had recorded.  (And it also helps that I’ve collected a growing audio library of movie soundbites and enjoy messing around with sound effects in my spare time!)

So far on the podcast I’ve tried to cover a range of distinctly different British themes within the Indiana Jones franchise. I’ve written tributes to cast and crew who have passed on, such as Douglas Slocombe, the legendary Indy Director of Photography who also worked on Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) and The Italian Job (1969), and also Sir John Hurt who starred in the much-derided fourth film of the Indy series. (I actually have a real soft spot for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, not least for showing my childhood hero as he grows old, much like I’m growing older with the release of each film in the series!). I’ve also focused in on the various British characters in the movies (How many can you bring to mind?), as well as interviewing fellow Indy avids, such as a Globe Trekker series documentary producer who, as a young film fan in the late ‘80s broke into the set of Who Framed Roger Rabbit at Elstree with a friend. (They were subsequently invited to watch the filming of the third Indiana Jones movie at Tilbury Docks in 1988 as Steven Spielberg shot the fast-paced “Venice” boat chase set piece!)

On many an annual holiday too, I’ve found myself around the globe, quite coincidentally, in the vicinity of some site or link to the Indiana Jones movies. In 2003, it was while in Berlin, on a trip to see the historic 1936 Olympic Park when a guide mentioned that nearby, a mere few U-bahn stops away, was a small airport used as the architectural model for the Zeppelin port in the third film The Last Crusade. Fast-forward 14 years later, and being lucky enough to book a 40th birthday trip to the West Coast of America, I found myself standing in front of the actual building used as the exterior of the Zeppelin port in that movie - on “Treasure Island” (I kid ye not!) in the San Francisco Bay (It’s their City Administration Building, built in 1938).

The “travels with Indy” haven’t ended there – all in the name of podcast research, I once persuaded my wife to join me to hunt down the only statue in the world of the fictional big-screen archaeologist in small-town America – San Anselmo, Marin County, to be precise (see my first photo). It’s sited in a tiny municipal green space called “Imagination Park” (I promise I’m not making these names up) and it’s there because it’s the hometown of George Lucas the franchise creator. We even managed to find the iconic “government steps” from the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark which Indy descends in Washington – although, the steps are actually in San Francisco – inside the majestic Beaux-Arts style City Hall building, built in 1905. 

Being part of The IndyCast I’ve made some worldwide friends too. When I mentioned on air that we were visiting Seattle, another contributor to the podcast invited us to lunch at his offices at the games company Oculus, and we recorded a segment together in their plush recording studios – a far cry from my humble home “studio” setup (see my second photo).  I’ve also guested on other segments of the podcast, chatting to hosts in such far flung places as Florida and Austria.  And… because of the podcast, in 2018, I appeared as a “Midnight Mastermind” on OJ Borg’s BBC Radio 2 show, posing and answering questions on the franchise, after one of the producers got in touch having seen me tweet about Indiana Jones.

So far, I’ve produced 35 segments of ‘IJ in the UK’ and still have lots of ideas of where to take it in the future too.  Once free travel is permitted again, I’ll go on the road with a small podcast mascot that was made by a local artist to me in the North East (again, see the second photo!) and make trips to Herbert Johnson hatters in London and also Wested Leather in Kent – both of whom provided costume pieces for the original Indiana Jones movies.  Next year as well, I’ve been asked to do a talk about my podcasting hobby for a local charity.  And I’ve even been in contact with a regular cast member from one of ITV’s soaps who appeared in the second Indy film Temple of Doom, to set up an interview of his memories on set. (Can you guess who it is? A clue: he’s the long-running head of a well-loved family in Emmerdale)

Very recently, a fifth film was announced by Disney for release in 2022 with Harrison Ford reprising his iconic role (aged 78 - fantastic!). It’s to be helmed by the visionary director James Mangold of Walk the Line, Logan, and Ford v Ferrari fame. Rumours are that they’ll be bringing production to Pinewood next spring. So on my 2021 podcast wish list too are scoops from the set! (If anyone reading this has any connections at Pinewood, feel free to email me: christopher.allan@itv.com )

Ultimately, for me, the Indy films have always been an important starting point to access the real history behind the fictional tales they’re telling. The franchise has inspired me to go off and read more into the background of the Ark of the Covenant and even the mystery of Crystal Skulls! And of course, they’ve led to true life adventures in podcasting and red-line trails across the globe, with a growing list of contacts in each country, befitting my childhood big-screen hero who I like to imagine might tip his fedora to me with a wink and a smile.

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