Indy podcasts making waves at the BPAs: The Long Time Academy

We’re really keen to share the groups and individuals that are running on passion with a series of interviews highlighting the indy podcasts who made waves at the British Podcast Awards. This time we’re speaking to a show that placed Silver in the newest category, the Climate Award. The Long Time Academy is an immersive podcast that focuses on one clear message: changing the way we choose to engage with time can be life-changing, both when it comes to the problems we’re facing day to day to becoming good ancestors for future generations.

The Long Time Academy is a collaborative project (it is part supported by Headspace, is produced by independent production company Scenery Studios and is part of The Long Time Project) that was built on passion for addressing the the huge threats we’re facing as a species.

We spoke to Host and Founder of The Long Time Project, Ella Saltmarshe, and Producer and Founder of Scenery Studios, Lina Prestwood.

Congratulations on placing Silver at the BPAs! How do you feel?

Lina: Bloody brilliant. As an indie project, we had tons of creative freedom to make the show – which we definitely took, as you’ll hear when you listen, especially in the interactive bonus episodes – but when the matter in hand is the climate crisis and other massive existential crises that so many people are getting seriously pummelled by everyday and then a big global partner like Headspace Studios come on board, well, suddenly there’s a real responsibility not to squander the opportunity. And everyone who worked on the show really felt that – which meant there was a lot of blood, sweat and many, many hours of Googlemeets.

Before the awards season (the show also recently won Gold for Best Independent Podcast at The Radio Academy ARIAs) the main feedback we received has been from our listeners who have been evangelical about it; about how they feel seen by it and how it’s given them a useful emotional and intellectual toolkit with which to navigate the hugely complex cocktail of feelings that most of us are experiencing about the climate crisis.

However, despite listeners loving and sharing it, Apple and Spotify featuring us, listening circles being set up, Ella being invited to run workshops with over 2000 members of the Canadian civil service about the key ideas in the series and even being invited to teach a Economics masters module, we couldn’t get any of the major podcast reviewers to listen to and write about the show which – and I’m going to be perfectly honest here – was a little bruising to my ego. Receiving this industry award from our peers, especially in this category, has been really bolstering from an industry angle and might even inspire reviewers to cover the show now that it’s been given a bit of industry love.

As a newly-minted business owner I’m very excited for the opportunities that it’s opened for Scenery Studios – it was our first major commission as an indie, so for the show to have been critically-acclaimed as well as landing so meaningfully with listeners is pretty amazing.

And Ella, you were up for the Rising Star award. Can you give us a little insight to your path into podcasting and why you decided podcasting/audio was the best medium for this project?

Ella: I’ve loved podcasts for a long time and had a hunch that they could be the perfect format for expanding the work I had been doing with the Long Time Project, that focuses on enabling people to be good ancestors. Getting long time involves working on many levels, the intellectual, the emotional and the practical. Podcasts enable all of this, allowing for the exploration of complexity in immersive, creative and sometimes magical ways. Joining forces with Lina really expanded my understanding of the potential of podcasts as a medium. We began with a shared vision that alongside the podcast we wanted to create practices that enable listeners to feel the ideas they were hearing about in the main episode. Headspace just felt like the perfect partner for this kind of project, so we approached them and to our utter delight, they embraced the idea!

The podcast was commissioned in the middle of the pandemic. It was an intense time for us all and I was also heavily pregnant and had just lost my beloved Grandma to Covid. A pretty hardcore context to make your first podcast! It was a steep learning curve – the expertise and support of the team made all the difference. Plus the fact that we all cared so deeply about it – the collective passion and dedication was incredible to be part of.

Host Ella Saltmarshe

What was the first podcast you ever listened to?

Ella: I began listening to This American Life, MANY years ago, in a-keep-me-entertained-while-I-clean-the-fridge kind of way. Then, back before podcasts were really a thing, a group of us formed a monthly podcast club, where we’d drink wine, eat soup and nerd out on podcasts. It’s where Lina and I met! Many of the group have gone on to create award-winning podcasts. As one of the few non-audio people in the group, it helped me learn how to listen to podcasts differently, more thoughtfully and opened my eyes to what can be possible with the medium.

One of the amazing things about the series is how listeners have gone on to form their own podcast clubs for the project – I was recently invited to join one for listeners in Australia and NZ that had been discussing an episode a month for the last 6 months. It was incredible to hear our podcast bringing people together and being so thoughtfully and collectively digested.

Lina: I honestly can’t remember if it was This American Life or chef Evan Kleiman’s Good Food Podcast that first had me regularly using the podcast app. I used to listen to it in a gym in Stoke Newington and be transported to an LA farmer’s market and those were my first regular exposures to that whole American public radio vibe and factual audio on demand. That was probably the beginning of the end of of my television career.

Which podcasts do you take inspiration from?

Lina: I really like podcasts that are playful with form and although it was a very short format, I thought 10 Things That Scare Me had so much going on, on so many levels. It broke tonnes of ’ rules’ and kept listeners on their toes but was never anything less than deeply entertaining and transportative. I also loved the mix of celebs and ‘civilians’ – the casting prioritised interesting voices over social follower size which I definitely appreciated.

Likewise, but very differently, the Kim Noble podcast, Futile Attempts (At Surviving Tomorrow) is incredibly clever, funny, smart and moving – Benbrick is so skilled at creating psychologically convincing interior worlds.

I would also love to have the experience of listening to S-Town again for its novelistic quality and Nice White Parents for its incredible verité scenes – the Serial Productions team are such gorgeous writers and their shows are a testament to what happens when producers are given time (and, of course, are generously resourced) to make their shows.

And, finally, I often think fondly of how much I enjoyed The Ballad of Billy Balls – the story structure, the way the lead contributors are given room to breathe and be complicated – all great projects, none straight-forward or flawless and all projects that we’ve discussed in detail at the podcast club Ella mentioned.

Producer Lina Prestwood

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as a podcaster?

Lina: Sadly, for me, the first one that comes to mind is that you do need to spend as much time promoting your work as making it, but self-promotion is definitely not something that comes naturally – I’d much rather be in development for the next thing or working on more episodes. But I get it.

A more positive lesson is a vital one in maintaining perspective from the brilliant maxim that the Nancy podcast once posted on twitter; “there’s no such thing as a podcast emergency”.

I’m always fascinated how listening to your edit for the first time with someone else in the room is like putting on a whole new set of ears, too.

Finally, if there’s anything I’ve learned over the last year or so, it’s that when you get stuck, there comes a point where you need to get up, walk away from your session and do something completely unrelated. It’s amazing how a solution will find you in the most unexpected places.

Where can the Pod Bible readers find out more about you?

Ella: The first place is Long Time Academy Podcast website (thelongtimeacademy.com) and you can find out more about me here.

Lina: You can find out more about me, Scenery Studios and the brilliant freelancers who made The Long Time Academy at scenerystudios.com and you can smirk at my futile attempts at tweeting @Scenery_Studios

Listen to The Long Time Academy on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular podcast apps.