Gimlet’s Casting Call aims to be the American Idol for podcasts

Gimlet doesn’t rest on their laurels, which is why they’re busier than ever. Fresh off a surprise release of three new original shows — Sandra, We Came To Win, and The Habitat — and the premier of their anticipated StartUp TV adaption, Alex Inc., they’re now announcing Casting Call, a new podcast competition show. Under the Gimlet Creative arm, their branded podcast division, Casting Call aims to be the podcast version of American Idol.

In partnership with the ubiquitous podcast advertiser, Squarespace, and hosted by Heavyweight’s Jonathan Goldstein, Casting Call promises to turn the winning podcast into its own full-blown Gimlet show. Starting today, they’re inviting ambitious podcasters to pitch their idea to castingcallshow.com. Submissions will be judged by Anthony Casalena, founder and CEO of Squarespace, Nazanin Rafsanjani, VP of New Show Development at Gimlet Media, and Aminatou Sow, co-founder of Tech LadyMafia and co-host of the podcast Call Your Girlfriend.

“I am so looking forward to hearing up-and-coming voices from across the country, and I hope we’re able to give a platform to an exciting, new voice in podcasting,” said Rafsanjani. “Squarespace has been a supporter of Gimlet’s and of the entire podcasting industry since the beginning. I can’t think of a better partner to produce this show with.”

While Gimlet will undoubtedly profit from this project — they are a business after all — it’s incredibly refreshing to see larger podcast networks extend their resources and bring a would-be podcaster or existing independent podcaster into the fold. It’s also a pretty ingenious crowdsourcing talent strategy. Theoretically, the winning podcast will have already gotten the stamp of approval from veteran podcast business-minded folks, but has also piqued the interest of would-be fans. It’s a win-win all around.

I am curious to see what the actual competition part of the podcast will look like. The press release says the three finalist podcasts will record a pilot at Gimlet’s studios which will run as standalone episodes for Casting Call, however, the entire podcast is six parts. It’ll be interesting to  learn the selection process and hear the feedback we get from the judges and Goldstein. Whether it’ll be a Pitch-esque show where the prospective podcaster discusses their idea while the microphones record real-time feedback from the judges and/or Goldstein, or if the podcast will take us behind the scenes into the mechanics and business side of what ultimately earns a green-light at Gimlet.

I’m about 99% onboard with this idea. Though Gimlet (and Squarespace) are going to sensationalize a search for new podcasts, I’m optimistic the end results will justify the means. Interestingly, Goldstein teases his podcast type preference  “we’re looking for people who are good at conducting audio interviews and telling non-fiction stories.” I wish they didn’t exclude audio dramas and narrow the possible applicants, especially since Sandra could have benefited from some influx of fiction writing talent. That said, I could see how opening the floodgates on all genres would make the judgement criteria impossible to manage.

Here’s a quick teaser by Goldstein: