LogFAQs > #978702709

So...yes... Some of this is situational, and not indicative of all "Top 100" Podcasts. Scripts for reads are a must, because...well, that's where the money is. And you gotta work it in when it's supposed to be in.

Some people use notes of the general topics, because they are just plain awful without them. But others only need bulletins. 'These are the topics we are discussing today. Here is the rundown. Here is the hard out for these topics. Here is where this read goes, etc.' But their opinions on the subjects, depending on who you are watching of course, are generally theirs.

There are a number of people that just film live Podcasts. You can watch the stream as it happens, or catch it any other time. Yes, it requires producers(or at least one, sometimes filling many roles), but the smart ones know to work the producer in if they want to and they don't hide the fact that they have written notes and have sponsor reads.

The thing is, some people just record their podcasts like a live TV/Radio show. So they are recorded live, the clock is running, and aside from their sponsor reads, and the general subjects they are talking about, they just go. Some people need a lot of others working on them. Others don't. A team of 4-6 can do the work. By why cheap out when crazy money is coming in?

What some of you may not get about the scripting we are talking about, the thing is, even people that are passionate about a particular subject, usually don't have encyclopedic recall of it to the point of doing essentially a little TED Talk about it on the fly. Now imagine it isn't about a subject that you LOVE and it's about something that recently happened in the news. This stuff has to be researched. A writer(or usually a writing team) has to go through and get the 'facts' and give a coherent run down of what the story is about.

One of the things I like to do is on some subject have one person "not know" what the subject(usually a news article) is about, so someone else can "explain" it to them. You see this technique used often, and it works better than the host reading a news piece, versus hearing them explain it to you in their own voice. It's not a full line for line script. Just the hot points in chronological order. It sounds and feels natural as hell.

The thing is, there would be so much dead air for some of these folks if they weren't given a script. So for them, they have to record and have it edited. Some people are kind of low-key worthless live. It would be like 45% 'um's and cursing that couldn't even be bleeped enough! lol