We received a notice that Lloyd Braun’s Whalerock Industries has founded a new podcast network: Echoverse, which will be devoted to science fiction, supernatural, and fantasy programming.
A review of the Echoverse website does not reveal any content ready for listening, but we are told that several shows are planned. (Descriptions below.)
Whalerock is a West Hollywood production company founded by Lloyd Braun, and has produced TV series for Discovery, Netflix, and HBO Max. So Echoverse is a high-powered leap into podcasting … and not only into podcasting, we are told. The launch plan includes crossover into TV, films, and possibly other categories. This from Echoverse president Mark Stern: “There’s so much opportunity in this medium to tell compelling stories in a new way,” said Stern. “We’re excited to bring together the best talent from the podcasting, television, and film worlds and empower them to make groundbreaking, original audio content that not only stands on its own, but can also be used to launch television shows, films, you name it.”
Stern joined Whalerock from Fearless Media Group, and before that he developed such recognizable shows as Ghost Hunters, Being Human, and Battlestar Galactica for IM Global Television.
With all this firepower concentrated into a specialty podcast network with crossover aspirations, Echoverse is a new and dramatic example of podcasting as both a maturing stand-alone media field, and an incubator of content which is extensible to lucrative TV and film platforms.
Here’s a review of the initial slate of scripted and unscripted podcasts.
THE LESSER DEAD: Award-winning author Christopher Buehlman (Those Across The River, Between Two Fires) adapts his irreverent, poignant, and arresting novel about a colony of vampires in 1978 Manhattan. He produces along with television and film producers Joshua D. Maurer and Alixandre Witlin (Howards End, The Hoax, The Last Tycoon).
TWO WOLVES: Podcast creator and storyteller Taylor Zabloski (The Dog Is Dead, Illiterate) writes and produces this supernatural tale of a man returning to his hometown in the Alaskan wilderness to grapple with dark forces from his past.
TWENTY-NINE PALMS: The investigation into a missing late-night paranormal radio host takes a dangerous turn into sci-fi conspiracy for his estranged daughter and a dedicated superfan. The series is written and produced by filmmaker Francis Stokes (Wild Honey, God Inc.)
BEHIND THE HERO: From graphic novel creator Joe Casey (Ben 10, Officer Downe, Man Of Action Entertainment) comes this offbeat series about a “retired” superhero who uses his new podcast to confront his personal demons by interviewing his fellow superheroes and supervillains.
KNOWING: In this unscripted series, near-death survivor Stephanie Arnold, a former SVP at Endemol and best-selling author of 37 Seconds, explores the science and myth behind the “sixth sense” of intuition through interviews with people who have had compelling experiences similar to hers and experts studying these phenomena. The program is produced by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ricki Stern (Reversing Roe, Knuckleball!, Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work) and Arnold, who also hosts.
CONFESSIONS OF A VAMPIRE KNIGHT IN THE ZOMBIE WARS: Writers Dani & Eytan Kollin (The Unincorporated Man, Grim Tales Of The Brothers Kollin) adapt their short story about a ruthless vampire who wakes up in the midst of a zombie apocalypse and has to become the reluctant savior of humanity. David Markowitz (Pushkin Industries) also produces.
PSYCHE: Audacious Machine’s podcast producers Eleanor Hyde and Jeffrey Nils Gardner (Our Fair City, Unwell: A Midwestern Gothic Mystery) and writer Jessica Best (The Strange Case Of Starship Iris, Unwell: A Midwestern Gothic Mystery) create a science-fiction drama in which three people meet and fall in love using an experimental new technology which captures dreams and lets others experience them.
MURDER HOUSE: In this supernatural thriller, the grieving sister of a missing online celebrity invites some of those involved in her sister’s life to help solve her disappearance. The series is written by Kelton Wright, who also produces with David Markowitz (Pushkin Industries)
TZUC FAMILY CHRONICLES: Podcast storyteller Kristen Cabrera writes and produces this character drama about a small town on the US/Mexico border inhabited by creatures from Mexican folklore and the women of the Tzuc family, who must keep them under control.