My interview with Laura Bramblette about OTHERVERSE
OTHERVERSE is about an alien invasion story from the multiverse and is expected to release the first episode in the near future.
I hear you're starting your own AD, OTHERVERSE, what inspired you to make your own?
I started planning my own audio drama about 5 years back. I had graduated from college with a Theatre degree, and at the time was living in my home town in Alabama. The only theatre work available to me was teaching, which I enjoyed, but it wasn't scratching my itch.
Then Welcome to Nightvale started gaining major popularity. I started listening to a lot more audio drama, and had the thought of “I could do this.”
I wrote some plot drafts and did a lot of world-building, but never could manage a rough script. It ended up pushed onto the back burner when I started working on Jim Robbie and the Wanderers. In 2016 I brought up wanting to work on my own project to Iri Alexander, the head of our Production Team, and they suggested teaming up with Shannon Sawyer, a lead writer for Jim Robbie.
I was hesitant at first, but Shannon has been amazing to work with. She clicked with the tone I was trying to go for immediately, and brought a lot of her own flavor to the alien culture of the Otherverse.
What is OTHERVERSE about?
It's an alien invasion story told from the point of view of the alien head of propaganda called The Broadcaster.
They're a former soldier who has seen world after world destroyed, and have decided to try giving humanity a chance to surrender instead of being obliterated.
The show focuses on the resistance from both their superiors, and a particularly pesky human calling themselves humanity's Champion who is hellbent on leading the human uprising and killing the Broadcaster personally.
Is this a different experience than working for JRATW?
Oh HELL yes! It is so much more work heading my own show than just editing.
For Otherverse I am directing and acting, as well as doing the editing and sound design. It is a bit bizarre having people check in with me to make sure they are doing what I want. I was so used to Iri acting as my boss, and now they are asking me for acting feedback and deadlines.
I find it all a bit overwhelming at times. I do like having full creative control of the sound though. I had a definite vision for the sound design, and it's awesome to get to play around til I get what I want.
Do you plan to do everything on you own or are you getting some help from fellow JRATW castmembers?
I would not be able to do this on my own. At least not at the scale the project turned into. The original plan was to be very simple, just myself doing monologues for the most part. The original title was going to be The Otherverse Broadcasts, and I still have the original terrible logo I drew on my Android tablet in 2014.
Now the show has a full cast, and Shannon has written music, as well as an entire LANGUAGE for the Otherverse beings.
However, the plot is basically the same as my original notes. Accepting help from my fellow Crossroad Stations crew members was the only was to get OTHERVERSE made.
What was the process for casting the roles for your new AD?
I am going to be honest. I hate casting. I have always been of the mind that I would rather work with people I know are easy to work with than take a gamble with someone difficult, but more talented. I have a lot of experience with very talented people, actors I would actually call Great, who were miserable to work with. It brings down the entire show. I wanted to cast people I knew I would have a good time working with in OTHERVERSE.
I cast my friends, a lot of whom are recognizable voices from Jim Robbie. I also reached out to the podcasting community to get some cameos from some of my favorite podcasts. I had a wonderful turn out.
We have people from Greater Boston, Big Data, The Infinite Now and so many other shows that I am huge fans of. There was more than a little private fangirling over how many people were excited to record for OTHERVERSE. It's been a wild dream come true.
When do you plan to get this AD into the public ears?
The first episode drops June 6! It's going to be a monthly show, with every episode coming out on the first Tuesday of the month.
