#website crosspost

UPDATE: This role has been filled! Thank you to everyone who auditioned or helped spread the word!

Award-winning scripted Fantasy Adventure podcast THE ONCE AND FUTURE NERD is looking to cast a recurring character.

The Character is a 16yo woman, strong-willed and independent bordering on arrogant, but very smart with a knack for learning and technology. (Actors must be 18+ to audition.) We are hoping to cast an Indigenous performer for this role. Great Plains/Canadian Prairies identities are preferred, but actors of any Indigenous identity will be considered. Other details: • Must be able to do both a standard American accent, and a German accent • We welcome any performer comfortable playing a she/her female character, but performers with voices in the high alto range will be prioritized for continuity purposes

We are hoping to record 1 “chapter” immediately, and then another 2-3 for the next ~year. You should assume recording will be remote for the foreseeable future. (If you do not have your own home recording setup that is to our specifications, one will be provided to you, if you are cast.) For this current chapter, you should assume ~1 hour to speak about the character/rehearse, and another hour to record. In general, you should expect a total time commitment of ~5 hours per chapter. The character will definitely appear in our next 3-4 chapters, featuring prominently in at least one of those. The role is likely to continue beyond that.

At this time, we’re able provide actors with a $25 honorarium per chapter.

You must be over 18 to take this role.

If you think this is for you, please email iordic.princes at gmail dot com with subject line “TOAFN B2C7E2 Casting” to request instructions for how to audition. We must hear from you by May 28 in order for you to be considered.

If this isn’t for you personally, please help us spread the word!

Award-winning scripted Fantasy Adventure podcast THE ONCE AND FUTURE NERD is looking to cast a major recurring role.

The Character (late 20’s/early 30s, female) is a very erudite mage with a strong moral core. She’s at a crossroads with respect to the prior assumptions of her faith, and her fraught relationship with her more provincial parents.

We are especially interested in hearing auditions from Black women for this role. We are hoping to rehearse and record 1 “chapter” of our show roughly every 2-3 months once production resumes, which we intend to do in late March/early April. You should assume recording will be remote for the foreseeable future. (If you do not have your own home recording setup that is to our specifications, one will be provided to you, if you are cast.) You should assume ~5-10 hours of total work per chapter, which includes rehearsal and recording. At this time, we’re able provide actors with a $25 honorarium per chapter.

You must be over 18 to take this role. If you think this is for you, please email iordic.princes at gmail dot com with subject line “TOAFN Chapter 7 Casting” to request instructions for how to audition. We must hear from you by March 26, 2021 in order for you to be considered.

If this isn’t for you personally, please help us spread the word!

UPDATE: This role has been filled. Thanks very much to everyone who auditioned and who helped spread the word!

(WE WANT TO PAY YOU TO WRITE FOR US.)

THE ONCE AND FUTURE NERD is seeking freelance writers to pitch and write minisodes (~5 minute audio drama vignettes) set within the High Fantasy world of our show. Scripts based on accepted pitches will be recorded by our cast and released on our main feed.

These will be PAID commissions – Writers of accepted pitches will receive $40 per completed/approved script.

Writers must be willing to work within our established script format, and to implement Producer notes on content, style, and story canon. Experience writing for audio is preferred, as is existing knowledge of TOAFN’s story world and tone. But anyone with a pitch for a short High Fantasy story will be considered.

Writers of Color and writers of marginalized genders are strongly encouraged to apply. 

If interested, please email iordic.princes @ gmail with the subject line “Minisode Freelancer.” Include your name, the best way to reach you, and (optional) a link to any relevant work samples you’d like to share. Please DO NOT include your pitch in your initial email. We will respond back with instructions on how to pitch us.

Please note: At this time, we’ll be prioritizing writers with a story pitch already in mind. However, if you don’t have a specific pitch in mind but would still like to be considered for future writing opportunities, do feel free to write in and introduce yourself.Thanks!

We’re back, with another batch of scripted minisodes!

“The Lullaby” by Anya Gibian Performed by: Julie Reed – Jen Anya Gibian – Arlene (Script)

“Straight From The Underground” by Christian T. Kelley-Madera Performed by: Anya Gibian – Regan (Script)

Associate Producers: Mark Nielsen and Alec Story

Ways to help the show this week:

You can buy music from us through our Bandcamp page. And if you do it on Bandcamp Friday, Bandcamp will waive all of their usual fees. The next Bandcamp Friday is Sept. 4

You can join our Tab For A Cause team – and raise money for charity while you do your thing online – at tabforacause.org/toafn

Some places you can donate:

Malecare.org – a support/advocacy group for male survivors of cancer, known for programs for BIPOC and GBT survivors

Milwaukee Freedom Fund

Rebuild the University of Delaware Chabad

California Wildfire Relief Fund

The Cajun Navy Relief & Rescue helping out in the Gulf

CONTENT NOTES below.

CONTENT NOTES:

“Straight From The Underground” discusses police violence and domestic violence

End of listed CONTENT NOTES.

We are so excited to present to you our first batch of scripted minisodes!

“26 Maple Dr” by Christian T. Kelley-Madera Performed by: Frank Queris – Billy Julie Reed – Jen (Script)

“A Going Away Party” by Zach Glass and Christian T. Kelley-Madera Performed by: Gregory M. Schulz – Yllowyyn Rhiannon Angell – Yllodyk (Script)

Associate Producer: Alec Story

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:58 — 22.9MB)

As we mentioned last week, we’re currently doing something of a pledge drive over on our Patreon.

Our sponsors this week are:

Serial Box, a website that creates and curates award-winning sci-fi, fantasy, thrillers, and more, in both audio and text formats. You can get 50% off TOAFN Book 1 at serialbox.com/TOAFN50. Or, you can get 40% off 10 titles of Serial Box’s choosing (normally $9.99 each) at serialbox.com/FutureNerd40.

Shaker & Spoon – a subscription service for making craft cocktails at home. Get $20 off your first box at shakerandspoon.com/futurenerd!

Some donation links:

https://www.glitsinc.org/

https://www.rosehipmedics.org/

https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/

CONTENT NOTES below.

CONTENT NOTES:

“26 Maple Dr” alludes vaguely to abusive parenting and sexual abuse of a minor

“A Going Away Party” depicts recreational drug use

End of listed CONTENT NOTES.

Hey all,

This is normally about the time that we’d be announcing we were about to start recording our next chapter. Unfortunately, as you may have heard, there’s a global pandemic going on, and it’s hitting New York City especially hard. So it’s not safe for us to meet up in person to record, and given the setup of our show it’s not logistically feasible to do it remotely. And sadly, we don’t know how long that’s going to be the case. Looks like at the very least a few more months, so, sorry to say, we will not have new story content for the foreseeable future. But we are going to keep writing, and the hope is that as soon as it’s safe for everyone to return to the studio, we can hit the ground running and record a bunch of material very quickly.

In the meantime, we’re going to be experimenting with some new formats of bonus content. You’ll probably hear some more interviews with other podcasters and speculative fiction creators like you’re used to, but we’re also going to try out some other stuff. So when that happens, let us know what you think! If we find something new that we like and you like, then we might continue doing it even after production returns to normal.

We know money is tight for a lot of people right now. If you’re a Patreon subscriber, then as usual you will NOT get charged for anything until we put out new story content – which is again, not for the foreseeable future and not until we announce it. That said, if you need to cancel your subscription for peace of mind, we understand. We really hope we’ll see you back once things are more settled but we understand. And just to reiterate, if you keep your subscription active, you will NOT be charged until we start putting out full story episodes again. If – on the other hand – you’re looking for ways to support the artists you like right now, we might have a few new ways to support us a la carte to announce in the future so stay tuned for that.

Lastly, on a personal note, Zach and I and all the cast and crew want to send you our best wishes during this crisis. Things are strange and and sad scary right now, but we’re all in this together. Keep yourself safe, then look around and see what you can do to keep others safe. As a starting point – stay home as much as you can, wash your hands, call or text your loved ones. And we’ll talk to you again as soon as we can.

Best wishes until then, -Christian, Zach, and the whole TOAFN team

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:21 — 1.7MB)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 7:48 — 9.0MB)

We are very happy to announce that new scripted content is coming your way on July 26! That’s next week! You’re gonna hear two “minisodes,” that is short vignettes that are canonical to our story world but outside the scope of the main story (and produced fully socially distantly.)

As always, they’ll be free to listen to (albeit ad-supported). But we will be charging Patrons for them. We said at the start of quarantine, we’d warn you before we started charging again. So consider this your warning, and pause or deactivate your pledge by July 25 if you don’t want to get charged. And believe us, we understand if you need to do that. Times are weird and money is tight.

(And by the way, if you’re new here and don’t know about Patreon – we offer lots of cool rewards and bonus content to anyone who signs up as a Patron on Patreon. You can find out more at patreon.com/onceandfuturenerd.)

If you can support us though, now is a really helpful time to do it. Your support now means we’ll be able to better pay all the very deserving people who make this show happen, and it means we’ll be able to hit the ground running on all the cool, ambitious stuff we’ve got planned for Chapters 7-9, as soon as it’s safe to go back in the studio.

To that end, we’ve added some new tiers and reach goals over on Patreon…

This week’s bonus content is an interview Christian did with author, musician, crafter, and self-described jack of all trades Margaret Killjoy. It’s about power in Fantasy (among other things). So, right up our alley.

You can find out about all of Margaret’s various projects at birdsbeforethestorm.net, or follow her on Twitter @MagpieKilljoy.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:38 — 60.3MB)

The transcript for this episode can be found here.

Our partners this week are:

Tab for a Cause – a browser extension that lets you raise money for charity while you do your thing online. Join team Once And Future Nerd by signing up at tabforacause.org/toafn!

Shaker & Spoon – a subscription service for making craft cocktails at home. Get $20 off your first box at shakerandspoon.com/toafn!

And as a reminder, we also sell music from the show at onceandfuturenerd.bandcamp.com, and merchandise at onceandfuturenerd.com/merch!

We’ll be back again on June 14, with a new format of bonus content we’re trying out. See you then!