The Telly Awards Podcast

Telly Awards judge Rebcca Stern is an acclaimed director and producer of documentary work. In 2023, she was named a DOC NYC 40 under 40 honoree, and she is on the board of Documentary Producers Alliance. Listen in to hear Rebecca discuss the challenges of budgeting for docs, increasing awareness of work conditions within the field, and more.

Gregg Stouffer, Lead Editor at Pickleball TV, kicks off the first episode in Season 4 of the Telly Podcast. Listen in on what it takes to build a new television channel from the ground up, from new show ideas to Gregg’s experience as a turn-around editor for the Beijing and Paris Olympic Games.

he final episode of season 3 of The Telly Podcast concludes with our guest, Telly Awards judge Karl Schmid. He is the creator and host of +Life, an online platform fighting the stigma of living HIV positive. An entertainment reporter by trade, Karl is himself HIV positive. His struggles with sharing his diagnosis spurred him to create +Life, which airs a variety of programming across social media platforms, including round-table talk show, +TALK. Listen in to learn more about Karl’s work, and get ready for our next season of podcasts– coming soon!

In our latest podcast episode, Telly’s Managing Director Amanda Needham sits down with Gavin Bridge, operator and Chief Analyst of the Substack The FASTMaster and former VP of Media Research at CRG Global. The FASTMaster is a monthly newsletter full of the latest news and analysis of FAST– free, ad-supported streaming TV. If you have any doubts about how well-regarded The FASTMaster newsletter is in the industry, know this: shortly after recording this conversation, Gavin was hired as the Creative Lead, 1P/Exclusive FAST at Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios. Listen as Gavin provides his expert analysis on the FAST channel model, and how small creators can create their own streaming channels for their work.

In the latest Telly Awards Podcast, Amanda sat down with Claudia Fisher, Managing Director of Whalar DACH. As a global creator company, Claudia leads Whalar’s strategic operations and business development in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Listen in as she goes in depth on the strategy behind staying on top of the latest trends,  the breakneck speed of social content and localizing for regional markets as part of a global strategy. 

In the latest Telly Awards Podcast, Amanda sat down with Evan Shapiro, a media cartographer best known for his maps of the media universe and writing the newsletter “Media War and Peace.” He details the complicated relationships between the biggest power players in media, and illustrates how fluctuations in those dynamics relate to market value. Listen in as Evan breaks down the future of the media economy, from the true cost of content in your former cable bill to the future power of the community economy. 

In the latest Telly Awards Podcast, Amanda sat down with Analisa Goodin, Founder and CEO of Catch + Release. More than just a content licensing agency, Catch + Release both enables the licensing of online UGC content by simply inputting a URL while automating the onerous process of obtaining consent from and paying the creator. Listen in as Analisa explains taking her business from a small agency to a VC-backed tech startup.

In our latest podcast episode, Amanda sat down with Isaac Zablocki, who leads our partners at The ReelAbilities Film Festival.  Isaac explained what it’s like to run the largest festival in the country dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with disabilities and the importance of designing inclusive festivals. The festival runs from April 3 – 10 in NYC and tickets are still available.

In this episode, we discuss social impact film distribution sales and campaigns with Sarah Moses, Founder of Together Films, international leaders in the social impact entertainment space. We discuss what impact is and how to measure it, the differences between a commercial marketing campaign and an impact campaign, and how to create commercial success with an impact story.