Writers’ Workspaces: Jessica Bendinger
Today, writer/director/producer (and Black List Lab mentor) Jessica Bendinger shares her evolving office space with us for the Writers’ Workspace series!
For the last year of writing and producing MOB QUEENS for Stitcher, my office has had to be…everywhere. Australia. Colombia. Montana. New York. LA.
It’s been a steep learning curve. Letting go of some ossified habits and taking on some new creative challenges.
This year’s office has been the phone, the laptop and wherever I’m sitting/standing/eating. This week it’s my yard and the Stitcher offices in LA. Next week? Stitcher HQ in NYC.
My motto this year is: “We may not know what we’re doing, but we’re having fun doing it.” So far, so good.
Someone brilliant said there’s no such thing as a happy ending to a miserable journey. Have fun, friends.
1) #Slack
As we approach 10,000 messages on #slack for MOB QUEENS, I am dazzled by the sheer volume of communication and teamwork it takes to bring things to life and into the world. #slack knows. #slack remembers. #slack forgives…but never forgets.
2) Tape-A-Call
We’ve had to interview people and experts all over the place. When you’re on a budget and you need soundbites and tape to bring the narrative to life, this is the go-to. Bonus: it makes me feel like a one-woman bureau of investigation.
3) Temi and Trint
Remember when transcription fees were the equivalent of a decent car payment? Temi and Trint are the best workarounds for that. Effortless voice-to-text platforms that allow editorial review for pennies per minute. Inaccuracies? Sure. The AI is not perfect, but neither are you.
4) Dropbox and Box
Sharing creative assets with cast and crew in 2005 was super expensive and wildly inefficient. It was a world without Insta, Pinterest or optimized sharing. I would love to sing you to sleep with the labor-intensive, time-consuming details that defined the world that was 2004–2005, but I’ll spare you. Everything took longer. It wasn’t necessarily better.
5) G Suite
The collaborative and editorial process of premium podcast production is iterative. We have a team of seven at Stitcher who are regularly weighing in. Hive mind has to exist somewhere seamlessly and effectively…and G Suite is the show’s operational hub alongside #slack. Writing and producing two, twelve-episode seasons of an audio docu-series involves mind-boggling levels of complexity and revisions. I resisted the G Suite. Resistance was futile. I might be G Suite’s bitch.
6) Fiverr
We turned to Fiverr for help early on. Vendors for everything from logo ideation to genealogy research. A part-time (and very affordable!) genealogist ended up finding the descendent we needed. It was a longshot that paid off. Big time. You can hear all about it on the podcast. Maybe subscribe now, please. Thank you.
Season One of MOB QUEENS launches TODAY on Stitcher! Say hi on Twitter and Instagram. Get old school and leave us a voicemail at (908) 793–8441, or email us at mobqueenspodcast@gmail.com. You can also check out MOBQUEENS on Apple and Spotify.
