We are delighted to announce our newest podcast: NEXT STOP, an audio sitcom about what happens in between big life moments. We will also be releasing the show’s full budget along with a detailed resource on fiction podcast production in April 2020. In an industry first, Multitude is self-funding this SAG-AFTRA production using a cash advance from membership platform Patreon.
Listen to the trailer below and subscribe in any podcast app, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and PocketCasts. Learn more about the show, cast, and crew at nextstopshow.com!
THE SHOW
NEXT STOP explores the turbulent time of your mid-to-late 20s when everyone is changing around you—and you worry that you might not catch up. Longtime roommates Cam and Ally search for someone to replace their newly engaged former roommate, and stumble upon the iconoclast and ridiculous Samuel Clemens. Across its ten-episode first season, NEXT STOP follows these roommates’ trials through work, relationships, friendships and more. We watch them grow together as a unit, no matter what life throws at them. And in the 21st century, that really can be anything.
“I wanted to use the tools of a traditional sitcom in this new setting of the 2020s, and the new medium of podcasting,” says NEXT STOP writer and creator Eric Silver. “Comedies set in big cities generally focus on the stories of fledgling 20-somethings or thirty-somethings moving on to a new phase of life, so NEXT STOP seeks to fill that gap. There are also very few straightforward slice-of-life sitcoms in the podcast landscape and I want to see more of them. So I started writing these a full year ago, not knowing if the scripts would become anything.”
NEXT STOP premieres in April 2020, directed and sound designed by Brandon Grugle and assistant directed by Julia Schifini.
FUNDING
Multitude is self-funding the production of NEXT STOP using a cash advance from Patreon, a membership platform that enables over 150,000 creators to earn monthly salaries directly from their patrons. For any small business, balancing financial stability today with investing for tomorrow is a constant struggle. Patreon’s advance of NEXT STOP’s future earnings allows Multitude to properly compensate the staff working on this production without compromising the stability of their business.
“Patreon makes it possible for all of us at Multitude to make a living as full-time podcast creators,” says Amanda McLoughlin, CEO of Multitude and Executive Producer of NEXT STOP. “Our independently- owned member podcasts rely on the income earned directly from our listeners via Patreon. This advance allows Multitude to fund new work by and for ourselves. We are betting on our ability to make something new, high-quality, and exciting in NEXT STOP without having to convince third parties or investors to believe in us. We believe in ourselves, and thanks to Patreon, that’s enough. There is no better partner to help us fund this show, and we’re excited to share how we did it in our resource.”
NEXT STOP’s ten episodes will be released weekly across all podcast platforms starting in April 2020. Listen to the series trailer on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, PocketCasts, or any other podcast app.
CAST
NEXT STOP’s cast draws from New York theatre, film/TV, and comedy communities as well as podcast and web video talent. Yemie Sonuga (West End: Porgy and Bess, The Book of Mormon; National tour: The Lion King) is Ally, a bartender making it through her shifts to get home to her friends. Nick Fondulis (Succession, 30 Rock, The Affair) is Cam, a fledging writer stuck in a dead-end job at a big media company. Ian Henry Walls (Royall Tyler Theatre: Pippin, Peter and the Starcatchers, Spring Awakening) is Samuel Clemens, a fresh-faced and dewey-eyed new arrival who hopes his move to the city will force him to commit to change.
Maya Rosewood (Daredevil, No Strings Attached) is the charismatic startup founder Nessie, whose plan to co-opt a subway car as a private coworking space sends Cam into a fury. Jo Young (Broad City, Billy on the Street, Presumed Violent) is Samuel Clemens’ mom, whose visit to see her son in the big city goes awry when she runs into David Boreanaz (Justin McElroy). Additional actors include Mélisa Brenier-Sanders as Gillian, Kathryn Milewski as Gillian’s fiancée Ashley (who may be the pop star Halsey), Amir Royale as popular streamer bradisgoodatsoccer, and Brian David Gilbert as wifi customer service provider Gervin.
A full cast and crew list, including pronouns, is available at nextstopshow.com