Podcaster Profiles: Michael & Josie Herman of Acorn Arts & Entertainment

 In this edition of Podcaster Profiles, we will answer the question: Who are Josie And Michael Herman of Acorn Arts And Entertainment? The short answer is creatively vibrant writers, actors, producers, and podcast professionals. 

Let's start with their recent body of work.  

Several podcast networks such as Spotify have crafted expensive sci-fi audio dramas with uneven results. No huge hits, but solid download numbers. Therefore, a highly successful and quality independently produced sci-fi audio drama seems unlikely, given the financial constraints.

Leave it to an independent podcaster like Acorn Arts And Entertainment to innovate a way to produce a high-quality sci-fi audio drama that has the sonic palette of a million-dollar production.

What they've produced is a sci-fi audio opera that crackles with action, conflict, questioning reality, time shifting, and doing ferocious battle with linear thinking.

What is the narrative of Silvertongues? On the tranquil shores of the Kalalani Island Chain, two lost souls discover they have no past. But paradise turns deadly when Roscoe Talbott and Tavi Jones uncover a conspiracy that blurs the lines ...sci-fi / tropical thriller about a young man who discovers he has no past. What follows is an increasingly twisted investigation as he discovers a brainwashed island. 

 

 Then there's The Call of the Void, a fully immersive, three-season, science-fiction/mystery podcast that takes place on the bustling streets of New Orleans.

There, a tour guide and a palm-reading outcast team up to unravel the mystery behind cases of sudden insanity besetting the city. 

Acorn's latest project is from T. Luna Alexander, who is a Michigan-based writer, director, teacher and performing artist.

The Inn At The End Of Things  is a Sleep Theatre podcast designed to help the listener find rest, guiding audiences gently to their dreamspaces through folklore and kitchen table wisdom. 

 Hosted by the Inn’s Keeper, each listener is guided through simple meditations, adventures, and soundscapes. You'll meet the other residents and guests of the Inn, who share tales gathered from around the world. These tales are equipped with empowering archetypes and timeless themes, allowing the listener to reach full relaxation before falling asleep.

 Acorn Arts & Entertainment consists of Michael Alan Herman, who is an award-winning writer and actor from St. Joseph, Michigan.  He was the co-writer of James Franco’s film The Mad Whale in collaboration with Elysium Bandini Studios and has an MFA in screenwriting from University of Southern California.

  Josie Eli Herman is the founder of Acorn Arts and Entertainment. She is a multi-avenue artist with a background in theater and fine art. Some of her greatest passions are directing for theater and film, acting, photography, and portrait painting. 

We asked Josie and Michael where and how met?

"Great question," the Herman's answered. "We have an enemies-to-lovers origin story. In room 103 of the Judy Sturgis-Hill building at Eastern Michigan University, our professor held up two papers and said they were both perfect examples of the assignment. The two papers were from each of us. We locked eyes across the classroom. From that moment, we knew we were academic rivals, nemeses even. Over time, our competitive spirit turned into a close friendship and eventually blossomed into love. And we have now worked in dozens of art forms together, from photography to theater to painting to podcasting."

We asked if they grew up wanting to be writers or actors, or another avocation?

They answered, "We both grew up wanting to be artists, but it took us a while to find our medium. Both of us loved to explore various art forms, from theater and dance to drawing, painting,
writing and music. Separately, we each locked in on acting as the thing we wanted to study in college and perhaps make a career out of. With acting, something just clicked into place for both of us. It was through our study of acting that we met and began our
relationship as well as our artistic partnership. A few years later, when we found audio fiction podcasting, we discovered this incredible world where we could use all the skills we’ve developed through our lives, from acting to writing to graphic design all at the
same time, and we’ve been hooked ever since."

Acorn Arts & Entertainment got its start with a two-person theatrical play that the Herman's wrote called Making Purple.

Michael explains, "Together, we made the set, sewed the costumes,
booked the venue, sold the tickets, and performed for a whopping two shows. It was all we could afford to produce at the time, but we loved it. It’s still one of our favorite memories as a couple, and it ignited a creative wildfire in our hearts to create worlds and stories that stick with an audience. From there, we set out to make more shows that more people could listen to, and that brought us to our flagship - The Call of the Void."

Josie and Michael battle the numerous challenges endemic to be an indie podcaster / producer. 

Josie observes: "The hardest part is juggling all the various hats. We sometimes wish we could clone ourselves so we could have a whole fleet working on our shows, lol. Sometimes you really want to be a writer, but you have to be an editor. Or you really want to act, but it’s time to arrange sponsorship deals. Learning how to wear the right hat at the right time is a goal we are pursuing every day to become a better and better studio."

What’s unique about acting in an audio production compared to a video production?

Josie and Michael chime in: "It’s all about the voice. In so many ways. Sometimes actors (ourselves included) think we are being angry, but we don’t sound angry, we just look angry. It is essential to get all the subtext, and humor, and heart into the voice. So we really have to make sure the correct message is conveyed in every line. At the same time, voice acting allows the audience to co-author the characters in a way. They get to decide what our characters look like, so we try to find the right balance between specificity and generality to allow our characters to shine."

When asked about their writing process, Josie and Michael explained, "When we are in the writing phase for a show, we try to write every day. Even if it’s hard, spending time with the characters is so valuable. It’s not always the same time, it’s not always pretty, but it is productive. Oddly enough, so many of our shows are crafted in those dreamy hours between midnight and 3am. Maybe that’s why they tend to be a little spooky."

They continued: "We also work in layers with our writing process. We outline everything with notecards first (each scene gets a notecard), then we usually write a terrible first draft, and then we polish and revise the story for at least three drafts before actors see them."

Josie and Michael, like so many independent podcasters, find that monetizing their podcasts is their ultimate challenge. 

"Oh man, super hard," Josie exclaims. "We don’t run ads on our shows, so donations are by far the number one way we raise money. We also arrange sponsorships and producer deals for our shows, so there’s a lot of hustle that goes into the money. That said, we are so lucky to say every one of our shows has made it into the black thanks to our generous donors and Patreon supporters, we literally couldn’t do what we do without them."

The Herman's then offered us an inside view of the creative process of one of their most innovative podcasts, The Call Of The Void. 

"It started with a flight into a hurricane. Literally. Back in 2018, we were so lucky to find these crazy cheap flights down to New Orleans. Neither of us had been there before, but it seemed like a cool place to visit, and we had a free weekend, so we decided to give it a shot. Little did we know, we were flying down in the middle of an
active hurricane (which might have been why the flights were so cheap, lol). Either way, the city took our breath away. The architecture, the music, the impending feeling of doom that was so casual and commonplace, it was perfect. Is perfect. We also had just
discovered the fiction podcast Rabbits by PRA. We had never heard a fiction podcast before, and the idea of telling a story through audio seemed like the coolest idea in the world. So we set out to tell a story that would fit on the shelf next to great fiction podcasts like Rabbits or Tanis. We knew we wanted to make something Lovecraftian
and the horror of The Void was born."

Josie and Michael freely admit that, "We love the scrappy spirit of indie podcasters to the size of the large brands. It’s a fun landscape that anyone with a microphone can join. I might call for cheaper entrance fees to the big awards, lol. But we are so in love with this industry, that’s one of the reasons we love working in it so much."

Josie and Michael share their future plans with us.

"Our favorite answer to everything - more art. We want to keep improving as artists and to make more fiction podcasts. We are currently editing our next show LIMINAL, which will air in fall 2025, and we are knee-deep in development for the show after that called AMARYLLIS. From there, we have a few more shows planned, and we can’t wait to reveal more details about those shows as they are ready!

Before we exhausted Michael and Josie with our questions and general nosy-ness, we asked them what artist would you most like to have in your podcast?

Josie goes first: "Elijah Wood." Michael then says, "Donald Glover, and together, they would say "The Worm from the movie Labyrinth."