Audible Originals
This page includes details on how to put together a pitch to have your story or series funded by Audible. This information will be updated as we learn more about the process. Last update 2018-07-11.
Length of Work
Target length of the finished product is about six hours, but this is a guideline not a rule. Projects shorter than this can still be pitched, they just have a higher threashold of engagement before they will be considered.
Structure
The story or series should have a narrative arc from beginning to end. If your story is told episodically then that's fine, but each episode will be just a natural stop/start point and should not have the wrappings that a weekly podcast would, such as introductions, recaps, and credits. Just let the story flow smoothly from one episode to the next. "Episodes" can be of any reasonable length.
Materials Needed
The following list details the kinds of information Audible will want in the pitch. For the initial offering you can submit as little or as much of the information as you have available, but more is better and Audible will eventually want to see all of it.
- Logline - A logline is a brief (usually one sentence) summary that states the central conflict of the story, often providing both a synopsis of the story's plot, and an emotional "hook" to stimulate interest.
- Story summary - A lengthier detail of what the story is about, including themes and setting.
- Episode outline - A detailed listing of how many episodes are anticipated and what plot beats will be covered in each.
- Character list - A detailed list of major and minor characters with short bios for each.
- Writing sample - A portion of the script that will help Audible get a better feel for the voice and tone of the work as well as how well the dialogue is written.
- Audio sample - Possibly not required for the piece to be considered, but if it's available it couldn't hurt.
Rights
In brief, when it comes to rights everything is negotiable but the more exclusivity Audible gets the more likely the project is to get greenlit and the bigger the budget is likely to be. That said, be aware of what you're getting yourself into. What you as a writer/creator will want will vary from writer to writer and possibly even project to project, but here are a few possible scenarios.
- The obvious extremes - Audible gets exclusive rights to everything, including script, story, and characters, in perpetuity. Or Audible has no exclusive right to anything (this one has almost no chance of being greenlit).
- Audible has exclusive rights to distribute this individual audio recording in perpetuity, but the writer retains control of script, story, characters, etc.
- Audible has exclusive rights to everything for a period of time to be determined, at the end of which there can be a renegotiation or there can be a predetermined state that things will return to.
- And so on, to taste.
Budgets
At this time we do not have a solid grasp on what budget sizes might look like. It is assumed that when an agreement is reached Audible will provide funds based on length of project, complexity, cast size, and how much they like the story idea. At that time Audible may make a lump sum payment up front, may pay half now and half on delivery, may pay in installments over the course of the production time, or pay on some other schedule to be determined. The budget will be paid to ARTC who will then redistribute the funds to the participants (creator, writer, producer, director, musician, actors, Foley, recording engineer, editor, etc). Everyone will have the opportunity to negotiate for their own compensation, although the Executive Producer will be making the final distribution allotments with consultation from the creator, writer, and producer of the piece. The company will retain some of the budget for itself in the form of a studio rental fee.
Live Performance
Audible has stated that they have no problem with live performances of works created under Audible Originals and seem likely to encourage them as a form of fan engagement.