Our podcast recommendation of the week is Straight To Video – where host Rob Lane interviews actors, musicians, and other fascinating people in pop culture.
At the bottom of these features, there’s a little note. It basically says to get in touch if you’re a British movie podcast who wants to be featured. Since you’ve just scrolled down, read it, and come back, it’s pertinent to this week’s feature, as this particular podcast did just that; got in touch and said “I have a podcast, please feature me!”, and honestly we’re glad he did!
Creator and host of Straight to Video (as well as editor, researcher, social media manager, and every other job that comes with a solo podcast!) Rob Lane knows a thing or two about going for what you want. Back in the early 2000s, he was running his own rock music magazine and went out of his way to track down musicians to interview them. He transitioned to being in a band himself for the next 10-15 years, but missed speaking to those musicians, and so started a new project – Straight to Video – as a vehicle to promote his love of all things pop culture.
Since its inception, Straight to Video has changed from doing cover versions of ’80s movie soundtrack songs, to becoming an interview-based podcast. Rob uses his connections in the industry, as well as good old-fashioned persistence, to interview some of the biggest names in pop culture. That includes actors, as well as musicians and generally fascinating people, all about their childhoods, their favourite movies and what shaped them to be who they became. His main inspirations for starting the podcast were the podcasts he himself listened to, such as those hosted by Kevin Smith and Jaret Reddick. He’s managed to get Jaret Reddick on his podcast, but he’s still waiting to get Kevin Smith. You’ll get him, Rob! We have faith!
Rather amazingly, Rob started with a two-episode-per-week schedule and has managed to maintain that consistency; every Tuesday and Friday, fans are eager to hear the latest interviews. Straight to Video's consistent quality-and-quantity output is definitely something to be impressed by. It certainly helps when the podcast is helmed by Rob, who remains so dedicated to, not only his guests, but also his listener-base. Interviews feel personal, like a fly-on-the-wall conversation between friends, and remains fun and engaging. Rob’s background in the industry is pivotal to getting the most out of his guests, making them feel welcome and enabling them to open up on their nostalgic moments. This is a podcast born of passion that elicits passion.
Straight to Video. Straight to this podcast.
Recommended episode: Episode 70: Matt Willis (12 March 2021) – https://straighttovideo.buzzsprout.com/1172573/8121010-episode-70-matt-willis
Straight to Video can be found at: http://www.stvpod.com/
And followed at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/straight2vid
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/straight2vid/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/straighttovid
All episodes of Straight to Video are available and can be listened to or downloaded from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts from.
Are you a British movie podcast who would like to be featured on Film Stories? We welcome all suggestions and requests, but we especially want to hear from you if you’re female, POC, non-binary, LGBTQIA+ or have a disability. Email Em – verbaldiorama at gmail co uk (Just remove the spaces and add the ‘@’ and the dots, but don’t send spam. She’s vegetarian.)
—
Thank you for visiting! If you’d like to support our attempts to make a non-clickbaity movie website:
Follow Film Stories on Twitter here, and on Facebook here.
Buy our Film Stories and Film Stories Junior print magazines here.
Become a Patron here.
