That's a wrap!

Hi folks,

As some of you will have seen on social media last week, we have officially wrapped recording on the first season of The Magnus Protocol. It’s hard to believe that we’re already here – more than halfway through releasing the episodes and to have finished the main bulk of work with our amazing performers – until season 2 begins recording that is!

(Image description: A screenshot from a video call with four participants. From top left to right: Alexander J Newall, April Sumner, Sarah Lambie and Anusia Battersby. They are all laughing.)

As our production team work on editing the second half of the season, writing for season 2 is already well underway.

Last week was also The Podcast Show 2024 in London – it is always such a pleasure to attend and meet folks from across the podcasting industry. This year, our CEO, Alexander J Newall, hosted a panel on monetisation in UK Audio Drama alongside Acast’s Content Director, Sam Shetabi, the Managing Director of Audio UK, Chloe Straw, and director, producer and writer Ella Watts.

(Image description: Four people sit on a stage, holding microphones. From left to right they are: Sam Shetabi, Ella Watts, Chloe Straw and Alexander J Newall. They are sitting in front of a colourful backdrop showing The Podcast Show 2024 logo and branding.)

The Podcast Show also hosted the announcement of the shortlist for the International Women in Podcasting Awards. We are absolutely delighted to say that our very own Katharine Seaton has been nominated for her incredible work on Neon Inkwell. We are so proud of Katie and pleased to have the first Neon Inkwell series, Of That Colossal Wreck recognised in this way. You can find the full shortlist on the IWPA website – congratulations to everyone who was nominated!

We also took the opportunity to attend meetings and events hosted by some of the companies we work most closely with including Patreon, Spotify and Audio UK – it was a great chance to meet some our reps in person, as well as other podcasters in a relaxed setting.

Of course, it was also MCM London this weekend – while Rusty Quill did not attend in an official capacity, we have seen some incredible photos of Anusia Battersby – who plays Gwen in The Magnus Protocol – with Mr Bonzo - aka cosplayer Bloody Baroness. If you attend a convention this summer and cosplay as a Rusty Quill character, please do tag us in a photo on social media or send us an email to mail@rustyquill.com – we love to see cosplayers and are always blown away by the talent in this community.

This week in The Magnus Protocol we meet an old friend. Meanwhile in The Pit Below Paradise, Dori and Ruth contend with the events of the previous episode, and Dori must face some hard truths.

Here is our full schedule for this week:

Tuesday 28th May

The Magnus Protocol 18 – Solo Work (Patreon & Kickstarter) (4pm BST)

Wednesday 29th May

Neon Inkwell – The Pit Below Paradise 6 – A Celebration (Patreon) (4pm BST)

Thursday 30th May

The Magnus Protocol – 18 – Solo Work (Public) (4pm BST)

Friday 31st May

Neon Inkwell – The Pit Below Paradise 6 – A Celebration (Public) (4pm BST)

Have a good week all!

The Rusty Quill team