FilmNation Enters Podcast Game With Audio Division Launch

EXCLUSIVE: FilmNation Entertainment has launched a new audition division to finance and produce premium podcasts. The first one, Hyper-Thetical, will launch on May 10. Hosted by Kerry Bishé (Halt and Catch Fire, Narcos), this is a genre-twisting, science fiction anthology podcast series that blends narrative story-telling with interviews featuring some of the brightest minds in science. The podcast was produced by FilmNation with Transmitter Media, and the first season will be eight episodes.

FilmNation is adding another layer to the content it generates for film, TV and theater, and Hyper-Thetical is a podcast produced in collaboration with Luminary, a podcast technology and content company which later this month launches a podcast app with better user experience and content discovery, allowing listeners to find podcast content all over the web. Luminary Premium is a subscription content network delivering quality, ad-free podcasts from some of the most recognizable voices in podcasting, entertainers, and new and diverse voices.

In Hyper-Thetical, Bishé and a team of scientists and specialists take us into these hypothetical, near-future worlds that are full of what-if scenarios. What if a hostile military attack took down our nation’s power grid? What if we could read minds? What if the super volcano at Yellowstone erupted? Each episode tackles these another scenarios.

FilmNation’s audio division will be overseen by COO Milan Popelka, who created the first series and is responsible for growing the company’s business across multiple platforms. Michaela Celella, the company’s Manager of Business Development, will be heavily involved in the podcast venture, and serves as a producer on multiple podcasts on the company’s slate.

“Our goal at FilmNation is to create extraordinary creative content and serve as a destination for the world’s best story-tellers, regardless of format,” Popelka said. “We’re thrilled to extend our global platform into the audio space and empower a new set of artistic voices, and to be launching the first of our podcasts in collaboration with the amazing team at Luminary.”

Said Bishé: “Art and Science are the two primary ways I interrogate my experience of the world – and Hyper-Thetical unifies these methods into a single, mind-expanding experience. We work with scientists and writers to discover what’s possible for the human race… and how we might feel and behave when those possibilities are realized.”

Hyper-Thetical is Executive Produced by Gretta Cohn and Milan Popelka, and produced by Caitlin Pierce and Michaela Celella. FilmNation’s Alison Cohen and Sarah Vacchiano oversaw the deal with Luminary Media.