Today we’d like to introduce you to Lindsay Reber.
Hi Lindsay, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Well, I’m one half of a movie podcast called Don’t Push Pause, and how I got here was through a lifelong love of movies.
I have a degree in Journalism, but working for a newspaper never fit for me. Entertainment journalism seemed impossible to break into locally. So, when I was a bartender, I started a free Sunday morning screening at a local coffee shop/bar for folks for anyone who happened by. Each week had a theme, sometimes mainstream, sometimes obscure, but always wanting to grab the attention of any passerby. It was called MovieCove, and it also gave me a reason to justify having a movie collection that kept getting more expansive.
It was through one of these screenings where I met my future podcast partner, Justin. We were both part of the local music scene (he’s a singer/guitarist; I’m a drummer), so we had that connection. He came in a few times and realized we had a lot in common when it came to movies.
Even though neither one of us knew anything about podcasting, we knew we loved talking about movies, analyzing, and talking about how our favorite films were created. If we were to partner in creating our own podcast, we wanted to be different. We didn’t want negativity in our programming, to be accessible to all audiences and be some form of education and entertainment. We wanted to tell the stories of movies we loved and would hopefully encourage others to seek them out.
In doing this, we also realized most of our favorite films were made pre-2000, so that became a parameter of our format. Our format developed into somewhat of a radio program: the first half of an episode would be an in-depth dive into our featured movie, followed by two Picks of the Week, then rounding out each episode with a wild card segment— me linking each featured movie to Bill Murray. This was my partner’s suggestion as he uncovered, I knew a lot about Murray.
We learned out to edit episodes, research for our talking points, how to create our narrative, plus daily social media content such as creating graphics and editing videos for social media content, maintaining a website and small online store and so much more.
We’re now on our fourth year, 82 episodes in, battled through how the pandemic temporarily changed recording, and through it all have become even better friends and podcast partners in this job we still love to do, even if we are unpaid. We do it because we have a genuine love for it.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The initial setup was challenging because we felt overwhelmed. We had at least 8 “practice episodes” recorded before we ever released our first.
The pandemic presented a challenge as we had to learn how remotely record our episodes, and self-edit along the way. It was a long process of readjustment. Also, a process of adjustment since we’ve gone back to recording in person.
Regularly, a lot of time is spent working on everything podcast-related, so when I’m not at *paid* work, I’m working on podcast material.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’ve Been a podcaster for four years, specializing in research, in-depth behind-the-scenes storytelling.
I’m most proud of my commitment to this project. It’s very much a part of my everyday life.
What might set me apart is my dedication to this podcast. It feels like a relationship. You have a recurring goal/deadline you must meet for daily tasks. If this were my paid job, it would sound run of the mill, but I balance this with a full-time job that is not podcast-related, plus being a mom of four animals.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success would be doing what brings you happiness in life. It might sound trite, but if you don’t like your job/relationship/ creative endeavor, you’re wasting your time. Find what you love to do and do it better than anyone. Hopefully, you can financially benefit from this, but if not, that does not define success.
Contact Info:
- Email: Dontpushpausepodcast@gmail.com
- Website: Www.dontpushpausepodcast.com
- Instagram: @Dontpushpausepodcast
- Facebook: Facebook.com/dontpushpause
- Twitter: @dontpushpause
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCENWw5tNFGgFnvhrxpKi7vg
- Other: https://dontpushpausepodcast.podbean.com/
Image Credits
Lindsay Reber
Justin Johnson
Brett Bell
Beau Shoulders
Corey Woodruff
