Professional Fandom with Gary Russell
This week's podcast
On the podcast this week, I offer my annual end-of summer vacation replay. Since I was supposed to be at Long Island Who this past weekend, I’m talking with professional Doctor Who fan Gary Russell.
Just what does that mean? We joke about people being “professional fans,” but Gary’s truly done it. He’s not the only one—many of the people involved in creating the show, from writers to actors to the folks actually running it—are now folks who’ve been fans since they were kids, which is what happens when you have a show that just celebrated its 60th anniversary.
Gary has done everything from create fanzines to freelance for Doctor Who Magazine to run Doctor Who Magazine to co-create Big Finish Productions (which produces full-cast audio dramas for Doctor Who, starring the original cast as well as new folks, and a variety of other classic series), to ending up working for the BBC as script editor for the show. And that’s not even a complete list!
As always, we focus on the creative journey much more than the fandom, so if you’ve never seen the show, you’ll still be able to follow the conversation, which includes some interesting insights on public relations, freelancing, and being willing to take leaps of faith when they’re presented to you.
I think you’ll find Gary’s point of view worthwhile, and I hope you’ll share your thoughts with us in a comment below.
Listen on your favorite podcast app or at YouTube. (YouTube takes a little while to process, so if you don’t see it yet, it’ll be there soon!)
If you enjoyed the episode, I hope you’ll share it with a friend!
This is a fascinating story!