Podcast Spotlight: Franchise Killer

Franchise Killer’s initial premise is simple: a group of friends pick a film franchise (or something that could be argued is almost a franchise) and dedicate a miniseries of episodes to covering each entry, searching for the potential titular killer of said franchise. By virtue of a franchise usually existing due to popularity of the initial film, Franchise Killer walks a dangerous tightrope every movie podcasts must negotiate from time to time: covering extremely popular movies that every YouTuber, Twitch streamer, and podcaster has picked clean for content years prior. While not as focused on the directorial side of filmmaking as Blank Check with Griffin and David, fans of that podcast will feel right at home with this show’s general love of movies and creative negotiation of “franchises.”

The podcast manages to keep the proceedings fresh with fun miniseries that are more esoteric in scope (e.g. the movies of Robin Williams) to space out more traditional series. As fans of Blank Check or We Hate Movies can attest, committing to the slog that is going through every movie in a series like Transformers or Pirates of the Caribbean can suck the soul out of even the most upbeat podcast.

We were fortunate to talk with Schmitzer about the podcast, how they differentiate from other podcasts, and their future plans in podcasting. See below for our full Q&A.

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DISCOVER PODS: How’d you get into podcasting?

SCHMIZER: I have always been a film enthusiast and even debated going into filmmaking. There is just something about film that caught my attention. A few years ago I was encouraged to start my own podcast, which I did with some friends of mine. We recorded about 10 episodes but they were never launched. Not too long after I decided to give it another go with my family. We started with a Yeti mic and just riffed on movie franchises. It was very choppy and the audio wasn’t great. But as we progressed we studied up, got better mics, and had more involvement from members of the podcast. Now we have a good system going. It really is crazy to think that 2 years ago I knew next to nothing about audio recording and podcasting, and now I’ve edited hundreds of hours of audio.

DISCOVER PODS: In your own words, why should listeners tune in to Franchise Killer?

SCHMIZER: We are a group of friends who have an easy chemistry with one-another. The structure of our weekly podcast allows for extensive in-depth information about the featured film we are discussing each week; including plot breakdowns, individual reviews, box office analysis and ultimately why the film was beneficial or detrimental to its respective franchise. In addition to this, audiences can enjoy pristine audio quality due to the equipment we use.

DISCOVER PODS: What kind of feedback have you heard from your listeners?

SCHMIZER: We have heard mostly positive feedback about our podcast. The most significant feedback we hear is that we have great chemistry and our audio quality is good. The biggest negative notes we get are that our episodes can go on for a little too long. However, we’ve also received positive feedback for our longer episodes as well.

DISCOVER PODS: Describe your recording set up? What equipment are you using?

SCHMIZER: We have 4 of us in a living room surrounding the TV where we have the movie on silent in the background.

Our equipment: We each have a Rode NT-1 that sits on table mic stands that then run into a Tascam Model 12 Mixer. One of our members is remote, so we have him call in via cellphone, which runs through the mixer and back out to headphones that we wear.

DISCOVER PODS: What’s the biggest challenge you face as an indie podcaster?

SCHMIZER: The biggest challenge we face as an indie podcaster is growth. We have learned how to enhance the quality of our audio, we’ve learned how to be better hosts and create a more informative and engaging show. Unfortunately, podcasts don’t become popular overnight. We’ve been releasing episode for almost two years now, and we don’t want to get lost in the void.

DISCOVER PODS: Where do you want to take your podcast?

SCHMIZER: The goal is to see consistent growth in listeners, and launch a Patreon with even more content. We would also like to someday be recognized as one of the best movie review podcasts out there.

DISCOVER PODS: What other podcasts are you listening to now?

SCHMIZER: We listen to many different podcasts. We listen primarily to film podcasts such as School of Movies – A super informative movie review podcast that was the only reputable podcast to give us a chance and let us be guests on their show. We also listen to Blank Check which tends to be more loose and off-the-cuff, Screen Drafts which has long and engaging content with a different crew every episode, and /Film Daily.

Aside from film podcasts, many of us are into True Crime, so we listen to shows like Last Podcast on the Left and True Crime Garage.

DISCOVER PODS: Anything else you’d like to add?

SCHMIZER: We really enjoy doing what we do, and hope that people hear that in our show