On the April 21, 2017 episode of the Gimlet Media podcast “Startup“, the company’s founder Alex Blumberg announced a phone number where he will be accepting questions from the audience.
While I’m sure that 99% of the questions will be asked about the elephant in the room, I decided to come up with a list of questions not about that certain mystery that I’d like to see Alex Blumberg answer.
1. Why did Gimlet drop the “Circle G” logo when it changed the artwork for all of their shows? It seemed like if AT&T dropped the globe or if NBC got rid of the peacock.
2. Why did Adam Davidson leave “Surprisingly Awesome“?
3. Is it safe to say that Adam McKay left “Surprisingly Awesome” because he’s generally too busy in his day job as a major Hollywood film director?
4. Are the doors open for Adam and Adam to return for (an) eventual “Surprisingly Awesome” reunion show(s)?
5. Is “Homecoming“, which features name actors like Catherine Keener, David Schwimmer and Oscar Isaac more expensive to produce than shows that involve travel like “Heavyweight”?
6. Why did Gimlet choose not to interrupt the episodes of “Homecoming” with commercials, instead opting for a cable TV-like “aftershow” with a sponsor?
7. Why do you mention the musicians that perform your shows’ theme music (particularly songs from established bands like Vulfpeck and The Weakerthans on “Heavyweight” and “Open For Business“) but not the titles of the songs?
8. Why was Nazanin Rafsanjani‘s marriage to Alex Blumberg not mentioned in her episode of “Twice Removed“? She was introduced as an employee of Gimlet but not as the wife of the CEO.
9. How come “Startup” has not, up to this point, addressed any criticism that Gimlet and its shows have received during its shows?
10. Has Gimlet considered releasing its show pilots Amazon-style, to get listener feedback before committing to making them into series?
11. Why don’t any of your shows have a sponsor synonymous to it like how “Serial” has MailChimp and “Talk is Jericho” has DDP Yoga?
12. Why did Gimlet, who discussed why they turned down a branded podcast from the Department of Defense decide to allow Goldman Sachs, another very controversial organization, as a sponsor?
13. What lessons have Alex Blumberg and Gimlet learned from viewing the launch of “Serial”, particularly it’s second season which was not as successful as the first?
14. Why does Gimlet feel more comfortable with cancelling shows, after the short runs of “Sampler” and “Undone”?
15. Is “Startup” essentially three different shows now, with the styles of seasons 1 (focus on Gimlet), 2 (focus on one company other than Gimlet) and 3 (focus on multiple companies) showing up during various times of the year?
16. Is Gimlet open to being acquired by a larger company or merging with other companies?
17. How does someone with no experience in podcasting/producing/audio production get a job at Gimlet? Should they intern, make their own podcasts or other things?
18. What production equipment and editing programs does Gimlet use?
19. Has Gimlet, who uses gimletmedia.com for their domain, attempted to buy gimlet.com, owned by a cybersquatter? How much are they asking for?
20. Did Alex Blumberg know Zack Braff before he made “Startup” into a sitcom pilot for ABC?
21. How did hotmoms.gov get their name?