Thread by @DirkMaggs

The DC Comics stuff I made for the BBC in the early 90s was released on cassette in the USA and our dearly beloved departed friend Phyllis Hume at @DCComics used to phone to tell me they were being sold in K-Mart, 7-11 etc, and I wondered if audio could be as big as film. /thread

https://twitter.com/barnabyej/status/1429349872159936513

It seemed to me then that comics and audio complemented each other uniquely and that each contributed a storytelling element that the other could only imply. If a project of sufficient scale was out there it might one day be possible to restore audio to its early 20thC status.

Douglas Adams confirmed that when he heard the DC stuff and asked me to pick up the reins on The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy and bring it “home” to audio. We had a certain amount of success worldwide but the rights were bought by Disney who had no interest in promoting audio.

Over the years through some lean times when work just wasn’t there to workaday jobs on more traditional audio fare there has always been the feeling that a project of a certain scale with intrinsic artistic merit, from a creator who ideally was still with us might break through.

The Sandman was always in my mind from the very earliest times at the BBC (thanks to Phyllis again, who sent me early copies) but even after contacting Neil (who himself was sort of mentored by Douglas, as I was) and getting his support, it wasn’t getting commissioned.

It’s not the BBC’s fault we didn’t make it back then. It was a vast project of enormous cost and Neil was still making his name as an author. Its time had yet to come. Meanwhile I took “tent pole” opportunities like the Alien stories to fly the audio flag.

I always loved working on original stuff, including my own writing when I had the opportunity to ‘air’ it. But attracting an international audience to our medium, people who outside the U.K. had largely forgotten the power of multicast, richly produced audio, needed big titles.

When the BBC finally felt ready to take a dip into Neil’s universe our dear friend @HeatherLarmour - bless her - was the producer who turned the key I had failed for so long to budge in the BBC lock. And @neilhimself - bless him - suggested me to adapt the book NEVERWHERE.

Neil, Heather and I became a team. Heather and I co-directed and Neil would be in the studio with us whenever he could. We had a run of fine productions at the BBC and people who loved Neil’s works started to understand the power of multicast, layered audio as a unique medium.

@WhyWolf Sandy Resnick was an old friend from the ‘Phyllis days’ still working at DC - he saw how these productions had developed since the early days and he suggested - unofficially - that we try again to get THE SANDMAN underway. But it would need a resourceful audio publisher.

Neil was enthusiastic but we both had had our hopes raised before only to be dashed. I’d been making the Alien stories at Audible with @SteveCarsey. I knew they had the resources to make The Sandman. I suggested it to Steve and he reminded me that he told me once he was a fan.

It took a while longer to put all the ducks in a row and Sandy and Steve have since moved on but we have brilliant teams at both @audible_com and @DCComics who believe in the project and have moved mountains to get to the point where we are making this the way we wanted to.

So yes it is a thrill to see a billboard or two on Sunset Boulevard for many reasons, but most of all it’s the best thrill ever that so many people are discovering not only The Sandman and Neil’s work, but what an insanely great storytelling medium multicast audio is.
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