Lightcatchers: Behind the Scenes with Dan Gummel
Gracebased | Bob the Bad Pirate, Dan Gummel, Lightcatchers
We’re so excited to share our newest creation with families like yours. Lightcatchers, a podcast of original stories written for kids, has been a labor of love for our team.
We recently sat down with Dan Gummel, the show’s producer, to discover the process of bringing this imaginative world to life.
How do you bring a story on the page to life in this podcast?
I would really draw attention here to Cody’s vision for Lightcatchers. I think when you have great writing and a clear vision for what this thing could be, it’s easier for a team to help bring it to life. We would have script review sessions where Jonathan Roberts and I would offer feedback on the script and then lay out sound design moments inside the script. We would talk through various beats in the story and make sure we were on the same page with how we wanted to approach it. Then we would bring our A game to recording and try our best to bring it to life. It was a lot of fun.
What do you enjoy most in producing and creating this first season?
I enjoyed the drafting and recording and producing process. There are a lot of Lightcatchers that get left on the cutting room floor. Much of it is bloopers and funny moments that we had as a team where we were just having a good time making something.
How did you create all those fun pirate voices?
Jonathan Roberts, our incredible sound designer, was really the brainchild behind that. We would discuss various ideas, but most of those voices come out of his imagination and his own voice.
How did you create all those fun pirate voices?
I like Colossus Klaus. I’m German by heritage and enjoy thinking that somewhere in my family tree I have a Colossus Klaus pirate ancestor. 🙂
What do you hope parents and their kids get out of this first season?
I hope it is an opportunity to just relax and be a family and enjoy something together. We want Lightcatchers to be a place where parents can let their hair down and join their kids in being kids—having fun, being open to play and imagination, and embracing creativity.