The First Ever Seibertron.com Twincast / Podcast Casting Call

You see the title. You know the show. You can talk Transformers all day. You hear the Twincast crew talking about stuff where you've got a take, and you've just got to get it out. Is that you?

If so, the Seibertron.com Twincast / Podcast may be in need of you! No one is permanently leaving the show, but as your ears may have been able to tell, some of our longtime regulars have grown-up, responsible adult type stuff to do that's taken away from the time they can spend podcasting. Due to this, we're looking to bring on one new regular cast member. Potentially, we'll add more than one, but that's only if we're just blown away by more than one applicant.

Here are the qualifications for a potential cast member:

1. An absolute love for the Transformers brand - Not just the toys, not just the comics, not just the shows, not just the movies, not just - well, you get the picture. Even if something isn't your favorite, you'll need to keep up with the latest and greatest and be ready to discuss it. Our show is known, as least partly, for the depth of knowledge of the cast, and new crew should keep up that standard.
2. Drive and desire to make the show better every episode - This is purely volunteer work and every episode will come with some responsibility. No one on the show gets to show up, record, and forget about it. You must be driven to actively contribute and help make this the best Transformers podcast on the internet.
3. An outgoing personality - Not much explanation required here. Shy personalities need not apply. Have to have the ability to keep up a long conversation and be able to treat occasional guests like they're old friends.
4. Ability to have fun, opinionated arguments while never losing your cool - We don't all agree on everything, and that's awesome! Anyone coming on to the show needs to be able to get into a good, intelligent debate, and keep it professional. If you get angry and irrational during arguments over opinions on Transformers things, we're not the show for you.
5. Team first mentality - We're not looking for the next celebrity. We're looking for a piece of a team that can contribute to the whole of that team. If you're looking at this and your first thought is that it'd be a great way to plug your Youtube channel or personal blog, then you're probably not what we're looking for.

Here are the absolute, non-subjective, technical requirements:

1. Must be an active member of the Seibertron.com community - As a cast member on the Twincast, you become part of the Seibertron.com staff. You must be an active member of our community, and you must be willing to continue to post on the forums regularly after joining. Staff members of other Transformers fansites are not eligible to be a regular Twincast / Podcast cast member, however current Seibertron.com staff are eligible to audition. Regular contributors to other podcasts will be considered on a case by case basis - if you're doing sports talk somewhere, whatever; if you're doing Transformers talk elsewhere, we need to know this.
2. Weeknight availability - Must be available on most Thursday nights, but also Tuesdays or Wednesdays as needed, with the occasional other night thrown in as needed around holidays. Recordings are around 8:30 PM Eastern time. This one is completely non-negotiable, as availability issues are why we're having to look for new voices!
3. A good internet connection - You probably need at least a 20 megabit down connection to participate if you live within the continental US. If you live outside of the US, you may need a much stronger network, otherwise the entire production may have difficulty remaining stable and at a good quality.
4. A Skype account - We won't always use Skype into the future, but for the time being, this is the medium used for call recording.
5. Decent microphone or headset - As long as it sounds good, it works, but your built in laptop mic, for instance, probably isn't going to cut it. Also, need some decent headphones. Speakers cause echo and may not be used during a recording.

Here's how to apply if you feel you meet all the requirements:

You'll need to record two clips, and send them in to us in mp3 format. One clip should be thirty seconds long, and the other should be one minute long. No other formats will be accepted and no clips where the talking exceeds the time limit will be accepted (if your file starts with three seconds of silence and ends with a couple and it's 1:05, no big deal, but if the time from your first word to the last is over the limit, your entry is disqualified). Yes, these requirements are a test, and you need to pass. Please do not spend money to do this, there's plenty of free software.

For the thirty second clip, give your thoughts on one of the following three topics:

1. Comics Topic: How do you feel about Megatron's turn to the Autobots, and did you find it handled well stylistically?
2. Toys Topic: Talk about your favorite toy from Transformers: Age of Extinction's toyline.
3. General Topic: What is your favorite era (could be a whole era like "Unicron Trilogy" or single period such as "Beast Wars Season 2") of Transformers?

For the one minute clip, answer one of the following questions. Your choice from here should address a different area of the hobby than the thirty second clip. In other words, if you picked a toy topic for the short clip, do not pick a toy topic here, and vice versa:

1. Comics Topic: What is your favorite era/book/mini-series of Transformers comics, and why?
2. Toys Topic: Do you think Hasbro's "Combiner Wars" theme for 2015 will help combat potential sales lost to third party companies?
3. General Topic: What keeps you interested in the Transformers?

Each clip should be recorded as if the host has prompted you to answer it on the show. Once you have them ready, send me a Private Message here on the forums to let me know that you're interested. This will allow us to verify that you're an active community member here. Once we've done that, you'll be sent an email address to send the actual clips to, and that's it!

Deadline:

Deadline for entries is 6 PM Eastern Time on November 9th, 2014 and we will not accept any more submissions after that time.

Judging:

All interested candidates will be contacted by November 12th at the very latest. At that time you'll either be moving on to the next phase of consideration described below, or we'll let you know that we won't be moving forward in having you on the show.

We'll pick our favorite 2-4 clips (more if there are more really good submissions, less if there aren't), and then those folks will, one by one, get to appear on an episode for a tryout. This tryout will be the ultimate criteria used in final judging. Depending on the number of folks we want to audition, there may be one person auditioning on an episode, or we may have someone audition for an hour, then we'll have them leave and bring someone else in for other segments. Just depends on what we get and what feels like the right thing to do when we cross that bridge.

There's no set criteria for judging the folks that audition, it will come down to a vote by the seven current members of the Twincast crew. Chemistry is everything, you may be the next big thing in Transformers podcasting, but if you don't have chemistry with us, you just don't have chemistry with us. Seibertron (Ryan Y.) has final approval and veto authority, since, you know, he owns the site! Of course, even though the final decision is in our hands, listener feedback in the podcast thread for the episode(s) where audition(s) occur might sway our opinions.

Good luck, and we look forward to hearing from everyone that applies!


Disclaimer: An offer to join the Twincast team stemming from this event does not guarantee any permanent arrangement. If circumstances occur that lead to any requirements not being met in the future, performance (real or perceived) after audition period drops below an unacceptable standard, or if responsibilities beyond recording your voice on the show are not completed, invitations to appear on future episodes may be revoked.

Credit(s): Seibertron.com's Twincast / Podcast