Podcasting BS
I have encountered all of this
This thread is a warning https://twitter.com/evantessuraea/status/1319099873120104449

1) Unpaid production, Youtube AD.
Cast on a Friday or Saturday. Got the script on Monday. Lines due on Friday.
Director puts out a casting call for my character on Thursday morning in case I don't get lines in. I call BS. "It's just in case!"
Friday morning: I submit my lines.

A few hours later I am told:
"Hey dude, soooo the board decided that the last minute bringing in for lines is kind of unprofessional"
They recast me because I didn't submit lines WELL IN ADVANCE of their 4 day deadline for unpaid work.
But I could stay on the ensemble if I wanted

2) AD with an actual RSS feed
Well, sort of. Twin shows sharing an RSS feed, actually.
I get cast same day as my audition (well before audition deadline) and am given the choice between the main character and a major supporting one. I pick the lead.

I join the Discord. There's...a lot of people. The other show's pilot goes live first, it's "a success"
(Showrunner actually gave us the stats, I'm pretty sure 2 people listened outside of the cast)

At this point we learn this guy is writing episodes after he publishes the previous one to Anchor. He also wants one week turnarounds from us.
I submitted my wav file through Google Drive. You'll never guess what nightmare ensues.

At this point I'm prepping for final exams, so I open up my laptop ready to memorize a bunch of facts about the French Revolution or something to the most frantic set of messages which boil down to "I can't download your audio"
Not as in "The audio file won't play"

This person was editing full episodes on his phone. How, I genuinely have no idea. Apparently his computer couldn't handle a DAW.

Regardless of how he was editing, I went offline for a few days for the holidays after I got him to actually download the file. I come back to find an email.
"You have feedback!"
"Great actor, project couldn't finish, etc. etc"

The project got cancelled before the second pilot. Someone else had been given temporary control while the showrunner took a much needed nap. I was politely asked to leave the Discord server. A few months later the RSS feed was taken down.

3) So many shows that want audio uploaded directly to discord. Just...don't. It makes it so many files

4) I am cast!
I am recast!
I would not be mad about this at all, there were some demographic details not in the casting call and not mentioned when I was cast that didn't fit me
Except
I did not find out I was recast
Until the episode came out.

Now I thought, it's a small role, maybe I'm not in the credits, I'll check the website!
My name was not on the website.
I checked the transcript. The scene is still there.
I listen. It sounds like it could be me but with some processing?

I download the episode. I pull the lines I recorded. I plug both into Audacity and compare takes.
The published one had a cadence none of my takes had.

5) I AM the recast for someone who, from what I can gather, is actually hugely problematic and got kicked off for some really inappropriate behavior.
The project seems sound, it's going to be student animation.

A few months pass and eventually I get a little impatient and ask the showrunner "Hey, so what's the plan?"
Further inquiry reveals the PILOT is over 1.5 hours long and not yet finished

So I say "That's going to be really long and take super long to edit"
"I'm prepared for that!"
Now see I was cast in late January. The previous guy in my role was booted in November. This had been in the works since April 2019.

Last week we were told the project had become bigger than it was supposed to be and two major characters would be cut, and the pilot would be scratched and begun anew.
I never recorded a single line of dialogue. I feel so bad for the people who got cut.

6) I am cast by a production company that makes a show I like, for the show I like!
This is not something I have made very public knowledge, you see.
They say "Contact us at [redacted] for the script" because Casting Call Club redacts email addresses.

I reply "Great, but CCC redacted your email, send it again?"
So they send it. I reach out.
Nothing.
Episode comes out with someone else in the role.

7) 24 hour turnaround. Not a short script.

8) Actual nazi sympathizer is running the project. I am waiting for him to slip up again so I can properly report him because I was so shocked when I realized that he deleted it by the time I went to screenshot the evidence.

9) I get cast in a role. The call says Male (which I have issues with in of itself, but that's for another thread)
The day before we record, I'm told "Your character is trans-masculine!"
Friends, I am not trans-masc.

There's situations where I'm comfortable having characters tweaked to better fit my identity, but taking what appears to be the ONLY LGBTQ character and promptly erasing that identity when the VA says "Hey, I really shouldn't play this character" makes me uncomfortable.

10) On that note, I was once cast as a character using she/they pronouns. I made it EXCEEDINGLY clear to the showrunner that I would not take the role if the feminine aspect of the character was at all important to their characterization and that they should recast.

I said I'd be okay if the character only took they/them provided this didn't take anything away from the character. The showrunner said this was totally doable and I was cast.
Upon inspection of the script, this character was not only written as a wlw, but that fact

was integral to her girlfriend's characterization. In fact, I think it was the only bit of characterization we got about her.

11) I was cast in November in a supporting role to two lead characters. As of two weeks ago one of the leads had not recorded. The script is about 15 minutes long.

12) 3 page script. Not microfiction.
13) 4 page handwritten script that is in fact prose and came to 600 words. No backlog.
14) An opening scene. I was supposed to be an AE for this. The project was entirely deleted when I said I would need more to work with.

15) A roleplay that got too cringe to say so it was moved to text. They imported lines directly from the original platform while rewriting the first third that was spoken from memory. Oh, and this used the 0/10 script format

16) Multiple shows destined for animation that got changed to "audio only"
"The script will work for audio!"
The script would not, in fact, work for audio as it was a highly visual script.

17) I auditioned for a project called Project NOVA.
I did not run from "Say something you think would fit"
I used a monologue from Project Nova, Evil Kitten's excellent show.
Showrunner casts me.

"I really liked the lines you auditioned with, I'm going to write it into the script!"
No....you can't do that

18)
I get a callback
I am added to a groupchat.
I am added to a server.
Another set of server people don't know about this and freak out.
Callback group is moved to NEW groupchat and kicked from server.
Callback group exceeds groupchat limit and is moved back to server.

These are the same people who when asked "Can you show me previous work?" linked me to another podcast (not theirs, mind you, they weren't involved with it in any way) and said "It's going to be like this"

19) Three hour readthroughs and files split by line and by take. The script was 45 minutes tops. There were multiple readthroughs per script.

20) Multiple shows that, many months and sometimes years out, have made no progress editing.

21) Have I mentioned the multiple people who wanted me to send .aup files and their _data folders for no good reason? Don't get me wrong, there are times when it's needed...line submissions and two file talk shows are not them

22) "Exposing my friend to fanfiction"
They wanted someone to do audio cleanup. I am so glad I wrote a contract that gave me an easy out.
Majorly inappropriate jokes, and when I said "You need to give me a content warning if you want the final cut"?

I got the most sarcastic "Oh, this podcast isn't for wimps" thing. I left promptly after being paid.

23) Multiple people who insist on recording with Discord bots. You really trust your internet that much, not counting internet transfer loss?

24) Audiobook guy finds me out of the blue. Says "Hey I have a job! $15 to handle about two hours of audio, I need it by Thursday so I don't run out of advertising money!"
It was Tuesday.

25) Paid audio editor position. I get the job.
"Hey so would you actually be willing to do this for free? We aren't allowed to monetize Disney content so all of my budget has to go to advertising."

26) I had one guy forget about his cast.
Not the project, I was scrolling CCC one day and saw a project I recorded lines for. He was recasting the whole thing. When I confronted him, he goes "Wait, which characters already have roles?"

Apparently "some stuff has changed. I should have said I was doing auditions so I apologize."
A good friend of mine was cast and called him out. I got another half-hearted apology.

27) "I'm 13 but have the mental state of an adult"
Dude called me during another meeting and wanted me to edit his podcast. Also, he was running a studio, which failed. Why? Because he left due to the stress and started and even MORE COMPLICATED studio.

28) Transphobic content! I called it out! A good portion of the cast promptly rallied behind me! Minuscule changes were made. This particular project might get a thread of its own one day if I go back and look at it again.

29) I was in one pretty bad project that didn't have a great portrayal of women. The guy messaged me months later asking me to be in his R-rated project about unfortunate strippers. Fastest I've ever declined a role.

30) I had one guy just forget to add me to the production server despite the fact that he heavily edited the script he sent me.
There were four people on the cast.

31) Where is the script, and how/when do you want lines?
"If I view your file, it's none of your concern. Apologies for the inconvenience and we will create further diversity if necessary"
1) What does this even mean?
2) HOW IS THIS NOT MY CONCERN AS A VA?????

This person also expected us to be at live streams (4AM for the Brits!) was really cagey on payment, and oh, that's right, wanted us to record before scripts were done!
BEFORE SCRIPTS WERE DONE!!!

32) I had one guy I did not know at all message me REALLY interested if I was union.
He wanted me to pretend to react to a video for his comedy thing.
Newsflash: I don't do faces.
He kept trying to say "It's not that much work!"
First convo I ended with a block.

33) One project was so mismanaged I'm in it twice without the showrunner's knowledge

34) It's a movie! But a podcast! Complete with all the screenplay cues that do not belong in audiodrama!
35) Can you send me your audition from 6 months ago so I can use it for a trailer?

I'll perpetually add to this thread as more comes up.
It's been a wild ride, that's for sure.