We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nicole Soroka and Gracie Lowes a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Nicole & Gracie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry.
A big trend we have seen in the industry is the rise of podcasts. Over the past few years specifically, we have seen many individuals in the entertainment journalism industry start a podcast of their own. Whether this be strictly through an audio platform, such as Spotify, or a long-form video on YouTube, podcasts have seemingly become more accessible for audiences everywhere. For us, we started this podcast because we wanted to build our portfolio and have a way to showcase our work in a professional light. Additionally, we also wanted to create an outlet where we could have conversations about our industry and topics we are passionate about. Although the number of podcasts have certainly skyrocketed, it’s interesting to see how everyone, including ourselves, find new ways to keep our content fresh and exciting.
Nicole & Gracie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
We first met at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September 2023. We were both members of the Media Inclusion Initiative and that is how we initially connected. We saw a few films together and also worked alongside each other on red carpets. When the festival ended, we connected with each other on Instagram but there were no plans for our podcast at that time. Fast forward a few months and we reached out to each other about traveling to Austin, Texas to cover the annual South by Southwest Film and TV Festival for our respective outlets. We spent the week covering the entire festival with each other. Something that bonded us very quickly was our love for the entertainment industry and our similar goals with our careers. While Gracie just graduated this past June with two degrees in Public Relations and Journalism from St. Clair College, Nicole is currently in her third year of her Journalism undergraduate degree at Toronto Metropolitan University. Over the next month, we slowly formed a plan to start a podcast of our own where we discuss the latest entertainment news and interview creative minds in the industry. We wanted to bring our passions forward and broaden our portfolio with this new adventure. We filmed our first episode over Zoom later that week, as well as created a name, logo and social media accounts. After we posted our first episode on YouTube and Spotify, we laid out our individual roles and established our weekly release schedule. With Gracie already having her own online media outlet, Backstage Features, and Nicole holding the position of film editor with Met Radio CJTM 1280 AM, we both had experience reviewing films, conducting interviews and posting content online. Our past experiences also helped us link our podcast to existing networking connections and companies to get in touch with for press events. We spent this summer building up the show, making sure to stay on track with our release schedule, conducting interviews and posting as much as we could on social media. We covered TIFF for a second year in a row and were able to publish content that we worked hard to produce. Currently, we are focused on expanding our audience and establishing ways to reach out to more listeners.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
For Gracie, the most rewarding aspect of working as an entertainment journalist is getting to do what she loves. From an early age, Gracie knew that she had her heart set on working in this industry. Having the ability to report on film festivals, interview artists and host a podcast seems like a dream come true. Gracie has put in a ton of hard work to get where she currently is and will continue building her media brand. Gracie also enjoys getting to learn about other people’s passion and their projects. When conducting interviews, she loves listening to the stories people share with her and learning what goes in to making films, television series and music. For Nicole, the most rewarding aspect of working in this industry is connecting with other journalists. Throughout the past few years, she has met countless individuals at school. film festivals and networking events who shares her passion for what she hopes to pursue in her career. Similar to Gracie, Nicole has known that she wants to work in broadcast journalism since childhood. She enjoys telling stories and working hard to better her craft. The ability to meet new people, learn from their work and challenge herself to reach new goals are some of the best parts of the job.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
During the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, we both found that the red carpet coverage system was tricky to navigate. The process differed from what we encountered in 2023 with the increased number of celebrities, larger number of media outlets on the red carpets and the amount of time we were given to speak to the talent. In some instances, we were surprised to receive the chance to speak with some of the stars, including Hugh Grant, Will Ferrell, Drew Starkey and Ben Stiller. While we were usually only given time for one question, it was always an amazing learning experience to have. In other instances, we were placed on red carpets alongside 60+ media outlets. In these cases, we were rarely able to produce anything more than video footage of the talent walking past us. Inevitably, it was frustrating to spend some much time and energy preparing for these events to end up with very little content to show for it. However, it’s all part of the job and all of these experiences help us grow and learn more about how this industry operates.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/assceneonscreen
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/assceneonscreen
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@assceneonscreenpodcast
- Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3w8wIQkSrWrsODdkeNzxey?si=c310c30bdd5a4c2cTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@assceneonscreen
Image Credits
Image Credit: Evoke Photo Studios