Trailer Park: The Art & Science of Podcast Trailers

Sara McCrea, podcast specialist at Random House Publishing Group, is our guest host. She brings us the trailer for PASSAGES: On Morrison.
Discover a new show
PASSAGES: On Morrison is a podcast that takes reading on the road. Join Namwali Serpell, novelist, critic, and Harvard professor, as she joins fellow writers and skilled readers in conversation to pore over excerpts of Toni Morrison’s prose.
Recorded throughout the book tour for ON MORRISON—Serpell’s electrifying, critical examination of Morrison’s writing—each episode welcomes listeners into rooms full of readers and discussions of how Morrison made her words sing.
This show is the record of a traveling salon, a celebration of Morrison’s extraordinary work, and a love letter to reading closely in community.
Learn from this trailer build
Sara breaks down the process of making this show on the road. And then, the process behind making the trailer for it -- a complicated endeavor because the show was recorded almost entirely outside of a studio.
About Trailer Park:
Trailer Park: The Podcast Trailer Podcast wants to help you discover new podcasts. We share trailers for podcasts of shows that have been long-running, never made it out of pre-production, were made just for fun, or anything in between. Our goal is to help creators make better short-form audio and to help listeners find their next favorite listen.
Episode extras:
Submit your trailer to TPP
Email us: [email protected]
Follow us on Instagram
Credits:
Created by Arielle Nissenblatt
Produced, edited, mixed, and mastered by Adam Flaherty
Logo by Caio Slikta
Hosted on RSS.com

In this episode of TPP, we hit play on the trailer for Essential Salt, a show about connection, and the power of local stories. "It's a look at how getting to know your neighbors might change the way you see yourself." More information here.
The show comes from The Salt Institute and is made in partnership with Maine Public Radio.
About TPP:
Trailer Park: The Podcast Trailer Podcast wants to help you discover new podcasts. We share trailers for podcasts of shows that have been long-running, never made it out of pre-production, were made just for fun, or anything in between. Our goal is to help creators make better short-form audio and to help listeners find their next favorite listen.
Episode extras:
Submit your trailer to TPP
Email us: [email protected]
Follow us on Instagram
Credits:
Created by Arielle Nissenblatt
Produced, edited, mixed, and mastered by Adam Flaherty
Logo by Caio Slikta
Hosted on RSS.com

In this episode of TPP, we get into the trailer for Everybody Knows But Me, a new show from comedian and podcast person Holly Brown. Produced in partnership with Next Chapter Podcasts, the show is a dark comedy about the secrets we inherit and the stories we tell to survive.
This episode is also hosted by Holly Brown. Arielle's out this week and she asked Holly to take over! Let us know what you think of this episode format.
More about the show:
When comedian Holly Anabel Brown was 17, her dad was dying of cancer when he dropped a bombshell: she had twin brothers she never knew existed - young boys her entire extended family had kept secret. After his death left her with more questions than answers, Holly sets out to uncover how a secret this big could be hidden, and why the sitcoms that raised her were often the only way to make sense of a life stranger than TV.
More information on Holly:
Holly’s comedy is what you get when the girl next door has a little bite - mixing dark humor and millennial nostalgia with an honesty that makes you laugh and squirm. Named one of WhoHaHa’s Comedians of the Year in 2022, Holly has been featured on popular podcasts The Daily Zeitgeist and The Dork Forest. She has performed at SF Sketchfest, Big Pine, the SLO Comedy Festival, and more across the country. Her work has been featured in Funny or Die videos, and she previously produced and performed in her sold-out monthly show, Salty AF, at the Hollywood Improv. Holly headlines nationally, loves calling dogs good boy, listening to Bob Dylan, and investigating her father’s deathbed confession!
About TPP:
Trailer Park: The Podcast Trailer Podcast wants to help you discover new podcasts. We share trailers for podcasts of shows that have been long-running, never made it out of pre-production, were made just for fun, or anything in between. Our goal is to help creators make better short-form audio and to help listeners find their next favorite listen.
Episode extras:
Submit your trailer to TPP
Email us: [email protected]
Follow us on Instagram
Credits:
Created by Arielle Nissenblatt
Produced, edited, mixed, and mastered by Adam Flaherty
Logo by Caio Slikta
Hosted on RSS.com

Arielle shares and analyzes the podcast trailer for Famous & Gravy, hosted by Michael Osbourne.
About the show:
Famous & Gravy is a show that takes a different angle on well-known lives from modern history.
Instead of walking through a timeline, it turns biographies inside out — organizing stories by themes, interests, and meaningful moments, and skipping the parts that tend to drag. It looks at the full shape of a person’s life, not just the headline version, highlighting the less obvious ways they influenced culture, connected with others, and moved through key turning points.
It’s less about what you already know and more about what you didn’t realize to look for — the subtle imprints, unexpected throughlines, and human details that shift your understanding.
Even if you barely recognize the name, you’ll come away with a new lens on modern history — and better stories for dinner parties.

Also in this episode:
Arielle talks about segmenting and how it can elevate a show
A look at YouTube as a search engine
Arielle encourages YOU to submit your trailer (or one you love)

Episode extras:
Submit your trailer to TPP
Email us: [email protected]
Follow us on Instagram

Credits:
Hosted by Arielle Nissenblatt
Produced, edited, mixed, and mastered by Adam Flaherty
Logo by Caio Slikta
Hosted on RSS.com

On this episode, Arielle shares and analyzes the podcast trailer for DEATH AND, hosted by Victor M. Sweeney.
About the featured trailer's show: Equal parts heart, humor, and heaping portions of the unexpected, "Death and" with Victor M. Sweeney explores how death colors the moments that make us human. Small-town mortician (and accidental Internet sensation), Victor M. Sweeney brings curiosity, wit, astonishing stories, and plenty of gallows humor to each episode, teaming up with guests to dismantle taboos, address morbid questions and share real-life stories that find death lurking in everything from stand-up comedy to your morning cup of coffee. If you’ve got a taste for the morbid, a love of laughter in unexpected places, and a craving for honest, unfiltered stories straight from the mortuary, Victor Sweeney is the guide you never knew you needed… and "Death and" with Victor M. Sweeney is the show you’ve been dying to discover.
Also in this episode:
We hear from Adam Flaherty, the produced and creator of DEATH AND, about the making of the trailer.
Arielle talks about the trailer's music, SFX, and tone
Arielle breaks down why the trailer works
Arielle talks about why good writing is essential for this type of show
About TPP:
Trailer Park: The Podcast Trailer Podcast wants to help you discover new podcasts. We share trailers for podcasts of shows that have been long-running, never made it out of pre-production, were made just for fun, or anything in between. Our goal is to help creators make better short-form audio and to help listeners find their next favorite listen.
Episode extras:
Submit your trailer to TPP
Email us: [email protected]
Follow us on Instagram
Credits:
Hosted by Arielle Nissenblatt
Produced, edited, mixed, and mastered by Adam Flaherty
Logo by Caio Slikta
Hosted on RSS.com