A podcast/show that explores the grassroots of invention in front of a live audience.
Of the 4 million patents that have failed to become products, maybe some of them deserve a second chance? Patent Pending is a live event featuring Bay Area inventors trying to rebuild old patents to solve today’s biggest problems. Attendees and podcast listeners are invited into this process through a live taping, a traveling road show, and projects you can do at home. The Walking Cinema team has produced a pilot of this podcast series with underwriting and editing support from PRX.
KQED supported the live audience aggregation and studio space for the taping. We are now looking for a home for this show in a progressive, innovation-minded company in the Bay Area.
This project is currently seeking underwriting for a full season. If you have a space or work at an organization where the themes of this show are a fit, please reach out!
Impact
Garnered distribution and funding support from national network PRX.
Created a pilot series that taped live in KQED’s new San Francisco studios.
About the Experience
A show about solving the world’s biggest problems with forgotten solutions
Each episode of Patent Pending follows our hosts as they uncover a long-forgotten invention, exploring the problem it attempted to address, and then hacking an updated version to bring the old invention to life. Is the world now ready for tornado-proof houses that spin like a top? Or is it still too early for sunglasses for chickens? The series is produced and recorded in San Francisco and the greater Silicon Valley area, the epicenter of technology, which provides a recurring backdrop to the show’s focus on invention and remaking the future. Offbeat workshops, quirky makers, technology luminaries, eccentric academics, and funky businesses figure prominently into the journey that in 30-40 minutes goes from investigation to building to presenting a reinvented patent to a live audience.
Audio Sample
In this sample you hear host Jonathon Keats formulate the design challenge for the pilot episode. Based on a 1980’s patent for a device called the “Sound Muffler”, makers were challenged to create a device that helps us release rage via a portable, social, and cathartic way.
Photo Gallery
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Michael Epstein interviews Danielle Baskin
Host and show creator Michael Epstein interviews maker Danielle Baskin about her “sound muffler.”
PHOTO CREDIT: WALKING CINEMA, 2022
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Danielle Baskin Shows Off Her Sound Muffler
Danielle Baskin shows off her sound muffler, a sort of COVID mask that opens up into a screaming face to be both cathartic and social at the same time.
PHOTO CREDIT: WALKING CINEMA, 2022
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Co-hosts Jonathon Keats and Anastasia Victor
Co-hosts Jonathon Keats and Anastasia Victor look on as makers recreate the sound muffler in front of a live studio audience at KQED.
PHOTO CREDIT: WALKING CINEMA, 2022
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KQED’s New Building
KQED’s new building where audio and television productions are becoming community events.
PHOTO CREDIT: KQED, 20122
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Co-hosts Anastasia, Jonathon, and Michael
Co-hosts Anastasia, Jonathon, and Michael explain the original Sound Muffler invention and the design challenge facing the makers to a live studio audience.
PHOTO CREDIT: WALKING CINEMA, 2022.
Production Team
Michael Epstein, Writer, producer, host and creator
Michael is a journalist and professor at the California College of Art. He wrote, directed, and co-produced the audio. He is currently a Reynolds Journalism Institute fellow.
Jonathan Keats, Writer, producer, host
Jonathan Keats dubs himself an experimental philosopher and works on art projects that challenge and reposition humanity’s relationship with nature and technical progress. He helped write and conceive of this project.
Anastasia Victor, Writer, producer, host
Anastasia is a product manager for Oculus at Meta and a long-term consulting artist for Burning Man. She helped write and perform the show.
Jim Colgan, Executive producer
Jim is a former editor with Audible, Jim specializes in audio as a performed medium. He produced the live component of the show and advised on the story production process.
Jason Saldanha, Executive Producer
Jason is an executive at PRX, Jason helped fund the series and guide its story angle.
Julie Shapiro, Editor
Julie is a seasoned audio editor with a background at This American Life, Julie was the editor for the pilot and helped structure the series.
Elissa Mardiney, Editor, recording artist, and production manager
Elissa is an associate editor at Walking Cinema, Elissa edited sections of the pilot and was the production manager for the live event
Rebecca Seidel, Sound design and editing
Rebecca is a sound designer for Goat Rodeo, Becca was the editor and sound designer for the pilot.
Audrey Mardavich, Editor
Andrey is a PRX assistant editor for the pilot.