Jemma Brown, General Manager, The Signal Awards: 30 for 30 has an editorial mandate. Can you share what it is in your words?

Preeti Varathan, Head of 30 for 30 Podcasts: We’re interested in how personal, cultural, and political dramas play out in sports, and how sports can be a stage.

If you look at our feed, we have stories about Iranian women standing up and fighting to have a presence in soccer stadiums. We have Girl V. Horse, that’s about this amazing runner Nicole Teeny, who spent five years training to outrun a horse in a 50 mile run in the face of an epilepsy diagnosis. We have The Sterling Affairs, we have Bikram. Sports-meets-culture is the throughline.

If a story has characters and something extraordinary happens and the story changes and evolves over time, definitely pitch us. We’d be interested in taking a look at it.

  Learn how to pitch ESPN 30 for 30 Podcasts here

Jemma Brown: At a time when a number of studios are focusing on interview shows, 30 for 30 is the rare outfit that’s seeking out longform narrative stories. Why?

Preeti Varathan: I mean, look, I’ll start by saying that storytelling can come through in a bunch of different formats, and you can tell really cool stories in an interview. Interview shows and narrative shows don’t need to be oppositional. It’s more important to think about when we get a story in, what is the best format for it?

Now, all that being said, I often think that the kinds of pitches that we get, the kinds of stories that we love to tell and the projects that feel really right for 30 for 30 are best told in narrative format. It’s the best way to get inside the storyteller’s head. And 30 for 30 is such an archival rich brand. We’re swimming through archival! Oftentimes the best way that you can revisit a moment in history is by revisiting the tape from that day, which we try to do.

Jemma Brown: What does a 30 for 30 story sound like?

Preeti Varathan: We care a lot about making sure people feel they’re entering a unique sound world. For example, one of the driving questions that drove Girl V. Horse was, what does a seizure sound like?

And I loved that question and I’ve asked a version of it at the start of every season. So in Chasing Basketball Heaven, which is about Martin Manley, Manley had synesthesia.We opened the series talking about this and asking what does synesthesia sound like? What does it sound like to be a mathematical genius interacting with basketball? A signal of a 30 for 30 show is that there’s at least one really immersive scene that gives you the feeling of what it’s like to be at a game or inside the main character’s brain. Because of the nature of sports, we’re in scene often.

Jemma Brown: You’re doing a lot of, show me don’t tell me storytelling.

Preeti Varathan: Yeah. It’s because 30 for 30 makes sports stories that are going to move you. We use this central question which is: what if I told you? 

What if I told you that a woman spent five years trying to outrun a horse? Or, what if I told you like one man changed the game of basketball? As we’re getting close to finalizing a story, we’ll ask, what is the “what if I told you” as our way of making sure that the story will move the listener.

I take the listener’s time really seriously. Hopefully when something pops up in their feed from 30 for 30, it feels like a gift.

Jemma Brown: A big part of your job is seeking out stories, listening to pitches and going through the development process. How do you know when there’s meat? When a story has an “it” factor?

Preeti Varathan: One thing that is interesting is we almost always know pretty quickly. The best stories are saying something unusual or unexpected or significant about a moment in sports that we all think we know, but are getting to think about differently. An element of, you think you know a lot about that athlete… But actually there’s something more complicated going on here. 

Often we find that the person pitching has been thinking about the story for a while, and if they’re not personally connected to their story, then they’re deeply invested and moved by it.

Jemma Brown: My last question for you: what’s a start here episode to listen to?

Preeti Varathan: Sometimes I feel like I’m the in-person version of a Buzzfeed quiz where I’m like, do you like stories of women overcoming obstacles and memoir? Then listen to the first episode of Girl V. Horse. If you connect with history, then Searching for Hobey Baker. Those two are great ones.

Jemma Brown: Thank you so much for taking the time to talk Preeti!

Preeti Varathan: Absolutely, thank you.

Listen to the Latest from 30 for 30 Podcasts: 'Chasing Basketball Heaven'