FEED: You host award-winning podcast The Game Changers. Tell us about it, and how podcasting is a successful medium for promoting a message?
SUE ANSTISS: We launched The Game Changers in 2019, with the idea at the outset of it having more of a B2B focus, sharing the stories of trailblazing women in sports and the impact they have had – and also to inspire other women in the sector, or keen athletes. However, it ended up morphing into more of a B2C. It has grown, and as the numbers have begun to take off, we have finished our 14th series. I’m proud that we really
invested in the quality of it from the start. We got Sam Walker in – who is ex-BBC – as editor. We also made a real effort to make evergreen content that could tell the stories of these women that wouldn’t be too newsworthy. I think we’ve had 1000 downloads as of July 2023, and even if we are not releasing an episode, people are coming back and finding previous ones. Podcasting is still massively growing as a sector as we constantly
see more coming into the space. It’s a way to connect to people in a similar way to radio. But on a different level to broadcast or the written word, it goes a bit deeper. At the start of producing The Game Changers, we thought it might be half an hour, but they’re all nearly an hour. By then, you get into a conversation and they share more. That’s why I love podcasts; it’s an authentic, deeper conversation. That’s what appeals to people.
DRIVING FORCE Anstiss at the filming of Game On, a documentary adaptation of her recent novel
FEED: Tell us about your book and its evolution into the Netflix documentary Game On?
SUE ANSTISS: My book, Game On , is 86,000 words on the history of women’s sport, why we are where we are and what has to change in the future. The documentary then came from the book. I was working with a really small, independent production company, the Ben and Jack Studio, who had already made documentaries within the inclusion space like No Woman No Try and Everybody’s Game . Jack Tompkins, who was the co-director of Game On with me, came to me and kept saying we should make the book into a documentary – initially it felt overwhelming. There’s so much we cover, so many different chapters and topics, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly how to condense that into an hour. But I absolutely saw the power of a documentary. My whole thing is about driving change and the idea that if people see this change happening in sport, it can more broadly impact their attitudes in society. While this book already had an impact,
to actually get that across in a one-hour Netflix documentary meant I could potentially reach an audience I might never usually be able to tap into. It’s a joyful documentary looking at the hope and positivity around sport, but also lets people see where we are and what needs to change moving forward. I absolutely loved the process of making it – it was truly amazing. It was tough to start with as it was self-funded. We went to lots of broadcasters, but nobody would take it, despite the fact that so many of their slates are completely male when it comes to sports documentaries. We didn’t talk to Netflix when looking for commission, but we went to them later when it was completed. And they acquired it, which was fantastic. When making Game On: The Unstoppable Rise of Women’s Sport , we chose to make it as if it was a Netflix-style documentary, because we really hoped it would end up becoming one.
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