Event information reads: 7-9th November 2024, Riverside Studios, London, Surf / Film / Art / Culture

The Announcement: Matt Barr in Conversation

Matt Barr: Looking Sideways // Image: Owen Tozer

Matt Barr, never not Looking Sideways // Image: Owen Tozer

It may be stating the obvious but there’s no escaping the fact that we’re living in an era of great change. Questions of democracy, advocacy, modern capitalism and environmental activism may not be first to mind when you consider the art of waveriding or surf culture, but they are always there, woven into the very fabric of our lives and our lifestyle.

Big conversations are taking place that impact us all, but it can be easy not to feel part of them. This is one of the reasons we have been so looking forward to the release of Matt Barr’s ‘The Announcement’. This outstanding three-part documentary podcast series from Looking Sideways takes Patagonia’s decision to make ‘Earth’ their only shareholder, to spark a fascinating exploration into big business, ethics and the environment while investigating modern capitalism and the role we all unwitting play in it.  Matt’s meticulous research is supported by an outstanding stable of contributors but it’s by bringing this conversation out of the financial and business pages, and into our world of the outdoors that really opens it up and makes this series such an essential listen.

The first two episodes have been released to huge acclaim. Our favourite broadcaster, Keme Nzerem called the series: “Thought provoking. Informative. Curious. Meticulously researched. An essential contribution for anyone interested in how business can influence and benefit environmental activism,” and we wholeheartedly agree.

I caught up with Matt to talk about the process, paranoia, AI, oligarchs, back-slapping, ski lifts and a whole lot more.

The Announcement: Looking Sideways a documentary podcast series from Matt Barr

The Announcement: Part 1: DECISION: LISTEN HERE

Congratulations on The Announcement. Can you explain a little about the inception point of the project and a little about your journey too. 

I’ve wanted to make a longform podcast documentary series for a long time, mainly to see if I could do it. I had a few ideas that almost came to fruition over the years, but nothing really stuck. I had the initial idea for The Announcement about two years ago, just after the – well – initial announcement, so the two things came together and eventually turned into this.

For me listening to the series as a whole, I felt there were similarities with ‘The Big Sea’ in that they are both seemingly about a very simple premise and yet there are many interwoven layers – did you know that this would be such a rich and interesting story going into the project?

Not at all, and that’s obviously one of the most enjoyable parts of this or any creative process – following this threads, and trying to marshal them into one coherent whole. I worked on this series with my sister, Jo Taylor. She exec produced it. She comes from the charitable sector and early on we had a lot of conversations about how the story was as significant in the world of corporate philanthropy as it was for the outdoor industry, and how we tried to find a way of telling the story that would have resonance for both of these pretty disparate constituencies. The more these conversations progressed, the more those threads became apparent.

 

The Announcement: Looking Sideways a documentary podcast series from Matt Barr

The Announcement: Part 2: SCRUTINY: LISTEN HERE

How much did the trajectory of the narrative change over time and were there any aspects of the story that surprised you?

The narrative arc changed fairly frequently, although I knew episode 1 had to be the foundational scene-setter from the beginning. But obviously the more people I spoke to, the more the narrative evolved and came to life. I thought John Elkington’s masterly summary of the last 50 years of corporate activism, which makes up a large part of episode three, to be incredibly insightful and really helped me articulate a lot of the vague thoughts I’d had about that world.

 

Matt Barr :  “I was fitting this (The Announcement) in around my life and job.” Stuff, like this: Matt In conversation with Chris Burkhard at Kendal Mountain Festival 

I’d love to know a little bit about the process of outlining the story and the scripting. How did you approach it, what was the sort of time frame. 

All in it took about two years, although I was fitting this in around my life and job, so it didn’t literally take that long. But because I am so busy with my other stuff like my day job running All Conditions Media, and then doing Looking Sideways alongside that, I had to do it in pretty distinct stints. So I finished episode 1 late 23, and then had a break for a couple of months, before doing episode 3 in early summer 24. Then Ben Townsend, my very talented musician friend, wrote the score and we arranged the three episodes over a couple of months between May and June. July to October was feedback and rewriting and recording. I was done by December 24 then I gave it a few weeks break before final listens before release.

The interesting thing about all that is I was quite paranoid about how long it was taking, and the longer it went on, the more I wondered if I’d left it too late and people would wonder why they should care. The irony about that is that Trump’s election, and the ongoing media discussions about the danger of oligarchy, and billionaires being unaccountable, for example, suddenly mean that many of the themes I discuss in the series have never been more relevant.

I know you don’t shy away from embracing AI- any recommendations from the process?

Ha well this is how long it took me to write – when I stared it, I paid Rev.com to transcribe all my interviews because I couldn’t do it. By the end, I was doing them all on Claude.Ai

I know there are huge ethical and creative implications with AI, but it has transformed the humble world of interview transcribing, and I know I speak for my global journalistic brethren when I say: thank fook for that.

For Looking Sideways paid subscribers, there’a a special Behind The Scenes bonus edition discussion about The Announcement with Steve Scott, Phil Young and Lauren MacCallum

You interviewed a raft of highly respected individuals from the world of business and ethical capitalism. How did you decide who to talk to and were there any whose thoughts really resonated with you / made you think more deeply / led you on a different path?

Basically through a lot of research and long conversation with Jo during the early stages of concepting and planning. Between us we have a pretty good Rolodex which covered a lot. Also, I have been pitching people to interview for 30 years now, so a lot of the time I just hit up people with a pitch and then almost all said yes. The people I interviewed were all also really enthusiastic about the topic, and recommended people. Doughnut Economics had been ignoring me for months until Louise Kjellrup Roper, who I’d interviewed for episode 3, kindly put in a good word.

What was the most rewarding part of the creative process in taking this from pitch through to completion?

Well I am a writer so sitting down and writing each episode was obviously something I really enjoyed.

Working with my sister on something that intersected so neatly with both our personal and professional interests was, of course, a total joy, As was working with Ben Townsend, my insanely talented producer and composer friend, who wrote the score, recorded the whole thing, and mixed it. I can’t thank him enough for what he brought to this, and with such generosity and enthusiasm.

As this was your first feature documentary podcast what were the main lessons you learned and what advice would you pass on?

You need a decent idea. But that idea probably won’t evolve into what you originally thought it would. And that’s the whole point of making it, so don’t worry about it and just sit down and get on with it.

 

Matt Barr and The Big Sea writer and producer Chris Nelson in conversation about the art of impact and storytelling at LS/FF. Image: Adj Brown

What do you hope people take away from the series?

Whether you realise it or not, these topics impact us all already. So I wanted to explore them in a way that helped people understand them, which is why the Patagonia move was such a great way in. Also, I think the way the outdoor industry (and most industries, come to think of it) engage with the topics of climate change and sustainability are fundamentally disingenuous and not fit for purpose – which is of course a key theme of the Big Sea as well.

I think asking, ‘are my actions really going to have an impact on the issue I say I’m bothered about? And if not, should I continue to do them?’ are two questions individuals and organisation should ask themselves far more frequently. Rather than thinking attending some backslapping, over-priced naval-gazing event makes you a ‘changemaker’ or an activist.

And obviously… what’s next? 

Go surfing in Sri Lanka. That’s Feb. Spend the summer working on our place in Normandy. Then in the autumn think about the next idea, I’d like to make a documentary about how the forthcoming ski lift in the French Alps, near Bozel. I think it’s another interesting way into some of the topics around climate change and economies that we’re all already dealing with.

The 3rd and final episode of The Announcement Drops Monday 27th January at Looking Sideways

February, Matt will mostly be doing this… somewhere much warmer.