Podcast Episode Plan Template

The Podcast Episode Plan template is the central hub for your project. It includes the key parts of your creative process: Your ideas, research, and outline for an episode. There are also checklists for your workflow so you have everything in one easy-to-access place.

Whether your podcast is a true-crime thriller or an interview series, research is a crucial step in the early creative process. It's a springboard for new ideas and can add substance and authenticity to each episode. As author Robert McKee says "when you do enough research, the story almost writes itself. Lines of development spring loose and you'll have choices galore."

Wikipedia, blogs, and news websites are a goldmine for researchers. It's here you'll find historical events and records, data, and opinions about your topic. We're in the 'collecting' phase so just save links to any relevant information you stumble across. You can return and read the details at a later stage.

Video and audio are another great source of inspiration for your podcast. Try searching for your topic or guest on Vimeo, or Youtube. Find conversations about your topic on Spotify or any podcast platform and add them into the mix.

A podcast outline (or script) is the roadmap for your episode. It helps you map out your talking points and plan the sequence of topics you want to cover. It's a simple, flexible technique to help all types of podcasters stay organized and produce compelling shows.

This method is perfect for 'visual thinkers'—those who prefer to see the big picture as a sequence of events, rather than a rigid linear document. Think of it as the modern, digital equivalent to the corkboard or wall of sticky notes, but much easier to manage.

Start by laying out the major topics or questions you know you want to cover. A great place to start is with the traditional storytelling structure of beginning, middle, and end. Don't worry too much about the order or details yet, just get the main parts out of your head.

Next, add a sentence or a bullet point for each talking point or question you might cover. There are no rules for how much detail to add, do what works best for you. You'll be referencing these as you record your podcast, so try and keep them short, snappy, and easy to scan as you're talking. They're the equivalent of cue cards you might use when giving a speech.

Once you've published a few episodes, you'll need a way to manage your workflow. You'll likely have multiple episodes in progress at any one time, so this will help you see where everything is at in one view. You'll also see which areas need your attention. For example, do you have enough show ideas in the backlog or should you be focusing on finishing the shows in progress?

This template maps out your process from raw idea to published episode. Simply drag and drop episodes into the relevant column to match their status. Everyone works in a different way, so you can update the columns to match your workflow.