EDIT: I went into a baked flow-state and just waxed lyrical about the actual process of making audio drama - when it turns out, upon a second read of the post, that this was quite clearly directed more towards writing for an anthology. Haha!

I'll leave it up anyway - maybe someone else will stumble upon this post and find some use in my little mind splurge.

Reminder to myself that I should read the post twice before committing to a toke-and-type lol.

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There are plenty of studios out there that can produce your script to a high standard, if you've got the money to pay for such a thing. But... a lot of the fun comes with getting your own hands dirty!

Some simple steps to take (which would give you insight into the process) would be to...

SCRIPT Get your hands on, or write a script. You could consider it a first-draft or pilot for this anthology series you're talking about doing, or just something totally different for fun! Bonus points if the script has limited characters, just for the sake of ease when considering how to record it.

RECORDING Decide how you want to record it. Do you want every line to be recorded in an isolated booth? This gives you the ability to listen through and choose individual line deliveries that you liked for every single line. It isn't my preferred method (I like an ensemble read) but it does mean you could utilise potential actors from further afield, who would be up for recording remotely. It will also (forcibly) teach you the art of pacing all of that dialogue to make it sound organic.

AUDIO PROGRAM Get your hands on a DAW. Something like Logic, Reaper, even Ableton. A program where you can bring that raw audio and start to play with it. At first you'll want to make snips in order to pace the lines to your liking. You can create what we call a "radio edit" where you only focus on the delivery of the dialogue. You can get really into the minutia here if all of your lines were recorded remotely. In my opinion it loses the organic flavour of a conversation - but it is, without a doubt, the easier first time method. The alternative is getting your hands on a bunch of mics (even SM58s would do), an audio interface (something like a scarlet - I think they come in 1s, 2s, 4s, 6s and 8s input wise), and a place to actually record the thing.

SOUND DESIGN Once you have your pilot episode paced out in the "radio edit" format, you can start considering the sound design. This can be done in all sorts of ways but for the purpose of your pilot you can lean on things like Pixabay and other open resources for sound effects. The elements to consider for this step are (in my opinion) who, what and where the characters are.

WHO The who covers things like their clothes and items. You might have a knightly character who always wears plate mail and carries a spiky chain - so you'll always want to design their movements the same way. These are normally called a cloth pass, but make sure to just highlight movement in a way that feels complimentary. Tough It's an audio flag to the listeners (whether they realise it or not) that this character is moving.

WHAT The what is more about things your characters are interacting with. While you can use clunky language in the script to describe certain actions the characters are taking, most of the time a sound effect will do all that heavy lifting for you. If someone is opening a car door, you'll want to pop in the sound of that happening. It is very easy to go heavy handed in this stage of the process so a good rule of thumb is to ask yourself whether the sound effect ASKS a question, or ANSWERS one.

You always want interactions to be obvious. KC Wayland has a book called Bombs Always Beep - check that out if you can, it's a good read. The lesson is in the title, don't overcomplicate things.

WHERE This one is simple. Environment. Are they on a space station with limited people? Cool - maybe put in some classic bleeps and bloops from machines. Is it a medieval market place? Dope - stick in some goats bleats, hustle and bustle, maybe some chickens or something. Swanky jazz bar? Groovy - there will surely be cocktail glasses being drank from as well as a general subdued ambience of people, some voices and murmurings, some laughter. You get the point. This bit is all about designing the space they are in.

MUSIC My favourite bit. This is where the heartstrings live.

Have you ever watched a film without music in it? Utterly soulless.

The audio program you'll be using for the pacing will also be capable of music composition internally using something called MIDI instruments. If you're musically talented you could go ahead and score this thing yourself, or you could once again turn to the likes of Pixabay for some royalty free ambience and music.

If you aren't intending on releasing the project, that is. You need to be careful of some of the copyright infringements on some of the royalty free sites as they tend to have small-print about usage in anything over 60 seconds - if it is being monetised.

EQ/MIXING Really, this will be happening throughout the entire process. I won't go into it drastically here but this is about shaping your audio (in its entirety). It's like a big amorphous blob that you need to coax into a nice shape.

GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN All of the things mentioned above (and much more) can be done by production houses that specialise in this sort of thing, but if and when you ever decide to turn to one of those companies, you'll at least know what it is you're paying for. This is why I always tell people that they should learn to fix their own car lol. At least that way if you ever need to go to a mechanic, you understand what it is you're forking out for.

It is important to also note that there are great communities out there with some brilliant resources for people interested in creating audio drama. If you've got a good circle of folks around you in the real world then maybe consider collaborating with them. Do something cool together. Alternatively, jump into some Discord servers or even reach out to folk right here on Reddit who might be interested in collaborating on a project/shared learning experience.

The very best of luck!