Not All Actors Have A Podcast Handed To Them: Some Have To Work For It

The corporate podcast networks – Amazon, iHeart, SiriusXM, Spotify – just adore signing actors and other celebrities to do a podcast interview show for them. Why? The reasons range far and wide. Actors are already used to the microphone. They bring with them a built-in audience, so marketing is fairly simple, and they can attract guests that drive downloads or streams. You know the names: Kate and Oliver Hudson, Conan O’Brien, Jada Pinkett, Amy Poehler, Dax Shepard, and David Spade/Dana Carvey. There are dozens more.

Then there’s the long procession of actors who host rewatch podcasts of the show in which they were in the cast. Recognize these? Office Ladies with Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. Fake Doctors, Real Friends with Zach Braff and Donald Faison as they rewatch and break down episodes of Scrubs. Michael Weatherly (Tony DiNozzo) and Cote de Pablo (Ziva David) in Off Duty: An NCIS Rewatch. Sidebar: A Suits Watch Podcast is hosted by series stars Patrick J. Adams (Mike Ross) and Sarah Rafferty (Donna Paulsen).

In today’s article, we will examine three actors who didn’t get offered a sweet deal with a corporate giant such as Spotify for an interview show or a rewatch podcast. And if they did, they’d more than likely turn it down. These three actors built their shows with the same digital dirt under their fingernails as the thousands of other independent podcasters who millions listen to and view every day.

Robert Peterpaul is an award-winning actor, writer and celebrity interviewer with a passion for storytelling and spreading kindness. At age 9, Robert made his Off-Broadway debut at the York Theatre and from there was cast in the Broadway musical SEUSSICAL. He has been working in TV/Film and theatre ever since, being named “Connecticut’s BEST ACTOR” by BroadwayWorld along the way. On-screen he’s been seen in TV shows like, CBS’s Bull, ABC’s Pan Am, and comedy sketches for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and films like James Franco and Netflix’s King Cobra, SONY’s What Happened Last Night, and most recently the Amazon feature Sitting In Bars With Cake alongside Yara Shahidi and Bette Midler. Robert and his family formed the nonprofit The Thomas Peterpaul Foundation in honor of his late brother Thomas who passed away from cancer.

Miriam Katz studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, LA, and at The Barrow Group, NY, and improv comedy at The Groundlings and at the Upright Citizens Brigade, both LA. Katz regularly acts for film, television, video games, and commercials. She appeared in Power Trip, the narrative podcast series starring Tatiana Maslany, and in Shiny Diamonds, an existential horror film directed by Seth Chatfield and Toni Nagy. In 2025, Miriam appeared on the TV show, The View. Miriam Katz is also a public speaking coach, working for clients at Google, MIT, Fundamental Media, Brookyln Delhi, and many more institutions. Miriam has mentored prisoners in writing through PEN America. Prisoners send her their writing (plays, essays) and she send them edits and feedback. She has also volunteered with a hospice in L.A. for five years, meeting with people at the end of their lives.

Danielle Savre is an American actress and director best known for starring for seven years as Maya Bishop in the ABC firefighter drama series Station 19. Interestingly, Savre’s sister Stephanie is a real-life firefighter.

Danielle’s career began at a young age with Murphy’s Dozen, a test episode for a potential series directed by Gavin O’Connor. She quickly found her footing in comedy with appearances on Grounded for Life, One on One, Malcolm in the Middle, and the film Bring It On: All or Nothing. She later expanded into drama with Jackie Wilcox on Heroes and the indie festival favorite, Wild About Harry, before leading MTV’s first scripted series, Kaya, a musically driven project that combined her acting and singing talents. She also starred in the backdoor test episode for Supernatural and delivered a notable performance as Emily Harrison on Blue Bloods.

Following Station 19, Danielle joined NBC’s Found, portraying a complex, morally ambiguous attorney whose dual nature added a sharp edge of mystery. Beyond acting, Danielle is also a director and writer. In 2021, she co-wrote and directed the award-winning short film HEARD, which led to her television directorial debut on Station 19. She most recently narrated the audiobook This Is a Safe Space by Lucinda Berry for Simon Audio.

Danielle raises money and awareness for childhood cancer research through the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. She also partnered on a co-created collection through The Savre Squad where 10% of profits are split and donated to two chosen charities: the St. Baldrick’s Foundation and CARE, which works for global equality and justice.

The Ex-Factor

The Ex Appeal Podcast is a bold interview show hosted by Los Angeles-based actor and writer Miriam Katz, where she sits down to interview every single person she has ever been “romantic” with. On the surface, the show’s motif has a Kardashian-esque, oversharing quality to it. But Miriam Katz has a lot more on her mind than prurient details.

Instead, the show mixes comedy, raw vulnerability, and personal closure. Rather than seeking cheap nostalgia, Katz uses the interviews to explore why past connections worked or faded. The host revisits her romantic past to seek closure, examine emotional blind spots, and explore the nature of human intimacy. The interviews actually span her entire life, featuring unconventional subjects such as a childhood crush from a fifth-grade pizza date, an orthodox rabbi, a stripper, and a former partner facing a terminal illness.

Miriam reveals: “In 2019, I was on a long solo road trip to a friend’s wedding in New Mexico. I felt depressed. I felt the weight of my past relationships. In the midst of feeling down, the idea popped into my head to interview every person I’ve ever been romantic with-- all of my past lovers and loves. Certain people came to mind in particular, but really it was always an overall project. The idea was to reconnect with each person and talk about the relationship to try to get more closure and close some emotional loops. The very wild thing, twenty interviews in, and is that really, really has worked. I feel a lot better and I have more mental and emotional space.”

On the show, Miriam Katz enables us to use her life as a cipher for ours, sizing up what she does against what we’ve done. Her frankness and candor on sex, the disarray of sexual orientation and proclivities, and her understanding that we are who we are at a specific time in our lives and perhaps someone different later on propels the episodes forward with at a faster than thought acceleration.

Miriam shares her road to podcast implementation: "I had the idea for years before I executed it. I already do soooo many things-- act, write, teach kids acting, do public speaking coaching, perform improv comedy live... and so many more things. It’s very hard to decide to focus on a project that you know will take a lot of time and energy. But the idea kept coming back again and again. I started to talk to friends about what I needed to do to get started.

“In 2021, I met and started to date a man who was terminally ill. He had a limited time to live, and I knew I wanted to interview him while he was still alive. He prompted me to get everything together-- all the tech-- and start the podcast. He was the first interview I conducted, in 2022. The project moved from there.”

For Miriam, admittedly a person who doesn’t share much online, the podcast was indeed a journey far out of her comfort zone.

“I’m actually not someone who posts a lot of personal things, e.g. what I’m eating for dinner online,” admits Miriam. “But the long format of podcasts make me feel safe. I can tell the full story, which is the truth. The truth doesn’t scare me as much as a half truth-- a simplification. I’m okay sharing personal information as long as I feel like it’s the real story.”

In addition, the podcast met many of her career and financial needs.

Miriam explains: “Overall, there is much less voice over work available, which was how I made a living for years. The podcast allows me to use my voice still, and channel my voice over skills and passion into another project. In marketing the Ex Appeal project, I started to make a lot of videos for social media, and, in many ways, my on camera acting skills and energy get channeled into that. In general, artists are really good at pivoting, so if there are less opportunities in a certain area, we’ll often throw that energy somewhere else-- ideally somewhere fruitful and creative. I feel so lucky that I have the internet, so during any slow moment in the acting world, I have a place to put myself.”

“I had a podcast back in 2010 called Breakdown, for which I interviewed visuals artists and comedians about the relationship between art and comedy, and innovation in humor. It was more of an academic podcast. Ex Appeal is so much more emotional and vulnerable and personal. This reflects my journey as a performer. Through acting, I became more comfortable with vulnerability and sharing myself, and now I get to do that with this show. It feels really good.”

When I asked Miriam about her financial backers and production team for the show, she admitted, “I pay for the show myself. I have gotten some listener donations and some people have purchased podcast merchandise, but that’s a pretty low percentage of the overhead. My income from public speaking coaching has paid for the show, but I do hope to receive more listener donations and more merchandise purchases.”

Miriam continues: “I would be happy to have a network help me get ads and finance the sound engineering, but I would always want to edit the content myself. And I would always want the editorial decisions to be mine-- the title, the show notes, the content of the intro and outro. These are tricky, nuanced things, and I want to be the one to solve the equation of each episode.”

Miriam has a sound engineer do a sound pass on the audio, but she produces the show and book it herself.

When I asked about reactions to the show, Miriam revealed with pride: “I love putting out the show and having people listen and feel something and get what I am trying to do. It’s hard work to do a project all on your own, and it feels incredibly rewarding when people feel connected to a project you’ve put so much time and love into.”

What are your future plans for the show?

Season two comes out on September 20. I am recording my first episode for season three next week. I will be doing some traveling for the show this year because in person conversations are more magical. For now, I still feel very excited by the conversations with exes, and I have more to speak with. In the future, I can see this as a TV show. The process of tracking people down, getting people to agree to do the show, the interview itself, and then how the interviews affect me after are all part of a larger story that I can see as a dramedy. Also, the distinctness of my guests is already so actress of me: a stripper, an orthodox rabbi, a sex addict, a cult leader, a clown... I chose a lot of larger-than-life people to love, in part because I wanted to see what their world was like... just like I inhabit the world of a character when acting and performing improv. It’s all very exciting.

When we asked Miriam what she was up to currently, she responded: “In recent weeks I’ve been focused on finishing the episodes for season two and appearing on podcasts to market the show, so I’ve had much less time for auditioning. But I submitted for auditions today because I can’t go long without it. Lately I’ve also been playing various male artists for Instagram-- Picasso, Rothko, Mondrian. I think next I’ll make a video requesting a male wig company to sponsor me... As long as I’m coming up with ideas and executing them, I’m very happy.”

What make Miriam Katz’s podcast Ex Appeal so, well, appealing is its raw vulnerability, with Katz avoiding polished, scripted dating tropes in favor of real, unfiltered emotional reckonings. The show acts as a de facto public “funeral for the relationship,” letting listeners safely vicariously experience the closure most people never get.

Finally, in a New York Post interview last October, Miriam emphasized: “It’s not a sex podcast. It is a relationship podcast. There are people I was not sexual with, like my first date in the fifth grade, and there are people who I was mostly sexual with, like a one-night stand."

Bringing A Little Kindness Into The World

Being known as a “kind”celebrity entails all types of career risks, especially if your reputation for kindness doesn’t match your personality. Actor James Corden and comedian Ellen DeGeneres can probably espouse the need for consistency in public and private behavior.

Yet actor/writer/podcaster Robert Peterpaul embodies kindness, from his charitable activities to his on-air persona and his personal aura. I know him, and he is indeed a light in the darkness. His show with the Broadway Podcast Network, started on July 5, 2021, with an introductory episode featuring performer and TikTok star Deanna Giulietti. Since then, Robert has done over 200 episodes, with a milestone 100th episode with TV legend Carol Burnett as a guest.

In every episode, host Robert Peterpaul elicits tales from Broadway people about how they sprinkle kindness throughout their world. Peterpaul always asks each guest, “What does kindness mean to you?” He also asks guests how they react to people praising them.

Then, Robert’s second podcast, How We Role by Casting Networks premiered in February 2025.

We asked Robert how he developed this new podcast. He confessed: “Over the years, I’ve had the good fortune of interviewing actors whom I admire greatly. Though I may have been interviewing folks for entertainment news-style pieces, the actor in me couldn’t help but get nerdy about the craft with my questions. Seriously, I’d be on a red carpet asking people about their methods. I yearned to write for an outlet where I could share helpful tidbits like that with my fellow actors, and so I organically found a home with the Casting Networks news team. We’ve been rolling along together ever since.”

Robert continues: “After writing for Casting Networks (CN), I fell into making quirky videos for their social media pages. I really loved sharing informative and relatable content with my acting community in a way that brought joy. And, even more so, I LOVED connecting with CN’s community of actors. I started getting messages asking me things like, ‘How do I format my resume?’ or ‘How did you get your agent?’ It was a privilege for me to pass along any golden nuggets I had gleaned over the years, but I only know so much. I’m a huge proponent of creatives not waiting for someone to give them the permission to create, so I tried to walk that walk and pitched Casting Networks the idea for a podcast.”

Robert explains the podcast this way: “How We Role answers the how’s every actor faces. From how to get headshots all the way to (one day) how to produce your own film, we truly want to go brick by brick down the yellow brick road of an actor’s career.”

Robert adds: "I hope How We Role exists as an open mic for creatives to get their questions answered, hone their crafts and, ultimately, feel less alone in this wild business. Following a dream can be hard. My intention is that How We Role is a soft place for dreamers to land.”

Robert tells me that, “My biggest hope is that actors feel seen, and less alone. An actor’s path can feel uniquely solitary, and the intention of these conversations is to provide actors with an audio support system; a friend that shares the knowledge actors seek and, as a result, builds up their confidence to take action.”

Even though both of Robert Peterpaul’s podcasts are produced by sponsoring companies, there’s no doubt that it is Robert who has invested the sweat equity and heavy lifting onto both of his shows.

Just like Miriam Katz, who we just discussed and Danielle Savre, who we are about to discuss, Robert Peterpaul is one of those unique actors who understands the value of giving back. In The Art of Kindness, Robert offers us and society a reprieve from our daily ugliness of hate and vitriol by emphasizing the importance of kindness given and accepted. In How We Role, Robert Peterpaul helps his fellow actors advance their careers with tips, wisdom, and cheerleading.

Can It Be Both Sweet And Savory?

Sweet and Savre is a weekly interview podcast hosted by actress, director, and storyteller Danielle Savre (pronounced “savory”). Her show consists of real, uncurated conversations with women from diverse walks of life—including film sets, military deployments, kitchens, and courtrooms. The show explores each guest’s journey, triumphs, heartbreaks, and turning points rather than just focusing on their job titles.

Danielle explains the genesis of the slow like this: “The show grew organically out of my natural curiosity and love for connecting with people. Through acting, I’ve had the privilege of meeting people worldwide from all walks of life. During the pandemic, I started doing Instagram Lives and created ‘WeChat Wednesdays’ to talk to people about real-life experiences like battling OCD, diabetes, motherhood, or navigating major career pivots.”

Danielle continues: “I realized I didn’t want a platform to talk about pop culture or do all the talking myself, I wanted to listen. For two years, I thought about what I wanted a podcast to be. At my core, I’m a storyteller. As an actor, I bring stories to life with my performance; as a director, with vision; and with this podcast, I get to hold space for inspiring, remarkable women to tell their own meaningful stories.”

In podcasting, names of shows has been a long-standing issue with endless duplications, silliness such as Cents of Humor, and offensive titles such as Underwater Racism. Danielle Savre (pronounced “savory”) has used her last name to not only craft show’s title but also its essence. The meal prep at the end of the episode is inspired in its simplicity.

Every episode concludes over a meal of the guest’s choice (ranging from sour gummies to a heavy meal), ending with the signature question: does the guest prefer sweet, savory, or a combination of both?

I asked Danielle why she didn’t follow the well-traveled road of actors in a long-running series doing a rewatch podcast. After all, their success rate is extremely high and they are lucrative for the TV show, production company, and the actors.

Danielle is frank in her response: “A rewatch podcast is a great and fun idea, but I deeply feel Station 19 already told those stories beautifully, and they live on forever on streaming platforms like Hulu and Disney+.Passing on the celebrity roadmap of a rewatch show wasn’t the easiest or most immediately profitable choice, but I wanted a forward-looking show that highlights women whose stories go unspoken despite being the foundation of so much of our world. I wanted to tell women’s stories, not just my story."

I think what sets Danielle’s podcast apart from the litany of typical celebrity podcasts is her insistence on revealing the lives of women who aren’t necessarily celebrities, and her investigative prowess in uncovering key existential themes.

Danielle also admits that her extensive acting experience helped her as a podcast host and interviewer.

Danielle notes: “Acting trained me to listen deeply and stay completely present, the exact skills needed to let a guest guide the conversation. Also, I intentionally avoid over-researching beforehand. I cover the basic facts and accolades, but during the recording, I prefer to leave room for genuine discovery so the audience and I can experience their story together in the moment.”

Her show dismisses gossip and trivialities in favor of issues that her audience tackles every day. Listeners tune in weekly to hear bold, inspiring women reveal the “sweet and savory” moments—the triumphs and the messy, painful setbacks—that shaped their lives. The show is intentionally crafted to feel like sitting down with your closest friends. Danielle and her guests break down heavy barriers, discussing topics like industry bias, grief, motherhood, and career pivots with absolute vulnerability.

Rather than focusing solely on traditional celebrity status, the show features women whose lives and roads traveled truly matter. Guests include behind-the-scenes Hollywood powerhouses (like line producers and costume designers), military veterans, and artists.

Danielle shares the thematic DNA of her show: “Being part of Station 19 under Shondaland and ABC, a world that applauded diversity, women’s stories, and female leadership in every role from directors to crew, opened my mind to the reality of representation and empowerment I didn’t fully realize I needed. Playing a character that meant so much to so many, and meeting fans at conventions worldwide, showed me the real responsibility of having a platform. It’s imperative to me to use it for the right reasons.”

What sets Danielle apart from other celebrities entering the podcasting world is her fresh perspective and gritty work ethic.

Danielle is proud to admit that, “The show is 100% self funded out of my own pocket. I didn’t avoid big networks out of spite, their reach is fantastic, but as a self-admitted people-pleaser, I knew that if I brought in a corporate boss whose sole goal was ROI, I’d lose my gut instinct and the show would lose its heart. I’d love an aligned sponsor to invest in the show, but maintaining total creative control was essential to establishing the show’s identity.”

Danielle explains: “I physically built and run the set myself, setting up cameras, lights, and mics, and pressing record. I do have a small, wonderful team for the post-production side: Juan Soto handles video and audio editing, Sophie Ross edits and posts social clips, and Gi Silva built and manages the website. But as far as production companies go, there is no outside entity helping or funding the show. Some days I realize how wild it was to take this all on without a production company, but I am so grateful I did.”

Counterpoint Danielle’s DIY work ethic to the “everything is done for them” experience of many celebrities, who simply show up at a large production studio, record the episode and go home.

Danielle has heavily engaged her audience across the Sweet and Savre YouTube channel, TikTok clips, and a dedicated Patreon page. This approach gives fans access to behind-the-scenes content and unedited thoughts that enhance the feeling of community.

Danielle shares her podcast strategy: “Strategically, I’m choosing organic growth over viral gimmicks because I know that once people discover the show, they stay hooked. In today’s social landscape, I truly believe this is a show we all need, one rooted in resilience, humor, and real substance. My plan is to patiently keep building, interviewing remarkable women, and growing our global reach.”

Danielle continues: “Across the first 30 episodes, almost all the guests are extraordinary women I’ve known or worked with, ranging from poets and engineers to showrunners and makeup artists. They came on because they already know and trust me. Now, I’m reaching out to a list of over 200 more inspiring women outside my immediate circle, and building that same trust with the process itself is everything.”

When I asked about Danielle’s future plans, she enthusiastically shares: “After Station 19, I was blessed to jump right into Found under the leadership of Shanola Hampton and Nkechi Okoro Carroll, which was an absolute blast. Having worked for seven years on a hit network show puts me in a position where I don’t have to take jobs just to pay bills; I can wait for roles that truly resonate and focus on passion projects like this podcast in the meantime.”

After interviewing Danielle for this piece, it seems self-evident that she doesn’t think like a celebrity actor. She appears to think differently, solve career and personal problems with a keen sense of deliberation, and find meaning in small, everyday moments.

Listen to her talk about her guests on the podcast and her commitment to them: “It was imperative to me that every guest is given full approval of their edit and complete autonomy over their story. They can speak freely knowing that if they share something deeply personal they later prefer to keep private, I will honor their request and edit it out. Giving them that safety net is why these conversations end up being so authentic, raw, and unfiltered.”

The Common Denominator

What makes these three multi-hyphenate performers so special in the world of celebrity podcasts? First, unlike other entertainers or celebrities, the possible failure of their podcasts does not come with a golden parachute. Fox Business reported that Meghan Markle‘s podcast Archetypes was part of an overall multi-year deal with Spotify to be worth between $15 million and $20 million, though they reportedly did not receive the full payout because the partnership ended after just one season.

If the podcasts of Miriam Katz, Robert Peterpaul, and Danielle Savre fail, no such payout will be forthcoming. In fact, they may not even receive a participation trophy. The podcasting gamble that these three have taken is more akin to free climbing El Capitan, which is located on the north side of in Yosemite National Park. Yet all three are willing to take that risk. Why?

Miriam Katz wants to reveal the complexities of romantic relationships and how “trying each other on for size” can be both rewarding and risky.

Robert Peterpaul reveals the potentially soul-crushing aspects of acting, from endless auditions, cruel rejections, and a closer look into what it really takes to be a working actor. Too often, Peterpaul notes, glamor gives way to grit and guts.

Danielle Savre, an actor on a long-running network TV show, decided to do more than simply leverage that connection. Rather than focusing solely on traditional celebrity status, Danielle Savre features women whose lives and roads traveled truly matter.

What makes these independently produced podcasts so exceptional is that all three actors have much more on their minds than simply adding to the prodigious number of podcasts produced every day.

Without the financial security blanket of a Spotify contract, cozy production studio, and a staff doing much of the production work, these three highly talented multi-hypenates have crafted podcasts that are driven by deeper motivations to explore complex themes, support their community, and share authentic stories, proving that compelling content can overshadow the “kiddie-pool” shallowness of so many celebrity podcast ventures.

In the past, I’ve compared all celebrity podcasts to fast food, bad reality TV, and hotel resort charges. After connecting with actors Miriam Katz, Robert Peterpaul, and Danielle Savre, I recognize that these three actors have discovered that self- examination is the key to insight, which is the key to wisdom.

Written by Frank Racioppi · September 28, 2026 - Read the Full Article