Stories can transcend different mediums of media. If you’ve ever read a good book and then seen a television adaptation of it, you already know this. But here’s a rare outlier: a series adapted from a podcast. Enter Archive 81. Currently in its third podcast season, Archive 81 started out as a fictional series covering “horror, cities, and the subconscious.” Now, it’s the main inspiration behind the newest horror show on Netflix of the same name. The podcast takes the “found footage” aspect of modern horror storytelling and applies it to an audio-based medium. This means that the podcast is presented as a “true to life” discovery, as if the events being depicted transpired in the real world. (Think The Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity but for your ears.)

Created by Dead Signals founders Dan Powell and Marc Sollinger and inspired by series like The X-Files and the novels of Jeff VanderMeer, Archive 81 ended up earning a unique place in the space of fictional storytelling through its unconventional means of delivery, providing a truly otherworldly experience. But let’s dive into the backstory here.

Sollinger worked as a public radio producer, but even years before that while in college, he produced a 10-episode sci-fi series voiced by Powell, and the two quickly became friends through their mutual love of the unexplained and unsolved phenomena. Powell later got a job working in a sound effects library until Sollinger came up with a series concept based on Powell's experience listening to strange and unconventional audio recordings. In August 2015, Sollinger began conceptualizing the podcast that came to be known as Archive 81. 

Featuring characters inspired by himself and Powell, their story follows Dan, an archivist hired by a mysterious benefactor named Davenport to catalog and clean up a collection of tapes. Davenport instructs Dan to focus specifically on an archive collection numbered 81 (premise sounds familiar, huh?). But after (spoiler alert!) Dan’s disappearance, a new character, Mark, starts to record himself as he tries to make sense of Dan’s recordings while he was working for Davenport. 

Unlike traditional podcast formats, the first season of Archive 81 was recorded over the course of a few weekends from a script put together by Powell and Sollinger. The podcast is also told without a narrator to set the scene, allowing listeners to piece the chilling story together for themselves through the characters’ various audio files. To no surprise, the podcast was an instant hit and quickly built up loyal fans, allowing Powell and Sollinger to cultivate a level of success by maintaining a tight release schedule, social media presence and carefully mapped out story. Sollinger went on to create the social movement, #audiodramasunday, which encourages fans to share their favorite narrative-driven podcasts.

After the boom of the first season of the podcast, Powell and Sollinger turned to Patreon to fund a second season and found success. Sollinger continues to write scripts for the episodes, while Powell produces the design, sound, and music. Season 2 was released in January 2017 to more acclaim. Dead Signals, the duo’s production company, went on to produce a third season that aired in May 2018. 

That all brings us to today. Archive 81 has been adapted for the screen for Netflix. Slight changes and updates include switching the use of audio tapes to VHS tapes (introducing an element of nostalgia when watching the show). The character Dan still works as an archivist, but, this time, with a focus on film restoration. And with Powell and Sollinger on as co-producers, fans can rest easy knowing their signature brand of storytelling will carry through to an entirely new format for devotees new and old to enjoy.