LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) Priyanka Mattoo, former comedy agent at UTA and WME, has launched female-focused podcast newtork Arios alonsided Maria Blasucci, star of HOB’s “Family Tree,” and Amanda Lund, who has appeared in shows like “New Girl.”
Podcasts include ones from Lesley ARfin, Margaret Cho and Rebecca Delgado.
The company raised enough money from a Kickstarter campaign last year to launch 12 shows in 2019. It has partnered with pdocast company Acast to launch the shows, according to Deadline Hollywood.
“It was important to us to find a partner like Acast who also believes in bringing female voice to the forefront,” Mattoo said. “They’re as excited about the slate as we are – and they’ve been our greatest champions.”
“All the podcasts I listen to are spread out among some awesome networks, but there wasn’t one that really spoke to Maria’s or my sensibilities and that felt like we were part of that community,” said Lund. “Maria and I also have spent years being beholden to gatekeepers as actors and writers. We knew that we had to carve out a space for ourselves and our fellow amazing women creators as we noticed podcasting becoming more like film and TV so creating Earios scratches this itch.”
“Nearly all of the networks that host, develop and promote popular shows are run by men. So, a lot of content pitched by women is not bought or promoted. We wanted to make it easier for women to share their ideas with a like-minded community,” added Mattoo. “I have to admit that, while I love working with Amanda and Maria, and I love to help women achieve their creative dreams, the baby girl in my belly played no small part. I felt compelled to make this happen, for her.”