Writer's Strike... Uh oh. Palabra's got an idea brewing

[palabravampiress]

Okay, so I have an idea. It's percolating as we type. I wanna run it by you and see if (or how) this could work.

One thing that I think the writer's strike could do with the right support and prompting is to drive people toward being creative on their own. With a computer, a video camera, and YouTube, you can circumvent the networks by making your own shows!

If I were going to start a website, I'd start one that dealt with the writer's strike and the subsequent fallout (once the strike is over). I'd blog about it. I'd post links to free, independent shows on YouTube and other sites. I'd post links to news. The BIG part of the site, however, would be a challenge -- the challenge would be to support the writers by showing the networks that the viewers can circumvent them if they so choose. I'd create my own show. Every week, I'd post a script. Then, I'd challenge people to film it. When the entries came in, we'd vote for the winner. The winner would become "canon." Basically, the goal here would be to provide people with self-directed, interactive entertainment separate from the networks.

My question to you is: do you think it would work? How could I tweak this idea to make it both feasible and visible to the general public? Would anyone want to help me with this do-it-yourself media project?

 

[Joyce Summers]

I really like this idea. Very creative and well, determined. Haha

As to make it feasible, my only advice is podcasts. And instead of filmed plays it could be well, radio plays of the scripts written. That would mean it wouldn't matter what country the people came from or whether they lived near one another as all they'd need was an audio device, someone to be in charge of sound supplies (such as footsteps, doorbells etc) and someone to edit all the recordings together to finish a completed script. Air it as a podcosts and hundreds of people can listen to the 'episode' as they wish.

Of course actual filmed episodes could be included too. But just as an option, not compulsory. (I hope I made sense there)

Not to hone in on your idea, or like add to it what you may not wish added haha, but this hypothetical site could be more a productions site with perhaps many different writers working together maybe on more than one 'series', with voice actors and actresses playing the parts of these wonderful podcast webisodes. Okay, so wonderful is presumptuous perhaps but I'm an optimistic person.

Anyway, I may have rambled here. And perhaps sounded power-crazed. Blame it on pregnancy hormones. It's all anyone seems to be doing lately....

 

[palabravampiress]

I really like this idea. Very creative and well, determined. Haha

As to make it feasible, my only advice is podcasts. And instead of filmed plays it could be well, radio plays of the scripts written. That would mean it wouldn't matter what country the people came from or whether they lived near one another as all they'd need was an audio device, someone to be in charge of sound supplies (such as footsteps, doorbells etc) and someone to edit all the recordings together to finish a completed script. Air it as a podcosts and hundreds of people can listen to the 'episode' as they wish.

Of course actual filmed episodes could be included too. But just as an option, not compulsory. (I hope I made sense there)

Not to hone in on your idea, or like add to it what you may not wish added haha, but this hypothetical site could be more a productions site with perhaps many different writers working together maybe on more than one 'series', with voice actors and actresses playing the parts of these wonderful podcast webisodes. Okay, so wonderful is presumptuous perhaps but I'm an optimistic person.

Anyway, I may have rambled here. And perhaps sounded power-crazed. Blame it on pregnancy hormones. It's all anyone seems to be doing lately....

You do not sound power crazed! Your ideas are good ones. I like the idea of it eventually expanding to include more than one series. I'm just thinking kind of small for the initial site. Podcasts are a great idea, too. I don't have an IPOD and I've never ever used a Podcast, though, so I'd need someone to explain how that works. lol.

 

[Joyce Summers]

Glad I didn't sound powercrazed. Haha.

And don't worry; having an ipod isn't nessecary to upload podcasts and they are pretty simple to do. It just needs to be recorded as an mp3 and then uploaded into a podcast world. Okay, so there is more to it than that of course, but that's the basic. Hehe. Plus, you could always got the cheat way have someone more computer and ipod knowledgable to do that bit. haha

 

[Vicariously]

well I think it could work. I mean look at it this way a girl on you tube held a "theme song" contest for her video shorts and had many many many entries. I guess you would have to create the site first...and then to spread the word you could inform the free media...call your radio stations and talk to the DJ's that do the funny talk shows in the morning maybe they would help endorse the idea...call the local news..maybe get in contact with TOM on myspace and see if he wouldnt maybe host the idea on Myspace TV...The idea isnt foreign though...NBC just did it with a web based show Coastal Dreams. Good Luck with it hun. 🙂

 

[Buffy Summers]

Okay, so I have an idea. It's percolating as we type. I wanna run it by you and see if (or how) this could work.

One thing that I think the writer's strike could do with the right support and prompting is to drive people toward being creative on their own. With a computer, a video camera, and YouTube, you can circumvent the networks by making your own shows!

If I were going to start a website, I'd start one that dealt with the writer's strike and the subsequent fallout (once the strike is over). I'd blog about it. I'd post links to free, independent shows on YouTube and other sites. I'd post links to news. The BIG part of the site, however, would be a challenge -- the challenge would be to support the writers by showing the networks that the viewers can circumvent them if they so choose. I'd create my own show. Every week, I'd post a script. Then, I'd challenge people to film it. When the entries came in, we'd vote for the winner. The winner would become "canon." Basically, the goal here would be to provide people with self-directed, interactive entertainment separate from the networks.

My question to you is: do you think it would work? How could I tweak this idea to make it both feasible and visible to the general public? Would anyone want to help me with this do-it-yourself media project?

I acutally wanted to do something like that for a long time, so I definitely think it could work 🙂

 

[palabravampiress]

I acutally wanted to do something like that for a long time, so I definitely think it could work 🙂

Cool. I was actually hoping you would say something like that. I'm sort of new to the world of the internet forum. Setting up a website and keeping it running, especially in the beginning stages, would be completely foreign to me. How did you get into it? Do you have any tips or tricks?

Also, I was thinking about site names. What about STRICKEN: media for a writerless world? That's the first thing that came to mind, anyway. It's not that good. Does anyone have any better ideas?

 

[goldenboy]

What's the long term economic model for online drama, I'm wondering. That's what the Nets are still trying to figure out. Get sponsorship and plaster the site with ads? Or, you pay a download fee for content as it's doled out? Or both...

I mean it's cool if it's like a creative co-op thing, power-to-the-people...for small-scale productions. It's always good to have an underground scene at least. A film-a-script challenge sounds like a blast.

N4H did a roundup of online shows awhile back..

Ever Seen a Web Series? - After-Darkness


Also, N4H tipped me to Zeroes 2 Heroes, a writer/artist networking site. Yours sounds like it could be a writer/filmmaker connection site.

Zeros 2 Heroes - The People's Publisher - Home

 

[white avenger]

Wasn't there a post here awhile back about some girl in Australia who made her own Buffy episode, with her and her friends playing all of the parts? As I remember, nobody looked vaguely like their " real world" counterpart, but the story and the acting were fairly good, and they looked like they enjoyed doing it. (It didn't hurt that Spike got Buffy and Angel got the boot, but we can't hope for that kinda realism all of the time)

Anybody out there feel like George Lucas? That's how he started out.

 

[justanotherjen]

I think it sounds like a neat idea. I was actually thinking of something like that the other day. It was actually something to go with a story I was writing. It was a group of friends that decided they wanted to make their own internet TV show and with all volunteer help from friends wrote, created and produced their own show which in my fantasy world became highly popular, lol, sending them all to their fame (as writers, directors and actors).

I wouldn't actually know where to begin, though, and the cost of hosting said site would probably be astronomical. That would be an issue.

 

[wiccianslayer]

I've Actully Started Work On My Own Show

 

[Joyce Summers]

Look what palabra's started here. We've all gone into crazy 'we could do this and someone else did *this*' mode. You'll create a revolution one day with this type of hype Palabra, I'm sure of it....