SEANFX

Here’s a must read for any content creator out there. Rebel Alliance by David Kushner at Fast Company. I have to admit I missed this the first time I got my issue of Fast Company. I got caught up in the “Ning” article because I was working on making a few Ning groups. Plus I was reading a few books that centered around “LOST” the very stuff they are talking about in the story! Oh yeah ands some stuff in Heroes, and Battlestar… whatever those shows rock!

A friend of mine mentioned this to me and was surprised I missed it since I pretty much talk his head of about this stuff and he tends to get a glaze over his eyes every time I talk about “transmedia”. I didn’t have a name for it so maybe that’s why he got a glaze… But, that’s what they call it’s just as good as any. Thanks Fast Company!

I think you could do this with just about any show. There’s no need for shows to really go off when the season is over. It’s just more opportunity to dig your fans in deeper. They could have done with Gilmore Girls. Yeah I watched that too. They could have had a website that looked like Stars Hallow Village website and you could go to town meetings and vote on things thing in the town, or tried to vote certain Councilmen off the Village Board, you know who I’m talking about. Anyway I’m getting off track.

This is a tremendous opportunity for show to reach out and find new audiences not to mention bringing up talent that is just chomping at the bit to get the chance to create this kind of stuff. I don’t want to just say “new” talent. Because there are a lot of people in places that don’t fit into the age range of “new”. They are just talent and should still be looked at as a resource.

I suggest though when shows want to make this leap they should reach out to fans of the show that have the production skills to pull this off. Not only would they treat the show with respect but they already know more about the show than most of the writers I bet. And these days it won’t take nearly as many people as you think.

But I’m just going to toss this out there. This works with anything like theme parks and nature preserves as well. I’m picking them because it drive me nuts that they are missing such a great opportunity. But I’ll just stick with a Zoo for example. Last weekend the wife and I were at the St. Louis Zoo. I know they like to sell you over priced food and plush toys for the kids but every time I look around I see plants and trees I think are fantastic. Why don’t they sell those too? I’m sure some of them are grown there or near by. How else do they keep the park beautiful? Just grow a few more and sell them see what happens.

Since I’m not buying the food or the toys, why not the plants? It’s just another great way to spread the Zoo’s message and give me something unique to talk about and share.

If you don’t think you can do it with your show drop me a line. Chances are I’ve seen your show. I’m kind of silly that way. I bet I would have some ideas.

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I’ve been using Celtix to write scripts for video shorts, for about 6 months now and have to say it’s fantastic! If you’re writing a script for a movie, television and even plays. You should give this a try. I’ve tried out Final Draft and a few other script programs. I will say I only tried them out during their demo period which was very generous but it just didn’t cut the mustard for what I needed.

But what Celtx is really good for is writing scripts for web-fiction and mini series style scripts. It’s great for the whole project and keeping track of many scripts that will make up the many episodes. That was the main thing I wanted.

In the project library you can place all your assets, scripts, character descriptions, location descriptions, props, animals, stunts, effects, the list goes on and on. You can give as much detail about these assets as you want and it’s easy to manage. As you add them and you write about them you are prompted for those assets as you write. I’m sure that’s standard among other script tools.

I’m really only scratching the surface with Celtx and as I get deeper in to the stories I’m working on and the characters I’ll be using the asset generator to keep track of thing and help develop my stories.

One of the best features of Celtx is the ability to collaborate with other writers. I’m already using it that way and they even provide a server for the exchange of the project files.

If you want you can open it up for other people to read and get feedback on. Not sure if I’m ready to do that just yet but as far as sharing with my co-writers it’s great. There can be some issues when exchanging the project files but it’s pretty easy to over come so try saving different file names at first till you see how the different assets are merging.

If you are looking for a loaded script writing software this one is for you. Let me know what you think.

Now does someone has any ideas for getting older typed out screenplays into a digital format that I can dump into this or any text editing program I would appreciate any advice. My original scripts are not in a digital format. Sorry it’s very old school.

Celtx is available in Windows, Linux and OS X. It’s all open source and free! What’s stopping you?

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If you get a really good fortune from a cookie does it start from the time you finished your Chinese meal or when you finally get around to eating the cookie?

I just want to know when to start the clock.

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