the slack daily

Square Pegs, aka New Media & the WGA.

(For first-time readers: I've written for TV, Web, Mobile platforms and been a member of the WGAw since 2000. You can read more about my background and work experience here.)

This afternoon I attended the WGAw/MEF panel "Content Creation for Mobile Devices."  There were some incredibly informed people on the first panel*, including Ryan Stoner of Omelet LA and Steven Hein of FOX.

While it was clear that the panelists all were not only knowledgeable but also successful in their fields, I wondered about the audience. The panel was open only to WGAw and WGA Caucus members; the 75-person venue was sold out, and there was an "overflow room" which housed another fifty or so members.  We all know that digital content creation - whether used as a tool to further extend conventional TV and film narratives, or as a primary distribution method - is where we're all headed. I applaud the WGA for recognizing this and attempting to create a forum for its members to learn more about storytelling on different platforms.

However, what was shocking to me is the lack of participation on those platforms.

Prior to attending the panel, I searched twitter for "mobile" and "WGA." I saw one hit - one of the panel members, Steven Hein. I arrived a few minutes early and had the opportunity to speak with Steven and told him that if there wasn't an agreed-upon hashtag for the conference, I'd be using #WGAmob.

As we all took our seats, we were told by WGA's New Media Project Manager Tamara Krinsky to use the hashtag #MEFWGA (I was impressed they were on top of it!), and we were encouraged to ask questions using this hashtag on Twitter.

Again, the panel was incredibly informative, and I imagine if I hadn't already worked on New Media projects like Woke Up Dead and Valemont that I would have learned more. But what shocked me was that, in the 100+ person audience, there appeared to only be 3-5 of us on Twitter. As I followed the #MEFWGA hashtag, I realized that it was...pretty much just me.

We were at a panel discussing creating content for mobile devices. While not solely mobile, Twitter is a popular mobile application. And yet...no one used it. Which got me to wondering if anyone used it?

How can one expect to create content for platforms we know nothing about?

I discussed this briefly with Miss Krinksy, who said that she thought people needed a reason to use platforms. And I don't disagree. At the inaugural Transmedia-LA meeting, we discussed how there seems to be a rush to tick off boxes on transmedia projects. (Don't know what transmedia storytelling is? Click here.)

However, if we expect to create for those platforms, shouldn't we understand what they're capable of? Social media isn't just media. It's SOCIAL.  You don't tell the same stories at a job interview that you do at a cocktail party. Each nugget of social interaction is governed by sometimes specific, sometimes general rules. 

The first time I had dinner at the Hotel Bel Air, I was terrified that I would use the wrong fork or speak too loudly or pronounce my entree incorrectly even though I had taken seven years of French. I wasn't comfortable with the social rules, so I listened, I watched, and I "got it" by the time dessert was served. (In fact, I became so comfortable that the second time I had dinner at the Hotel Bel Air, I passed out in the restaurant's plush bathroom. Back medication and martinis don't mix, kids.)

Platforms live and breathe the same way. Blogging is different that SMS messaging is different than Twitter is different than Facebook is different than email is different than voicemail  I don't know, if as the brilliant and forward-thinking Jan Libby mused, that people are expecting to "wing it" when it comes to these options, or if they're afraid of the technology.

As a writer, I'm attempting to take advantage of the unique properties of each platform** to create, as my boss and mentor Brent Friedman*** likes to say, "universes worthy of devotion..." You don't need a WGA card to tell stories across these platforms. (See Jay Bushman's CtHalloween, or my husband's 3 Tweet Stories.)

Writers would do themselves a huge favor by learning about these platforms, at the very least becoming an observer if not an active participant. It's not difficult, but it is different.

And if we want to write in New Media, we have to be prepared to experience and embrace the part that's "New."

*I did not stay for the second panel.
**You can see my talk at the 140# conference "How I Became a Zombie on Twitter" (on the benefit of Twitter for characters) here.
***He may have been quoting someone else. Not that you're not a smartypants, Brent!

HAVING PROBLEMS

Over the weekend, I started to map out my writing goals for 2010.

Last year's were derailed, but they were derailed by something known in the business as "a job." Although I did ghostwrite two books, create an entire online universe that I maintained for months as well as a blog and online presence for another show. So it's not like I was home picking my nose.

Anyway, hopefully this "job" will return, but now that I recall what "jobs" of their kind entail, I'm ready to attack my problem* in a calculated fashion.

When I'm working on a project, I don't generally let the universe know the steps I'm taking. Some writers like to talk about their projects, working them out in front of a studio audience. I've never done that, unless it's a HIYOUWONTHEARFROMMEFORABITBECAUSEIHAFTAGETTHISDONE and then I disappear to, y'know, get it done.

On occasion I find it useful to take a class to finish a project. My first screenplay was completed in Writers' Boot Camp back in 2003, and as I look down the road to finish my second (as well as multiple TV specs and a novel, oh my!) I was considering going back.

In a bizarre twist of fate, I received an email from them in the last weeks of 2009. It turns out that I can still log into the site as an alumna, and while my password was emailed to immediately, I didn't log into the site until today.

My correspondence from my 2003 class is sitting in my inbox, just where i left it. I scanned the subject lines and clicked on an email labeled "HAVING PROBLEMS" where a classmate was worried that they didn't understand the assignment as given. One of the answers was as follows:

Personally, I wouldn't get too worked up about it. My guess is that this is simply to clarify what it is that makes our project unique rather than something that has to wholly make sense at this juncture.

From my experience in the writing world, I've found that many writers fall back on stock experiences and canned characters that leave a "been there, done that" taste in my mouth.

Even if one has a stock sitation or canned character, it's how you as the writer interpret their world that makes them unique. Fr'example, I saw Kissing Jessica Stein last night (ah, cable!). Her mom seemed like the "Stock Jewish Mom Character" and was written that way through out most of the movie until she let on that she knew Jessica was having a lesbian affair and that it was okay. But she still did it in the "Stock Jewish Mom Character" way. So the character you've seen a billion times, the reaction that you're not expecting that colors it in a whole new way. That's what I'd consider a character conceit.

If you were approaching a TV script, then I'd look for story conceits, simply because you're given a cast of characters that you already have to work with. Even the "Same Old Stories" can get a new breath of life when they're being inhabited by different sets of characters.

I don't know if this is what you were looking for, or even remotely helpful. My only advice is not to get so wrapped up in the nomeclature that you become paralyzed and what's "right" and "wrong." It's just an exercise to help you focus. At least, that's how I'm approaching it.

That's good advice, I though. I scrolled down to see who had written it, wondering what this person had been doing for the last seven years.

Cheers,
Nina 

Okay, so we all don't  get wiser with age. But I'm off to try.

*This is a good kind of problem. Like too much candy.

How I Became a Zombie (Amongst Other Things) on Twitter.

My talk at the 140 Conference last week: 

This past weekend I had a realization: I need to stop selling myself as a TV Writer who dabbles in Web TV. I do more than dabble. And transmedia storytelling is the first thing that I have been truly excited about since I got my first writing job.  I have lived and played and created online since 1997. When I started, there wasn't a word for that.

And now? I'm an ARG Creator and a Transmedia Storyteller.

(Who needs business cards.)

While we're on the subject, check out my friend Taryn O'Neill's new series "Hurtling Through Space at an Alarming Rate" which premiered TODAY! Congrats, Taryn!

My Interview with Hotel Roger Smith!

The Hotel Roger Smith was at the 140 Conference. They asked me how I used Twitter...so I told them. (And  called Matt "kind of a jerk.")

How I Became a Zombie on Twitter

If the time it took me to get from the Kodak Theatre exit to the DeVries Lounge was any indication, my talk at the 140 Conference "How I Became a Zombie on Twitter" went pretty damned okay even if I had to face my fear of having my face projected on a ginormous screen. The events of the past 48 hours have been amazing and inspiring and thought-provoking. I have a stack of business cards and a slew of ideas that I need to sort through. Many thanks to everyone at Kodak - Tina, Mary, Jenny, and Kodak CMO Jeffrey Hayzlett.

In the meantime...check out my episode of Woke Up Dead written with series creator (and all-around good guy) John Fasano!

From Crackle: 22: Mother's Day

CPR...

Remember that time when I used to blog about stuff in my life, like important stuff, thoughts and hopes and dreams and cures for cancer and solutions to the health care crisis and posts that brought families together and made you laugh and cry?

Yeah, me neither.

However, I have noticed that I've used this space to promote what I'm working on (Woke Up Dead, Valemont), my dog (she is cute when she eats ice cream), the GAP (Miz Brat, your gift certificate is in the mail, I swear), the show I host with my husband every Saturday night (except for this Saturday night, we'll be seeing my nemesis Paul F. Tompkins and friends at the Largo.)

I haven't written about anything going on in my life because I haven't been living my life right now.

As a writer, you breathe life into your characters on the page. While you're supposed to know what their favorite color is and how they feel about their father and what they've got in their pockets, your characters live and die on the page. (And eventually, on the screen if you're doing that sort of thing.)

But when you're working on a project that covers multiple platforms - call it outreach, call it viral marketing, call it transmedia - your characters are always living and breathing. On Facebook. On Twitter. They react to events. They converse with their friends. They pick fights. Sure, they promote your project but they promote it simply by existing. By being themselves. Unique voices. Unique perspectives.

It's a pretty exciting time, seeing how people react to these beings out there - part pixel, part actor. The audience can choose to accept them as real and participate, or watch them as a separate storyline, or ignore them completely. 

Just like they'd do with living, breathing human beings.

Except that these characters need someone to breathe life into them.

And currently I'm performing a lot of CPR. ;)