Thanks to Jason Arnopp for writing such a nice post about us in his blog: http://jasonarnopp.blogspot.com. We at Scripped are always happy to hear feedback like this. We are very self-deprecating and hard working, and we want to create the best product possible for our users. We are a long ways away from perfection, but we are working hard to get there.
Headed home today to Northern California, which is very exciting. I think that’s it for now…
What’s New
What’s Coming Soon
Script Frenzy
Script Savvy
The Scripped Guys
Scripped LA Meetup!
Contact us any time at: contact@scripped.com
Scripped Newsletter #1
April 11, 2008
Greetings Scripped Users!
Welcome to the very first Scripped Newsletter. You have helped create an amazing start to Scripped. A lot has happened and there’s plenty more to come.
For those we haven’t seen Scripped or the Scripped Writer in a while we invite you to come back and have a look at what’s new and what’s coming very soon! With all the improvements writing your script has never been easier, faster, or more reliable. (For the best experience, please use Scripped Writer in Firefox 2 or Internet Explorer 7.)
What’s New
Rock-Solid Saving: Thanks to all your great feedback, and the migration to a newer, faster server, updates to the Scripped Writer have dramatically improved saving speed and reliability, making regular Save Errors a thing of the past.
Improved Performance: What good is an online writing application if it’s not as zipping fast as your favorite installed software? Our answer: no good! Many updates during the month of March have made Scripped Writer faster than ever.
Scripped Import: Import your existing scripts to your Scripped account with ease so you don’t have to retype a single word. Can’t instal screenwriting software on your work laptop? Now you don’t have to. Import
your script and write at work!
Cover Page: You asked for it and now it’s here. Create a simple cover page for your scripts to give it that professional look and feel.
International Users and Special Characters: For our international users, we fixed up our registration form and have broader support for special characters in the Scripped Writer.
Dashboard and FAQ: With the all-new Dashboard you can stay up to date with the Scripped goings on just by logging in to your account. And with the newly added FAQ page, you can find answers to common questions about the site.
What’s Coming Soon
- Spell Check in the Scripped Writer
- Copy & Paste from other programs right into your script
- Broader language support for non-English scripts.
- Improved Help Center! Script Frenzy
Script Frenzy has begun! (www.scripped.com/frenzy)
We want to personally welcome all you wonderful Script Frenzy participants to the site. Best of luck writing your screenplays. I even heard rumblings that some members of the Scripped team are going to participate!
Script Frenzy is a free international writing event in which participants attempt the daring feat of writing 100 pages of scripted material in the month of April. Every writer who completes the goal of 100 pages is victorious and awe-inspiring and will receive a handsome Script Frenzy Winner’s Certificate and web icon proclaiming this fact. There’s nothing to lose… except that nagging feeling that there’s a script inside you
that may never get out.
Script Savvy
Script Savvy: Connecting Writers with Filmmakers! (www.scripped.com/savvy)
Scripped recently partnered with Script Savvy to bring users even more access to tools to help them with their scripts and get some exposure. Their monthly contest is sure to have some Scripped.com winners soon!
The Script Savvy Monthly Screenplay contest is sponsored by film producers seeking new projects and writing talent. Winners are announced every month and recommended for production consideration. Judge’s Feedback or Professional Analysis are available with contest entry. ALL CONTESTANTS receive a free Ebook Directory of Screenwriter Agents and Managers, listing over 380 industry contacts and their submission preferences.
The Scripped Guys
You might have browsed our blog or read about one of us in Variety magazine. But despite being around for 3 months now, we haven’t yet had a chance to introduce who we really are.
We are a lot like you actually. We’re writers. Yes, even the MBAs among us love to write. Zak, whom many of you have corresponded with already, is the film guy, having graduated with an MFA from the Peter Stark Program at USC’s School of Cinema & Television and has a dozen screenplays under his belt. Sunil, although an MBA student at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, had already written two screenplays before taking an elective course on screenwriting at the film school. In fact, Sunil and Ryan, now at the MIT Sloan School of Management, became good friends by writing together at a cafe in Long Beach after work back in 2005. When Ryan began to create a collaborative chain story writing website, Sunil thought to combine it
with Zak’s interest in screenwriting. And so Scripped was born.
Rest assured that we will NEVER compromise our commitment to keep your work safe, secure, and YOURS.
We commit to this because we are writers too.
Scripped LA Meetup!
Still not convinced? Please meet us in person!
Come to Westwood Brewing Company at 1097 Glendon Ave in Los Angeles on Friday, April 25th at 5:00pm to meet the founders of Scripped! Ryan will be in town from Boston, Zak will come in from Long Beach, and
Sunil will walk from his apartment. We would love to talk to you about the site and what we should develop next.
Please RSVP to rsvp@scripped.com so we’ll know how many pitchers to order. See you soon!
From everyone on the Scripped team, thanks again for all of your feedback (and, at times, patience) as we continue to make Scripped the greatest screenwriting site ever.
Writing is a strange thing. For me it comes and goes. There are times in my life when I’ve been diligent and writing is easy; at other times, it feels forced and I don’t do it. But it has been a part of me for as long as I can remember.
When I was very young my mom would sit me down and make me write an essay when I did something wrong. I had to explain in my own words what happened and why I behaved the way I did. After we talked about my actions, she’d give me a hug and go on to correct my spelling and grammar. I learned early on that writing well was important.
I had my first poem published when I was 6 years old. It went in some sort of children’s writing compilation and I didn’t care much about it then. It was a poem called “The Kerplumpkins” that described the history of a family of gnomes that lived in a pumpkin patch. Or something like that. I don’t really remember, and I think any copies of that poem are long gone.
At the 8th grade graduation I won the writing award. It should have gone to my friend Jose, who beat me in the spelling bee competition that year and is now a writer with the Washington Post. He and his team recently won the Pulitzer for their coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre. He’s also just a really good guy.
When I was a student at UC Berkeley I found that the easiest way to get stuff done was to write about what I wanted. I had a passion for environmental sustainability back then, I still do, and I decided to see how far I could take it. So I wrote some proposals like this about ways to institutionalize sustainability that got all the way up to the chancellor. He liked my writing well enough to fund a few of these ideas, and ultimately I pulled $100,000 out of him. The American Association of Universities in Washington, DC kept him from retiring and he and I managed to stay in touch. I’ll visit him out there in a couple weeks.
Finally, when it came down to applying to grad school, I moved in with my grandpa in Lafayette, CA to conjure up my inner applicant. I wanted to get into top schools, and I decided to shoot for policy programs. So I wrote.
My Princeton Woodrow Wilson School application was due first. It was tough. I didn’t feel good about my story or my writing. I had friends offer edits and I still didn’t like my application when it went in. I didn’t even make the waitlist. Cambridge University’s Land Economy was next. I got in. Phew. But Harvard was the real prize and I didn’t want to reuse the old essays.
I remember sitting in the back patio of my grandpa’s house with a glass of Trader Joe’s red wine. It would usually be 8:30pm, my favorite time of day during the Bay Area summer, just as the sun sets. I took that time to rethink, rewrite, and then reedit each of the five essays required by the Harvard Kennedy School. This time it was just me. No friends, no mom, just my thoughts and my story. I wanted to get in by writing with my heart first. I know that sounds corny, but it was important to me at the time. I felt good when I sent it off.
And then I got in. I spent a few weeks in Europe and saw the World Cup in Berlin. It was 2006. When I returned home in August I had a text on my phone from Sunil. He said he had a great idea. It was Scripped.
I moved to Cambridge, MA and together we started writing. First it was a business plan, then it was about 10 emails a day. And now we’re helping other writers do more writing.
UPDATE: we now have a mirror site up and running. If you still receive the “high traffic volume” message CLICK HERE to log in! The Script Frenzy has begun! And with that, a tremendous rush of traffic to Scripped!If you are trying to access Scripped during a high-volume time, you may receive the message that Scripped is still under maintenance. Rest assured, that you will be able to access Scripped and start writing your masterpiece. If you do encounter this error when visiting the site, please check back later so the traffic can die down.Once everyone gets their accounts up and running, it’s gonna be smooooth sailing to the end of the month!Best of luck everyone.
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