Archive for May, 2008

Edward Burns Joins Scripped Board of Advisors!

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

Courtesy WireImage

I just watched Purple Violets on iTunes. I needed something to occupy the 4-hour bus ride between Boston and New York this weekend, and I figured I should catch up on some movies.

I also learned that Purple Violets was the first major motion picture to be released on iTunes. I figured I owed it to Edward Burns to have a look.

It’s a movie about the complex romance between two authors and their friends. I always find it a bit odd when writers write about writing. Being at MIT and enjoying math theory a bit too much, I think of it as a fractal. You know, one of those things like a letter A which, when you zoom in, you see is composed of other little A’s. And when you zoom in on them, even more tiny A’s.

But that’s not really what I was thinking about as I watched Eddie’s movie. I was actually thinking how lucky we are to have him involved with Scripped.

In the coming months you’ll hear more from Eddie and Aaron Lubin, his partner in production. With their input and guidance we will build Scripped into the superb online screenwriting community we know it can be. It is our summer goal to make this the most happenin’ place to write, protect, and even distribute your scripted content. You can also expect to hear from Eddie and Aaron directly through a few new features we’re building right now.

If you have any ideas, please don’t be shy. Tell us by commenting here or writing to us at contact@scripped.com. We love to hear from you. Even Sunil and Zak will spend their weekends checking the Scripped email inbox.

I know because I check it too.

Below is a copy of the press release that we issued today!

Los Angeles, CA – On Monday, May 19th, Producers Edward Burns and Aaron Lubin reached an agreement to join Scripped Inc.’s Board of Advisors. Scripped Inc. is a digital media startup that launched “Scripped Writer,” a web-based screenwriting software platform.

Burns and Lubin will help the web-based startup’s short and long term business strategy. Scripped launched the beta version of its web-based screenwriting software in January of 2008 and has since built a user-base of over 5,500 writers from all 50 states, as well as from 50 different countries. Scripped is currently being used by students from UCLA, USC, Santa Clara University and Grand Rapids Michigan Middle School amongst a host of other educational institutions.

“We are thrilled to add Ed and Aaron to the advisory board,” said Sunil Rajaraman, president and CEO of Scripped, Inc. “Their industry knowledge will help us guide our short and long-term thinking. We want to provide the best possible services to our user-base and Ed and Aaron are the right guys to help us reach that goal.”

“Ed and I are excited to be joining Scripped’s Board of Advisors,” said Aaron Lubin. “We think the site will provide cost-effective access to screenwriting software and resources for aspiring young writers to succeed. We are looking forward to collaborating with Sunil, Ryan and Zak to help make this site a success.”

About Scripped, Inc.
Scripped Inc. developed Scripped Writer, the first completely free web-based screenwriting software for writers. Scripped Writer is an innovative software that functions like a standard word processor but automatically formats and catalogs each screenplay element according to industry standards. Scripped was co-founded by Sunil Rajaraman, Zak Freer and Ryan Buckley; Rajaraman is a former senior strategy consultant, and UCLA Anderson MBA student, Freer is a producer/director and graduate of the Peter Stark Producer’s Program at USC and Buckley is a dual degree student Harvard and MIT. To learn more, visit http://www.scripped.com.

About the Producers
Edward Burns has written, directed, starred in and produced eight feature films, including the award winning Brothers McMullen, She’s the One, Sidewalks of New York, The Groomsmen, and most recently Purple Violets. Burns’ gained worldwide critical acclaim for his performance as Private Richard Reiben in Saving Private Ryan. In addition, Burns has starred in several feature films, including James Foley’s Confidence opposite Dustin Hoffman and Rachel Weisz, 15 Minutes opposite Robert De Niro, and most recently the 20th Century Fox hit romantic comedy 27 Dresses opposite Katherine Heigl. To learn more, visit http://www.edwardburns.net.

Aaron Lubin has produced several feature length films including Looking for Kitty, The Groomsmen, Ash Wednesday and Sidewalks of New York. Lubin produced Purple Violets with Burns, which was the first feature length film to debut on iTunes. The move to release Purple Violets on iTunes was considered a pioneering move in the film industry, and the movie has since received positive critical acclaim. Purple Violets won “best feature film” at the Savannah Film Festival. Additionally, Lubin worked on the NBC television show The Fighting Fitzgeralds starring Brian Dennehy, as well as several Saturn commercials, in producing capacities.

Scripped Newsletter #2

Monday, May 19th, 2008

Scripped Newsletter #2

May 19, 2008

IN THIS ISSUE:

Donate!
What’s New
What’s Coming Soon

Script Frenzy Recap

Contact us any time at: contact@scripped.com

Greetings Scripped Users!

Welcome to our very second Scripped Newsletter. We have grown up since we the last one! Now over 5500 writers strong, Scripped is quickly becoming the most popular screenwriting tool on the Net.

Following in a separate email is a brief 10 question survey that will help us serve you better. Please take a minute to fill it out. We would really appreciate it!

Also, for the best writing experience, please always use Scripped Writer in Firefox 2 or Internet Explorer 7.

Donate!

Like what you see? Feel better knowing we’re well-fed?

While we aren’tpinching pennies at the moment, your donation helps us to actively and more rapidly maintain, support and improve Scripped.Even $5 makes a difference!

Please click the link below to get started. (If you don’t have a PayPal account, just click “continue” next to the credit card logos.)

Make a Scripped donation here! :0)

What’s New

As always, we continue to refine the Scripped Writer to keep it fast, friendly, and secure. Here’s what we’ve been working on over the last few weeks:

Auto-Saving: We made the auto-save feature chill out and let you write in peace. It is still working quietly as you write, but it won’t be interrupting you anymore.

Spell Checking: Guess what? If you like browsing with Firefox, you’ll like it even more now that Scripped Writer accommodates its built-in spell checker. Internet Explorer has a similar function, but you have to install it from a 3rd party.

What’s Coming Soon

More Custom Formatting: Don’t like the bold sluglines? Soon you’ll be able un-bold them.

PDF Output: Weknow the Export PDF function has been a bit buggy for some of you. Wehave identified the issue and will be posting a fix soon.

MORE/CONT’D: Another simple PDF fix to append to the bottom of your pages, it will make its way onto the site shortly!

Script Frenzy Recap

Finally, congratulations to all you Script Frenzy winners! We hope you found the experience bountiful. We’d also like to thankChris, Tavia, and Jennifer, the Frenzy coordinators, for helping us help you.

And the best news is, although the Script Frenzy stopped inMay, the Scripped frenzy continues year-round! So write on.

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.

Cheers,

Zak, Sunil, & Ryan
The Scripped Guys

More Screenwriting Tools

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

I’ve been trying to learn as much about screenwriting as possible, though I doubt my knowledge will ever rival Zak’s. That being said, I’ve been surfing around for experts’ advice on screenwriting, etc, and came accross this site: http://thedialogueseries.com.

Here is what they have to say:

THE DIALOGUE: Learning From the Masters is a groundbreaking interview series that goes behind the scenes of the fascinating craft of screenwriting. In these 70-90 minute in-depth discussions, more than two dozen of today’s most successful screenwriters share their work habits, methods and inspirations, secrets of the trade, business advice, and eye-opening stories from life in the trenches of the film industry. Each screenwriter discusses his or her filmography in great detail and breaks down the mechanics of one favorite scene from their produced work. To purschase these DVDS visit www.thedialogueseries.com.

Looks interesting!

Navigating Screenwriting on the Net

Monday, May 12th, 2008

Hey all, I’ve been in contact with other entrepreneurs in the screenwriting/net world over the past several months and I just wanted to highlight a site I came upon called “Coverage Ink.” Be sure to check them out at http://www.coverageink.com. Here is a quote from Jim Cirile, the founder:

The most important thing to know is Coverage, Ink is by writers, for writers. We’re not owned by a big corporation. We’re owned by me–Jim Cirile–a writer. I founded CI as a reaction to the coverage services out there, which I found to be overpriced, and oftentimes the coverage was hostile or useless. Worse, some of those people have a carrot and stick approach — promising you ‘industry access’ if you get a consider or better, when more often than not this is vapor — as I learned from personal experience. Writers are generally hardworking and broke! Again, I know this firsthand. We just want someone to help us with gentle guidance. So when I pony up money for an opinion, I want it to be creatively constructive, as opposed to belittling or insulting. I want people to feel empowered and have a real idea how to better their script after they work with us. I use my own company to develop my own scripts all the time, submitting to my readers under pseudonyms and paying the full rate. So I know what we’re doing works, and the 99% positive feedback we get from our clients bears that out. I also hand-pick and test all our readers personally to make sure they know their stuff. That’s what CI is all about

Coverage Ink is running a screenwriting competition called “Writers on the Storm”, which runs through July. If you submit a script to CI, it is automatically entered into the contest. Grand prize is 10gs…. maybe I should figure out a way to get Zak to enter.

Now if only we were as innovative as some of these other companies out there… Ryan, maybe we need you to sell a kidney soon.

…And we’re back!

Saturday, May 3rd, 2008

Yes, it took a little longer than expected, but we’re back!

Thank you for your patience as we completed another monthly update. We apologize for not giving you notice prior to this upgrade, but our server administrators required that we complete it immediately, and we take their demands seriously.

Regards,

The Scripped Guys

scripped frenzy - epilogue and confession

Thursday, May 1st, 2008

To my loyal readers: I am sorry. I let you down. I, like many before me, did not complete the Frenzy. I had a vision, I had an idea, and I let the idea sit, then fester, and then dissolve. And now it is May.

I blame it on my schooling. MIT and Harvard, while probably not any harder than other programs once you’re in, still do a good job of lathering it on from time to time. We also had a huge month for Scripped. Lots of documents to be written, people to contact, and planes to catch. Sunil and Zak would not have been pleased if I didn’t put 100% into our latest round of document edits. Fortunately, we have some big news to show for it (just stay tuned… :0)

But I digress. The point of the Frenzy, I’m well aware, is to let all matters of the other 11 months outside of April go the wayside. I understand that, but like so many things, it is easier said than done! Instead, I will make it my own personal mission to do a great screenplay this summer, when the 3 of us Scripped founders go full-time at the same time for the first time ever. I’ll have 3 months to do it. That should work better.

To those of you who finished, I salute you! Congratulations for completing your first (or thereabouts) screenplay, and thank you for using Scripped. We are honored to serve, and please believe we sacrificed our own participation to make sure that your experience was the best it could be.

Minus that little glitch on April 1, I believe we have delivered. As you go forward in your writing careers, you can count on us to continue to provide the best screenwriting experience on the Net.

And it will keep getting better! More to come…