I slept on the floor last night and shivered as though the 3 feet of snow on the ground in Boston followed me to San Francisco. It’s cooold in the foggy city. But I still miss this place.
With 3 moves in nearly as many days, it has been a busy return to California. First stop was Los Angeles where a loyal Scripped blog reader and mother of my someone special had a fantastic birthday party at a tapas restaurant in Ventura. Just one day prior, I loaded up a Zipcar and moved my crap from Cambridge to Boston, where I will sunset my days as a graduate student in a cozy new Beacon Hill apartment. From Ventura we took the 101 straight up to San Francisco and woke up early to help the movers load up a U-Haul. No more kitchen nook and views of Scott and Chestnut. It’s funny how much smaller an apartment looks when the furniture’s out. With hardly a moment’s rest, were back on the road to Davis for another apartment cleanout. Then half of us returned to the empty marina apartment and cuddled up on the bare floor next to the radiator that hissed and spat as it tried to keep us warm through the night.
And now I am back at the marina Starbucks. This place is like a friend that I couldn’t get along with for a while and is now back in my life. I credit it to the free wireless. I used to hate the fact that Starbucks, at the height of its cash hogginess, would charge obscene rates for Internet access. Finally, my old friend has come around. I’m loving the free Starbucks wireless, and I reward them by purchasing a soy mocha with my Starbucks card.
Today I am off to Napa for lunch and a visit to grandma. Sunil is traveling around Barcelona and Zak is currying it up in India. That leaves Josh and I to hold down the fort through the holidays. Were it not for my iPhone life would be much less pleasant and I’d have to duck into these cafes more often to keep up on your emails and other business. It’s such a treat how technology not only makes it possible to keep up with a virtual company, but also allows the possibility to be a student, a grandson, a boyfriend, and even an apartment mover, more or less all at the same time. I would not have it any other way.
Happy holidays, Scripped folks. We’re really looking forward to the new year. In the next big newsletter we’ll tell you why!
This NY Times article was sent to me by a good friend, my old pal from UC Berkeley who was the BMOC (you remember that term? “Big Man On Campus”) our senior year of college. Tall, tanned, handsome, charismatic Hawaiian athlete-turned-president of the student body, he couldn’t take a step outside of Eshelman Hall without a high five or hello.
Anyway, we still chat, but the conversation has matured a bit. We now talk about making money doing what you love, and he sent me this article. I’ll quote just a bit here:
Making videos for YouTube — for three years a pastime for millions of Web surfers — is now a way to make a living.
Granted, building an audience online takes time. “I was spending 40 hours a week on YouTube for over a year before I made a dime,” Mr. Buckley said — but, at least in some cases, it is paying off.
And no, Michael Buckley has no relation to me, unfortunately. But if you happen to know him, please send his email address over. Maybe a common last name is enough to get him to promote Scripped.
Hey everybody, guess what? You can now make comments!
Yes, you could have made comments before, but they did not appear immediately because some genius out there created a spam bot that would add oh, about 10 comments each day with links to pics of you-know-who and his or her you-know-whats. We at Scripped also believe in innovative publicity, but hey, not on our blog. So we had to screen each one, and I got tired of it.
Last night, as I spent 5 hours doing the door shift at the venerable Muddy Charles pub, I installed reCaptcha on our blog. Now the spammers can’t leave their digital poop on our doorstep, and you can have the immediate gratification of seeing your comment posted right away. Just click the comments link below, write your comment, and enter the two words in the reCaptcha box before you click submit or hit enter.
One of the best classes I’m taking this semester (or should I say took? 1 class left!) is taught by Maralee Schwartz, former political editor of the Washington Post. In this class, titled “How Politicians Connect,” we study the connecting strategies of Obama and McCain.
Of course it entails a good amount of reading and writing. Hmm… connecting, writing/reading… Seem to go together, no? A good book, or in Scripped-land, a good screenplay, connects the writer to the reader. It is done not just by writing well and looking good (Mitt Romney) but by being straightforward (McCain, at least in his better days) and always genuine (Obama, frustratingly consistent). Finding your true voice and being honest with yourself is what readers respond to in good writing. It’s probably why writing under pressure often produces your best stuff.
Like today. I got an email from Sunil asking me to put another one of my awesome blog posts together. I thought to myself, I have nothing to write about. Then I self-corrected - there is always something to say if I let my true self out. The best way to do that? Give yourself a time limit. I have contact@scripped emails to respond to before my lunch date with said Prof. Schwartz! Plus my own personal overflowing inbox! Plus economic problem sets to grade!
We all have our obligations, but taking the time to write, if that’s what you like to do, is critical. I leave with one last anecdote. Yesterday I had the good fortune to lunch with Jeff Taylor, the former “Chief Monster” at Monster.com (wildly popular job/resume website) and current head of Eons.com. He asked the other students at the table what we do for fun. Odd question from a bad ass CEO, right? Well, he told us he’s a DJ and spends his Sunday mornings sourcing music from all over the world and does his mixing on Thursday nights. Then his mix goes off to Sirius and XM where they broadcast his creation.
He told us that as you get older, it becomes increasingly important to do what you love. It helps you connect, stay straightforward, and be genuine and sincere with yourself. So thank you, Sunil, for making me write.
I write this from an empty bar named “The Muddy Charles” on the MIT campus. Serving pitchers of Bud and Sam has been my Monday afternoon routine for months now. Today is the first time I’ve had the bar all to myself.
It usually bustles with the likes of the 3 Peters: PB, PC, and P… something. There’s another guy who downs a pitcher while doing the Boston Globe crossword puzzle. Some do construction jobs on campus, others are MIT staff, and there is at least one emeritus professor, an old lovable man named Bernie who teaches astrophysics.
I like it here. It’s one of just a few hubs in the MIT community. Hubs are important to have, no matter what community you belong to, and if you’re somewhat of a binge networker like me, you try to infiltrate the leadership. It’s why I couldn’t just patronize this cozy little campus pub; I had to be a bartender! And as expected, the networking is great. Coincidentally, this picture of me in Variety magazine was taken at the Muddy. The fireplace in the background keeps us warm when it’s 30 degrees out.
Anyway, let me bring this back to Scripped. I set up a profile for Scripped in the VenCorps community, a new “community-powered capital” platform set up by a big-time venture capital company. Since they’re still in alpha, I can’t provide any links, but suffice to say we managed to get in pretty well with these folks too. Just today it was announced that Scripped took 3rd place in a “showdown” against 9 other other startups who made it into the finals. We’re very happy with that.
The irony of this is, of course, that Scripped is still a closed platform. We are aware of that and can’t wait to watch the networking that you’ll do when we blow the lid off this thing. Rest assured we’ll make sure it’s safe to do so and all the legalese is done properly. It’s mostly script and idea protection that is drawing the process out, but we’ll get there.
Hey folks, back with another post. Hopefully I’ll be more frequent with these now that the rhythms of school and Scripped have settled into a steady, up tempo beat.
I write my first correspondence from our Cambridge office about EmTech, the emerging technologies conference at MIT.
Click here and scroll to the bottom. Yes, there we are, your favorite screenplay software startup, playing with the big boys. I met some great people and learned about some fun companies. My favorite is EvenHere, a really innovative web video product placement company.
Ever wanted to buy that Burberry sweater worn by your favorite sitcom star? Now with the advent of flash overlays and contextual video ads, you can click and buy as soon as that character walks in the room.
Pretty cool, and it’s good news for Scripped.
Why? Because as soon as people figure out how to make money from online video, there will be a gold rush for good content. And where will they look for this content? They’ll come here, and they’ll pay you for your script.
The answer to this monetization riddle hinges largely on the work now being done by companies like EvenHere. They’re not the only ones. YouTube itself is another, with their yet-unmonetized billion video streams a day. I’m just saying that as soon as online retail shops start to see dimes and dollars rolling in from video ads and overlays, the game is going to change. Ad rates will go up, online producers will make money, and you, the writers, will hold the keys to the castle.
Until then, it’s a waiting game. At least it’s fun to keep writing in the meantime.
Sorry for being out. If you follow the blog regularly, you got a full dose of Sunil and newsletter archives. Charming as they both are, I thought I’d add my own splash of prose now that the fog has rolled in.
Ghiradelli chocolate, clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl, triangles in the skyline, mist in the August air, and fog horns in the distance. It must be summer in San Francisco. And while San Francisco offers some of the finest in views and ethnic eats, it is also a hotbed for entrepreneurship. It made sense for one of the Scripped Guys to plant here for the summer.
Summer has gone by quickly. The days and weeks spent in this little breakfast nook with my computer, sipping on coffee bought at the marina mart down the street, working out the finer details of our scrappy screenwriting startup, have been lovely. I guess that’s why I wasn’t posting; it’s as though I didn’t even notice the time going by. It actually wasn’t until this morning when my very pretty roommate, the one who took me in for the summer, reminded me I haven’t posted in a month. Crazy, I thought. A month.
But that’s what happens between phone calls and drafts of PowerPoint presentations. Even companies promoting art need a business plan and investors. Nothing is cheap about starting a company, and when your founders are recent grad students under the age of 30, and not some 40 year old millionaires (like a few other startups we know), it’s tough. You sometimes get anxious. You sweat. And then you remember why you did it. It’s fun. You love your partners. The chase is a thrill. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll start to get paid.
But right now it’s not about the money. Not here with my coffee, looking out onto Scott and Chestnut. Not later today with my uncle and cousin on our way up to the family cabin. I am a firm believer that hard work and passion eventually pay themselves off. And Scripped has its share of millionaire friends, chipping in as needed.
So follow your heart and follow your art. The rest will take care of itself.
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.
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.
Sorry for the delay, folks. Turns out you can’t blog from China! I don’t know how they do it, but the Party knows which are blogging websites and which are not, and from inside the country my browser cannot find Wordpress. God bless America.
Fortunately, China has other things going for it, like cheap food, cheap taxis, some great universities, and very cheap beer. In fact, I even had two cans of Tsingtao on the plane ride back to the homeland so I could sleep better. And believe me, sleep I did. China is also in the middle of an incredible infrastructure boom. This is no 3rd world country; it has all the fixings of a major metropolis. There’s a maglev in Shanghai and 8-lane streets throughout Beijing. The internet is slow and censored but it is certainly available, and often is free at cafes. The people, from my limited perspective, are friendly and happy. But then again, I mostly saw and interacted with the business class. That’s less than 1% of China.
But, according to the project I worked on as part of MIT’s China Lab, there are plenty of writers in China! A website, run by ChineseAll, gets 50 million uniques each month and has content driven by real Chinese authors. It’s almost like a Scripped for novels, which is why I was so enthusiastic about working on this project. This is a model that works, and in China they’re already ahead of us, 50 million users strong. This was the best spring break ever.
Unfortunately, it meant I didn’t get my outline done, but I have a bit more inspiration and real-life experience than I left with, and that should count for something. I also read half of William Goldman’s book, Adventure’s in the Screen Trade, which I thought was marvelous. Then the time change caught up with me and I fell asleep. Still, I feel invigorated and excited to do this Script Frenzy.
I’ll do my outline today in entrepreneurship class. The writing starts tomorrow!
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