Archive for the ‘business model’ Category

community-powered everything

Monday, November 24th, 2008

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.

In the meantime, keep on writing…

Ryan

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Posted in Scripped, business model, entrepreneurship, launch, ryan, script frenzy | 7 Comments »

myspace goes primetime

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

Hey everyone, check out this article on VentureBeat.

For those of us on MySpace, it’s a terrific example of how social networks are influencing the way multimedia is consumed. Why leave the computer to watch the Simpsons? Well, that’s old news, actually. Better yet, why close your MySpace page to watch that episode when you can get it on the same screen? And through viral effects, your friends will quickly see what you like to watch.

Want to see what we watch? The Scripped MySpace page is at http://www.myspace.com/scripped. Come on, be our friend. Can you think of any cool applications for screenplays on Scripped?

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Posted in Uncategorized, business model | 9 Comments »

EmTech at MIT

Thursday, September 25th, 2008

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.

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Posted in business model, entrepreneurship, ryan | No Comments »

New European script market

Tuesday, February 12th, 2008

I just caught a post in Variety about the emergence of a new script market. This is something we’ve long thought could work in the United States, particularly for short-form webisode-oriented video. It seems the obvious logical next step in the storied breakdown of Hollywood.

I suspect several new markets will soon emerge in the United States as well, with different combinations of TriggerStreet and ScriptShark functionalities. We’ll probably throw our hat in the ring too, and learn our lessons from Europe.

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Posted in article, business model, variety | No Comments »

Thoughts on the Scripped business model

Friday, January 18th, 2008

Finding free wireless is less of a struggle than I thought it might be. Fortunately, I can use my iPhone to stake out the airwaves at a cafe before cracking open my laptop. If enough unlocked networks exist, I take the plunge, buy a coffee, and dive into Scripped for the next two hours.

I’m in LA for another week to think hard about our business model. It’s difficult because so much of what we are doing is contingent on the work that other companies are doing. Scripped is about as far upstream in the video production value chain as it gets. We exist where ideas are generated, and we’re happy here because it’s really not that crowded. There’s ScriptShark, which no one has access to, and TriggerStreet, which too many people have access to. We’re unique because we have a writing app that helps new writers test the screenplay waters and see how it works.

But how do we make money? The three of us are basically broke. I’m over $100k in debt from Harvard and MIT tuition and living expenses, Sunil poured his life savings into UCLA and the rest into Scripped, and Zak is in similar dire straits. But such is the life of an entrepreneur, a perspective I had the good fortune to grasp firsthand in a tour of Silicon Valley startups with my MIT Sloan classmates. Every successful startup we spoke to had a rice, beans, and sleeping bag sob story. Surprisingly, the spartan lifestyle continued even after their first $6m funding round.

So we need to monetize our services, but as I said, the monetization of a script is contingent on the monetization of the downstream video product. How much money will a producer make on a million YouTube, Revver, or *.tv site video views? No one really knows, but the answer will help us understand how much the script that drove the video is worth. Once we get this far, it will be easier to determine what to charge and to whom. I suspect the Scripped Writer will always be free. We’ll eventually charge fees to promote scripts to producers, and likewise to allow producers or their agents to browse the catalog of scripts that Scripped members allow permissions to see.

Regardless, from the perspective of a young guy sitting outside of a coffeeshop at Sunset and Vermont, it’s a fun problem to think about. Maybe we’ll put up a donation button instead. I think Sunil needs some new underwear.

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Posted in business model, entrepreneurship, ryan | 3 Comments »