The Script Frenzy A-Z challenge so far…
Like other formats, Script Frenzy has a special forum for Webvideo and Webcomic scripts. I tracked down four of the Frenzies posting about their Web projects and asked them each a few questions.
Justangel24 is working on episodes of a web video soap opera called Vicious Lust. “It’s about the complicated relationships between 6 people and how lust winds up being viscious, dangerous and even deadly for them. I made this idea to be a closed ended web series so it’s kind of like a spanish telenovela format but made for the web.
“As of today, April 25th, I’m up to page 80. I know I am writing this for Script Frenzy so there’s going to be some stuff that I am going to change or that isn’t going to be logical to myself so I am considering that for when I start the drafting process after Frenzy ends. So far, however, I am sastisfied with how the story is developing.
“I have always wanted to make a web soap opera because I know the fanbase is very loyal. The creator sometimes has direct contact with the fans and if the fans like the show well enough, it will show in funding campagins, response on facebook and hopefully at We Love Soaps Indie Soap Awards if it gets that far.”
teax2 is working on two different web video scripts this April. One is an adaptation of last year’s Script Frenzy webcomic – Firework, which can be found at http://firework.the-comic.org. “It’s a swear-filled sci fi for teens.”
“The other is called Herds. It’s about a girl named Evan in a fantasy world where animals are herded during the journeys of young people. Evan meets a slave named Roma who she frees, and they set off on an adventure through the world of Hypatia, fending off the hated magic-users, who are treated like homeless people, as well as sickened herd animals who have become monsters. It’s a script for kids and I’d love to be able to animate it in the future.
“Everything about the direct to web delivery excites me. Webcomics creators use bigcartel to make some money to cover their domain and server costs all the time. I’m in the publishing business and familiar about how hard it used to be to get anything looked at or published, and have experienced being rejected a lot. It’s amazing that creators can write the kind of story they want to write and still find an audience using the internet. It’s exciting and I plan to take advantage of it in the future. I’m particularly interested in publishing ebooks of my fiction writing.”
Obsidian.Lily is working on a fantasy webcomic this year, called The Hunter’s Apprentice. “A teenage girl runs away from an abusive home, and joins up with a trio of guys from a ranger guild. There’s monsters created by magical imbalance and evil mages of all sorts, there’s necromancers running amok, and magic is as fundamental to every day life as electricity is to us.
“The setting has been in the works for years. I’m constantly doing new bits of research. Last Screnzy I did the ‘prequel’ of the trio’s backgrounds (focusing on the coolest and how he meets the other two). I work on the story every day, although actual writing is happening in bursts rather than steadily. I spent yesterday working out some planning issues with chapter 4. Today I did some more research before I execute that plan, and tomorrow I’ll probably just write all 20 pages of the chapter.
“My interest is two-fold: availabilty and freedom. The latter is probably the deciding factor in why I’m choosing the webcomic route. If I write the story right, I can publish it later for my readers to have their very own copy. And I don’t have to bow to the editorial policies of a major publisher. For that matter, companies like Marvel and DC won’t even accept original scripts. While I value the guidance of an experienced editor to help me refine my style, I don’t want to be constrained either. I’d rather fall flat on my face by forging my own path than succeed with something that isn’t really mine after all.
“The availability factor is also important to me. With the ‘Net, I can reach far more of the world than a small subset of the US population. Not only can I reach most of the English-speakers in the world, but I can enable translation of my text. In fact, once the script is complete and I have an artist actively drawing, I’d like to start translating it myself into French and Japanese. The level of success required for a physically published work to be translated in multiple languages is fairly high. But with a webcomic, I just need one especially enthusiastic fan from Portugal, for example. And all those readers can get it free. Sure, I’d like to make money, but there are other ways to reward a creator than buying the content itself. Tip jars, merchandise, and hard copies are all options. And if I never make money, that’s okay, too, as long as it least one person loved it.”
Thanks to my webvideo and webcomic writers for sharing their thoughts today! It sounds like a cool road to take with your writing.
The Kelworth Files 