Welcome to Jill's Blog
05 May 2010
Twitter 2 Comments Permalink

Not for the Faint of Heart: Twitter’s New Embed Feature

May 5, 2010 2 Comments

It’s a great idea, embeddable tweets.  A little embed code to place the tweet in question right into your blog post or wherever.

I already embed tweets quite often, but usually, I take a screenshot and use that. An example:

brent-tweet.jpg

But the idea of an embed code was appealing.  Sadly, the execution is still a little rough.  But here, in a nutshell or at least in 6 steps, is how to do it.

1. Choose a tweet  from the stream and click on the little grey line of text at the bottom on the left that gives the time and source of the tweet.

Grey text

2. That will open a new page that has that tweet alone on it in a much bigger box (like the one above).  Copy and paste the URL from that page.

brents-tweet.jpg

3. Go to Blackbird Pie, Twitter’s embed code generator.

4. Paste in the URL from your selected tweet and and click on Bake It.

blackbird-pie-new.jpg

5. Voila, your embed code is generated.  Copy and paste the code.

blackbird-pie-with-code.jpg

6. Embed it wherever you wish, comme ca:

Lindsay Lohan to star in movie about porn star. Porn stars everywhere say “Really? Her? Ew.”less than a minute ago via webBrent Piaskoski
BrentPiaskoski

7. Freak out over the results and try to tweak the code. Yeah, it doesn’t work so well on this version of WordPress. I got it working over on the Story2.OH site, but alas failed to get it going on this version of WordPress.

I’d love to hear about other people’s successes and failures with this. Twitter does warn that it’s rough code. One day though, it’ll work. And that will be good.

Thanks and apologies to Brent who I didn’t even consult before swiping his tweet.

04 May 2010
Film, series creation, transmedia 1 Comment Permalink

Not Just for Indie Filmmakers

May 4, 2010 1 Comment

You can learn a lot about transmedia making from this slideshow.  Robert Pratton of Zen Films presented it at the Sacramento Film Festival a couple of weeks ago.  It has tons of examples of transmedia projects, dissects various business models and offers a process for transmedia creation.  His final examples is a Canadian project that still seems to be in development, Heroes of the North.

View more presentations from Zen Films.

Many thanks to Rob Mills for the link.

03 May 2010
Julie Cohn, Karen Walton, Kerry Young, pilot scripts, Ruby Skye P.I., transmedia, web series 2 Comments Permalink

Teaming Up for Ruby Skye

May 3, 2010 2 Comments

Eye 3Developing Eye to Eye With Ruby Skye proposal for the next stage of the IPF’s Web Drama Series program is like being king for a day.  I get to put together my dream team.

Eye to Eye With Ruby Skye is a serialized detective series for tweens.  Action, comedy and suspense.  A kind of next gen Nancy Drew.  My goal is to produce three Ruby Skye web mysteries a year, each rolled out in 12 exciting video “chapters”.  Plus a whole bunch more elements that fall into the category of transmedia.  But I’ll tell you about that another time.

This time, I’m on teams.  I’ve been talking to a ton of people about partnering up on the business side.  I have some very cool, very big plans.  But if I want to have a hope in hell of succeeding I need some good people on the inside working with me.

My first call is always to Julie Cohn.  We were consecutive exec story editors of CBC’s Sesame Park and have partnered up to write a lot of stuff for both kids and adults.  I love writing with Julie and drafting the first two episodes was breeze.

Working with Julie always gives me a lot of confidence.  She get great writing chops and she’s very funny and I’ve been wanting that kind of backup on the producing end of things too.  I’ve been thinking a lot about the qualities I was looking for in collaborators: business chops, budget and production know-how, a background in old media distribution channels plus a sense of independence.  And man have I ever found them!

Kerry Young and Karen Walton have agreed to be my producing partners on Ruby Skye. Talk about creative business minds!  My head is spinning from our meeting last night; I learned a ton. Kerry and Karen have worked on lots of low budget independent projects and of course, they get the Internet.  Seriously, who gets the web better than walty?Pretty awesome start: Julie, Kerry, Karen.  Three insanely smart and accomplished women, but crazy fun too.  I can see already that the Ruby Skye wrap party is going to be one hot ticket.

28 Apr 2010
character, Treme 2 Comments Permalink

Great Cast of Characters

April 28, 2010 2 Comments

Davis TremeAntoine TremeJanette TremeAlbert Treme

It hasn’t taken long for Treme to take it’s hold on me. By the end of this week’s episode I was deeply into each character’s storyline. None of them feel like stock characters to me. They seem original, quirky and real — very complete. Yet at the same time, they are mysterious, who are they? What is driving them?

Annie TremeToni TremeLaDonna TremeDelmond Treme

I’ve started to develop favourites.  I love Davis, Antoine, Janette and Albert.  I feel for Toni and Annie is growing on me.

Which Treme characters are your favs?

26 Apr 2010
crossplatform, Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, transmedia 1 Comment Permalink

Longing for More Harry

April 26, 2010 1 Comment

I went to see the Harry Potter exhibit at the Science Centre yesterday with three avid tweenage Harry Potter fans. There weren’t not the only ones in the crowd in costume, not even close.

Like most of the kids there, they know every nook and cranny of the Potterverse. They know every character and their history. They know which book each incident comes from, which spells were used when and every fact, figure and piece of trivia you can imagine.

They spent a great deal of time in the exhibit. Looked at every item, discussed it, put in some sort of context and through it tried to relive the delicious experience of being in the JK Rowling’s story world. They scoured the gift shop for souvenirs to take home and left mostly with chocolate. They already own all the books and videos, wands, costumes and more.

The exhibit reminded me what a marvelous, detailed world Rowling created. But I feel sad that as large as it is, it is finite. I see how these kids long to discover some new element of it, to dig deeper or experience a new part of the tale. But there is nothing left to find.

The Harry Potter universe does not expand past the limits of the book. It gets retold in movies, audiobooks, videogames and exhibitions, but there in all those other platforms there is nothing new to discover.

My daughter came home a little deflated from the experience. She was engaged while she was there, talking with her friends and reliving the books. But afterwards she said the exhibit just reminded her how disappointing the Harry Potter movies were. And indeed they pale in comparison to the books.

That’s crossplatform. A finite world retold over and over in other platforms. Vaguely disappointed to the fan who wants to live and breathe in that world, who longs for more riches, more nooks and crannies of the universe to discover.

Taking Harry to many platforms in a great way to exploit the series and it’s certainly helped the story reach new audiences.

The kids I was with weren’t the only ones who long for more time in the world. I loved it there too. Selfishly, I wish Rowling’s was a transmedia vision and that when the story moved to new platforms, was there was new content to discover: different storylines, deeper explorations of what happened from other characters’ points of view, more time in the past or future of the world.

That’s not the way it is however and I can only drown my sorrow in chocolate frogs, Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans and fudge flies.

23 Apr 2010
crossplatform, digital media, financing 3 Comments Permalink

Experimenting with the Experimental Fund

April 23, 2010 3 Comments

These are exciting times.  There’s finally money around to invest in digital creations thanks to the IPF and the CMF’s new experimental fund.  I went to the CMF information session this morning at the Royal York and basically I liked what I heard.

These aren’t verbatim quotes, but what I heard was, there are some rules, but there’s also flexibility.  This is new, there aren’t answers to every question.  Talk to them and they will try to work with you to get things figured out.

There’s a big pot of money waiting to be used: $23 million.  A third will go to French language projects and two thirds to English ones.  The CMF will fund 75% of eligible costs up to a million dollars. That means as few as 23 projects could be funded which would be a drag.  Half of the money will be given out following the June deadline and the other after the October deadline.

They are looking for projects that are innovative — in content, business plan, technology or presumably all three.  They ask you to come with a market channel partner — someone who knows how to distribute and promote on the web, but the CMF is mindful that not every project will need this partnership nor are they prescriptive on what constitutes a market channel partner.

One of the questioners this morning pointed out that many digital products were launched without any business plan (Twitter, anyone) and the CMF replied, convince us that there’s a market.  They are definitely talking the good talk and seeming open and flexible.

I called to set up my one on one consultation.  The poor woman at the other end of the phone had been overwhelmed with calls since this morning.  This is one of the aspects of the program that isn’t quite in place yet.  How are they going to meet with everyone?  Who’s going to take the meetings and so on.

I was told to email them requesting a one-on-one consultation.  Because of time constraints and the labour involved, they don’t want to meet with people too early in their process.  So they want some details about the project and where I am in development.  The chances of getting a meeting next week look slim.

I remained buoyed and excited about the prospects the experimental fund offers.  The presentation this morning certainly presented the CMF as a good partner — one with ideas and goals, but also flexibility and an ability to listen.  I hope I have the opportunity to go into business with them.

23 Apr 2010
transmedia Permalink

Transmedia Hollywood

April 23, 2010

Transmedia Hollywood was an even run by UCLA and USC on March 16, 2010.  it brought together a whole whack of transmedia types — both academics and praticioners.  I would have given my eye teeth to be there but sadly, my dental work is in tact.

However, film is the next best thing to being there and videos of the sessions are  on their site.   I’m not sure whether there are embeddable version somewhere or not.  I couldn’t find them.  So high tail it over to TRANSMEDIA, HOLLYWOOD: S/Telling the Story and spend your Friday afternoon immersed in transmedia.

22 Apr 2010
pilots, web series 2 Comments Permalink

Hitvidi Web Pilot Competition

April 22, 2010 2 Comments

Everything’s coming up web series these days.  Latest: hitvidi’s call for entries into its hit video web pilot competition… All right, maybe it isn’t “latest” exactly.  Deadline’s May 1 which doesn’t leave you a lot of time to get your act together.

What do you got to do?

Create a hit web show of any kind
comedy, prank, reality, lifestyle, doc, drama – it’s up to you.

Nothing to it.

Shoot your pilot episode.

Easy stuff.

Then upload it along with your series proposal to hitvidi for a chance to win $10,000 to shoot your first season.

Okay, not the big bucks, but it’s better than nothing which is what most of shoot our first web series on.

Anyway, all the deets over at hitvidi.

What is hitvidi?  This is from their about page:

hitvidi was created to produce original shows of the highest quality.

The hitvidi platform will serve as a global stage for the most talented show creators while providing viewers with an on-demand lineup featuring only the best shows.

hitvidi is advised by a group of executives and media minds with connections to such companies as The Moving Picture Company, The Field and VANOC, with programming input from a diverse group of successful artists, storytellers and craftsmen from film and television.

VANOC?! The Vancouver Olympic Committee?!? I can’t find another all caps VANOC, so maybe.  In the rules and reg, it says all the money will be given out in Canadian fund, so maybe.  Not sure whether the Moving Picture Company is this one and The Field is this, but those are what I could find.

Lemme know what you know about this and whether you’re applying!

20 Apr 2010
creating series, Independent Production Fund, transmedia, web series 1 Comment Permalink

The 26 Finalists

April 20, 2010 1 Comment

Here are the Independent Production Fund Web Drama Series Pre-Selection results. 166 applied, 26 have been asked to submit complete production applications by May 1, 2010.

These are the 26 projects:

11 Règles

Whimz Studio

Producer: Steve Kerr

Writer: André Gulluni

Director: Yan Lanouette-Turgeon

The Agent C

Ravenhead Productions

Steve Cochrane, Phyllis Ellis, Adriana Maggs

Beer Goggles

Decode Entertainment Inc.

Greydon Laing, Beth Stevenson


The Brothers McElroy

Zeros 2 Heroes Media & Radius² Media

Matt Toner

The B-Sides

Shot on Site Media & Frameblender, Mercato Digital Solutions

Darcy Campbell, Tim Martin

Bunny Babies

Periscope Pictures

Cheryl Wagner, Harmony Wagner

Bunny Hug

Combustion Inc.

Grant Harvey, Jason Filiatrault

Chase

Smokebomb Entertainment / Shaftesbury Films

Daniel Dales, Jarrett Sherman, Patrick Tarr (Writer)

Consumer Joe

FarWeb.tv

Producers: Robert Boulos, Alain Lépine, Didier Lucien

Writers: Éric Godin, Pierre Huet

Les contes

Jimmy Lee & Sid Lee

Producers: Jean-Baptiste Richard, Marie Michaud

Directors: Ricardo Trogi, Stéphane Lapointe, Podz, Mariloup Wolfe,
Robin Aubert, Jean-François Rivard, Miryam Bouchard, Jean-François
Asselin

Les enfantillages

Groupe 33

Producer: Julien Roussin Côté

Writer: Alexandre Champagne

Director: Laurence Morais-Lagacé

Eye to Eye with Ruby Sky

Story2.OH

Jill Golick

Fair Play

Lifeforce Entertainment Inc.

J. Michael Dawson, Chantal LeBlanc-Everett

Fréquence

Tungsten Visuel

Producer: Samuel Noël

Writers: Samuel Noël, Alexis Désilets

Director: François Tremblay

Guidestones

iThentic / 3 O’clock.tv

Jonas Diamond, Jay Ferguson

Jack Jobin

Coptik Films

Producers: Marie-Hélène Copti, Trinidad Rivas, Olivier Sabino

Juliette !

Les Productions Passez Go inc.

Producer: Vicky Bounadère

Writer: Yvan De Muy

Director: Marie-Claude Blouin

The Long Way Out

marblemedia interactive inc. & Fourth Wall Studios

Mark Bishop, Matt Hornburg, Sean Stewart (Writer)

Moderation Town

Stitch Media

Evan Jones, Anna Emmanouil

Open Mike

Opolo Pictures, theREDspace

Andrew Bush, Marc Almon, Angus Swantee

Papa 24/7

Avanti Ciné Vidéo

Producers: Luc Wiseman, Monic Lamoureux, Caroline Gaudette

Writer: Martin Larocque

Director: Carlo Harrietha

Papillon

duopoly & Farmhouse Productions

Catherine Tait, Kent Sobey, Paul Quarrington (Concept), Mark
Steinberg (Writer)

Replayed

Across the Street Productions, The Island Film Factory

Adam Perry, Jeremy Larter, Mark Sandiford

The System

Muse Entertainment & B360 Media

Joshua Dorsey, Leanne Levy, Cynthia Knight (Writer), Jesse Prupas

Tights & Fights — Ashes

GopherX Productions

Scott Albert, Christopher Guest, Courtney Wolfson

Zieuter.tv

La Presse Télé Ltée

Producers: André Provencher, Marleen Beaulieu, Marie-Josée
Lachance

Writer: Raphaël Codebecq

Director : Adam Kosh

I can’t wait to learn more about all these projects, but there’s at one among them that we can watch already: Tights and Fights. The first season is in the can and on the web. Check out episode 10: Captain Euchre vs the Plumber Minion.

20 Apr 2010
Independent Production Fund, transmedia 4 Comments Permalink

Yay!

April 20, 2010 4 Comments

Big news.  My project Eye to Eye with Ruby Skye has been selected as a finalist in Independent Production Fund’s Web Series Program!  I’m so excited.

But, it’s only the first hurdle.  There are 26 finalists and only about a third will actually get financing.  The full list of finalists won’t be available until tomorrow.

I have a lot of work ahead putting together the materials for the next stage.  And I’ll get right to it as soon as I finish dancing around the room.

***UPDATE*** Scott Albert and Christopher Guest of GopherX are also finalists with their project, Tights and Fights!

CONTACT

Hire me

Amy Stulberg, Vanguarde Artists Management

[email protected]
(416) 972-9542

http://vanguardeartists.com/

Contact Me

Please email Jill Golick at [email protected] for all other inquiries.