Special Ops: The Writer of the Future

1
Special Ops The Writer of the Future

• Flint Dille
• Austin GDC 2008

2
Premise

• The future writer will need to be fast and
  versatile to survive in a constantly changing
  media-sphere.  
• I mean anybody who plans to write from today on
  Including me.
• The good news is that change means opportunity.

3
The Changing Mediasphere.

• Fiction and Non-fiction are blurring.
• Everything is everything. Movie, game, comic,
  book, toy etc.
• Everything is always The world is a constant
  flow ticking to eternity. Beyond 24/7. We need
  more content than ever. It comes. It goes.
• Everything is forever Projects keep moving on
  and on into eternity. Changing. Morphing.
  Evolving.

4
Changing Mediasphere

• Everybody is everything Author, Critic, Blogger,
  Fan
• New Media isnt that new anymore and the barriers
  are coming up
• Old media is ossifying
• Everything is morphing. Nobody knows where it
  will all end.
• Creator and audience are blurring.
• Smaller pieces of bigger pies.

5
The Changing Marketplace

• Any writer who thinks that there is anything we
  know as 'business as usual' will continue to
  exist is up for disappointment.
• Writers who embrace the constant chaos and change
  within the mediasphere will continue to grow and
  thrive.
• Experienced writers who fail to constantly adapt
  will rapidly become irrelevant.
• New writers who don't aggressively pursue
  heretofore uncharted areas will have a very
  difficult time breaking in.

6
Getting In

• We will have to be adept at boldly assaulting
  mediums that don't use writers and work with
  clients don't know they need writers ex social
  networks, virtual worlds and casual games will
  find unexpected need for writers.

7
New Writers Breaking In

• Get Bonifides
• Go to Game School.
• Get a credit. (It doesnt matter on what).
• Have a spec script or design doc.
• Get into the industry.
• Get Credibility Agent, References, Network
• Figure out how you are going to keep yourself
  afloat financially.
• Commit to 5 Years.

8
Established Writers

• See Previous slide. You are always breaking in.
• Redundancy is a Survival Skill.
• 3 Yard Plays.
• Possession Plays.
• Long Bombs
• Live below your means.
• Learn to Budget Your Time

9
Do A Baseball Card of Yourself

• Concept Generation
• Poetry
• Commerciality
• Editing
• 2nd Drafts
• Marketing
• Personna
• Reliability
• Quantity Endurance
• Quality Meticulousness
• Speed Velocity
• Graphic Skills
• Media Skills
• Poetry

10
Writer Baseball Card (2)

• Building Websites
• Filmmaking/Editing
• Game-building
• Voice Skills
• Hustle
• Sales
• Network
• Legal Knowledge
• Versatility in Genres
• Versatility in Mediums
• Screenwriting
• Gamewriting
• Journalism
• Novel Writing
• Short Story Writing
• Non-Fiction Writing
• Ad Writing
• Other

11
Maximize Strengths/Minimize Weaknesses

• How do you compensate for weaknesses?
• Sales Get an agent
• Editing Find an Editor
• Find a partner (either permanent or project by
  project).
• Take classes/See what others are doing.
• Always work on your craft.
• Know the difference between self-perception and
  marketplace perception.

12
Rules

• Do not blow deadlines.
• There is no such thing as exclusive.
• You need regular working hours.
• You have to capture ideas on the run.
• You need a filing system.
• Keep a journal.
• Work from Templates.

13
Work Attitudes

• Do favors
• Work for Free.
• Do Hail Mary Projects.
• Go on Snipe Hunts and J.O.E. meetings.
• The 3 meetings or 5 pages of writing rule.
• Youre only as good as your next one.
• You are a commodity.
• You are never done paying your dues.

14
Your Team

• Agent
• Lawyer
• Editor
• Specialty Players
• Artists, Musicians, Filmmakers, experts etc.
• Casual Collaborators
• Think about sharing percentages. Selling stock
  in projects.

15
Your Office

• Laptop
• Phone
• Digital Recorder
• Internet
• Quiet Space
• Stimulus

16
Your Work Habits

• Write every day.
• Make your own rules.
• Deliverable every week.
• Whether it is your own project or work product.
• Meet business objectives
• Get you and your work out there. Writing
  samples.

17
Your Persona

• Your Bio.
• Your resume.
• Your look.
• Your voice
• Your network.
• Positive/High Energy (unless theres something
  else that works for you).

18
Contracts

• Credit
• Deliverable Scope, Scale and Timetable
• Leadership
• Team and Relationships of Team
• Attachments
• IP Rights
• Non-competes
• What arent we talking about?

19

• Total
• Payment Schedule and Criteria
• Back End Net and Gross
• Royalties
• Pension and Health (WGA)
• Etcetera

20
Break the Rules

• Investment Working Working on projects as an
  investment in rights, attachment, etc.
• We'll talk about new collaborative formulas for
  writers to work with other specialist writers and
  non writers.

21
Explore New Areas

• Figure out how to write for social networks,
  virtual worlds, casual games, WikiFiki,
  neo-interactive fiction, playable comics,
  Machinima, gaminima, and various other new and
  nascent mediums.

22
Play For Endgame

• Constantly Learn.
• Keep Your Network Buzzing
• Be smart with money.
• File your ideas and keep going back to them.
• Keep an idea journal every day.
• Try new mediums.
• It gets better but it never gets easier.