3 ms·

I've been waiting for a show to embrace the crowd sourcing of writing. I imagine a reddit thread with hundreds of ideas/plot lines/debate drawn out for an offic

by mentos 11y ago

I've been waiting for a show to embrace the crowd sourcing of writing. I imagine a reddit thread with hundreds of ideas/plot lines/debate drawn out for an official writer to "pull" into the show. What are your thoughts on that?

blakeross 11y ago
It's a great idea. To be fair, there's plenty of this happening already for most shows (check their subreddits, etc). I think what's a little different here is actually writing it out as a script. I'm intrigued by the idea of writing a full season of Silicon Valley, but I'd also like the challenge of writing for different kinds of shows. I may write a Rick and Morty script next to see what that's like.
blakeross 11y ago
Oh, I misread your comment, I think. You're talking about the showrunners themselves incorporating ideas from the community, right? That would be great, although unfortunately Hollywood is so concerned about lawsuits that show staffs aren't even allowed to read scripts for their own shows. For example, the Silicon Valley staff isn't allowed to read this script; if I wanted to apply for a job there, I'd have to write a script for a different show and send that in.
- mentos 11y ago
  Yea, are there any examples of a show like SV crowd sourcing content for it? I know that MythBusters has crowd sourced episode ideas: https://www.reddit.com/r/mythbusters/comments/3cfn7r/suggest_a_myth_or_item_to_blow_up_for_the/ https://www.reddit.com/r/mythbusters/comments/3cfn7r/suggest... Top comment from Adam Savage: "You guys are submitting great ideas. We should have done this a long time ago! Keep your ideas of things to blow up coming too!" But I don't know of any shows with a narrative doing this? Would love to see SV do the same for 1 episode (they could get really meta with it) Sad to hear there are legal barriers preventing this. I imagine that a simple "sign this release before submitting your work" still leaves room for lawsuits?
  - jedberg 11y ago
    Star Trek TNG accepted unsolicited scripts. Not exactly crowd sourced, but at least they took outside scripts.
- ziedaniel1 11y ago
  What if you released the script under a permissive license? (Contrary to ericjang's suggestion :) ) Would this eliminate the risk of a lawsuit?

by mentos 11y ago

blakeross 11y ago

It's a great idea. To be fair, there's plenty of this happening already for most shows (check their subreddits, etc). I think what's a little different here is actually writing it out as a script. I'm intrigued by the idea of writing a full season of Silicon Valley, but I'd also like the challenge of writing for different kinds of shows. I may write a Rick and Morty script next to see what that's like.

blakeross 11y ago

Oh, I misread your comment, I think. You're talking about the showrunners themselves incorporating ideas from the community, right? That would be great, although unfortunately Hollywood is so concerned about lawsuits that show staffs aren't even allowed to read scripts for their own shows. For example, the Silicon Valley staff isn't allowed to read this script; if I wanted to apply for a job there, I'd have to write a script for a different show and send that in.

mentos 11y ago
Yea, are there any examples of a show like SV crowd sourcing content for it? I know that MythBusters has crowd sourced episode ideas: https://www.reddit.com/r/mythbusters/comments/3cfn7r/suggest_a_myth_or_item_to_blow_up_for_the/ https://www.reddit.com/r/mythbusters/comments/3cfn7r/suggest... Top comment from Adam Savage: "You guys are submitting great ideas. We should have done this a long time ago! Keep your ideas of things to blow up coming too!" But I don't know of any shows with a narrative doing this? Would love to see SV do the same for 1 episode (they could get really meta with it) Sad to hear there are legal barriers preventing this. I imagine that a simple "sign this release before submitting your work" still leaves room for lawsuits?
- jedberg 11y ago
  Star Trek TNG accepted unsolicited scripts. Not exactly crowd sourced, but at least they took outside scripts.
ziedaniel1 11y ago
What if you released the script under a permissive license? (Contrary to ericjang's suggestion :) ) Would this eliminate the risk of a lawsuit?