Go Into The Story: The Future?

Time to contemplate what this blog should be.

Two weeks from yesterday, this humble blog will begin its 10th year of existence. It’s a time to celebrate, but also an opportunity to reflect on some fundamental questions:

• Why are we here?
• Should we even be here?
• If so, to what purpose?

Back in May 2008, I launched Go Into The Story because I believed it could provide a real and necessary contribution to the online screenwriting universe. Apart from JohnAugust.com and a handful of other quality sites, it was like the Wild West populated by a lot of poseurs promising insights into how to write a !!! MILLION DOLLAR SPEC SCRIPT !!!… for a price. Many of these so-called screenwriting ‘gurus’ had never actually worked as writers in Hollywood, let alone gotten movies produced. I figured the least I could do was provide a combination of information and inspiration grounded in decades of experience as a working screenwriter and TV producer, and make that content available for free without any advertisements to mar the interface experience. If I could spare at least some folks from getting fleeced by predatory script ‘consultants’ and the like, that alone would be worth the effort of hosting this blog.

I had some other motivations:

• To create a site which posted multiple items each day to give writers a place they could drop by to pick up on the latest screenwriting related news, read and digest regular features about the craft.
• To archive a mass of content covering every conceivable subject related to the craft which over time could become a comprehensive online resource for writers.
• To generate a positive-minded space to support and nurture a community of writers committed to learning the craft.
• And just generally to promote screenwriting and screenwriters, often overlooked by media and the press.

To the first point, Go Into The Story has been an unqualified success posting for 3,288 consecutive days. I’ve heard from countless readers who say this is a daily destination.

Second goal: Accomplished. The site’s archives have over 100 subjects with thousands of links to 21,000+ articles.

Third goal: Despite a tendency of many to veer into flame war territory and hard core cynicism, Go Into The Story has consistently been a place where writers can traffic in the honest realities about how challenging it is to break into and work in the entertainment business, while supporting dreams we need to keep alive in order to sustain our creative ambitions.

However things have changed since 2008. There are a lot more news sources nowadays. Podcasts like the excellent Scriptnotes in some ways transcend text-based content. And in general, there are more online resources available to aspiring and established screenwriters.

Where does Go Into The Story fit into the current landscape?

Then there’s this: My life has changed. When I began the blog, I was an executive producer at a TV production company. Now I’m an assistant professor at the DePaul University School of Cinematic Arts. While I continue to write screenplays and now breaking the story for a novel, I also have cause to write books on story and writing theory as an extension of my academic position.

Bottom line, I don’t feel there is a need for Go Into The Story to publish 6 posts per day, nor do I have the time to do that.

Beyond that, there is the bigger question as posed above: To what purpose should this site exist?

So over the next couple of weeks, I will solicit your feedback. It will be a combination of general questions — What do you think this blog should be — to specific ones related to various daily and weekly series I have run on the site: Should I keep doing this one, drop that one?

Your feedback will be incredibly helpful. I may even ask some of you to participate in a Skype teleconference to discuss things more fully.

From the thousands of emails and testimony received through personal interactions, I know Go Into The Story has been a valuable site for writers.

Given the changing landscape of online resources and social media, what should GITS become now? How could it best service the needs of writers?

If you follow this site, I would sincerely appreciate any feedback, thoughts, and/or suggestions you may have about the possible direction this site should take going forward.

Thanks and as always…