Welcome to Medium!
The new home of Go Into The Story
Here are some important dates in the history of Go Into The Story:
May 16, 2008: The day I launched the site.
March 9, 2009: The day I began my Twitter account @GoIntoTheStory.
September 7, 2011: The day Go Into The Story became of the official screenwriting blog of The Black List.
I am hoping I will add April 5, 2016 to the list of significant events in this blog’s chronology. Medium is a growing online publishing community and last spring it was announced that about a dozen outfits have already made or will be transitioning to use that service. Via The Wrap:
The full list of publications moving onto Medium were The Awl, Pacific Standard, Electric Literature, Franklin Leonard‘s The Black List, Femsplain, FilmSchoolRejects, The Bold Italic, Monday Note, NewCo Shift, The Banana Boat (by The Infatuation), MEL and Lorne Michaels‘s Above Average and The Kicker.
And the following companies planned to move publications on the platform soon: Time Inc.’s Money and Fortune Medium-native offshoots, The Hairpin, Women and Hollywood, Go Into the Story (by Scott Myers), Dangerous Minds, War Is Boring, and The Evergreen Review.
It’s taken longer than I had hoped, but on October 31, the migration from Word Press to Medium should be complete. I won’t bore you with all the details about why the transition has involved this much time, but suffice to say when we are talking about a blog with over 20,000 posts, nearly 60,000 comments, hundreds of links to downloadable PDFs, and other sundry special features the site has acquired in its 8+ years of existence, the shift has involved quite a bit of work on the technical side. Also I had to call a time-out in the process this summer to move to Chicago.
But we’re finally here. A shout out to all the good folks at Medium who have helped with this process. You folks have been stellar partners which bodes well for the blog’s future on its new platform.
A special high five to Dino Simone. He is the CTO of the Black List, so has lots of things on his plate, but he has personally been involved in this migration, a considerable time-suck for him, but the move could not have happened without his considerable help.
As to what this means to you, it’s the same content, both in terms of subject matter and schedule. That said I consider the transition to Medium a work-in-progress. Doubtless there will be some hiccups and technical challenges along the way. Also I will be testing out an initial layout which I hope makes the site more user friendly.
If you have suggestions, please post in comments or email me. I’m especially interested in hearing from people who have a background in web layout, graphic design, etc, and may have some thoughts as to how to make the blog the most helpful it can be for its followers.
This migration to Medium will mean things will change, not the content itself per se, but the way in which you access it. I expect it will take us a month or so to figure out everything, so I ask for your patience. If you have problems finding your way around or technical issues, email me. We will do everything to make this transition as smooth as possible.
Let me end by offering a special thank you to each and every GITS follower, some of whom have been with me since the very first year of the blog’s existence, back when it was on the Blogger platform. Initially I had a vision for the site that over time, it could become a go-to resource for people interested in screenwriting, TV writing, and writing in general. I think we’ve accomplished that, a wealth of solid information and grounded inspiration deriving from my three decades working in the movie and TV business, and staying on top of news and trends on a daily basis. I knew a good deal about the business based on my own writing career, but my partnership with the Black List these last 5+ years has — frankly — enabled me to be more connected to Hollywood than even when I was living just 2 miles east of the 20th Century Fox studio.
So in terms of sheer content, I believe it’s safe to say GITS has hit its mark. What has surprised me most over the years has been the community of people who track what’s going on here. Whether daily, every other day, weekly, or whenever, people stop by, over 10 million unique visits since the site’s launch. It’s gratifying to know the blog still provides value to readers. But what’s even more inspiring to me are the dozens and dozens of writers who have communicated with me over the years about their advancement in the business — winning writing contests, landing representatives, optioning scripts, selling specs, having original TV pilots picked up and go to series, getting movies made.
As much as I like landing writing gigs for myself, it’s just about as damned enjoyable when someone lets me know of their own success and how Go Into The Story has played a part in supporting their process.
That said, I don’t think of writing ‘success’ as merely about making money or breaking into the business. The quiet daily grind of getting better at the craft… pounding out pages… the persistent push to create stories… ultimately that’s what it’s all about.
And that a big reason why I post every day, all told at this point a total of 3,091 consecutive days. Our challenge as writers, whether we’re A-list script doctors or newbies is to do the work each and every day. I figure by my showing up each day, maybe that will inspire people to write, even when they really don’t want to.
So I’m here. I’ve been here on Blogger. I’ve been here on Word Press. I’ll be here on Medium.
I hope you will be, too!
As always…
To the next chapter in our collective creative adventure!
